book data
84 ratings, 3.58 average rating, 12 reviews
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published
December 30th 2005
(first published 1986)
by Dalkey Archive Press
binding
Paperback, 208 pages
setting
Unknown
isbn
1564784037
(isbn13: 9781564784032)
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 114)
Read in October, 2008
While I liked this less than The Dead Father I still found it quite rewarding. Barthelme is excellent with his characterization of involved and yet detached people - check this work out if you are bored of reading about overly unified and perfect fictional characters. The folks in this story will not save the world, but they do live in it and deal with it. It's nice to see the relationship between men and women in a slightly different light than I usually do -- this book, hm, simplifies thing...more
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Read in October, 2008
This was Barthelme's thirteenth book. I get the impression that maybe I should have started with something a little more essential, but this was a quick, fun read.
An aging architect named Simon is recently divorced from his wife. One night at a bar he catches the tail end of a lingerie show, and makes friendly with three models from Colorado. Without much explanation as to the why or how of it, Barthelme throws them all in Simon's large apartment in New York City, where they all s...more
An aging architect named Simon is recently divorced from his wife. One night at a bar he catches the tail end of a lingerie show, and makes friendly with three models from Colorado. Without much explanation as to the why or how of it, Barthelme throws them all in Simon's large apartment in New York City, where they all s...more
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Read in June, 2008
A bit hard to know where to begin in commenting about this novel. It was a glimpse into everyman's erotic-middleage-crisis-dream written in a non-linear free flowing James Joyce like style, with much of the thematic material advanced thru choppy dialogue.
In this book, Simon, an adulterous 53 year old architect recently seperated from his wife and is taking a sabbitical from work in NYC when out of nowhere he meets and invites to live with him three linegerie models. A bit stereotyp...more
In this book, Simon, an adulterous 53 year old architect recently seperated from his wife and is taking a sabbitical from work in NYC when out of nowhere he meets and invites to live with him three linegerie models. A bit stereotyp...more
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During my stint as book reviewer here at decomP, I've tried to limit my reviews to contemporary writings such as books published within the last 10 years. However, sometimes I find it necessary to visit a few older entries, and Donald Barthelme's Paradise (Dalkey Archive Press, 1986) is one novel that definitely warrants attention. Ever the prolific writer, Barthelme published several novels and collections during his lifespan, with this specific release arriving about three years before his dea...more
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Read in December, 2008
A surprisingly conventional narrative, by Barthelmanian standards, but still pretty marvelous.
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Wow, this book is nutty. Don B must go into a white-wine-with-ice-cubes trance before he starts writing his novels on packages of cocktail napkins. How is it he puts his finger so deftly on the pressure point that we, the people, find so hard to find? The point that contains our national melancholy and creeping fear. The point of getting old, but not getting any wiser... just more nutty, and alittle dirty.
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Read in July, 2008
Ah, The Barthelme...
Only a master such as this can take a book full of over-the-top sexuality and make it ring with sadness and also such great humor. D. Barthelme also has an ear for sentences like no one else--not my favorite book of his, but still floating well above a sea full of others striving for what he seems to easily accomplish.
Only a master such as this can take a book full of over-the-top sexuality and make it ring with sadness and also such great humor. D. Barthelme also has an ear for sentences like no one else--not my favorite book of his, but still floating well above a sea full of others striving for what he seems to easily accomplish.
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
no one.
Oh, Don B, how could you write something so pretentious and crappy? About a guy who lives with and beds three models, no less. This book made me want to give Barthelme the Colby treatment.
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Read in September, 2007
So easy to read and so good. Sadness of life getting older and beautiful women--Barthelme staples.
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probably my favourite current author. says a lot with a few choice phrases. ideal writing.
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Read in January, 2007
A bit of an indulgent exercise in stereotypical male fantasy, but well-written.
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Read in January, 2006
A middle-aged man finds himself living in a beer commercial.
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