- Paperback: 224 pages
- Publisher: Three Rivers Press; 1 edition (Aug 26 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1400047552
- ISBN-13: 978-1400047550
- Product Dimensions: 20.3 x 13.2 x 1.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 159 g
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,087,140 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
This collection of spoken and journalistic pieces by New York writer-performer Estep is an uneven effort. The "Confessions" fare the worst in the transition from fugitive magazine to book (many of them appeared first in the monthly Shout): tales of Brooklyn apartment-hunting, short-term shack-ups with German composers and Italian painters, and bikers swilling Pabst Blue Ribbon are fun to read while waiting for the train but start looking awfully alike next to each other in a book. The "Old Rants" section, which collects the spoken-word pieces that rocketed Estep from Lower East Side poetry slams to a Lollapalooza tour (ah, the '90s!), come off with much less urgency than Estep puts into her performances. But Estep's journalistic narratives, including portraits of Iggy Pop, Jerry Stahl and the jockey Chris Antley are charming. In one piece on horse racing, Estep's passion for horses and the seedy world of the racetrack comes through in spades: "[W]e're on the A train heading out to Aqueduct and I've got the Daily Racing Form spread out in my lap and we're sitting with our shoulders touching as the train rattles through the bowels of Queens and I explain how to read each horse's past performance and how to factor in the many many things one has to factor in, from the weight of the jockey to the win percentage of the trainer to the last time the horse raced." This is Estep at her best, as her words rush to meet the minimalist and episodic speed of the race, but such comings together are less frequent here than all but diehard fans will want.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Product Description
“Maggie Estep is the bastard daughter of Raymond Chandler and Anaïs Nin. Her prose is hard-boiled and sexy; she turns a good phrase and shows some leg. Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals is one hell of a great book! By the way, when Chandler and Nin left her at the orphanage, she was adopted by Charles Bukowski and Dick Francis.”
—Jonathan Ames, author of What’s Not to Love?
Charting Life at Its Most Bizarre . . .
is an obsession for Maggie Estep, and in Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals this obsession reaches a fever pitch that is as readable and as entertaining as it is strange.
Here is your chance to experience the world according to one of our most original and honest voices. Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals showcases some of the best of what Maggie Estep has to offer. Here, gathered together for the first time, are Maggie’s infamous spoken word pieces—including “Sex Goddess of the Western Hemisphere,” “Hey Baby,” and “I’m an Emotional Idiot,”—that landed her on MTV and HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. This varied collection also brings together a myriad of writing styles, such as diary-style magazine columns, articles highlighting Estep’s friends and heroes—from punk godfather Iggy Pop to Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl—and short stories that feature Maggie’s own brand of original fiction.
From her many smoking relapses, to her obsession with horses and horse racing, to her manic love life, to her motley assortment of friends, to her battles with an onslaught of killer attack “biker” fleas, to an epistolary short story that is a collaboration with Rick Moody, Maggie Estep offers a humorous if twisted view of reality in Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals.
—Jonathan Ames, author of What’s Not to Love?
Charting Life at Its Most Bizarre . . .
is an obsession for Maggie Estep, and in Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals this obsession reaches a fever pitch that is as readable and as entertaining as it is strange.
Here is your chance to experience the world according to one of our most original and honest voices. Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals showcases some of the best of what Maggie Estep has to offer. Here, gathered together for the first time, are Maggie’s infamous spoken word pieces—including “Sex Goddess of the Western Hemisphere,” “Hey Baby,” and “I’m an Emotional Idiot,”—that landed her on MTV and HBO’s Def Poetry Jam. This varied collection also brings together a myriad of writing styles, such as diary-style magazine columns, articles highlighting Estep’s friends and heroes—from punk godfather Iggy Pop to Permanent Midnight author Jerry Stahl—and short stories that feature Maggie’s own brand of original fiction.
From her many smoking relapses, to her obsession with horses and horse racing, to her manic love life, to her motley assortment of friends, to her battles with an onslaught of killer attack “biker” fleas, to an epistolary short story that is a collaboration with Rick Moody, Maggie Estep offers a humorous if twisted view of reality in Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals.
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, delightful,
By
This review is from: Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals: Confessions, Highly Subjective Journalism, Old Rants and New Stories (Paperback)
Never have I read a collection of such incisive, heartful, eclectic, poetic, hilarious essays and stories as this one. By the second entry I was hooked; a few more pages in and I felt I would choose Maggie Estep as my one companion on a desert island, just so I could have her wry, penetrating, yet compassionate insights on every event and creature that might befall us. A bargain at any price. Bring me more Maggie Estep!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!,
By A Customer
This review is from: Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals: Confessions, Highly Subjective Journalism, Old Rants and New Stories (Paperback)
This collection is a must-have for any die-hard Estep fan - and if you're not yet a fan, you soon will be after reading an assortment of columns, interviews, articles and spoken word pieces. Estep is a writer with a heart as big as the planet, and she possesses an honesty and down-to-earth-ness that seems to be rare among today's writers. In the introduction to the section of spoken word pieces, she writes, "The greatest thing about spoken word is its lack of elitism and its ability to speak to people from a wide variety of economical, educational, and racial backgrounds.... What I want most as a writer is to transport people away from pain and depression and show a light at the end of the tunnel." In this collection as well as her other works, Maggie accomplishes this with flying colors. This book is entertaining, intense, vivid, funny, poignant, and real. A fantastic read.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brilliant, delightful,
By M. Maran - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals: Confessions, Highly Subjective Journalism, Old Rants and New Stories (Paperback)
Never have I read a collection of such incisive, heartful, eclectic, poetic, hilarious essays and stories as this one. By the second entry I was hooked; a few more pages in and I felt I would choose Maggie Estep as my one companion on a desert island, just so I could have her wry, penetrating, yet compassionate insights on every event and creature that might befall us. A bargain at any price. Bring me more Maggie Estep!
5.0 out of 5 stars
Lovely, and Badass,
By Jane Desirae "<d+m>" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals: Confessions, Highly Subjective Journalism, Old Rants and New Stories (Paperback)
The book is like a diary. There's good days for Maggie and there are bad days for Maggie. I love this book. It just sucks that the book came to me in bad condition. And it said it was in excellent condition. So i got my money back, but overall. The book was fantastic.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Love Dance of the Mechanical Animals: Confessions, Highly Subjective Journalism, Old Rants and New Stories (Paperback)
This collection is a must-have for any die-hard Estep fan - and if you're not yet a fan, you soon will be after reading an assortment of columns, interviews, articles and spoken word pieces. Estep is a writer with a heart as big as the planet, and she possesses an honesty and down-to-earth-ness that seems to be rare among today's writers. In the introduction to the section of spoken word pieces, she writes, "The greatest thing about spoken word is its lack of elitism and its ability to speak to people from a wide variety of economical, educational, and racial backgrounds.... What I want most as a writer is to transport people away from pain and depression and show a light at the end of the tunnel." In this collection as well as her other works, Maggie accomplishes this with flying colors. This book is entertaining, intense, vivid, funny, poignant, and real. A fantastic read.
|
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
