A young filmmaker with mafia connections and an inquisitive photographer find themselves drawn into an adventure in the seedy underworld of a decaying New England town, the black heart of which resides in a lavish porn theater.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
O'Connell (Wireless) has drawn a growing crew of captivated readers into the dark, disturbingly hilarious fictional New England city of Quinsigamond on three breathtaking excursions. On this journey into his bohemian netherworld, he both exploits and pays homage to noir films. Photo-booth clerk and aspiring photographer Sylvia Krafft finds herself hunting for a legendary photographer who might be the reclusive talent behind the undeveloped negatives found inside an antique camera. Her crawl through the city's underground takes her to Herzog's Erotic Palace, aka the Skin Palace, where Hugo Schick rules supreme, and where his assistant, Jakob Kinsky, struggles to master the art of filmmaking in secret violation of his gangster father's iron will. Jakob and Sylvia, two would-be artists, move through a net of byzantine entanglements toward revelations about themselves. On the way, they encounter pornographers, evangelists and a tribe of lost children, not to mention scores of situations in which O'Connell playfully subverts famous films, from The Wizard of Oz to Phantom of the Opera. It's a measure of O'Connell's immense talent that, while creating his absolutely original and hyperbolic world, he also paints a striking vision of the haunting ways in which life and art mirror each other.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
This narrative's three "reels," each accompanied by a quotation about visual image, mix form and content. Sylvia Krafft, a slave to her darkroom, and youthful, gang-hoodlum Jakob, aspirant to artistic cinema, live in bizarre Quinsigamond, Massachusetts, a riotously colorful city of anti-pornography preachers, murderous street gangs, protection rackets, and Herzog's Erotic Palace. When Sylvia meets Jakob, she becomes enmeshed in the ambitions of his father, a ruthless mobster who plans to take over the X-rated palace. Great detail, European flavor, often violent action, and literary prose mark this effort as a keeper.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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More About the Author
Jack O'Connell's first novel, Box Nine, won the Mysterious Press Discovery Award. His second novel, Wireless, was chosen by the Los Angeles Times as one of the top ten crime novels of 1993. O'Connell is also the author of The Skin Palace and Word Made Flesh. His latest novel, The Resurrectionist, was chosen by Amazon.com as one of the top-10 SF novels of 2008. The winner of Le prix Mystère de la critique and Le Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire in France, the novel was also nominated for the Shirley Jackson Award. O'Connell lives in Worcester, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Combat zone is the place to be,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Skin Palace (Paperback)
I am a big-time O'Connell fan. I had to special
order Box 9 because it was out of print. I can't
wait until the next O'Connell book comes out. He
has a wonderful way of telling a quirky story. It
includes dwarfs, porno houses, strange photos,
lesbian groups, unusual mail carriers, and God knows
what. If you are a fan of Tom Robbins or William
Kotzwinkle, you will love Jack O'Connell.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I am "a reader" from August 4, 1997,
By
This review is from: The Skin Palace (Paperback)
I love Jack O'Connell. Love his characters, setting (especially), and the strange way he tells a story. Read one and you will read them all. I know you will...if you like a quirky set of characters, a David Lynch way of presenting a story, you will love this. Take me to the Combat Zone where midgets, lesbians, and just about anyone you can imagine RULE!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A really fine book; great writing; great read!,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Skin Palace (Paperback)
O'Connell is the intelligent reader's Elmore Leonard. A writer with an eclectic vision that dangerously intersects with contemporary reality.This writer deserves a huge following. I have no doubt that it will come eventually.
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