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nssutton's review against another edition
made it to the saul bellows interview and realized i was more in the mood for a story, than the process of writing said story. also, really glad i didn't get the box set for christmas now.
bunnieslikediamonds's review against another edition
5.0
A wonderful collection of The Paris Review interviews, with all the greats from Hemingway and Capote to Parker and Vonnegut. Some give you insight into the writer's creative process, others tell you interesting facts about their lives. All are intelligent and entertaining. Reading the irreverent interview with Rebecca West is the most fun I've had in a while. Selected quotes:
On T.S. Eliot: "Goodness! T. S. Eliot, whom I didn’t like a bit? He was a poseur. He was married to this woman who was very pretty. My husband and I were asked to see them, and my husband roamed around the flat and there were endless photographs of T. S. Eliot and bits of his poetry done in embroidery by pious American ladies, and only one picture of his wife, and that was when she was getting married. Henry pointed it out to me and said, “I don’t think I like that man.”"
On Somerset Maugham: "He couldn’t write for toffee, bless his heart. He wrote conventional short stories, much inferior to the work of other people. But they were much better than his plays, which were too frightful. He was an extremely interesting man, though, not a bit clever or cold or cynical. I know of many affectionate things he did. He had a great capacity for falling in love with the wrong people."
On Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden: "Somebody told me I ought to read a wonderful thing about how a family of children buried Mum in a cellar under concrete and she began to smell. But that’s the sole point of the story. Mum just smells. That’s all that happens. It is not enough."
On Yeats: "He boomed at you like a foghorn."
She also says all sorts of nice and generous things about people, but those aren't as much fun to repeat.
All interviews (I think) can be found at http://www.theparisreview.org/.
On T.S. Eliot: "Goodness! T. S. Eliot, whom I didn’t like a bit? He was a poseur. He was married to this woman who was very pretty. My husband and I were asked to see them, and my husband roamed around the flat and there were endless photographs of T. S. Eliot and bits of his poetry done in embroidery by pious American ladies, and only one picture of his wife, and that was when she was getting married. Henry pointed it out to me and said, “I don’t think I like that man.”"
On Somerset Maugham: "He couldn’t write for toffee, bless his heart. He wrote conventional short stories, much inferior to the work of other people. But they were much better than his plays, which were too frightful. He was an extremely interesting man, though, not a bit clever or cold or cynical. I know of many affectionate things he did. He had a great capacity for falling in love with the wrong people."
On Ian McEwan's The Cement Garden: "Somebody told me I ought to read a wonderful thing about how a family of children buried Mum in a cellar under concrete and she began to smell. But that’s the sole point of the story. Mum just smells. That’s all that happens. It is not enough."
On Yeats: "He boomed at you like a foghorn."
She also says all sorts of nice and generous things about people, but those aren't as much fun to repeat.
All interviews (I think) can be found at http://www.theparisreview.org/.
rltinha's review against another edition
4.0
As entrevistas ao Faulkner e ao Kerouac são os pontos mais altos. No primeiro caso por ter respostas... Surpreendentes. No segundo por ser uma espécie de conto beat. (gosto particularmente da parte em que o Kerouac crava um drunfo ao entrevistador)
clarkness's review against another edition
5.0
One of the most insightful and interesting books I've ever read on the topic of writing. The interviews with writers I didn't know were often even better than the ones with authors I was already familiar with. I particularly enjoyed Dorothy Parker, Vonnegut, Robert Gottlieb, Billy Wilder and Jack Gilbert.
jobinsonlis's review against another edition
4.0
I thought that I would like the Dorothy Parker or Kurt Vonnegut interviews the most but Rebecca West and Jack Gilbert are the ones that are sticking with me. This book gave me way too many other books that I want to read right now. I'm a little afraid to dive into the rest of the series.
alyssanolan's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
4.25
jodylynnw's review against another edition
4.0
This is my go-to book whenever I get stuck with writing or reading a story. I bought it for the Dorothy Parker interview (which doesn't disappoint - man, was that woman quick), but the rest of the interviews are just as good. Each writer manages to bring his or her own unique writing view to the interview while managing to discuss the universal themes of hard work and innate talent. It's amazint to read Vonnegut and Hemmingway and see the two men agree on a point.
donfoolery's review against another edition
The second of two books I bought as part of the some discount-book retail therapy at the campus bookstore the other day.