How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will Talk

Using notebook entries, vivid recollection, and re-created scenes in screenplay format, Raphael paints a portrait as revealing of himself (if not more so) than of Kubrick, and neither man comes across without blemish. Simultaneously self-indulgent, frustrating, and fascinating in its attempt to probe Kubrick’s closely guarded psyche (a mission Raphael ultimately fails to accomplish), the book finally reveals–in fragments of sensitive insight–that Kubrick’s reputation as a reclusive genius did in fact hide a very complex, intensely intelligent, and surprisingly human being. In one passage Raphael observes that “Stanley was so determined to be aloof and unfeeling that my heart went out to him. Somewhere along the line he was still the kid in the playground who had been no one’s first choice to play with.” Whether such observations are an accurate representation of Kubrick’s personality is beside the point; that Raphael made the observation speaks volumes of both men, and this book is filled with similar revelations.