Girl With Curious Hair (Paperback)

by David Foster Wallace (Author) "IT'S 1976. The sky is low and full of clouds..." (more)
Key Phrases: lady bird, punkrocker friends, malevolent car, Mark Nechtr, Jack Lord, Simple Ranger (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Postmodern short stories from Wallace satirize the absurdities of contemporary pop culture.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
In assessing this book, comparisons with Don DeLillo, Tom Robbins, and Robert Coover seem accurate, for Wallace is playful, idiomatically sharp, and intellectually engage. Overwhelming in his long, torrential sentences and his wit, he at times subjects us to overwritten, almost showy, passages, but his talent is undeniable. Included in this collection is a novella that examines, among other things, post-modernism. His (generally overlong) stories explore popular culture through the lives of a variety of characters: a lesbian with a three-year winning streak on Jeopardy, an actress anxious about appearing on David Letterman, a wealthy Republican yuppie who has a disturbing connection with some punk rockers; and Lyndon Johnson in a closeup that shows how well a historical figure can be used in fiction. Impressive in scope and savvy.
- Peter Bricklebank, City Coll., CUNY
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co.; 1st edition (February 17, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393313964
• ISBN-13: 978-0393313963
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #18,420 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is funny, it's brilliant, it should..., November 12, 2001

By	"verill" (Germany) - See all my reviews

Ignoring all the fuzz about postmodern writing, I constantly found myself asking, what kind of impact did writers like Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo or William Gaddis might have had to other writers and, even more significant, what trace have they left in modern writing. In David Foster Wallace's collection of short stories, "Girl with curious hair", I found a large portion of my questions answered.

I've just finished it in almost one sitting, and like so often, when the book you've just finished didn't turned out to be total crap, you start missing its characters.
I miss Julie Smith from the "Jeopardy !" show, I wanna stick to "Sick Puppy" and his punky friends visiting a Keith Jarrett (!) concert. I feel sorry for old pal Chuck Nunn, jr., who, after a car accident, had his eyes constantly popping out their holes (!!). I deeply felt for the woman who "appeared in the David Letterman show", don't be nervous anymore ! And then finally there's David Boyd, first boy and close friend of the president of the United States, Lynton B.Johnson !

David Foster Wallace presents each of the five stories in a different tone, a different style: There's the more traditional narrative form in the first story, pure satire (with shades of Brett Easton Ellis's "American Psycho") in the second, and a haunting yet nightmarish and illogical atmosphere in the third one. The fourth story comes with a dry, almost documentary-like kind of prose, while the fifth and last story (the LBJ story) once again returns to more traditional grounds.

But don't worry: David Foster Wallace successfully manages to avoid pretentiousness or self-indulgence and never lets "Girl with curious hair" end up in a writing skill showcase !

This book is funny, it's brilliant, it should be regarded as a modern classic, but word comes around his other books are even better <...> oboy !

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing yet absurd, December 2, 1999

By	[e-mail] (N. California) - See all my reviews

Flashes of brilliance with complete and utter beauty. However, it is obvious the author is still searching his method. Some stories are just dead and strange. The author at his best is far more unsettling and unblinkingly addictive than Vonnegut. Other stories... are just not as they could be, and disappoint. I can only hope that David Wallace can pull his talent together continuously through a full book, and soon.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars There's homage to Pynchon, and then there's aping Pynchon, February 24, 1999

By A Customer

Reading this collection brought to mind a review I once read of a film, a paraphrasing of which best sums up this work: this is such a close copy of Thomas Pynchon that it's not plagarism, it's quotation. The extended fugue on Jack Lord and "Hawaii Five-O" in the last story ("Westward...") could've been lifted directly from "Vineland". Overall, the world-weary hipness and extended verbal (literal?) arabesques wore me out. At least Pynchon was genuinely funny, at intervals.