Customer Reviews

City of Darkness: Life In Kowloon Walled City

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Everyone who I have ever shown this book to has had a deep reaction to it. I wouldn't handicap this book by calling it a photography book alone, although the photos are very powerful and prominent, but the text deserves recognition as well. Plenty of personal stories of how people made this decaying city their home. Both epic and intimate. A testament of the human animal's ability to adapt and thrive. Thank god the authors got in to Kowloon before its destruction to create this book.

Also, as a side note: Any artist wanting reference material for decaying urban sprawl, look no further. This book makes for great city or science fiction reference, with unbelievable details (electrical boxes, pipes, hallways, stairwells, etc...)

I was born in Hong Kong and lived in the Walled City for 2 years with my mother when I was 10. Love the photos, history, and facts about the walled city, bring back lots of memories.

Update - 5 stars: I wrote a review before and gave a 2-star rating because I had a quality issue with this book - the binding on my copy came unglued after looking through it once or twice. Well, the author, Greg Girard, actually tracked me down on facebook and kindly offered to send a replacement free of charge. This replacement copy has held up beautifully for the past year or so as it has been looked through numerous times by houseguests. The first copy I had must have just been flawed. I tried to change my rating to a 5-star but it doesn't seem to want to let me.

As I said in my original review, the photos are stunning, the text and interviews fascinating, and the quality of the paper excellent.

the book offers great insight in the extreme circumstances under which people lived in the kowloon walled city. superb photografic material covering a wide aspect of the city and relevant text. a must for people interested in urban vernacular architecture.

This book tells a story of a place most people have never heard of and no longer exists, but was the most densely populated place in the entire world at one point. It does it by well-written text, interviews with people that lived in this one-of-a-kind place, and priceless pictures. Google "The walled city of Kowloon", read up on it, and you won't be able to resist getting this book.

Beautiful book about life in an island of buildings in Kowloon City. Perfect condition (difficult for a softbacked book), and delivered quickly. And the book itself is fascinating, just as described. Thanks!

Having lost the small pamphlet on the Kowloon Walled City that I had bought at the Hong Kong art museum many years ago, I did a web search to see if there was anything available to replace it. City of Darkness seemed to be the best choice, although expensive, so I bought it and hoped. What a wonderful surprise when it arrived; the quality of the photographs, copy, and paper are superb. It is a comprehensive, detailed, and personalized history of the walled city; more than I could have imagined, and worth every penny.

Excellent book, with lots of info. Although I would've like more architectural documentation and pictures...

It truly is sad this city no longer exists. It served an important purpose and may well have had a more important community feel than NYC or other cities that are just as "dark". The photographic essay Greg Girard did seems to capture all aspects of this super-condensed city.

An amazing insight to the abolished walled city with beautiful photos.