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Vapor
Nude Men, the author's first novel, was described by Louis Malle as "hilarious, full of plot surprises, and completely original." Double that and you have Amanda Filipacchi's droll, fantastical, and much-awaited second novel. No one could anticipate Damon's illegal act of generosity -- encaging Anna Graham for nine months in an extraordinary vapor-filled house as repayment for saving his life. Through bizarre methods of discipline that only a madcap scientist such as Damon could concoct, he intends to fulfill her wish to become the best actress of our day. From this surreally screwball setup, Filipacchi spins an extravagant and zany parable of love and self-awareness, beginning with Anna's escape from this torturous improvement program.
320 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
11 people are currently reading
441 people want to read
About the author
Amanda Filipacchi
6 books121 followersAmanda Filipacchi is the author of three previous novels, Nude Men, Vapor, and, most recently, Love Creeps. Her writing has appeared in Best American Humor and elsewhere. She lives in New York.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
April 21, 2016
Okay, This ties with Nude Men as my favorite Filipacchi book. It is llke reading a Dali or Magritte painting. So strangely fantastical which just makes things beautiful. It is not a heavy book at all, yet I was near to a complete emotional breakdown by the end...in a good way! If you love surreality...better yet, if you love reading about deep nuances of being a human, this is a must read.
December 16, 2015
I was so enamored of Filipacchi’s book The Unfortunate Importance of Beauty that I wanted to read more by her. Vapor, her second book, was published in 1999, and the technique is not as mature as the 2015 book, but still . . .
That spark and originality, that voice is apparent. The writing reminds me of my playwriting heroes, Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett. In its stylization, it distills human behavior. And there is an easy flow of sudden insights:
In case it isn’t clear what sparks of brilliance I’m referring to, I must explain that some people’s attempts at being charming consist in not doing many of the things they would normally do; in other words, repressing large portions of their personality. I am such a person. Taking this route to charm, I realize, is misguided. At least in my case I think it is. I hope it is. But it’s also instinctive. So when I refer to my sparks, I largely mean my few repressed words and gestures. If such a phenomenon were to exist in physics or cosmology—and maybe it does—I imagine it might be called something like: positive absences.
and
Getting what we want is not enough to ensure our happiness. Getting what we don’t know we want ensures it more. But for that to happen, we have to realize what it is that we don’t know we want. Then we can get it. So search deep within yourself.
The book feels like a dream and is open to interpretation the same way dreams are. For me, it is both the story of a relationship between lovers and the story of spiritual embodying and evaporation.
June 13, 2019
I am sure that many other reviewers have said this of Amanda Filipacchi's second book `VAPOR' but it certainly is by far the strangest book that I have ever read! And I loved every minute of it!
Definitely a departure from the norm the only thing I can assure you about `VAPOR' is that you will either love it or hate it, I doubt that there will be any in between. I loved it and recommend it just to hear others reactions to it although when asked I am unable to give a just description of it without giving anything away or turning potential readers off by it's sheer oddness. I wouldn't even know how to begin to explain the complexities of this novel. There is a near death experience, a kidnapping, a house full of clouds, a murderer, an actress, floating people and most importantly it is a love story. Sound strange enough for you? Well that isn't even the tip of the iceberg but this is one reading experience you wont soon forget.
Obviously anyone who can pen such a novel is one strange cookie but I cannot wait to get my hands on her first novel `NUDE MEN' or her third `LOVE CREEPS' in hopes that they will be just as strange but just as good.
Does anyone know an anagram for whiterose?? Hmmm.......
Definitely a departure from the norm the only thing I can assure you about `VAPOR' is that you will either love it or hate it, I doubt that there will be any in between. I loved it and recommend it just to hear others reactions to it although when asked I am unable to give a just description of it without giving anything away or turning potential readers off by it's sheer oddness. I wouldn't even know how to begin to explain the complexities of this novel. There is a near death experience, a kidnapping, a house full of clouds, a murderer, an actress, floating people and most importantly it is a love story. Sound strange enough for you? Well that isn't even the tip of the iceberg but this is one reading experience you wont soon forget.
Obviously anyone who can pen such a novel is one strange cookie but I cannot wait to get my hands on her first novel `NUDE MEN' or her third `LOVE CREEPS' in hopes that they will be just as strange but just as good.
Does anyone know an anagram for whiterose?? Hmmm.......
August 27, 2014
An interesting construct of satire and fantasy, the slow development and near deadpan delivery of the narrative belie the pointed and often amusing jabs taken at all things ‘celebrity’ and the compulsions that often override sense and humanity in the quest for fame at all costs.
Anna is a middle of the road person – not a great actress, not a great thinker, not particularly gorgeous or even talented: but her overwhelming desire and obsession is to become a famous and lauded actress. Essentially lacking in talent or the emotional honesty to see this, her ‘exercises’ in emotional portrayals were intriguing, even as her own interior monologue shows her utter disconnect with the material, and lack of depth in her own experience to find and make that connection. What is even funnier is that she is constantly trying to ‘downplay’ her aggressive tendencies, at a suggestion from her acting coach.
When she happens to be in the right place to save a man from a mugging, the story starts to take some ridiculously odd twists that serve to keep the reader off balance, but always intrigued. Damon was the man Anna saved, a scientist who sees her as the epitome of woman, and his repayment for her good deed is to grant her a wish, and then kidnap her to keep her for himself.
Yeah- it’s weird, and it’s twisty and funny and particularly pointed, leaving me much like a character in the book – there are celebrities that we see who have no particular talent, skill or redeeming features – yet there is an appeal, a draw. And that is Anna in a nutshell. Delightfully quick to read, the story feels lighthearted and fluffy, but when you finish, you cannot stop thinking about it. Information about celebrity, self-absorption and self-awareness and do they necessarily cancel one another out, or does the gain of one mean the loss of another? I’ll leave you to figure that all out with this unique novel.
I received an eBook copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
Anna is a middle of the road person – not a great actress, not a great thinker, not particularly gorgeous or even talented: but her overwhelming desire and obsession is to become a famous and lauded actress. Essentially lacking in talent or the emotional honesty to see this, her ‘exercises’ in emotional portrayals were intriguing, even as her own interior monologue shows her utter disconnect with the material, and lack of depth in her own experience to find and make that connection. What is even funnier is that she is constantly trying to ‘downplay’ her aggressive tendencies, at a suggestion from her acting coach.
When she happens to be in the right place to save a man from a mugging, the story starts to take some ridiculously odd twists that serve to keep the reader off balance, but always intrigued. Damon was the man Anna saved, a scientist who sees her as the epitome of woman, and his repayment for her good deed is to grant her a wish, and then kidnap her to keep her for himself.
Yeah- it’s weird, and it’s twisty and funny and particularly pointed, leaving me much like a character in the book – there are celebrities that we see who have no particular talent, skill or redeeming features – yet there is an appeal, a draw. And that is Anna in a nutshell. Delightfully quick to read, the story feels lighthearted and fluffy, but when you finish, you cannot stop thinking about it. Information about celebrity, self-absorption and self-awareness and do they necessarily cancel one another out, or does the gain of one mean the loss of another? I’ll leave you to figure that all out with this unique novel.
I received an eBook copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.
December 11, 2013
Amanda Filipacchi's latest novel, "Vapor," is hard to pin down. This satire of America's celebrity culture blows by with strangely mingled scents of sadness and comedy.
In a deadpan narrative voice that belies the novel's humor, Filipacchi tells the surreal story of a talentless but ambitious acting student named Anna Graham.
An anagram may be "the actor of words," but Anna Graham displays no such versatility. "For months I had been trying to be less myself," she laments. Her blunt acting teacher has decreed that her personality is so strong that she can't act like anyone else - not even when trying to copy people at her Xerox shop.
Raised by professional fencers in a family where meaningful communication takes place only while dueling, Anna plunges into the challenge of cutting her too-strong personality down to size.
She decides to dress as the Good Fairy Queen and spend an evening wandering the city to humiliate herself into selflessness. But seeing a man in transparent clothes being mugged, she transforms into Super Cinderella and saves him. From this point on, things get strange. Okay, stranger.
The world's most famous super-model, Chriskate Turschicraw, becomes obsessed with Anna, determined to discover the source of her allure. "Leave me alone!" Anna screams at the gorgeous model in a wonderful reversal of the pursued celebrity. The tabloid news shows go crazy trying to identify Chriskate's frumpy friend.
Meanwhile, the fluid man Anna rescued turns out to be an experimental meteorologist named Damon, who's discovered how to make small solid clouds, "bonsai clouds."
Jarred from his hopeless misanthropy by Anna's bravery, Damon kidnaps her, imprisons her in his cloudy house, and spends the next few months forcing his reluctant student to become the world's best actress. (He knows how to do this because water is the greatest actor of all.)
When she finally escapes Damon's cage and his painful water-gun treatment, her career takes off just as he promised. She begins dating a good looking etiquette expert, who's also an accomplished cellist, Weight Watchers counselor, and exotic dancer.
Did I mention this is a very strange novel?
Filipacchi has stirred the stories of Cinderella and Pygmalion with the scatological humor of Chaucer. The resulting mixture is a through-the-looking-glass vision of America's obsession with personalities.
"Vapor" never fails to splash up some new wave of wit or horror. This is the slippery tragedy of a culture in which everyone wants to be someone or something else.
http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0506/p2...
In a deadpan narrative voice that belies the novel's humor, Filipacchi tells the surreal story of a talentless but ambitious acting student named Anna Graham.
An anagram may be "the actor of words," but Anna Graham displays no such versatility. "For months I had been trying to be less myself," she laments. Her blunt acting teacher has decreed that her personality is so strong that she can't act like anyone else - not even when trying to copy people at her Xerox shop.
Raised by professional fencers in a family where meaningful communication takes place only while dueling, Anna plunges into the challenge of cutting her too-strong personality down to size.
She decides to dress as the Good Fairy Queen and spend an evening wandering the city to humiliate herself into selflessness. But seeing a man in transparent clothes being mugged, she transforms into Super Cinderella and saves him. From this point on, things get strange. Okay, stranger.
The world's most famous super-model, Chriskate Turschicraw, becomes obsessed with Anna, determined to discover the source of her allure. "Leave me alone!" Anna screams at the gorgeous model in a wonderful reversal of the pursued celebrity. The tabloid news shows go crazy trying to identify Chriskate's frumpy friend.
Meanwhile, the fluid man Anna rescued turns out to be an experimental meteorologist named Damon, who's discovered how to make small solid clouds, "bonsai clouds."
Jarred from his hopeless misanthropy by Anna's bravery, Damon kidnaps her, imprisons her in his cloudy house, and spends the next few months forcing his reluctant student to become the world's best actress. (He knows how to do this because water is the greatest actor of all.)
When she finally escapes Damon's cage and his painful water-gun treatment, her career takes off just as he promised. She begins dating a good looking etiquette expert, who's also an accomplished cellist, Weight Watchers counselor, and exotic dancer.
Did I mention this is a very strange novel?
Filipacchi has stirred the stories of Cinderella and Pygmalion with the scatological humor of Chaucer. The resulting mixture is a through-the-looking-glass vision of America's obsession with personalities.
"Vapor" never fails to splash up some new wave of wit or horror. This is the slippery tragedy of a culture in which everyone wants to be someone or something else.
http://www.csmonitor.com/1999/0506/p2...
February 12, 2013
Review Summary: Without a doubt, one of the strangest books I have ever read. Interestingly written with an immediate appeal, an unfortunately slow build-up, but just enough intrigue to keep me reading and surprisingly serious revelations at the end.
The first line is great: "For months I had been trying to be less myself." But the story didn't pick up until about a third of the way through, which is way longer than I'm used to waiting. I would've put the book down had it not been for the great reviews I read.
The narrative voice is strange. So matter-of-fact about unique ideas, self-aware, and borderline sarcastic. I chuckled a couple times and other times, I couldn't help but smile. The concepts in this book are both incredibly creative and realistically executed, which was satisfying. There are moments where the protagonist, an actor, is told to portray emotions or characters, but these exercises weren't typical. Her assignments included regular things like "happy" or "hip", but then there were the creative ones that I would never have thought to write, even if I were trying to be creative: "divorced twice," "nonsmoker," "otherwise," "intramural," "former teammate," and "summarized." It was these minor instances of the author's creativity that I found impressive and unique.
While there is love between characters that runs through the core of this book, it didn't read like a love story. In fact, I hadn't even thought of it as a love story until I read the other reviews and they all mentioned a "love story". In the mere 300 pages, there are a surprising number of developments and plot points that I didn't even realize were important until later revelations. In that, I feel the cover does the story a slight disservice. There's so much more to this book than would immediately come to mind looking at a heart on a book cover.
I can't say I wasn't bored sometimes and that I felt the story seemed to be unnecessarily descriptive of unimportant things, mostly near the beginning; these were the things that led me to want to stop reading it around the 50-70 page mark. However, I'm glad I finished because this has got to be one of the most creative and unique books I've read.
The first line is great: "For months I had been trying to be less myself." But the story didn't pick up until about a third of the way through, which is way longer than I'm used to waiting. I would've put the book down had it not been for the great reviews I read.
The narrative voice is strange. So matter-of-fact about unique ideas, self-aware, and borderline sarcastic. I chuckled a couple times and other times, I couldn't help but smile. The concepts in this book are both incredibly creative and realistically executed, which was satisfying. There are moments where the protagonist, an actor, is told to portray emotions or characters, but these exercises weren't typical. Her assignments included regular things like "happy" or "hip", but then there were the creative ones that I would never have thought to write, even if I were trying to be creative: "divorced twice," "nonsmoker," "otherwise," "intramural," "former teammate," and "summarized." It was these minor instances of the author's creativity that I found impressive and unique.
While there is love between characters that runs through the core of this book, it didn't read like a love story. In fact, I hadn't even thought of it as a love story until I read the other reviews and they all mentioned a "love story". In the mere 300 pages, there are a surprising number of developments and plot points that I didn't even realize were important until later revelations. In that, I feel the cover does the story a slight disservice. There's so much more to this book than would immediately come to mind looking at a heart on a book cover.
I can't say I wasn't bored sometimes and that I felt the story seemed to be unnecessarily descriptive of unimportant things, mostly near the beginning; these were the things that led me to want to stop reading it around the 50-70 page mark. However, I'm glad I finished because this has got to be one of the most creative and unique books I've read.
January 2, 2019
I read Nude Men when it first came out and I loved it - I thought it was such an amazing blend of funny and clever and dark. But for some reason, Amanda Filipacchi fell off my radar until I stumbled upon Vapor just recently. I was, initially, disappointed. The book starts slow, and I picked it up and put it down a few times before finally finishing it. I thought maybe my tastes had changed in the 25+ years since I read Nude Men (and they probably have). And while I never found it as laugh-til-you-cry funny as I did Nude Men all those years ago, it grew on me. By the time I was done, I found it just as charming and strange and wonderful, albeit in a more subtle way. Another reviewer called it "an interesting construct of satire and fantasy" and I think that's dead on. And as others have mentioned, the best thing I can compare it to is a surreal painting - if you like whimsy and nightmares and social commentary all wrapped up in a pretty package, you'll probably enjoy this book.
July 2, 2017
Odd and fascinating. Remember the days of MySpace? Amanda Filipacchi added me as a 'friend' and I was lucky enough to have a conversation about this novel with her. Don't think there is an author like her. Her writing is the equivalent of a surrealist painting. Such a shame she is not more successful, though the subject of her novels may deter some readers.
September 5, 2017
I'm in between three and four stars for this book. I'm giving it four since the author isn't well-known and because it did suck me in. It was a very entertaining story. I'm not sure how to feel about it though as some parts are hilarious and relatable while other parts are just sort of weird and disturbing. The author nailed the ending, though, I have to say.
August 31, 2024
This is the weirdest book I have ever read 🤣
It’s not just that the plot is strange, or that the MC is odd; every single thing that every single character says, whether a main character or someone with one line, is WEIRD! Every action and motivation, so weird.
It was refreshing and interesting but by the end I really was grateful to be done with this book
It’s not just that the plot is strange, or that the MC is odd; every single thing that every single character says, whether a main character or someone with one line, is WEIRD! Every action and motivation, so weird.
It was refreshing and interesting but by the end I really was grateful to be done with this book
October 23, 2024
Edit: Yeah I seriously can't stop thinking about this book. It's rare that books have this affect on me lately, so 5 stars.
Characters from Filipacchi's previous novel Nude Men--which I have yet to read--are featured in small ways, so I assume they exist within the same world, time and place (and that alone makes it weirder, knowing the plot of Nude Men!). There is so much in this book I've never really seen before in anything else I've read. I've reread multiple parts of this over and over, unable to get past one chapter in other books because I keep coming back. Perhaps I need to expand my library and read more surrealist work.
Honestly it's a shame the movie for this one died in development hell (I assume). Neil would have been the perfect director for it, too.
I've never read anything like this before and I have no idea how to rate it. Interesting and a bit weird, so I think I liked it at least. Definitely enough to finish it and pick up another Filipacchi!
Characters from Filipacchi's previous novel Nude Men--which I have yet to read--are featured in small ways, so I assume they exist within the same world, time and place (and that alone makes it weirder, knowing the plot of Nude Men!). There is so much in this book I've never really seen before in anything else I've read. I've reread multiple parts of this over and over, unable to get past one chapter in other books because I keep coming back. Perhaps I need to expand my library and read more surrealist work.
Honestly it's a shame the movie for this one died in development hell (I assume). Neil would have been the perfect director for it, too.
I've never read anything like this before and I have no idea how to rate it. Interesting and a bit weird, so I think I liked it at least. Definitely enough to finish it and pick up another Filipacchi!
November 28, 2011
Vapor is the story of a wannabe actress who saves an experimental scientist's life when he is attacked in a subway tunnel. He decides to pay her back by making her dreams come true, focusing primarily on her desire to become a successful actress. Vapor is the story of delusion, love, kidnapping, cloud making, tragedy, insanity and so much more. To be honest, about a quarter of the way into this book, I wasn't sure if I liked its direction or protagonist very much. I should say that I absolutely love comedic stories that involve characters that are so self-absorbed and yet have so little self-awareness that they tend to make a complete mess of their lives and end up miserable even though striving for their own happiness is worth sacrificing the happiness of those closest to them. Anna, the main character, has these comedic, endearing qualities, but shortly after starting this book I was wondering if those qualities were a little too abundant. I initially found the story a little too strange, Anna not very sympathetic, and Damon, the scientist who is both in love with her and yet driven by impulsions to harm her, a little too crazy. But then, I started loving it. I became invested in the characters and charmed by the quirky plot. By the end, the story had gotten a lot stranger, Anna was even less sympathetic and Damon was a true nut case and yet I found myself so sad that it was time to put this book down.
December 26, 2012
as per the entry above/back cover description, this is a "captive love" book, where the guy keeps the girl captive, at least with some sort of twist-- he's a cloud scientist and uses his magical realism technique in a variation of the Pygmalion myth; variant of other "captive love-slave" stories.
at worst, the book is a sort of extended unattractive girl's fantasy; "what if a guy kept me captive so that I could lose some weight!". at best, Filipacchi has a pert new Yorker's sense of prose; I think she grew up in europe or whatnot, so it isn't total uneducated variant, but a bright young european girl's twists added to the story per se.
Filipacchi seems to delight in creating unattractive protagonists. Nude Men had a very physically unattractive male narrator. is this her personal take on things or a form of european dissection of american sex appeal?
not extraordinary, but readable. would consider other Filipacchi works. Nude Men was a little better.
at worst, the book is a sort of extended unattractive girl's fantasy; "what if a guy kept me captive so that I could lose some weight!". at best, Filipacchi has a pert new Yorker's sense of prose; I think she grew up in europe or whatnot, so it isn't total uneducated variant, but a bright young european girl's twists added to the story per se.
Filipacchi seems to delight in creating unattractive protagonists. Nude Men had a very physically unattractive male narrator. is this her personal take on things or a form of european dissection of american sex appeal?
not extraordinary, but readable. would consider other Filipacchi works. Nude Men was a little better.
October 5, 2014
I reached the 36% mark of Amanda Filipacchi's VAPOR and I couldn't go any further. I'm giving it two stars because I'm kind of surprised I got that far.
It's a book about a woman who badly, very badly wants to be an actress. Then she saves a very strange man who complains about the pH in water a lot. Turns out this guy makes "clouds" ... I don't know why. At 36%, I realized I don't really care why. He kidnaps her to repay her for saving him. At 36% she decided she was relatively fine with being kidnapped.
Scanning the reviews on Goodreads, I think I might be in the minority with my opinion on this but I'm good with that. It's just not for me.
(I received a copy of VAPOR through NetGalley in exchange for a honest & original review. This review will be posted there, on Goodreads, and on my blog.)
It's a book about a woman who badly, very badly wants to be an actress. Then she saves a very strange man who complains about the pH in water a lot. Turns out this guy makes "clouds" ... I don't know why. At 36%, I realized I don't really care why. He kidnaps her to repay her for saving him. At 36% she decided she was relatively fine with being kidnapped.
Scanning the reviews on Goodreads, I think I might be in the minority with my opinion on this but I'm good with that. It's just not for me.
(I received a copy of VAPOR through NetGalley in exchange for a honest & original review. This review will be posted there, on Goodreads, and on my blog.)
August 14, 2014
Amanda Filipacchi's work has been praised by Tama Janowitz and Edmund White. If that gets your attention, you'll love this bizarre, witty, clever book. It's the surreal story of an aspiring actress who works part-time in a photocopy shop and part-time piercing ears in a jewellery store in New York. She has been told by her acting coach that she will never make it as an actress because she's too much herself: she needs to get go of her personality to succeed in her roles. One day in the subway, she saves a man who wants to return the favour by helping her be a success. He's an unconventional man and his methods are unconventional. I really enjoyed this book. It's the first I have read by this author and I am looking forward to reading her others.
December 15, 2008
Loved it. Vapor was one hell of a quirky little book. For days I looked at clouds differently. It's going to be a movie and I read somewhere that Ralph Fiennes is in it, and to me he seems a perfect fit. I wasn't as excited about Filipacchi's other books, they are all original but Vapor really had it's hooks in me. I stayed up all night reading it about a month ago and will likely return to it in the future as I do my favorites. I will admit, the anagram at the end stomped and annoyed me to no end. Well, sure there was an end as I got over it. I think I figured it out but I refuse to say it here because it takes something away from the books ending to do so. Fantastic read!
July 10, 2015
I'm writing a review only now.
Superbly engaging. When I was reading it, I couldn't put the book down even if I was being called to eat dinner or do whatever. I highly recommend it to everyone. Although you have to have some strange and high imagination for this one. It requires you to. It may be a little sick (especially with the things the guy does to the lady protagonist, you may even feel pity for her), but the love story is just too hopeful and powerful no matter how crazy and twisted their heads are. The novel is between being absolutely surreal, out-of-this-world and reality.
One of my favorites, indeed. I can't wait for the movie. :(
Superbly engaging. When I was reading it, I couldn't put the book down even if I was being called to eat dinner or do whatever. I highly recommend it to everyone. Although you have to have some strange and high imagination for this one. It requires you to. It may be a little sick (especially with the things the guy does to the lady protagonist, you may even feel pity for her), but the love story is just too hopeful and powerful no matter how crazy and twisted their heads are. The novel is between being absolutely surreal, out-of-this-world and reality.
One of my favorites, indeed. I can't wait for the movie. :(
January 2, 2015
I would like to thank Open Road Media for the ARC via NetGalley.
It's somehow difficult to express myself coherently and with authority, since I'm usually not big on romance, but this particular book is an extremely engaging and peculiar blend of genres - there's humour, there's magic realism, there are curious interpersonal relationships, and the general course it takes is a road less-travelled, or at least better-executed than imaginable under the circumstances. It's bold, curious, entertaining, and worth a read.
It's somehow difficult to express myself coherently and with authority, since I'm usually not big on romance, but this particular book is an extremely engaging and peculiar blend of genres - there's humour, there's magic realism, there are curious interpersonal relationships, and the general course it takes is a road less-travelled, or at least better-executed than imaginable under the circumstances. It's bold, curious, entertaining, and worth a read.
May 19, 2007
This was a light, enjoyable read, despite it being a story about a kidnapped woman. It saved my life the day jury duty called, actually. Some things seemed far-fetched and you decide to go along with it, but inevitably you hit some points where your mind goes, "WTF?" I had questions, though, that never got answered. It leaves you thinking there's a sequel, but apparently there isn't, so I guess I don't really know what happened. Anyone figure out the end, please let me know.
April 20, 2008
Odd little book. Sex, death, meteorology, wish fulfillment, manipulation and some twisted psychology combined in a strange little pop pulp piece. I can't exactly recommend it, but I wouldn't mind discussing it with someone [anyone??] who has read it. Upon completing it, my overall impression was, Meh, but I am still thinking about it so I guess that means it's got some deeper themes than I thought? Or maybe I am just bored today.
July 22, 2012
I bought this book for Php 10.00 (roughly 20 cents) from Booksale (a local second-hand books store). I didn't think it was special; I just thought it was super cheap. Plus, the cover looked good.
Oh boy, the content WAS NOT cheap. It made me laugh, made me smile, it made me bite my lip. I finished this book in less than a day, even less if you don't count the 8 hours I used to sleep. It was THAT GOOD. I simply couldn't put it down.
Oh boy, the content WAS NOT cheap. It made me laugh, made me smile, it made me bite my lip. I finished this book in less than a day, even less if you don't count the 8 hours I used to sleep. It was THAT GOOD. I simply couldn't put it down.
October 1, 2012
The gap between our desires and our true happiness is what is explored in this novel. Such a big subject would have defeated most authors but Filipachi delivers something that is truly unique and devastating. It has the same sense that anything can happen as her book Nude Men, but overall she has matured as a writer and this book is more focused and if possible a little deeper than her previous effort.
June 7, 2007
This is a quirky and enjoyable read. A fun summer book that is nothing if unpredictable. I'm not sure what originally attracted me to this book, or what reminded me of it today. But I would recommend it, especially if you could use a light-hearted dose of satire about pursuing your own version of the American dream.
July 14, 2012
Possibly one of my favorite love stories, since it's incredibly twisted. If you plan to read this book, I suggest that you don't look at spoilers so you can enjoy the firsthand reaction of "WTF!". Everything that happens is nothing you could ever imagine thus making it dodge the "Predictable Romance" category. It's so unreal it will leave you feeling refreshed.
August 15, 2014
I was sent a copy of the book for review though Net Galley, as always, all opinions are my own.
I don’t even know where to begin with this book, it’s so odd that I ended up putting it down several times before ultimately giving up on it completely. I’m not sure I really enjoy Filipacchi’s writing style, the book goes all topsy-turvy and the plot is very hard to follow at times.
I don’t even know where to begin with this book, it’s so odd that I ended up putting it down several times before ultimately giving up on it completely. I’m not sure I really enjoy Filipacchi’s writing style, the book goes all topsy-turvy and the plot is very hard to follow at times.
September 1, 2007
Cathy said this was really good, but she was annoyed because there's an anagram you have to figure out at the end. Okay, she wasn't that annoyed that it was there. She said, we've seen it before, in Popco and House of Leaves, she was annoyed because she hasn't figured it out yet.
February 1, 2008
Ik las het boek in het Nederlands: IN DE WOLKEN.
Een geweldig inventief boek met een onverwacht liefdesverhaal: een meisje leert een jongen kennen en eindigt met een wolkje dat ze overal liefdevol mee naartoe neemt.
Tweede roman, na MANNELIJK NAAKT, ook een voltreffer!
Een geweldig inventief boek met een onverwacht liefdesverhaal: een meisje leert een jongen kennen en eindigt met een wolkje dat ze overal liefdevol mee naartoe neemt.
Tweede roman, na MANNELIJK NAAKT, ook een voltreffer!
November 7, 2009
This author has an interesting way of writing. She almost incorporates fantasy into normal fiction. It's hard to get used to, and at first I didn't enjoy it. But,t he story behind it makes it really interesting.
January 3, 2008
i loved the magicalness and strangeness of this book. somehow, the completely unrealistic seemed totally natural.
July 27, 2010
Could have been better if it wasn't quite so violent. She writes well, but too much to the dark side for me.
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