Escape From Houdini Mountain [Paperback]

Pleasant Gehman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2001

From the glittering debauched nights of 1980s Hollywood ("Escape from Houdini Mountain") to the festering bowels of New York's Lower East Side ("Must Have Been Love"), these 23 mind-bending tales chronicle a young woman's quest for romantic adventure.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Editor Pleasant Gehman has been writing about L.A. for more than 20 years. She has appeared on E!'s Wild On Tinseltown, MTV, VH-1, and CNN. The author of several books including Senorita Sin, Princess of Hollywood, and Escape From Houdini Mountain, her work has been widely anthologized.

Product Details

• Paperback: 141 pages
• Publisher: Manic D Press, Inc.; 1st edition (2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0916397688
• ISBN-13: 978-0916397685
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,763,094 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Several nights' worth of fun!, September 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Escape From Houdini Mountain (Paperback)

Ms. Gehman's stories of growing up in LA range from the tender ("Vet Mem") to the bizarre ("Beauty From Within"--a tale about eating make-up!) to hilarious ("Wine Me, Dine Me, Soixant-Neuf Me") but the writing is solid and fun to read.This is a collection I'll enjoy sharing with my best girlfriends, and will come back to again and again!

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clowns and Drag Queens and Preachers, OH MY!, May 29, 2001

By 

CarnivalM (Colorado Springs, CO USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Escape From Houdini Mountain (Paperback)

Escape From Houdini Mountain is a dizzing joyride of autobiographical fiction from a different kind of L.A. Woman. Spun from her experiences in the L.A. underground, the stories are infectiously entertaining. Pleasant's eye for the human condition is pristine. Her heart shines as she revels in a carnival of delicately drawn characters. Some are sad, some sick, some brilliant, but in Pleasant's world they are all appreciated equally. Ultimately this book, for all it's wildly funny tales, is an evolved praising of feminine beauty and it's power in a world gone mad.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant Gehman's Hollywood, June 25, 2001

By 

Kirk Alex - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Escape From Houdini Mountain (Paperback)

I love this woman's unique take on Tinsel Town and L.A. in general. Once you start reading you won't be able to put it down. Read it from cover to cover in a single sitting. This is honest writing, screams from the gut. You get it all because the lady has the smarts and talent and backbone to give you the truth: the good, the bad and the hilarious. She knows life is that and more because she has lived through it. Enjoy the laughter when you can, she seems to say, and do the best that you can do to get through the less than pleasant moments (like heartbreak and other disappointments) that all of us sometimes find ourselves having to deal with. My only complaint is that she does not have enough books out there! I would like to see Pleasant write a longer work, maybe a novel or her memoirs. I put her up there with the best of them like Carson McCullers, Sylvia Plath, Unica Zurn, Dan Fante, Charles Bukowski, John O'Brien, Nathanael West, Henry Miller, Jack Kerouac, et al. Can't wait for her next book.