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Palo Alto: Stories Paperback – May 6, 2014
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James Franco’s story collection traces the lives of a group of teenagers as they experiment with vices of all kinds, struggle with their families and one another, and succumb to self-destructive, often heartless nihilism. In “Lockheed” a young woman’s summer—spent working a dull internship—is suddenly upended by a spectacular incident of violence at a house party. In “American History” a high school freshman attempts to impress a girl with a realistic portrayal of a slave owner during a classroom skit—only to have his feigned bigotry avenged. In “I Could Kill Someone,” a lonely teenager buys a gun with the aim of killing his high school tormentor, but begins to wonder about his bully’s own inner life.
These “spare and riveting” (O, The Oprah Magazine) stories are a compelling portrait of lives on the rough fringes of youth. Palo Alto is, “a collection of beautifully written stories” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) that “capture with perfect pitch the impossible exhilaration, the inevitable downbeatness, and the pure confusion of being an adolescent” (Elle).
Features a bonus essay by James Franco on Gia Coppola's film adaptation.
- Print length240 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherScribner
- Publication dateMay 6, 2014
- Dimensions5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
- ISBN-109781476778389
- ISBN-13978-1476778389
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Editorial Reviews
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“Spare and riveting… Franco’s ear for juvenile vernacular is like an Ouija board summoning the lost voices of Generation Z.”—O, the Oprah Magazine
"Compelling and gutsy.”—Meghan O’Grady, Vogue
“Startling and original.”—The Economist
“[Franco] ends up perfectly mirroring the undulations of a teenage mind.”—The New York Times Book Review
About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : 1476778388
- Publisher : Scribner; Media Tie-In edition (May 6, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 9781476778389
- ISBN-13 : 978-1476778389
- Item Weight : 6.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #1,191,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #10,555 in Coming of Age Fiction (Books)
- #20,847 in Short Stories (Books)
- #51,403 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
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About the author
James Franco is an actor, director, screenwriter, and artist. His film appearances include "Milk," "Pineapple Express," the "Spider-Man" trilogy, and upcoming appearances in "Eat, Pray, Love," and "Howl," in which he portrays beat poet Allen Ginsberg. On television, he starred in the critically acclaimed series "Freaks and Geeks." Franco has also written, directed and starred in several short plays, two of which -- "Fool's Gold" and "The Ape" -- he adapted into feature-length films. He also wrote and directed the film "Good Time Max." Franco will be participating in an upcoming gallery show at Deitch Projects in New York, and his writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, McSweeney's, and other publications
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As for Palo Alto, this is a book of short stories all centered around Palo Alto high school students in the early 90's. Growing up in a similar town, during a similar time, I personally identified with much of the detail and thoughts. The stories deal with self loathing, sexual frustration, the pain of unrequited teenage love, rape, and guilt. Typical teenage angst, which can be quite serious, especially when accompanied by external trauma and drug use. The stories are interesting, raw and honest. The characters are very believable and each deeply disturbed. Franco captures in literature some of that stomach turning sadness for teenagers that Larry Clark captured so well on films like Kids and Bully.
The writing is extremely well done. I notice some reviews claiming Franco is attempting to write in a Hemingway style, and not pulling it off. I would suggest that he's channeling more Carver, especially since the book contains short narratives centered around a select group. If Franco falls short on anything in style, it may be when you feel an attempt at Ginsburg that comes on a bit strong. This happens maybe twice.
It's not as though Franco is utterly without talent and can't pull off the occasional interesting image; take the story "Tar Baby," and his description of the lonely and empty night: "Outside, it was a little cold, and the sound vacuumed out to quiet, nothing but a few cars passing in the distance along Middlefield Road." There are occasional nuggets like this throughout "Palo Alto," but the problem is that they add up to nothing. The predominant theme is disaffected youth, and every story is told from the first person perspective, demonstrating little to no range; Franco's narrators skip from one incident to the next with next to no insight or reflection.
Each story is also anticlimactic, choosing simply to end abruptly without resolution. In a book of fifteen stories, the anti-climax approach can work as an arresting sort of change-up pitch a handful of times, but in every story, it simply becomes tiresome. Eventually, some of your stories need a payoff, lest they stand as only meaningless sketches, doodles of disaffected youth. If you're going to go with abrupt endings, the material leading up to them needs to be very compelling, enough to let the reader complete the story in their minds; but in Franco's pages, even the most shocking material - a teenager who has a sexual affair with her much-older soccer coach, underage drinking and driving, vehicular homicide, or animal abuse - is all rendered in such a casual, dull, shallow manner that it provokes no profound emotions. Like a damp matchbook, it's all essentially meaningless.
Perhaps that is Franco's point here -- everything is meaningless -- but if so, why bother to capture it? The more logical conclusion is that Franco, at this point in his writing career, lacks either the interest or the ability to push his writing further. Maybe in the future he'll write something that matters; "Palo Alto" does not.
Top reviews from other countries
Les histoires sont courtes et permettent au lecteur de suivre le quotidien d’adolescents à Palo Alto.
Le roman a également été adapté dans un film qui conserve l’univers du livre.
Ne convient pas à un trop jeune public.