Palo Alto
Books | Fiction / Literary
2.8
(153)
James Franco
Now a “provocative” and “impressive” (Variety) film from director Gia Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola’s granddaughter)—starring Emma Roberts, James Franco, Nat Wolff, and Val Kilmer—the fiction debut from James Franco that Vogue called “compelling and gutsy.”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.
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Author
James Franco
Pages
208
Publisher
Simon and Schuster
Published Date
2010-10-19
ISBN
1439175721 9781439175729
Ratings
Google: 4
Community ReviewsSee all
"I don’t think we’re in a time where shock value is important. I don’t think there’s a need to be bold and vulgar and unapologetic without also being the ameliorative substance. Most people who actually read nowadays understand that the world is not an ideal place, that bad things happen and that humanity itself is the cause of those bad things. I think perhaps this book was ten to twenty years too late in that sense. No one who reads really needs woken up - or who was this book meant for? Now, I think we are in need of a more thoughtful approach to the subject matter, particularly sexual assault and manipulation. We are in need of apologies and moralizing - particularly because it seems that at least half of humanity is without conscience. Callousness is rampant in the adult population, and there is a focus on this in Palo Alto without any change or offering. <br/><br/>I would say it’s out of touch. The young people today seem to care. Deeply. Franco says somewhere that teenagers are useful in literature as a synecdoche of the human experience, because everyone can relate to them. But I can’t relate to anyone in these pages because their emotions are off to sea, inaccessible. <br/><br/>"
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Abigail Spradlin