Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All-Story [Paperback]

Francis Ford Coppola (Author)

Book Description

Series: Harvest Original | Publication Date: May 15, 2000

The literary journal Zoetrope, founded in 1997 by film director Francis Ford Coppola, proved an instant and spectacular success with readers and critics nationwide. That its mission, to seek out and publish only the brightest, most original writing that intersects film and fiction, has worked triumphantly is attested to by the numerous awards it has garnered in only two years, from such publications as Bestt American Short Stories, The O. Henry Award Prize Stories, Best New Stories from the South, and many more. And Zoetrope is equally known for having discovered new writers who have rocketed to fame, including Melissa Bank and Sarah Powers. Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All-Story presents some of the best writing to have appeared in the magazine to date, including work by Amy Bloom, Peter Lefcourt, Philip Gourevitch, Lucia Nevai, Melissa Bank, and Tim Gautreaux, among others. In addition, original essays and fiction never before published appear here, including work by John Nichols, Salman Rushdie, and Robert Olen Butler. The result is an exciting and vital collection, a must-have for readers of today's best writing and for fans of today's best films.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In his introduction to Zoetrope: All-Story, Francis Ford Coppola explains exactly what possessed him to start a literary magazine. Emphasizing what should be an obvious point--a good movie requires a good story--the acclaimed director laments the lowbrow sensibility of motion-picture studios, pointing out that "none of them that I know of devote serious resources to the cultivation of literary work." Hollywood has a hallowed tradition of slapping together screenplays based on flimsy pitches ("It's like Babe meets Angela's Ashes"). In contrast, Coppola has his own humble request for "good writing, good characters, and intriguing stories that spellbind us, but also teach us about life."

The collection opens with Sara Powers's captivating story about commitment and doubt, in which a sporting couple agrees to experiment with selective lying (at the rate of three falsehoods per conversation). Amy Bloom's "The Gates Are Closing" is a vivid, funny, and typically touching story about a woman having an affair with her synagogue president's ailing husband. Still, the most amusing tale--and the one that may resonate loudest with struggling writers--is "Thinning the Herd." In Peter Lefcourt's comic fantasia, the narrator interviews one Warren David Warren (a.k.a. "Son of Shakespeare"), a self-proclaimed "revisionist literary Darwinian" who slaughters authors whose work he finds abominable. Defending the murder of a prolific bestselling scribe, Warren makes his case: "He kept spewing them out. Like rabbit turds. Who did he think he was--Trollope?" There may in fact be a glut of writers. But within the boundaries of this collection, at least, their stories are superb--and many of them would make great cinema. --Brangien Davis

From Publishers Weekly

Film director Coppola founded Zoetrope: All Story in 1997 to cultivate literary works, short stories in particular, as a resource for developing screenplays. This compilation contains an engaging diversity of writing by authors both celebrated (David Mamet, Salman Rushdie) and little known. Here are great opening lines--"Perhaps my fate was sealed when I sold my three-year-old sister" (Robert Olen Butler, "Fair Warning"); "Help me" (Amy Bloom, "The Gates Are Closing")--and a few great stories. Peter Lefcourt excels with a tale of a serial killer who murders bad writers. In Melissa Banks's rebuttal to "The Rules" ("The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing"; before it was a chunk of Bank's successful first book, it appeared in Zoetrope) a woman named Jane meets Mr. Right at a friend's wedding. Not trusting her luck with men, she decides to adhere to this "guide to manipulation." The results are clever. Other pieces, however, were obviously written for the camera--making for thin literature. The book's most successful story is "Fair Warning"; concerning an art auctioneer forced to evaluate her own worth when she must sell a date with herself at a charity fund-raiser, it's an interior, reflective tale that would be difficult to translate into film. "Like movies, [short] stories are to be consumed in one sitting," Coppola writes in his introduction. "The good ones transport you, the great ones change you, and the bad ones--well, at least they are short." Collected here are, mostly, the kind that transport or transform.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Mariner Books; 1st edition (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0156011107
• ISBN-13: 978-0156011105
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,737,332 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A more than worthy anthology, July 6, 2001

By 

J. C. Collier "jcees" (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All-Story (Paperback)

I'm already an ardent fan of Zoetrope All-Story magazine as it has more than aptly filled the void left by Story. I'm also a fan of other short story anthologies and this one deserves the place it stakes out along side the likes of the America's Best series. From humorous to the heart wrenching from authors as diverse as Rushdie, Bloom and Mamet, there's something for every reader here. Kudos to Mr. Coppola and his team at Zoetrope All-Story. I look forward to the next installment.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful Reading, May 24, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All-Story (Paperback)

This is a collection of wonderful, poignant short stories. And I liked them all. That is rare in collections. That every single story stands out and shines. All of these stories did, in the telling and in the writing. Do yourself a favor and read them.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A BELLYFUL OF GOOD WRITING, July 18, 2001

By 

Jomo Ray (Newark NJ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope: All-Story (Paperback)

Tasty, tasty, tasty!

Say, you're hungry for a good read . . . zesty and a little different. . . nothing elaborate, but still a combination of different tastes and textures--like a smorgasbord. How about the collection in this edition of "Francis Ford Coppola's ZOETROPE: ALL-STORY"?

Are you familiar with what certain ethnic restaurants call "tapas"? They're essentially appetizers--small, exquisite dishes, good to nosh--though, if you order a number of them, they can add up to quite a varied and sumptuous meal. Think of this collection that way. Everything may not suit your particular taste, but certainly there are stories here to please your palate; perhaps altogether they'll satisfy you.

I can't make guarantees, yet. . .well, let me tell you what grabbed me. On the dry, witty side, I liked Melissa Bank's "The Girls Guide to Hunting and Fishing," a satire on certain kinds of self-help books, and Jon Billman's "Custer on Mondays," a wry salute to the last stand of an overage Peter Pan. On the other hand, the "gritty" side, I was really taken by George Makana Clark's bitterly poignant "The Leopard Gang," set in colonial southern Africa, and Chris Spain's urban adolescent fable of the concrete jungle, "Scaring the Baddest Animal." For dessert I'd suggest Tim Gautreaux' "Dancing with the One-Armed Gal" and Robert Olen Butler's "Fair Warning".

The two essays are the veritable appetizers of this collection: Salman Rushdie's narrative is a purely Anglo kind of 'Adventures in the Screen Trade.' David Mamet's short piece is almost typical Mamet pontification (as in his WRITING IN RESTAURANTS and THREE USES OF THE KNIFE): ". . .the summer film is an exhibition pure and simple...it is our state fair".

This presentation was a pleasant surprise. Thumbs up!