High Drama in Fabulous Toledo [Paperback]

Lily James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

How to use kidnapping to improve on the humdrum of everyday life

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A fast-acting antidote to reality, High Drama in Fabulous Toledo is a novel about characters on the brink of impossible chaos. When Ellen, a postmodern everygirl, daydreams her way out of monotony and into the hands of inept kidnappers, she finds she prefers captivity to her own predictable future. Life, for her, is a box to be filled. But by what or whom? Ultimately, faced with defining herself either as victim or manipulator, Ellen opts for both, igniting a chain reaction of volatile identities that levels everyone around her.

Ellen's kidnappers, a bouncer named Stef, and his gal-pal Molly, imagine themselves as a barbarian warrior and an electro-sex princess. They deliver Ellen into the hands of Jay, a cybergeek who needs a bride to fulfill his suburban dream. Against all logic, Ellen agrees to marry Jay, fearing that this may be her last chance to avoid a collision with lifelong normality.

James's postfeminist fiction is smart and accessible. Her trippy narrative packs a wallop with its wry, skin-tight prose, at once insightful and corrosive to reality. Like a postmodern Flannery O'Connor story, High Drama in Fabulous Toledo is unafraid to shake the balance of order and chaos, or toy with our most private fantasies of escape.

About the Author

Lili James lives in Virginia and is the author of The Great Taste of Straight People (Black Ice Books, 1997).

Product Details

• Paperback: 223 pages
• Publisher: Northwestern University Press; 1st edition (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573660949
• ISBN-13: 978-1573660945
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,896,454 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An original writing style; very compelling and readable, FUN, October 5, 2001

By 

Jill Kuraitis (Boise, ID United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Drama in Fabulous Toledo (Paperback)

"High Drama in Fabulous Toledo" is a funny, readable, delightful novel from an author I will be watching. If you like women's fiction but long for something truly original and fresh, THIS IS IT. Her writing style just carries you along - it's a compelling and new way of getting to know a character - which makes it one of those books you can't wait to get back to. Adventure and philosophy, sociology and brain studies fans will find much to think about here, all in the form of an entertaining read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars True crimes and imaginary heroes, August 6, 2002

By 

J. G. James (San Francisco Bay Area, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Drama in Fabulous Toledo (Paperback)

How much of what you choose to do and say is influenced by your interior life? Most of us smuggle the contraband of our dreams in our pockets, existing part-time in an isolating underground that no one ever sees, as do the characters in _High Times in Fabulous Toledo_.

Lily James' people live parallel lives that only intersect when a ludicrously botched kidnapping forces them to confront the glaring difference between what they have imagined their lives and themselves to be, and who they really are.

This story is a hilariously tragic fable that pierces the truth of our fantasy lives. Lily James shows us how our imaginary identities both shape our authentic selves, and isolate us from one another. A fast, funny romp that left me hoping for more from this young and brilliant author.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliance in motion!, September 23, 2001

By 

J. Patrick "zipmutt" (United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: High Drama in Fabulous Toledo (Paperback)

I want Lily James to write about my kidnapping! ... or at least about my hometown!
This is one quirky tale about a kidnapping gone very wrong. Two parts love, one part terror, added to a heavy dose of comedic BRILLIANCE and you've got a book you'll want to read again and again.
Lily James' ability to crawl beneath the skin of her characters and drag you along with her is uncanny and terrific - not to mention terrifying and exhilerating.
This is a Hal Hartley film waiting to be made. Hear that HAL HARTLEY?? You need to make this movie!!
This and _The Great Taste of Straight People_ make me a permanent member of the Lily James fan club.