On The Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer: And the Many Crimes of Tobias James [Hardcover]

Rohan Kriwaczek (Author), Richard D. Davenport (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 8, 2010

Rohan Kriwaczek again takes us into a strange reality that is not quite real. Amanda Palmer rose to indie rock fame as the front woman for The Dresden Dolls, and continues to thrive as a solo act.

In On the Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer Kriwaczek builds on Amanda's playfully gothic image by centering the book around her imagined death.

Upon hearing news of Amanda Palmer's death, her fans began posting their own writing, artwork, and thoughts onto the Internet, eventually creating their own genre called the Palmeresque. By collecting a selection of these submissions in one place and providing commentary, Kriwaczeck explores issues of authorship, celebrity, popular culture, marketing strategies and the corruption of art. Amanda¹s fans will of course enjoy this outrageous depiction of their favorite songstress, and this book also appeals to anyone interested in the essential questions of modern media.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Inspired by the imagined death of the real-life (and living) Amanda Palmer, the front woman for the self-described "Brechtian punk cabaret" band, The Dresden Dolls, Kriwaczek (An Incomplete History of the Art of the Funerary Violin) puts his mischievous faux-scholasticism to work. Presented as an anthology of "Palmeresques," an artistic form of fan response to Palmer's mysterious death, each text offers its own darkly fanciful version of the songstress's demise. Also imagined are a jumble of issues concerning the shady dealings of the Amanda Palmer Trust (APT) selection committee, the possible influence of a murder suspect on their proceedings, and the intervention of the Boston police. A postmodern Russian nesting doll of realities, complete with poems, charts, and censored text, this book is successful on many levels: creepy and fun when accepted at face value; tantalizing when looked at as evidence in a murder mystery; insightful in its commentary on modern celebrity and culture-in all coy, engaging, and delightfully imagined. Illustrations.

From Booklist

This is something of a pop-music Festschrift of ex–Dresden Doll and ongoing scenester Palmer grafted onto Kriwaczek's musings on art, celebrity, and the perceived downward trend of popular culture. The ostensible center of the book is a collection of writings and artwork by Palmer's fans pertaining to Palmer's imaginary death. Whether the writings were undertaken in the sincere belief that Palmer had expired is beside the point since Kriwaczek's writing is the apparent crux of the work. The individual pieces are uneven, and much of the content is a little on the grim side, as befits Palmer's cabaret punk orientation. Ultimately, this treatment of a pop star's imagined demise and its accompanying introspective (if tongue-in-cheek) disquisition on the ultimate meaning of postmodern celebrity is heavy with schtick. As such it's a fitting shelfmate to Kriwaczek's previous work, An Incomplete History of the Art of the Funerary Violin (2006), which the New York Times labeled a “brilliant hoax.“ Shelve it in music or shelve it in fiction, but expect Palmer's oddly literary fans to come looking for it. --Mike Tribby

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Hardcover; 2 edition (July 8, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159020381X
• ISBN-13: 978-1590203811
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #450,698 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars AFP+BIZ, January 29, 2012

By 

Ericlovethings - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On The Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer: And the Many Crimes of Tobias James (Hardcover)

Amanda palmer and business have never gone so well together in a story. Very intriguing read indeed, haven't even gotten all the way through it, but I can't put it down

5.0 out of 5 stars great gift, January 21, 2012

By 

Kaila Werner (Dallas, Texas) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On The Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer: And the Many Crimes of Tobias James (Hardcover)

Gave this to a huge Amanda Palmer fan for Christmas. It was a huge hit. Great price, great gift, came very quickly.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Happy, September 28, 2010

By 

sma - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: On The Many Deaths of Amanda Palmer: And the Many Crimes of Tobias James (Hardcover)

Well this was received very quickly and with much excitement and anticipation - I was not disappointed!