Customer Reviews

It Was Gonna Be Like Paris

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Emily Listfield's "It Was Gonna Be Like Paris" was one of the first novels of the East Village in the days of its all-in-black post-punk art-scene glory... I first read this in the mid-1980s and I was thrilled and intrigued by the world she depicts... Listfield offers little cold vignettes of life in the punk world of artists, failed junkie musicians, and imminent violence and love... Her style is austere, cold, and clear. I was living in New Orleans when I first found this book, and I instantly gave copies to all my friends. We read it and spent a long spring and summer trying to live the novel in dance clubs and galleries in both New Orleans and Houston. The fact that this novel is out of print is a major indictment of Listfield's publishers. "It Was Gonna Be Like Paris" is a minor clasic, a small gem of a novel about a lost world and time... (Lohr Miller

it isn't really like that. it's not just some disconcerting look into the underground of the east village full of drugs and sex and blah blah blah -- that's every other review. what's actually in this book is centred more around style than substance. ms. listfield writes powerfully, artistically, and honestly in these vignettes; she writes like comfort food. this is the kind of book where every line is the type of line you're prone to underlining or reading allowed to whoever will listen, the kind of sentences you want to carry along in your pocket for their brilliance. i recognised myself on every page.

all in all it's not the work of the century, but genuinely, genuintely worth the read.

... Every generation wants its twenties to be like Hemingway'stwenties in Paris, poor in pocket but rich in creative work, artist companions, great conversation and wine. Except on the lower east side of Manhattan in the 1980's, the artist part gets buried in drugs, booze, dancing 'til dawn in clubs. Love gets mangled in the partying, too. This is told brilliantly, unapologetically, in the voice of Sara who is resisting her family's call back to the suburbs, back to dependable, bland men and unexciting, secure jobs. Written in the time it portrays, just before AIDS changes everything, it is straightforward, not dripping with the irony of hindsight or regret. Above all, it is written with artistry, rendered in short cuts where every word is crafted, every word counts. It is of a particular time and place, but not dated. It is more honest than Bright Lights, Big City, more genuine than the recent retro film 200 Cigarettes.

I am so happy I hung onto this book since 1988. It was gonna be like Paris in the 20s or New York in the 80s. We were all interesting and interested. That's how it was. I'm glad this book captured it. Much better than Slaves of New York.