- Hardcover: 160 pages
- Publisher: Chronicle Books (July 31 1996)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0811809692
- ISBN-13: 978-0811809696
- Product Dimensions: 18.6 x 13.4 x 2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 318 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #74,327 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
The conceit behind this playful, charming spoof of a book is as simple and bizarre as a Magritte painting: it is a guide to an imaginary Paris, complete with fake hotel listings, off-the-wall travel advice and restaurant recommendations that aim more at literary than culinary edification. In Gordon's Paris, tourists may stop at the Grand Hotel des Echecs, home to a clientele made up of chess lovers and losers ("echecs" means both "chess" and "failures" in French); dine at the Cafe Dada, where one inserts food into an Automat and is fed foreign coins in return; or take in a film at the Cinema l'Ange des Sables, which shows only movies shot in the desert. "Ici on parle angoisse" ("Anguish spoken here"), Gordon informs us of one hotel. Admirers of Gordon's previous work, which includes the popular grammar handbook The Transitive Vampire and the novel The Red Shoes and Other Tattered Tales, will not be surprised to find her drawing heavily on the work of such writers as Paul Valery, Guillaume Apollinaire and Raymond Queneau for her wealth of puns, wordplay and double-entendres. This is not a book to read cover to cover, but rather to dip into when the appetite strikes. When the absurdist humor gets too coy or heavy-handed, readers may refresh themselves by studying the surrealist collages and illustrations illuminating every page. Meticulously drawn, finely detailed and brimming with whimsy, they are happily reminiscent of those in Bantock's own Griffin & Sabine books.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
--"Columbus Dispatch"
To the immortal health of Karen Elizabeth Gordon's "Paris Out of Hand, " the most entertaining nonfiction book I've read all year. Her delirium of prose stands out among the year's best fiction, too. . . The book -- cartwheeling over so many issues of design, color, art history, stand-up comedy and performance art that I must remind myself that it is a lo-and-behold book -- provides a mischievous, faux travelogue of a brightly imagined Paris. "Paris Out of Hand" is told and sung through fiction, fakery and the bold interplay of words and images. . . . Everything in her City by the Seine is surreal, magical, and possible: At the Hotel Helias, "Paris' answer to the Heartbreak Hotel," handkerchiefs are handed out with room keys; and chocolate, because of it's euphoric and erotic properties is strictly forbidden.
The sustained performance is one of grins and asides, in which the allusions to France, literature, the artists of the old Left Bank, come in buckets; one can sip and dip at leisure.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Uncomfortable beds Bidet in the middle of the room Thin walls-your neighbors can hear you Thin walls-you can hear your neighbors Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
Uncomfortable beds Bidet in the middle of the room Thin walls-your neighbors can hear you Thin walls-you can hear your neighbors Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Paris out of hand,m,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Paris Out Of Hand (Hardcover)
This turned out to be a totally different book from what I thought it would be. I had read ITALY OUT OF HAND and enjoyed it very much. Italy book is historical and relates interesting stories , legends, anecdotes about places and people in various Italian cities and town. It is an interesting special type of "guide book". Paris out of hand is a fictional account of Paris , figment of author's imagination which is not very interesting or witty or clever. It was very disappointing. You neither learn anything interesting from it, nor it offers any enjoyment. I do not recommend this, particularly to people going to Paris for the first time or those looking for something different from the traditional guidebooks. At least I did not spend a lot of money on it, just a wasteful expenditure of $ 6.40. However, in terms of my expectations to read something similar to the Italy book, it was such a disappointment .
5.0 out of 5 stars
Seductive, surreal and humourous,
By moonstealer (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Paris Out Of Hand (Hardcover)
This imaginary guide to Paris is full of surreal imagination that will just make you smile. Helpfully divided up into sections on hotels, restaurants, the nightlife, sights, etc., you'll read about places and services you've never dreamed of! What a shame, they don't really exist! Peppered thoughout the text are helpful French expressions translated into English such as "Do you have a ladder so I can reach your airmail clerk suspended from the ceiling?" You can read some guest comments for the hotels which of course, are also bizarre, and learn about special services such as a kidnapping service or a food tasting service (so you don't get poisoned). The book has some quotes from real people too and the lavish artwork gives it an other worldly feel. It will transport you immediately to a wonderful alternative reality Paris.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, Intriguing. . .,
By Adam (Spartanburg, SC USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Paris Out Of Hand (Hardcover)
This book is a georgous book, from its looks (plush cover, ribbon bookmark, illustrations) to its content. It describes a slew of fictional places (and a few non-fictional) creating a surrealistic, dreamlike landscape. As nice as it is, this isn't a sit down and read sort of book, more of a coffee table type, wonderful to flip through and see what you find.
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