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50 Sad Chairs

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This is an awesome work by Acrobat / Photographer Bill Keaggy, who witnesses tired and tossed chairs in downtown St. Louis. Each image is a mixed bag of forlorn and funny, a veritable commentary on our culture of consumption (at least as it relates to chairs). Have a look. And you ll soon sad chairs are everywhere.

104 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2008

68 people want to read

About the author

Bill Keaggy

3 books19 followers
Focused, yet easily distracted.

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5 stars
29 (63%)
4 stars
9 (19%)
3 stars
6 (13%)
2 stars
2 (4%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for karen.
4,012 reviews172k followers
May 23, 2021
oh what a sad book! i feel so badly for these chairs, but the captions make me want to laugh. it is so conflicting! connor never told me how many homeless chairs there are in missouri! i would love to see more volumes of these, for all the states. my home state would have the tiniest chairs, like dollhouses.

come to my blog!
Profile Image for Charlie George.
169 reviews27 followers
April 21, 2009
The cover photos are outstanding. It's so serious, the loathsome state of these chairs. It makes me want to don a Hazmat suit and sit in them for a while, just to ease their psychic pain.
Profile Image for Michael.
312 reviews29 followers
June 12, 2009
We can finally bid “Goodnight” to Goodnight Moon and advise those damn Ducklings to waddle on out of here. 50 SAD CHAIRS is the children’s book hit of the year! Jam packed with such perennial kid-faves as “#08 Prolapse” and “#23 Soixante Neuf,” there’s little need for a slinky, Wii, nor Froebel Block set to occupy the little one’s time.

My wife and I gifted this to some close friends of ours who once dwelled within the well-represented Tower Grove neighborhood. Eliciting a mere shrug, none of us predicted this might evolve into a household favorite amongst their two and four year old boys. They can’t get enough. The two year old especially likes “#13 Judy on a Binge,” as do all of us (of course, I find myself personally engaged with “#16 Smoke Break”).

I give it Five Good ”Read” stars and highly recommend that you rush out and order yours today – it’s certainly the Tickle-Me-Beany-Cabbage-Patch-Baby of the year!

Profile Image for Anne.
1,156 reviews12 followers
October 14, 2021
Update 2021
I've been having trouble getting back into reading on the bus these days (mask + glasses do not equal easy reading), but something like this is perfect for easing back into it. Still a perfect delight!

Original review 2/2019
That list of "they published a book on what?" continues to pay off handsomely. This was a clever, quirky delight. Some of my St. Louis peeps might also find it particularly amusing as that's where the photos were taken.

I'm feeling inspired to make one set solely in my library though I'd be tempted to include tables too...
Profile Image for Jes.
31 reviews
Want to read
May 6, 2008
1) Can't wait to get at this one. I hope it is as good at the book about long lost grocery lists. Currently fighting the urger to add Bill as my "Friend".
Profile Image for Googoogjoob.
340 reviews5 followers
April 10, 2022
50 photos... of sad chairs. You get what you pay for.

It's a good concept. They're good photos. They have evocative captions which give these sad chairs a sort of anthropomorphizing dignity.

The one drawback: this is a tiny goddamn book. It's like 3-4" square. The promo website has example pages from the book which are larger, even on this tiny laptop screen, than the actual physical book.

What can you do.
Profile Image for Suzanne Fox.
19 reviews3 followers
December 22, 2013
Four stars mostly because it skewed my grading curve to give a tiny book of photos like this five, but it's thoroughly delightful and deliciously well done...and these poor chairs have far more personality than many a novel protagonist. (Just sayin'.)
2 reviews
Read
January 15, 2009
muy bueno... las imágenes reflejan al 100% la expresión que busca cada toma... pero es mas que nada un libro poco común e interesante
Profile Image for Jessica.
Author 6 books213 followers
Want to read
April 19, 2009
David recommended it (sight unseen) and it definitely looks like my kind of read!
Looking forward to seeing a copy.
Profile Image for Aaron Belz.
Author 8 books35 followers
February 5, 2011
Unbelievable. This is the St. Louis I know and love.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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