Flash and Filigree [Paperback]

Terry Southern (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Dell Publishing Company (January 1, 1965)
• ASIN: B000L5MHKK
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bizarre! Savage! Funny! Twisted! Briliant!, March 17, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Flash and Filigree (Terry Southern) (Paperback)

"Flash and Filigree" is like nothing you'll ever read. Satirist, Terry Southern's first novel is one wild ride into the realms of insanity and obsession. The story begins with a head-scratcher of a meeting between a Doctor and a Patient, and soon has them in a game of cat and mouse in the streets of 1950's Los Angelas. I loved the way in which Southern toys with the reader: Who's crazy? Who's insane? Who's paranoid? Who's obsessed with who? Who's following who? Southern is relentless! I think I could do without the story of the nurse, which has nothing to do with the doctor's or the patient's. I also loved some of the supporting characters: The drunken detective, the pot-head bar girl, etc. This book is as sick and bizarre a novel about obsession and paranoia as any book I've read. But what a ride. HIGHLY, HIGHLY recomended. Simply Briliant!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Creepy doctors, fast cars, and hemp cocktails!, September 2, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Flash and Filigree (Terry Southern) (Paperback)

Southern's first novel is an extended gag, following the exploits of the dermatologist Frederick Eichner as he is led through the strange underworld of the hipster by a series of weird occurrences involving cancer cultures. Hilarious and outrageous (a famous scene recounts the taping of a game show called "What's My Disease?"), the book is an example of Southern's keenly moral satirical sense as well as of his crafted, elegant writing. Influenced in style by Southern's mentor Henry Green, "Flash and Filigree" adheres to Green's theory of fiction: "If you can make the reader laugh, he is apt to get careless and keep on reading." Indeed.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fans of Cronenburg's _Crash_ would enjoy this read., January 6, 1999

By 

Chael J. Mayer ([e-mail]) (University of Kentucky) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Flash and Filigree (Terry Southern) (Paperback)

Terry Southern is a master satirist in _Flash and Filigree_. Fans of David's Cronenburg's _Crash_ will certainly consume this book in a single sitting... simply to follow the exploits of Dr. Eichner (who would have been a nice addition to the movie; I guess Cronenburg didn't do his homework). Southern handles this whirlwind, insanely paced novel with totalitarian precision and makes every word (regardless of how trivial the word may seem) count. Southern was doing the gig that Tarrantino is now doing in the 50s. Southern also is not fearful of the controversial and he boldly depicts the daterape of Babs by Ralph. The scene is trash, but, by God, Southern writes trash perfectly. Besides, scenes such as this put the bread on the tables of MacKinnon, and Andrea Dworkin (this scene would have fit nicely into Dworkin's theoretical manifesto _Intercourse_). The characters are unforgetable (in fact, they have inspired a few characters in some of the stories that I have written). In summation: this review is chaotic, the book is not, buy it, or rot in boredom as you remain a slave to television.