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Zeroville
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 9 hrs and 34 mins
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Zeroville
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Summary
On the same August day in 1969 that a crazed hippie "family" led by Charles Manson commits five savage murders in the canyons above Los Angeles, a young ex-communicated seminarian arrives with images of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift - "the two most beautiful people in the history of the movies" - tattooed on his head. At once childlike and violent, Vikar is not a cineaste but "cineautistic", sleeping at night in the Roosevelt Hotel where he's haunted by the ghost of D. W. Griffith. Vikar has stepped into the vortex of a culture in upheaval: strange drugs that frighten him, a strange sexuality that consumes him, a strange music he doesn't understand. Over the course of the 70s and into the 80s, he pursues his obsession with film from one screening to the next and through a series of cinema-besotted conversations and encounters with starlets, burglars, guerrillas, escorts, teenage punks, and veteran film editors, only to discover a secret whose clues lie in every film ever made.
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Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Liz... Bristol
- 03-09-20
Unusual film based story.
I chose this book from a list of novels about film in a BFI article. I’m glad that I did. It’s barely like any other that I’ve ever ‘read’. Film is the book. Every aspect of it refers to film. The more you know about film, the more that you’ll get from it. I’m sure certain references did go over my head. If I say that the main character, Vikar, has a tattoo on his head of Liz Taylor and Montgomery Clift in A Place in the Sun, and lives and breathes film, you’ll begin to see. By a series of chances he becomes an editor in the industry. He finds himself caring for/about a girl who is more interested in music. All of this around the turn of the 80s.
The chapters are all very short (often less than a minute), maybe more like a script than a novel. The narration by Branson Pinchot (a first time hearing him) was excellent, he served the author well, at no point did I feel that his voice was becoming more important than the story, a problem I have had with some American readers. The main thing about it all was that it drew me along, the short chapters helped in this because I often thought ‘Oh, they’re only short, I’ll listen for a few more minutes’.
So if you have any interest in film, particularly from the late 40s until the early 80s, this could draw you into it’s own little world and references (many of which you can work out if you don’t know. One or two music ones, too). I loved it, being a big film fan. The BFI article has given me a few other books for my wish list, of differing genres, which I’ll listen to soon, but none will be quite like this.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- R. Löe
- 16-06-17
The best book I've read in years.
Would you listen to Zeroville again? Why?
Yes. Absolutely.
What did you like best about this story?
The circular narrative.
Which scene did you most enjoy?
That's a weird question.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Yeah, but no spoiler here.
Any additional comments?
Bring in more books from Steve Erickson. I want more.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Derry Shillitto
- 18-03-19
OK story very well read by Bronson Pinchot
Finished the audio book. The story was tentative and wasn't full of many surprises. It's very well read by Bronson Pinchot.
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