The Paris Review Book: of Heartbreak, Madness, Sex, Love, Betrayal, Outsiders, Intoxication, War, Whimsy, Horrors, God, Death, Dinner, Baseball, Travels, the Art of Writing, and Everything Else in the World Since 1953 (Hardcover)

by The Paris Review (Author), George Plimpton (Introduction, Editor), The Paris Review (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
While this volume's everything-but-the-kitchen-sink title may seem to imply an odd combination of editorial insecurity or pretension, it only takes one spin through the table of contents to know why the editors felt the need for such a busy, bursting name. This astoundingly diverse anthology, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Paris Review, is jam-packed with resonant and provocative work from some of our greatest writers, past and present: W.H. Auden, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Jack Kerouac, Elizabeth Bishop, Truman Capote, William Burroughs, Susan Sontag, Joyce Carol Oates, Toni Morrison, Jonathan Franzen, Ian McEwan and Alice Munro, to name just a fraction. Rather than relying on critics to illuminate the craft of writing secondhand, the founders inaugurated a series of interviews with the authors themselves, creating what Plimpton, in his introduction, refers to as "a DNA of literature"; several excerpts from those interviews are included here. A look at the eras and themes represented shows that the journal's only abiding mandate has been an evolving brand of artistic humanism, which has morphed and adapted to the changing times. How else can one explain being able to jump with such joy and ease from a hilarious and poignant story by Lorrie Moore to an interview with Ted Hughes about his first meeting with Sylvia Plath, then to Allen Ginsberg's loving, sexually charged poem about the life and death of Frank O'Hara? It is a tribute to Plimpton and his cofounders that the entries in this wonderful book can be read in any order, for the reader will be able to see his or her life reflected on every page.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Paris Review, that mighty "little" literary magazine, is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary with an anthology every bit as mammoth and marvelous as its endless title suggests. Founded by Peter Matthiessen, Harold L. Humes, Donald Hall, William Pene du Bois, and George Plimpton, who remains at the helm, the Paris Review has published an extraordinary group of seminal fiction writers, poets, and essayists and some of the best writer interviews extant, irresistible conversations (Truman Capote responds to a simple question thusly: "Good Lord! I'm afraid you've let yourself in for quite a saga. The answer is a snake's nest of no's and a few yesses") excerpted throughout this dynamic compendium showcasing more than 100 writers past and present. A shattering short story by Lorrie Moore kicks off the "Heartbreak" section, while Zelda Fitzgerald is first up in the "Madness" category. Rick Moody offers a painfully graphic variation on "Sex," and Jonathan Lethem writes of a Tourette's sufferer in "Outsiders." Elsewhere the entranced reader will find Faulkner, Auden, Elkin, Cheever, Komunyakaa, Boyle, Erdrich, Munro, and Clifton. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 752 pages
• Publisher: Picador; 1st edition (May 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312422385
• ISBN-13: 978-0312422387
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #669,184 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Probably an impossible task, December 31, 2003

By	Gulley Jimson (Bethesda, MD) - See all my reviews

I bought this book mainly for the interviews the magazine has had over the years, and some of them with notoriously reticent figures like Nabokov and Hemingway. But I was disappointed, because what really distinguishes a Paris Review interview from those of other magazines is how well they're edited, and how beautifully and naturally the conversations flow. All we get here is single paragraphs, usually just anecdotes, funny stories, little opinions: sometimes they're profound (see Edmund White's page) or just convey the author's personality well (Faulkner, Hemingway), but all of them just made me upset about not being able to read the rest of the interview.

Of course there's not enough space. But I would have thrown out most of the other material. I doubt there was any way to make this collection totally succesful: if you pick only the famous stuff that the magazine has published over the years, it's sort of a waste, since most people would either have read the selection already or wouldn't want to read just an excerpt. A first chapter is useful to get you excited about an upcoming book, but unnecessary if the book's already been published. If you limit yourself to the more obscure material, well, it'll be good, but there's a reason that some people remain obscure.

Not that I didn't get a lot of pleasure out of this book. Heather McHugh's poem, for example, is beautiful, and I never would have run across it if I hadn't picked this up. There are little wonders sprinkled throughout, but too much of the rest is familiar, just okay, or an unsatisfying little piece of something larger.

I hesitate to put forward this criticism, since I have no idea how I could do it better - but I do know what book I would rather have read. If anyone down at the magazine (which I hope will rebound from the sad loss of Plimpton) can put together a big volume of complete, untruncated interviews, I would pay a princely sum for it. I've seen earlier collections, but nothing that covers the entire Plimpton era, and I think it would be easier to pick just the great interviews than to squeeze thirty plus years of wonderful material into this enjoyable but probably ill-advised collection.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 750 pages of good writing is a bargain, April 10, 2004

By	Ian Muldoon (Coffs Harbour, NSW Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Well I have never read a copy of the magazine The Paris Review but have subscribed to Granta since it started and subscribe to The New Yorker. The first story in the anthology "Terrific Mother" by Lorrrie Moore was enough for me to give this five stars - let's face it, where can you get such a thrill for $21? There may be some stories, poems, interviews, that don't grab me with the same electric immediacy as that first story, but I don't have to read it from cover to cover. It's one of those terrific bedside books as far as I'm concerned and an absolute joy to explore.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Anthology, Longest Title Award, July 30, 2003

By	Jamie Jahncke "jamjahncke" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This book makes a perfect gift for both serious literature junkies and those who have blown off reading for the past fifty years. If the former applies to you, here's the best from the best. If you're in the latter category, this book will catch you up to speed. The Paris Review published the first chapter of Kerouac's ON THE ROAD, the first chapter of McInerney's BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY, the first chapter of Franzan's THE CORRECTIONS, etc., etc., etc. Obviously, they've been able to spot new talent from the day they started even to today. And of course, their fantastic interviews with writers themselves are legendary. A must for the collector and the neophyte alike.