Boring Postcards: Amazon.ca: Martin Parr: Books

Product Description

From Amazon

As the title of this little book suggests, each of the postcards that fill its pages is, in a sense, quite boring. Stale, often dully composed images of corporate headquarters, roadways, bus-station parking lots, convalescent-home dayrooms, hospital cafeterias, and undistinguished motels. But look carefully, and the cards--culled from the collection of artist Martin Parr--are filled with fascinating little details. As a group, they offer readers the interesting opportunity to puzzle over the collective psyche of the people of the 1950s and '60s (the approximate vintage of the images) who were inclined to create, buy, and send these cards. What, one can't help but wonder, could be so scintillating about a room at the Fortes Excelsior Motor Lodge near Pontefract, Yorkshire? The singular force of the orange bedspreads, carpet, drapes, and walls punctuated by the inexplicably white leather upholstered panel attached to the wall unit behind each of the room's beds. The exterior of the Mirfield Modern School, shot at a distance and unimaginatively placed dead in the center of the gray sky and green playing field? The building's Bauhaus-like lines. The tarmac of Luton Airport in London? The pink jumbo jet being towed into the frame from the left. The uniformly shaped trailers parked at the Freshwater Caravan Camp? The handwritten X that presumably marks the sender's location. The Chalets at Llandanwg? Arguably, not much. The few hundred images here, unfettered by any explanatory text, offer a far from dull diversion for any readers interested in mid-century design or the mundane details of daily life. --Jordana Moskowitz --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Individually, the cards are a kitsch hoot; collectively, they re-create not only the appearance but the spirit and soul of a Britain that vanished for ever somewhere around the 1970s.... Parr's 'boring postcards' give meaning to a wistful phrase much beloved of recent prime ministers. They show the last time Britain really was, for better or worse, a nation at ease with itself. Look back and mourn." The Sunday Times "Martin Parr's daringly dull collection of 160 coma-inducing postcards from the edge of common sense. Yes, they're funny. But they also reveal a view of the UK in the period from the '50s to the '70s, when road-building and fast development looked like signs of a healthy future." Time Out "Individually each of the postcards more than meet the requirements of the book's title - yes, these are ludicrously boring places - but as whole they make a compelling collection." Dazed & Confused "... far from dull, Parr's book is a strangely compelling commentary on postwar British architecture, social life and identity..." Independent on Sunday "... Groovy, baby." Time "... exquisitely tedious... visual gems..." World of Interiors "... the funniest book [of the year] has been Boring Postcards by Martin Parr, which I keep on the kitchen table and chortle over during breakfast. This sends my cornflakes flying...." Charlotte Cory (novelist), The Independent "... top of the class... Its blend of pathos and bathos is hilarious. It fills the onlooker with Christmas spirit: that's to say, nostalgia, revulsion, hysteria and delight." Evening Standard"

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
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Average Customer Review

4.2 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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5.0 out of 5 stars Boring, yes; yet strangely moving, too!!, Jan 9 2003

By

ED (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boring Postcards (Hardcover)

I just love this collection of postcards - they are truly mind-numbing, and as I was leafing through the book, my over-riding thought was WHY??? Why on earth would anyone take a picture of the National Giro Centre, Bootle, Preston Bus Station, numerous Forte motorway restaurants and the Bull Ring centre? Perhaps these buildings and roads were something to be proud of when they were built - a brave new post-war Britain. I can see the point of a few of them, but some are just mind-numbingly boring and just plain odd. The oddest, in fact, is Basingstoke. Three pictures in one postcard, all showing the same view of construction work on a pedestrian precinct.
Ahhh - the pedestrian precinct!! How 60's is THAT!!!!!

A great book to have around and a great conversation starter.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, if you are open to it, July 29 2002

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Daniel A Lieb (Northern Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boring Postcards (Hardcover)

I would agree with some of the previous reviewers. I love this book. I keep it on my coffee table and look at it when I'm bored. Many people would look at it and think its completely pointless. After all, these postcards are exactly the type of thing my wife keeps trying to throw away because they're "junk." I don't think they are junk. Taken together, these pictures might say something about society, history or something of that nature. I say, "who cares?" I just think they're plain funny. Pictures of shopping malls and 60's hotel lounges - all entertaining. Some of the funniest ones are of some guy's body shop on an ugly lot somewhere in wherever, but it says, "Ray's Body Shop" proudly at the top of the card. If you like visual stimulation of any kind, you'll like this book.

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4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and kind of sad, Dec 10 2001

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"timothy1146" (Lake Woebegone,Minnesota) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Boring Postcards (Hardcover)

Anyone interested in bad,sterile,depressing and bland architecture need look no further.This book provides perfect examples in how NOT to design living spaces and aestetically pleasing public landscapes and public buildings.The book easily could have been titled "How not to Feng Shui".What really strikes you as you glance over the whole of the motel,trailerpark and assorted public buildings is an overwhelming blandness,mismatching and tacky colors,stark,bleak and monotonous nothingness that envelops these cheap and thoughtless artifacts of a thankfully bygone era.A great sociological book could be written on why the general whole of the western world lost so much of its sense of aesthetic beauty in the 20th century and made books like this possible.Is it that 20th century man lost all higher hopes and feeling for beauty and that the horrors of the century can be reflected in the strictly utilitarian architecture that dominated the century?Or is it that the almost exclusively materialistic mindset of 20th century dictated that his environments reflect his inner state?Pore over this book and draw your own conclusions.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and kind of sad
Anyone interested in bad,sterile,depressing and bland architecture need look no further.This book provides perfect examples in how NOT to design living spaces and aestetically... Read more

Published on Dec 10 2001 by timothy1146

4.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious and kind of sad
Anyone interested in bad,sterile,depressing and bland architecture need look no further.This book provides perfect examples in how NOT to design living spaces and aestetically... Read more

Published on Dec 10 2001 by timothy1146