Mondo Barbie [Paperback]

Lucinda Ebersole (Editor), Richard Peabody (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 1993

Barbie is an American icon. But Barbie becomes a problem when the adult fantasy collides with the child's fantasy? All that misplaced Barbie angst of our youth, all the childhood conditioning, and the adult results are revealed at last in Mondo Barbie.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Members of the Barbie Generation have come of age, and they are taking no prisoners. This terrific collection of short stories, poems and memoirs explores what the Barbie doll, now in her 30s, means and has meant to young women (and some young men). In most pieces, little girls obsess about accumulating clothes for Barbie, getting Barbie together with Ken or how their Barbie collections compare to those of their friends. Barbie becomes a real person who must deal with her perfect figure, ideal boyfriend and fabulously decorated Dream House. Throughout, Barbie's detachable limbs and hollow head make her an easy target for violent dismemberment. In the more way-out contributions, Ken undergoes a sex-change operation to become Kendra, and Barbie becomes a speed freak. Barbie's steady upholding of the American ideal of femininity through three decades of feminist upheaval provides rich material for these smart and brash authors, who include Sandra Cisneros and Alice McDermott. The contributors' often religious childhood relationships with "playing Barbies" will gives this volume an energy that will make it must reading for parents whose children learn lessons of womanhood from the doll.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Poems, stories, and fantasies featuring the queen of American dolls that, all together, pack more of a punch than one might expect--a funny, irreverent, and sometimes shocking look at Barbie's function as national icon. She was stripped, decapitated, and buried alive. She was thrown against the wall in temper-tantrum sessions, mashed and twisted during bouts of masturbation, fearfully studied for long, angst-filled moments of teenaged sexual confusion. In this wide- ranging group of meditations on America's favorite plastic blond, the difference between real people and the super-artificial ideal stands out in stark, funny relief, and Barbie's serenely smiling silence plays effectively against the authors' hurried, confessional prose. In ``A Real Doll,'' A.M. Homes tells of a young boy who ``dated'' his sister's Barbie, stealing her from her place beside dorky Ken on his sister's dresser, muttering erotic phrases in her ear, then abruptly dumping her when she grew unattractively lusty. An excerpt from Kathryn Harrison's novel Thicker Than Water describes a young girl's tour of a Mattel toy factory, where enormous black women jam and twist thousands of Barbie heads onto plastic necks before tossing them onto a conveyor belt. ``Twelve- Step Barbie,'' by Richard Grayson, evokes a middle-aged, post- success Barbie trying to make it through a spirit-deadening day. In Denise Duhamel's poem ``Kinky,'' Barbie and Ken play at switching sex roles and clothes. And in Julia Alvarez's ``Floor Show,'' one of the more memorable stories here, the young daughter of political refugees slyly expresses her rage and resentment through a lovely, newly purchased doll. Remarkable for its emphasis on sexual experimentation, homosexuality, dysfunctional family situations, and other so-called ``deviant'' environments, the collection cleverly plays up, via selection as well as substance, Barbie's bizarre, surreally ``perfect'' presence in a wildly nonconforming world. More intriguing than it might have been--an unusually entertaining collection. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 185 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (March 15, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312088485
• ISBN-13: 978-0312088484
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,416,115 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Just wanted to mention that there are a few spoken word/music Gargoyle CDs on Amazon as well. Gargoyle #52, #49, and #46. You'll find them in Music.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mondo Barbie, January 12, 2000

By 

Helen Dyer (Divide, Colorado) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Mondo Barbie (Paperback)

This wonderful book is full of wit and sadness. These stories and poems make one laugh, cry and wince, and through them all screams the voice of a culture obsessed. This book should NOT be out of print.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great book!!!, March 4, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Mondo Barbie (Paperback)

St. Martin's Press must be dumber than a bag of hair to discontinue this book. It's a wonderful mix of Barbie-ania and will certainly be read and discussed among the intelligensia for decades to come. Stupid bastards (St. Martin's, I mean)

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Shocking, Hilarious, Essential!!!, December 8, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (New Hope, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mondo Barbie (Paperback)

An excellent anthology of short fiction and poetry concerning the perfect, ever-smiling Barbie. Some of these pieces involve Barbie in suprising ways! Gently explores the vast gap between the doll's vapid perfection and the very imperfect world that we mortals inhabit. Entertaining, thought provoking and fun!