Her [Paperback]

Lawrence Ferlinghetti (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 17, 1960

A surreal semi-autobiographical blackbook record of a semi-mad period of my life, in that mindless, timeless state most romantics pass through, confusing flesh madonnas with spiritual ones. This is how the author describes this extraordinary expatriate novel.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lawrence Ferlinghetti was born in Yonkers, New York, in 1919. After receiving an A.B. degree in journalism from the University of North Carolina, an M.A. from Columbia University, and a stint in the Navy during World War II, and after working in the mail room at Time Magazine and living in Paris where he received a Doctorat de l'Universite from the Sorbonne, Ferlinghetti eventually settled in San Francisco, where he and Peter D. Martin founded the first all-paperback bookstore in the country, City Lights Books. Besides being named San Francisco's first poet laureate, he has received The Before Columbus Foundation "Lifetime Achievement Award." Most recently he has also been writing a weekly column, “Poetry as News,” for the San Francisco Chronicle Book Review.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: New Directions (January 17, 1960)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811200426
• ISBN-13: 978-0811200424
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,108,269 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

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars strange stuff but it all makes sense (maybe), March 1, 2000

By 

James M. Steffen (rheinpfalz, germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Her (Paperback)

it worries me that no one has written a review for this book yet. they say i'll be the first. i'm ordering this book through amazon, but i read it my first time many moons ago, back when i was reading "watt" by beckett, and a lot of other wierd stuff. maybe it was just a point in my life, but this book spoke to me. wacked out on whatever those crazy beats got whacked out on, consumed by passion and equally consumed by confusion, ranting and pouring it all out on the page, this book is what comes out when you have nothing else to lose. read it. don't try and make sense of it. there is no sense when you are crushed by longing. this is a monument to that feeling you get when being in love makes you a deranged idiot.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A dream walking, January 10, 2005

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Her (Paperback)

A beautiful surrealist novel, this is the sort of thing that's so easy to do badly, and so difficult to do well. It doesn't have a plot so much as an underlying archetypal theme, that of Man pursuing the ideal & unattainable Feminine in all of Her ever-changing aspects; but it does have an ongoing narrative drive, one which unfolds in fluid prose, rich in imagery & emotional intensity. Ferlinghetti perfectly recreates the essence of a dream, which has its own logic & its own needs, and makes its own sort of deep sense. The reader has only to surrender to its flow & be carried along, with one image or scene yielding to another in a continuous surge of immediate experience & psychological surprise. Highly recommended!

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars just can't put my finger on it, July 20, 2003

By 

JuJuBee (Somewhere, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Her (Paperback)

When I looked at the cover of this book, I couldn't even begin to fathom what was inside of it. The story itself is so surreal that it wouldn't even be considered a story by some. The plot (if there is one) is so vauge that I couldn't identify it. And that's what makes ot good! I must read more Ferlenghetti. I have tried my hand at writing such a book, but with no sucess. The text is fresh, not at all dull. Don't try reading this while you're in your right mind, though, and not during the day, either. The scenes that the author creates are sort of harrowing, they linger in your mind, and they stick. Read it in small sections. It took me weeks, but it was worth it.
It is difficult to get used to Ferlenghetti's writing style, but once you're into it, it doesn't let go. It's all sort of like a dream, some parts a nightmare. The ending was hard to understand from my perspective, but it seems to sum everything up. I highly reccomend this book.