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Grapefruit: a book of instructions;
Regarded as poetry, thought bombs, metaphysical metrics, and Kodachrome luminescences, a long out-of-print collection of Yoko Ono's synthesis of the Fluxus art movement and the written word is an original work reflecting her restless creative spirit.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
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About the author
Yoko Ono
167 books216 followersYoko Ono (オノ/ヨーコ) Lennon is a Japanese artist and musician. She is known for her work as an avant-garde artist and musician, and her marriage and works with world famous English musician John Lennon.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 294 reviews
March 13, 2012
Instructions for obtaining, reading, and disposing of Grapefruit
Buy this book on amazon with two others for free s&h. Still think you spent too much money. Don’t care you spent too much money because you think this book will make you a better person.
See the word “whimsical” on the back cover. Laugh at the word whimsical. Laugh with a coworker about the word whimsical. Say, “Oh, Yoko Ono, you so whimsical!”
Make notes on every page. On some pages make pictures. In most of the notes, draw from your knowledge of physics, astronomy, psychology, sociology, and rationality to deconstruct the instructions. Logically prove them false, nonsensical, or even harmful. Feel bad about not being whimsical. Then feel good about being rational. Use no less than three different colored pens to do this.
Read out loud with a coworker at your place of business. Have giggle fits. Get stared at. Read to each other. Instruct each other. Don’t comply. Giggle more instead.
Talk about how Yoko broke up the Beatles and killed John Lennon. Feel cliché for doing so. But refuse to continue reading for that reason. Then continue reading anyways because it’s assigned. Do it begrudgingly. Feel bad about not being whimsical. Then remember you’re not insane.
Briefly think about how these instructions aren’t meant to be taken literally, how it’s an expression, a form of art. Think about the fact that each page probably means something. Don’t care to figure it out because you can’t translate crazy.
Feel bad for John Lennon. Wonder about how things might have been different. Decide you believe in fate and that things worked out for the best. Take that thought back and stop reading again. Then start again because maybe you’ll get it this time.
Rate this book on Goodreads. Be surprised, but not surprised to see it has an average rating of 4+ stars. Think about how people automatically believe when something is strange and/or they don’t understand it, that it is by default genius. Think about hipsters who pretend to like things they don’t actually like because it makes them look cool or smart. Don’t care about not being perceived as cool or smart because you absolutely abhor this book. Try to like it because you respect your professor and her reading list and she’s obviously assigning this for a reason. Stop trying because you hate it and you will always hate it. Think you’re just cranky and too serious. Then stop thinking because you’ve wasted enough time thinking about this already and you’ve got more important things to do.
Don’t do Yoko the pleasure of burning this book like she requests. Put it on a shelf instead. Let it collect dust (the ultimate violence to books). Pull it out when your friends are over and you are all drunk. Read to each other. Have more giggle fits. Let it collect more dust. Briefly fantasize that because it has your notes and drawings in it that it will one day be valuable because you will one day be a published writer--but published because of merit rather than reputation. Have pride in the fact you don’t want to ever be published by fact of your being an anti-celebrity or the spouse of a celebrity. Have pride in the fact that you only want to be published when your writing deserves it. Feel elitist. Feel snobby. Then feel bad for feeling elitist and snobby. Then stop caring and read something else.
Forget this book exists.
Buy this book on amazon with two others for free s&h. Still think you spent too much money. Don’t care you spent too much money because you think this book will make you a better person.
See the word “whimsical” on the back cover. Laugh at the word whimsical. Laugh with a coworker about the word whimsical. Say, “Oh, Yoko Ono, you so whimsical!”
Make notes on every page. On some pages make pictures. In most of the notes, draw from your knowledge of physics, astronomy, psychology, sociology, and rationality to deconstruct the instructions. Logically prove them false, nonsensical, or even harmful. Feel bad about not being whimsical. Then feel good about being rational. Use no less than three different colored pens to do this.
Read out loud with a coworker at your place of business. Have giggle fits. Get stared at. Read to each other. Instruct each other. Don’t comply. Giggle more instead.
Talk about how Yoko broke up the Beatles and killed John Lennon. Feel cliché for doing so. But refuse to continue reading for that reason. Then continue reading anyways because it’s assigned. Do it begrudgingly. Feel bad about not being whimsical. Then remember you’re not insane.
Briefly think about how these instructions aren’t meant to be taken literally, how it’s an expression, a form of art. Think about the fact that each page probably means something. Don’t care to figure it out because you can’t translate crazy.
Feel bad for John Lennon. Wonder about how things might have been different. Decide you believe in fate and that things worked out for the best. Take that thought back and stop reading again. Then start again because maybe you’ll get it this time.
Rate this book on Goodreads. Be surprised, but not surprised to see it has an average rating of 4+ stars. Think about how people automatically believe when something is strange and/or they don’t understand it, that it is by default genius. Think about hipsters who pretend to like things they don’t actually like because it makes them look cool or smart. Don’t care about not being perceived as cool or smart because you absolutely abhor this book. Try to like it because you respect your professor and her reading list and she’s obviously assigning this for a reason. Stop trying because you hate it and you will always hate it. Think you’re just cranky and too serious. Then stop thinking because you’ve wasted enough time thinking about this already and you’ve got more important things to do.
Don’t do Yoko the pleasure of burning this book like she requests. Put it on a shelf instead. Let it collect dust (the ultimate violence to books). Pull it out when your friends are over and you are all drunk. Read to each other. Have more giggle fits. Let it collect more dust. Briefly fantasize that because it has your notes and drawings in it that it will one day be valuable because you will one day be a published writer--but published because of merit rather than reputation. Have pride in the fact you don’t want to ever be published by fact of your being an anti-celebrity or the spouse of a celebrity. Have pride in the fact that you only want to be published when your writing deserves it. Feel elitist. Feel snobby. Then feel bad for feeling elitist and snobby. Then stop caring and read something else.
Forget this book exists.
April 8, 2015
I can't believe these reviews! To people who hated it and who hate Yoko Ono: wtf have you ever done that made me feel good about life? Have you ever slowed down time through the economy of words? Have you ever made me wonder? Yoko Ono likes simple words everyone can understand arranged in small, beautiful koans! Little bouquets of language! Just like flowers! You have to stop and smell them!!! What's not to understand/like? I love this!! GTFO!
March 19, 2012
A rewrite I composed, addressed to my family, based on my experience with Yoko Ono's flowering poetry in Grapefruit:
PIECE FOR MY LITTLEST BROTHER
Make a mountain.
Put the mountain outside.
Hand out small portions to people who
come to see it.
PIECE FOR MY OTHER LITTLE BRO
Break big light into pieces.
Put the pieces in an empty bag.
Use pieces from the bag to fill
empty conversation.
PIECE FOR MY FINE ASS SISTER
Collect sounds you have heard throughout the week.
Replay the sounds at fullblast while
you laugh louder.
PIECE FOR GIDE, MY FATHER
Call every day and talk about many things.
Walk the distance of your conversation and back.
PIECE FOR MY OLDER BROTHER
A tie is a deed.
Gift one to your father on
your sister’s wedding day.
Gift one to yourself in the morning
of the day.
PIECE FOR HURLANDE, MY MOTHER
Listen to a heart beat.
Write all the things you want to do.
Make a beautiful thing happen by sunset.
PIECE
Take every word you come across and
chew the fruit of it.
Be careful to spit the seed of that word
out.
PIECE FOR MY LITTLEST BROTHER
Make a mountain.
Put the mountain outside.
Hand out small portions to people who
come to see it.
PIECE FOR MY OTHER LITTLE BRO
Break big light into pieces.
Put the pieces in an empty bag.
Use pieces from the bag to fill
empty conversation.
PIECE FOR MY FINE ASS SISTER
Collect sounds you have heard throughout the week.
Replay the sounds at fullblast while
you laugh louder.
PIECE FOR GIDE, MY FATHER
Call every day and talk about many things.
Walk the distance of your conversation and back.
PIECE FOR MY OLDER BROTHER
A tie is a deed.
Gift one to your father on
your sister’s wedding day.
Gift one to yourself in the morning
of the day.
PIECE FOR HURLANDE, MY MOTHER
Listen to a heart beat.
Write all the things you want to do.
Make a beautiful thing happen by sunset.
PIECE
Take every word you come across and
chew the fruit of it.
Be careful to spit the seed of that word
out.
Read
June 1, 2019what an unorthodox and brilliant book--cross-genre in the truest sense--and so liberating. almost a declaration of artistic independence. it is sectioned into 9 "chapters" or so that instruct you on how to create an art piece in a particular genre: music/painting/poetry/event//object/dance/film/etc. in its range, the book is truly democratic, imagining all the possibilities for experiencing and creating art in so many ways. in its elliptical language, the book is deceptively simple, challenging you to go past your comfort zone with art. burn a painting. wait on stage for the audience to snip away your dress. cut out from a film those images you hate.
on an emotional level, the work goes back and forth between being heartbreaking, exhilarating, and frustrating. some sections felt long--almost too many thought experiments for me to really sit with, digest--but i loved the rollercoaster feel of all these ways of finding art in the world, especially in broken things. (so eerily useful for the current collage story i'm working through.) "Break your mirror and scatter the pieces/over different countries./Travel and collect the pieces and glue them together again." (Collecting PIece III)
on an aesthetic/technical level, the work is itself a collage, piecing together these different instructions on genre art. the reader is thus being taught to see more clearly the resonances between genres and the differences. how are dance and event different? not so much, if the instructions boil down to witnessing and walking. how are architecture and painting different? because you can "throw it off a high building." (cut piece) i want to re-read this whole thing more carefully, as it really does work as an instruction guide on re-creation from genre to genre, which possibly purifies the work at hand.
as an artist, i can sense the guts and imagination it took to dream up this book. to offer it as a guide for other artists in other times--and the book does toy with linearity, does posit art as something that is timeless in that it crosses over into futures--a mandate for a more beautiful world. i listened to john lennon's "oh yoko" as i read this, and that about completed my 60s nostalgia and thrilling walk through yoko's landscape. really, thanks for this one . . .
on an emotional level, the work goes back and forth between being heartbreaking, exhilarating, and frustrating. some sections felt long--almost too many thought experiments for me to really sit with, digest--but i loved the rollercoaster feel of all these ways of finding art in the world, especially in broken things. (so eerily useful for the current collage story i'm working through.) "Break your mirror and scatter the pieces/over different countries./Travel and collect the pieces and glue them together again." (Collecting PIece III)
on an aesthetic/technical level, the work is itself a collage, piecing together these different instructions on genre art. the reader is thus being taught to see more clearly the resonances between genres and the differences. how are dance and event different? not so much, if the instructions boil down to witnessing and walking. how are architecture and painting different? because you can "throw it off a high building." (cut piece) i want to re-read this whole thing more carefully, as it really does work as an instruction guide on re-creation from genre to genre, which possibly purifies the work at hand.
as an artist, i can sense the guts and imagination it took to dream up this book. to offer it as a guide for other artists in other times--and the book does toy with linearity, does posit art as something that is timeless in that it crosses over into futures--a mandate for a more beautiful world. i listened to john lennon's "oh yoko" as i read this, and that about completed my 60s nostalgia and thrilling walk through yoko's landscape. really, thanks for this one . . .
July 30, 2017
I mean...I'm not sure how to review this book. It is a piece of incredible artistic work, only because it really allows you into Yoko Ono's thought process. It gives us a glimpse of how she viewed the world, her ideology and her quirkiness. Her creativity came through in every piece, it really gave me a clear idea how she worked and how she is an artist in every sense of the word. It is an intimate look into her works - music, art, poetry, film and exhibitionism. In every aspect of her life, her uniqueness shone. There were parts that probably went completely over my head, and others where I found myself pausing for a minute to reread and let it sink in.
Although this is a book of instructions, I will openly admit that I barely followed any of the instructions given in this book. I think Yoko Ono might appreciate that I didn't, taking it as a sign of individualism, of assertiveness, maybe even rebellion? I don't know. I think I may be talking out of my ass - excuse the language. But that's the effect that Yoko Ono has on you, really.
Some instructions were very simple: "Light a match and watch till it goes out"
Others were interesting: "Carry a bag of peas. Leave a pea wherever you go."
Others were impossible: "Fly."
Some instructions were creative: "Painting to be slept on. Hang it after sleeping on it for more than 100 nights."
And some were intimate: "Listen to each other's pulse by putting your ear on the other's stomach."
Some instructions your mind couldn't help but follow: "Think that snow is falling. Think that snow is falling everywhere all the time. When you talk with a person, think that snow is falling between you and on the person. Stop conversing when you think the person is covered by snow."
Then there were passages that were just beautiful thoughts:
"It's sad that the air is the only
thing we share.
No matter how close we get to each other,
there is always air between us.
It's also nice that we share the air.
No matter how far apart we are,
the air links us."
What beautiful poetry, and what a beautiful thought.
Then there's humor and satire:
"I wonder why men can get serious at all. They have this delicate long thing hanging outside their bodies, which goes up and down by its own will."
A gem of a book, definitely worth keeping around.
Although this is a book of instructions, I will openly admit that I barely followed any of the instructions given in this book. I think Yoko Ono might appreciate that I didn't, taking it as a sign of individualism, of assertiveness, maybe even rebellion? I don't know. I think I may be talking out of my ass - excuse the language. But that's the effect that Yoko Ono has on you, really.
Some instructions were very simple: "Light a match and watch till it goes out"
Others were interesting: "Carry a bag of peas. Leave a pea wherever you go."
Others were impossible: "Fly."
Some instructions were creative: "Painting to be slept on. Hang it after sleeping on it for more than 100 nights."
And some were intimate: "Listen to each other's pulse by putting your ear on the other's stomach."
Some instructions your mind couldn't help but follow: "Think that snow is falling. Think that snow is falling everywhere all the time. When you talk with a person, think that snow is falling between you and on the person. Stop conversing when you think the person is covered by snow."
Then there were passages that were just beautiful thoughts:
"It's sad that the air is the only
thing we share.
No matter how close we get to each other,
there is always air between us.
It's also nice that we share the air.
No matter how far apart we are,
the air links us."
What beautiful poetry, and what a beautiful thought.
Then there's humor and satire:
"I wonder why men can get serious at all. They have this delicate long thing hanging outside their bodies, which goes up and down by its own will."
A gem of a book, definitely worth keeping around.
December 5, 2023
yoko ono has too much time on her hands.
February 17, 2016
I became aware of this book because of my interest in the Beatles and John Lennon. Yoko Ono's art is one of those things that you either love or hate. I happen to love it. This is a book of instructions...little koan-like thoughts like; "imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in." Some of them are bizarre, some of them are poetic, some of them are painful, but they are all thought-provoking and beautiful - just like Yoko. Read this, and you'll understand why John fell in love with her...and you will too.
Read
December 18, 2025#Ono...
Grapefruit
ECHO TELEPHONE PIECE
Get a telephone that only echoes back your voice.
Call every day and talk about many things.
Nos anos 50/60, Yoko Ono, já experimentada na filosofia e na música, começava a fazer nome na cena artística por usar espaços normalmente hierarquizados, como salas de concerto, para encenar performances em que encorajava o público a participar seguindo um conjunto de instruções, fornecidas pela própria, que pretendiam complementar e pôr em marcha uma peça que era, sobretudo, conceptual: decorrendo de diferente forma para cada um dos participantes dependendo da sua postura e expressão. É assim que nasce Cut Piece, talvez a mais famosa performance da sua carreira, encenada, repetidas vezes, pela própria Ono, na qual os visitantes são convidados a cortar uma peça de roupa, à sua escolha, do corpo da artista.
Sobre essa performance, diria Ono: When I do the Cut Piece, I get into a trance, and so I don't feel too frightened. There's several layers of meanings. So of course I was saying, hey, you're doing this to women, you know? We're all in it. But also, at the time, it's much better to just go with it. And that thought of letting women know that, you know, we're all going through this, but don't fight, let it happen. By not fighting, we show them that there's a whole world, which could exist by being peaceful.*
Grapefruit, este estranho livro, é o produto da recolha desse conjunto de instruções que a artista foi compondo, e propondo, ao longo da década de '60 - e que pode ser interpretado, à letra, como um livro de instruções para a realização de obras de arte ou, como a peça verdadeiramente conceptual que é, como um conjunto de reflexões filosóficas que expõem a natureza efémera e irónica da vida.
CLOCK PIECE
Select a clock.
Set it on time.
You may rewind the clock but never
reset it.
Call it your life clock.
Live accordingly.
Com uma introdução atrevidota de John Lennon, e dividido em secções temáticas, o livro explora os vários media em que a artista sempre trabalhou e mais não é do que um convite a admirar a mística da vida e da arte, e a explorar o mundo com um olhar sempre novo.
SHADOW PIECE
Put your shadows together until
they become one.
*É possível ouvir a própria Ono a falar na série de arquivos de áudio do MOMA: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/1...)
Grapefruit
ECHO TELEPHONE PIECE
Get a telephone that only echoes back your voice.
Call every day and talk about many things.
Nos anos 50/60, Yoko Ono, já experimentada na filosofia e na música, começava a fazer nome na cena artística por usar espaços normalmente hierarquizados, como salas de concerto, para encenar performances em que encorajava o público a participar seguindo um conjunto de instruções, fornecidas pela própria, que pretendiam complementar e pôr em marcha uma peça que era, sobretudo, conceptual: decorrendo de diferente forma para cada um dos participantes dependendo da sua postura e expressão. É assim que nasce Cut Piece, talvez a mais famosa performance da sua carreira, encenada, repetidas vezes, pela própria Ono, na qual os visitantes são convidados a cortar uma peça de roupa, à sua escolha, do corpo da artista.
Sobre essa performance, diria Ono: When I do the Cut Piece, I get into a trance, and so I don't feel too frightened. There's several layers of meanings. So of course I was saying, hey, you're doing this to women, you know? We're all in it. But also, at the time, it's much better to just go with it. And that thought of letting women know that, you know, we're all going through this, but don't fight, let it happen. By not fighting, we show them that there's a whole world, which could exist by being peaceful.*
Grapefruit, este estranho livro, é o produto da recolha desse conjunto de instruções que a artista foi compondo, e propondo, ao longo da década de '60 - e que pode ser interpretado, à letra, como um livro de instruções para a realização de obras de arte ou, como a peça verdadeiramente conceptual que é, como um conjunto de reflexões filosóficas que expõem a natureza efémera e irónica da vida.
CLOCK PIECE
Select a clock.
Set it on time.
You may rewind the clock but never
reset it.
Call it your life clock.
Live accordingly.
Com uma introdução atrevidota de John Lennon, e dividido em secções temáticas, o livro explora os vários media em que a artista sempre trabalhou e mais não é do que um convite a admirar a mística da vida e da arte, e a explorar o mundo com um olhar sempre novo.
SHADOW PIECE
Put your shadows together until
they become one.
*É possível ouvir a própria Ono a falar na série de arquivos de áudio do MOMA: https://www.moma.org/audio/playlist/1...)
February 26, 2022
Might be that I just simply didn't understand Ono Yoko's style, art or purpose with this work. I can only discribe this book as 'whack', 'strange' and "a wild ride".
Honestly, the only piece I found fun/interesting really was 'FLY'. Got me a chance to practice my Japanese/kanjis.
So yeah, in general not my cup of tea.
Honestly, the only piece I found fun/interesting really was 'FLY'. Got me a chance to practice my Japanese/kanjis.
So yeah, in general not my cup of tea.
September 26, 2017
Ok, this was a very important bk to me. In 1975 when I read this, I wd've just recently heard Ono's "Fly" LP wch I also loved enormously so when I read this it had plenty of impact. I was probably just learning about Fluxus in general at the time. This is "A book of instructions + drawings by Yoko Ono" & it exemplifies Fluxus short performance index card scores - such as the ones also explored by George Brecht. I have "LIGHT PIECE" circled in pencil:
"Carry an empty bag.
Go to the top of a hill.
Pour all the light you can in it.
Go home when it is dark.
Hang the bag in the middle of your
room in place of a light bulb."
Love it. Imagining doing that seems fun even now 32 yrs later so this definitely endures the test of time for me. Then there's "PAINTING TO BE STEPPED ON":
"Leave a piece of canvas or finished
painting on the floor or in the street."
Now, many yrs later, she had a piece like this in a museum or a gallery & somebody walked on it & he was arrested & charged. Ono's comment was something to the effect that 'there are many ways to walk on something' as her way of saying that the guy was an asshole. I'm on his side. But, what the fuck, I give Ono slack - her husband was killed by an asshole or a Manchurian Candidate or whatever. Then there's a piece called "LINE PIECE III", another piece I have circled:
"Draw a line with yourself.
Go on drawing until you disappear."
A friend has told me that that's actually a well-known LaMonte Young piece but I suspect that Young might've done a similar thing that wasn't exactly the same or that there was enuf Fluxus cross-fertilization for pieces to have ambiguous authorship. Dunno. Anyway, this bk has a way of thinking that's completely out-of-the-box & I admire it for that. It's chock-full of ideas & she deserves to be considered a great artist even if she is from a rich banking family & has probably never had to work a day in her life. Privileged scum.
"Carry an empty bag.
Go to the top of a hill.
Pour all the light you can in it.
Go home when it is dark.
Hang the bag in the middle of your
room in place of a light bulb."
Love it. Imagining doing that seems fun even now 32 yrs later so this definitely endures the test of time for me. Then there's "PAINTING TO BE STEPPED ON":
"Leave a piece of canvas or finished
painting on the floor or in the street."
Now, many yrs later, she had a piece like this in a museum or a gallery & somebody walked on it & he was arrested & charged. Ono's comment was something to the effect that 'there are many ways to walk on something' as her way of saying that the guy was an asshole. I'm on his side. But, what the fuck, I give Ono slack - her husband was killed by an asshole or a Manchurian Candidate or whatever. Then there's a piece called "LINE PIECE III", another piece I have circled:
"Draw a line with yourself.
Go on drawing until you disappear."
A friend has told me that that's actually a well-known LaMonte Young piece but I suspect that Young might've done a similar thing that wasn't exactly the same or that there was enuf Fluxus cross-fertilization for pieces to have ambiguous authorship. Dunno. Anyway, this bk has a way of thinking that's completely out-of-the-box & I admire it for that. It's chock-full of ideas & she deserves to be considered a great artist even if she is from a rich banking family & has probably never had to work a day in her life. Privileged scum.
November 18, 2016
Yoko Ono's never gotten a fair shake. Recently, the art establishment has lent her individual artistic prowess some modicum of respect, but the public still sees Ono merely as a strange shrill woman who broke up The Beatles. It's an undeserved and unfortunate albatross slung around her neck. Nevermind that The Beatles were hurdling toward a break-up any day--minimizing her influence to that of just John Lennon's girlfriend ignores everything that makes Yoko Ono remarkable. Grapefruit captures that spark and sense of possibility that she and the '60s had, and it transports you to another time and another way of thinking.
Grapefruit is an early example of Postmodern conceptual art, and takes the form of a series of brief "event scores." Simply put; each piece proposes an activity intended to produce an artwork or performance. However, Yoko puts a whimsical twist on this: many of her pieces are simply impossible to perform. She asks the interpreter to draw with their bodies until they disappear, to adopt mannerisms and habits for years at a time, and sometimes to draw or paint ethereal concepts. This may seem frivolous or futile, but she explains her aim as such: Happenings and scripted performances are intended to generate a concrete and expected work of art; her scores inspire or "wish" a work into the reader's mind.
Ono seems fascinated by the potential of the human imagination to see what can't exist, or even to resist what does. Near the end of the book, her pieces confront rape and war in language that approaches exasperation. She seems to suggest that violence is the last resort of those who don't believe the world can be changed with just a thought.
Grapefruit is an early example of Postmodern conceptual art, and takes the form of a series of brief "event scores." Simply put; each piece proposes an activity intended to produce an artwork or performance. However, Yoko puts a whimsical twist on this: many of her pieces are simply impossible to perform. She asks the interpreter to draw with their bodies until they disappear, to adopt mannerisms and habits for years at a time, and sometimes to draw or paint ethereal concepts. This may seem frivolous or futile, but she explains her aim as such: Happenings and scripted performances are intended to generate a concrete and expected work of art; her scores inspire or "wish" a work into the reader's mind.
Ono seems fascinated by the potential of the human imagination to see what can't exist, or even to resist what does. Near the end of the book, her pieces confront rape and war in language that approaches exasperation. She seems to suggest that violence is the last resort of those who don't believe the world can be changed with just a thought.
August 15, 2012
Fuck . I've never hated someone so much.
February 24, 2024
"Where is the music?"
"The music is in the mind, my Monk."
"But that is the same with what we are doing, aren't you an avant-garde composer?"
"That is a label which was put by others for convenience."
REVIEW PIECE:
Read this book and
see the merits and real artistry
but yet also become immensely befuddled.
But that's life.
Bonus if you can get through this review
without mentioning the Beatles more than once.
Yoko Ono is many things. A celebrated artist in her own right, a polarising figure, the supposed poster child for avant-garde, and who knows what else. This is basically a book of instructions ranging from a fun day out ("Walk all over the city with an empty / baby carriage") to impossible ("Fly.") to hazardous ("Smoke everything you can. / Including your pubic hair."). Instructions unclear, I am now on fire.
Despite that, please trust me when I say there IS some serious artistic insight here (duh, it's Yoko Ono). I just know some serious art school friends who would suck this thing whole, yet also not at all because she presents this truly fascinating dichotomy of the act of living itself being a work of art and yet also something really abstract that can only be understood if you understand nothing at all. And if that doesn't capture the whack-but-profound nature of art itself or what one makes of it, then what have you. Piece out.
"The music is in the mind, my Monk."
"But that is the same with what we are doing, aren't you an avant-garde composer?"
"That is a label which was put by others for convenience."
REVIEW PIECE:
Read this book and
see the merits and real artistry
but yet also become immensely befuddled.
But that's life.
Bonus if you can get through this review
without mentioning the Beatles more than once.
Yoko Ono is many things. A celebrated artist in her own right, a polarising figure, the supposed poster child for avant-garde, and who knows what else. This is basically a book of instructions ranging from a fun day out ("Walk all over the city with an empty / baby carriage") to impossible ("Fly.") to hazardous ("Smoke everything you can. / Including your pubic hair."). Instructions unclear, I am now on fire.
Despite that, please trust me when I say there IS some serious artistic insight here (duh, it's Yoko Ono). I just know some serious art school friends who would suck this thing whole, yet also not at all because she presents this truly fascinating dichotomy of the act of living itself being a work of art and yet also something really abstract that can only be understood if you understand nothing at all. And if that doesn't capture the whack-but-profound nature of art itself or what one makes of it, then what have you. Piece out.
September 10, 2018
Well I wasn't prepared 100% for what this book was about to offer, but it's safe to say that at the end I was left with a big smile on my face and with a lot of paint and color plastered on my mind.
In this beautiful conceptual collection of collages of words and images, Yoko Ono seeks to challenge the readers mind through the use of play, of taking the mind of a person and splashing it against the canvas of the 'real' world. However, in the 'real' a line is a line, but in our minds, or Ono's, it can just be a ''depressed circle''. So, we are offered is bouquet of words cut up from all the corners of our perception, offered by a playful child, that when uttered splash our world in color and fun in ways we could not expect. The world gets turned upside down and things just get covered in sounds of farts, giggles and joy while maintaining its relevant connections to nature, people and emotion.
Definitely worth reading, browsing through, finding one or other of her koans that might strike you in the right way and hit the sweet spot of that turns things into a carnival of feeling and emotion.
“Imagine the clouds dripping
Dig a hole in your garden to
put them in''
In this beautiful conceptual collection of collages of words and images, Yoko Ono seeks to challenge the readers mind through the use of play, of taking the mind of a person and splashing it against the canvas of the 'real' world. However, in the 'real' a line is a line, but in our minds, or Ono's, it can just be a ''depressed circle''. So, we are offered is bouquet of words cut up from all the corners of our perception, offered by a playful child, that when uttered splash our world in color and fun in ways we could not expect. The world gets turned upside down and things just get covered in sounds of farts, giggles and joy while maintaining its relevant connections to nature, people and emotion.
Definitely worth reading, browsing through, finding one or other of her koans that might strike you in the right way and hit the sweet spot of that turns things into a carnival of feeling and emotion.
“Imagine the clouds dripping
Dig a hole in your garden to
put them in''
June 4, 2017
Evocative. People should give this a try!
June 9, 2025
I read this decades ago. It's brilliant. one can see where John got some of the words to "Imagine".
January 3, 2025
Começar o ano com Yoko me fazendo imaginar mundos. 🤍✨
February 6, 2017
Let people copy or photograph your paintings. Destroy the originals.
1964 Spring
*
I was inspired to read this book after sitting through brunch with a middle-aged dude who spent the whole pancake course sh*tting upon Ono, specifically for her bizarre (but, I would claim, intentionally subversive and hilarious), screeching performance as a backup singer for John Lennon and Chuck Berry's otherwise standard duet of "Memphis, Tennessee". (YouTube it.)
Within my age and weight category, I am probably one of the top 10,000 biggest Beatles fans, but I've always rolled my eyes when people hate on Yoko. People portray her as a manipulative leech who "stole" John Lennon away from his band and his fans, but she was a groundbreaking artist in her own right, as creative as John within her medium. Although I prefer the accessible stylings of Mr. Lennon, I believe the two of them were artistic equals. She influenced both the punk and riot grrl movements, she is a feminist and anti-war icon, and is still doing interesting art in her 80s.
Anyway, this book was interesting and weird and I only understood about 50% of it, but even when I was confused I enjoyed the strange flow of it.
1964 Spring
*
I was inspired to read this book after sitting through brunch with a middle-aged dude who spent the whole pancake course sh*tting upon Ono, specifically for her bizarre (but, I would claim, intentionally subversive and hilarious), screeching performance as a backup singer for John Lennon and Chuck Berry's otherwise standard duet of "Memphis, Tennessee". (YouTube it.)
Within my age and weight category, I am probably one of the top 10,000 biggest Beatles fans, but I've always rolled my eyes when people hate on Yoko. People portray her as a manipulative leech who "stole" John Lennon away from his band and his fans, but she was a groundbreaking artist in her own right, as creative as John within her medium. Although I prefer the accessible stylings of Mr. Lennon, I believe the two of them were artistic equals. She influenced both the punk and riot grrl movements, she is a feminist and anti-war icon, and is still doing interesting art in her 80s.
Anyway, this book was interesting and weird and I only understood about 50% of it, but even when I was confused I enjoyed the strange flow of it.
February 10, 2015
Revisitar este libro después de leer el ACORN representa un contraste y a la vez una proeza:
Si algo tiene de sobra Yoko Ono, es paciencia y ver las líneas que trazó aquí para ser reflejadas 50 años después en el otro es algo digno de tomar en alto aprecio.
Este libro (objeto) es muy bueno y si ACORN nunca hubiera sido publicado, sería el mejor, pero el tiempo ha vuelto refinados sus gustos, sus palabras exactas. En este aun se nota un tono oscuro, anarquista de ver arder el mundo, del happening. En el otro lado del espejo, el publicado 50 años después, es algo fino, una delicadeza.
Si fueran música, este sería punk, el otro sería un vals.
Maravillas cada uno. Geniales en conjunto.
Si algo tiene de sobra Yoko Ono, es paciencia y ver las líneas que trazó aquí para ser reflejadas 50 años después en el otro es algo digno de tomar en alto aprecio.
Este libro (objeto) es muy bueno y si ACORN nunca hubiera sido publicado, sería el mejor, pero el tiempo ha vuelto refinados sus gustos, sus palabras exactas. En este aun se nota un tono oscuro, anarquista de ver arder el mundo, del happening. En el otro lado del espejo, el publicado 50 años después, es algo fino, una delicadeza.
Si fueran música, este sería punk, el otro sería un vals.
Maravillas cada uno. Geniales en conjunto.
March 27, 2017
One of my favorite books.
September 3, 2024
Juzgue a una mujer por su marido
Hable pestes de su arte
Lea su poesía
Trague todas sus palabras
(Use cubiertos para más comodidad)
Hable pestes de su arte
Lea su poesía
Trague todas sus palabras
(Use cubiertos para más comodidad)
Read
November 28, 2022okay so this is pretentious, but, it's also very silly. i have no other thoughts about this book so i will leave you with some quotes that highlight just how silly it is.
"hit a wall with your head."
"stir inside of your brains with a penis
until things are mixed well.
take a walk."
"if i were a man i would have a fantastic castration complex to the point that i wouldn't be able to do
a thing."
thank you yoko ono
"hit a wall with your head."
"stir inside of your brains with a penis
until things are mixed well.
take a walk."
"if i were a man i would have a fantastic castration complex to the point that i wouldn't be able to do
a thing."
thank you yoko ono
January 5, 2021
This book is wacky. I want to follow all the instructions Yoko has given me. That might take me a lifetime.
“This is the greatest book I’ve ever burned.” - John Lennon
“This is the greatest book I’ve ever burned.” - John Lennon
May 26, 2025
you take what is in your head and you make things that are so beautiful and share them with your friends
August 29, 2022
i have yet to count my stomach wrinkles
August 4, 2021
Somewhere between 2.5-3.5
I really liked the first 30-40 instructional pieces. But the book is just too long of the same thing over and over.
Overall, really liked the ideas and experimentation, just would prefer 100 pages less so what's there can really shine.
I really liked the first 30-40 instructional pieces. But the book is just too long of the same thing over and over.
Overall, really liked the ideas and experimentation, just would prefer 100 pages less so what's there can really shine.
July 2, 2025
i love this playful, surreal, mind-bending/mending/melding, whimsical, peacemaking book *so so so so much*. in it you'll find exercises, poems, drawings, and all sorts of tidbits of everyday genius. i don't understand how anyone could fail to understand how John Lennon loved and respected Yoko Ono as much as he did.
Truth/False
....
....
"If you wear a clothes long enough it becomes part of you and you will suffer from serious physical maladjustment when you take it off. A princess died from taking off vines that had covered her for ten years. A prince, when his encircling vines were removed, was found to be non-existent.
When you leave things, you leave your spirit behind, too. But if you don't leave them, you age.
Your brother is the man you killed in the past world. He was born in your family because he wanted to be near you.
There is a wish man in the corner of the world whose daily task is to send good-will waves to the world to clear the air.
Men used to walk on hands upside down, but they changed to the present form because it was considered less obscene.
99 percent of the world is dead bodies and tombs. We are the remaining 1 per cent . . . (or are we?).
. . . .
Piano keys are flower petals turned hard.
A cloud consists of the following substances: colour, music, smell, sleep and water. Sometimes it rains substances other than water, but very few people notice it."
Truth/False
....
....
"If you wear a clothes long enough it becomes part of you and you will suffer from serious physical maladjustment when you take it off. A princess died from taking off vines that had covered her for ten years. A prince, when his encircling vines were removed, was found to be non-existent.
When you leave things, you leave your spirit behind, too. But if you don't leave them, you age.
Your brother is the man you killed in the past world. He was born in your family because he wanted to be near you.
There is a wish man in the corner of the world whose daily task is to send good-will waves to the world to clear the air.
Men used to walk on hands upside down, but they changed to the present form because it was considered less obscene.
99 percent of the world is dead bodies and tombs. We are the remaining 1 per cent . . . (or are we?).
. . . .
Piano keys are flower petals turned hard.
A cloud consists of the following substances: colour, music, smell, sleep and water. Sometimes it rains substances other than water, but very few people notice it."
December 12, 2014
In this playful book of “instructional poems,” Yoko Ono allows readers to become participants of their own sensory experience. Words and scattered drawings make up this abstract but pleasant book, where Yoko will tell the reader to do something to enhance life: “Steal a moon on the water with a bucket./ Keep stealing until no moon is seen on the water.” Or, “Carry a bag of peas./ Leave a pea wherever you go.” This style of writing allows the reader to conceptualize the act, and be there with her.
I chose this book for teens because I think teens will be interested in her unconventional, experimental poetry. I think teens tend to be interested in the 60’s era, Civil Rights movement, Berkeley protests, and more experimental musicians and artists like The Beatles White Album. It seems to resonate with the heightened experience of being an adolescent, constructing your own identity, and moving on from the nest.
I chose this book for teens because I think teens will be interested in her unconventional, experimental poetry. I think teens tend to be interested in the 60’s era, Civil Rights movement, Berkeley protests, and more experimental musicians and artists like The Beatles White Album. It seems to resonate with the heightened experience of being an adolescent, constructing your own identity, and moving on from the nest.
September 14, 2023
Such an iconic book that inspired John Lennon’s “Imagine”, which instructs you to burn the book on the last page.
The edition I read starts off with a foreword from Yoko herself, talking about how during the war when their food supply and hope was slowly dwindling, she would use her imagination to imagine food with her younger brother to survive. She then talks about how in this current day, we may not need to imagine food, but it seems like many of us are not content with our way of life, and there may be a need to imagine our way out of reality. To survive.
“This is the greatest book I’ve ever burned”- John
The edition I read starts off with a foreword from Yoko herself, talking about how during the war when their food supply and hope was slowly dwindling, she would use her imagination to imagine food with her younger brother to survive. She then talks about how in this current day, we may not need to imagine food, but it seems like many of us are not content with our way of life, and there may be a need to imagine our way out of reality. To survive.
“This is the greatest book I’ve ever burned”- John
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