Let Go and Go On and On - Softcover

Kinsella, Tim

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1940430011 ISBN 13: 9781940430010

Publisher: Curbside Splendor Pub, 2014

Synopsis

Laurie Bird appeared in three films: Two Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, and Annie Hall. Her fiancé, Art Garfunkel, was away shooting another film, Bad Timing, when she committed suicide at the age of 26. Let Go and Go On and On blurs what little is actually known of her with her roles in these films. Guided by constraints, it is a collage and a loving tribute.

About this title

About the Author

Tim Kinsella&;s first novel The Karaoke Singer&;s Guide to Self-Defense was named among the Best Chicago Books of 2011 by CBS Chicago, and listed on Flavorpill&;s Most Exciting New Books. Kinsella has an MFA in writing from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Since forming in 1996, Kinsella&;s band Joan of Arc and its related projects have released more than thirty records.

Reviews

In his freewheeling sophomore novel, indie rocker Kinsella (The Karaoke Singer’s Guide to Self-Defense, 2011) pieces together a fictional account of real-life aspiring actress Laurie Bird, who committed suicide in her mid-twenties while living with her boyfriend, Art Garfunkel. Kinsella uses the handful of minor roles she scored before her untimely death and merges them with actual events to form a fictional biography of a talented young woman running from her past in pursuit of a modeling career. Observed in a wry, ultimately tedious second-person narrative, hapless Laurie hitches a ride with stoic street racers James Taylor and Dennis Wilson in Two-Lane Blacktop; wears sometimes-boyfriend Harry Dean Stanton’s favorite dress to bring him luck in Cockfighter; and hosts L.A.’s biggest Christmas party while dating Paul Simon in Annie Hall. Her chronicler finally reveals himself in the final chapter, named after the film Bad Timing, in which Garfunkel (also the film’s lead) here details Laurie’s final, lonely days in New York. In pointed, lyrical prose, Kinsella breathes life into a starlet while also posing compelling questions about film and appropriation. --Jonathan Fullmer

Edition details

• Publisher: Curbside Splendor Pub
• Publication date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1940430011
• ISBN 13: 9781940430010
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 261