Vertigo Park And Other Tall Tales - Hardcover

O'Donnell, Mark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679400400 ISBN 13: 9780679400400

Publisher: Knopf, 1993

Synopsis

A hilarious and wickedly original new collection of pieces and cartoons by one of America's funniest writers.
The title story (as sweeping as any novel but without the annoying length, more glamorous than a miniseries but without commercial interruption) follows a tragic (not to give anything away) love triangle (an idealistic screen goddess and her two unshakable lovers - who happen to become the last two presidents of the United States) through decades of (imaginary) American history.
Here is some of what you'll find: in "Marred Bliss," the fractured puns of a love quadrangle ("Maybe you'd rather ram off with her! She's been trying to reduce you since she got here") ... in "Diary of a Fan," the diarist's deepest thoughts ("I saw Sigourney Weaver on the street today. I pity her") ... in "The Whom of Kaboom," a perilous cruise with Jack the Hipper, sculptor of the famous Venus de Mylar ... and in "A Tall Tale," a meeting with America's tallest tall-tale hero, Johnny Business, whose wealth requires three strong men just to conceive of.
Gasp for air, and then browse the high school yearbook of the planets, learn about electricity from electricity itself, and discover Emily Dickinson, advertising copywriter.
Perfectly qualified critics have called O'Donnell's writing "extremely amusing," "delightful ... off-the-wall, highly original," "invigorating, gifted." Vertigo Park is the latest from his wild workshop - a hands-on volume for students of laughter everywhere.

About this title

Reviews

Tiny women lawyers, a torch singer in psychotherapy, terrorists, a girl who dates the moon, and members of a support group for lovers of unattainably remote people inhabit O'Donnell's wacky, absurdist universe. In "The Corpse Had Freckles," amateur sleuth Bitty Borax and her legitimate cousin Anodyne investigate Aunt Addle's death from petting an infected cat. The title story features a Midwesterner turned Hollywood starlet who marries in succession the two worst U.S. presidents. "Marred Bliss" uses fractured puns and subliminal wordplay to mock the monotony of monogamy, as a marrying couple diversifies into a love quadrangle. Also noteworthy are an epistolary tale about a supposedly psychic newspaper columnist, the diary of a Sigourney Weaver fan, poems to Sominex and to a Dove Bar in the style of Emily Dickinson, a playlet in which Plato invades a modern urban couple's apartment, and laugh-aloud cartoons drawn by the author. Spiked with acid ironies, one-liners and outlandish events, O'Donnell's ( Elementary Education ) humorous tales, sheer zany fun, deftly deflate greed hype, the public's malleability, big egos and superficial emotions.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679400400
• ISBN 13: 9780679400400
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 146