Depth Takes a Holiday: Essays from Lesser Los Angeles (Paperback)

~ (Author) "I will never forget the day I saw my first IKEA home furnishings catalog..." (more)
Key Phrases: dirty talk, theater festival, open mike, Los Angeles, Faces International, Club Med (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A masterpiece from one of LA's funniest natives, this book contains such gems as "How to Talk Dirty", "Tahiti!", and "Tonya Harding, Actress". Sandra Tsing Loh deftly cuts through the pretenses of Los Angeles in the '90s like so much smoked salmon pate.

From Publishers Weekly

"Depth," Tsing Loh proposes, sometimes "deserves a holiday." In this collection of pieces from her "Valley" column for L.A.'s Buzz magazine, she provides one of sorts, weighing in with tongue-in-cheek observations on such ponderous subjects as the Ikea-ization of 20-somethings' taste in home decor, the semiotics of earrings and the pleasures of Baywatch. But for all their frothy charm, her musings on the plight of an overeducated, underemployed generation that measures success in terms of the ability to afford health insurance are often as insightful as they are witty. Even as she gently mocks the pretensions and delusions of her fellow young Angelenos, Tsing Loh succeeds in making Generation X angst far more appealing and sympathetic than usual. Despite L.A.'s role as "the nation's cultural scapegoat," even the "smug, incestuous, cultural imperialist hipsters of Manhattan" will doubtless appreciate-and recognize something of their own experience in-Tsing Loh's sardonic but never mean-spirited take on modern urban life.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: Riverhead Hardcover; First Ed.- 1st Printing edition (April 2, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573220310
• ISBN-13: 978-1573220316
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,917,127 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I know of whence she speaks, November 20, 2002

By	D. Movahedpour "doeadear" (CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Depth Takes a Holiday (Paperback)

I love the writing of Sandra Tsing Loh because she is incredibly witty and acerbic, and doesn't take herself or anything too seriously. And, she can write about the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles in language that makes it sound downright pleasant.

Loh is the Queen of the San Fernando Valley, once a farming community over the hill from Los Angeles, but now a burgeoning suburb. Los Angelenos consider the Valley a foreign country, and, truth be told, getting from Los Angeles to the Valley is, literally, an uphill battle over the Sepulveda Pass. But, even though I lived there and know of whence she speaks, you don't need to be a Valley Girl to appreciate her humor.

This book is a collection of essays on everything from temp jobs to frozen foods, being the less-perfect sibling, her late German mother and her eccentric Chinese father (who keeps importing and losing Chinese brides, and hitch hikes rides with Angelica Huston). Loh's eye is keen, and she can make the most mundane seem downright hysterical.

Loh is a self-professed procrastinator when it comes to pumping out her writing, and I wish she would do more. But, her columns in the late, lamented Buzz magazine were a scream, and I can only hope she gets more columns and books and maybe even a television show. She is a rare gem.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Nothing wrong with L.A. that a tsunami wouldn't fix..., September 29, 2002

By	The Sanity Inspector (USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Depth Takes a Holiday (Paperback)

This mid-90s collection of humorous essays concerning the Los Angeles 'burbs is holding up well a half-decade on. Our narrator is outwardly an exotic: a biracial performance artist, but underneath the multiculti veneer the material is familiar stuff. For non-Angelenos it helps to have a map handy, as southern California regional humor involves quite a lot of dropping of place names. And you still won't quite get it when some township or other is used as a punchline.

The book gets off to a wobbly start, with some generational generalizing that was out of date before the original newspaper column got to the recycling center. But soon Ms. Loh turns to her career and personal life, and we are in familiar Fran Leibowitz territory. She jokes about her (comparatively) slovenly home life, dates from hell, brain-gnawing jobs, and such. Plenty of sharp observational humor keeps things hopping, and the whole thing is a good two-evening read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Like, totally charming, November 15, 2001

By	Darth Vader (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Depth Takes a Holiday (Paperback)

Author Sandra Tsing Loh takes a look at contemporary Los Angeles in this engaging book of essays. She's very perceptive about pointing out the vanities and obsessions of L.A., and she fully enjoys the city. What clinched this book for me was the juxtaposition of Loh's fine, precise literary style with the often gonzo hyperbole of everyday life in an image-obsessed city. "Depth Takes a Holiday" is a great coming-of-young-adulthood story by a cultural survivor who emerged from the gloss and illusion with her mind, and voice, joyously intact.