Guestbook: Ghost Stories

Author: Shapton, Leanne

Color: Tan

Edition: Illustrated

Format: Illustrated

Number Of Pages: 320

Details:

"Reading [Guestbook] feels akin to walking through an art exhibit, each piece linked in ways that are ineffable but clear. . . yearning, like a ghost, lingers long after the stories are done." --NPROne of our most imaginative writers and artists explores the visitations that haunt us in the midst of life, and reinvents the very way we narrate experience. A tennis prodigy collapses after his wins, crediting them to an invisible, not entirely benevolent presence. A series of ghosts appear at their former bedsides, some distraught, some fascinated, to witness their unfamiliar occupants. A woman returns from a visit to Alcatraz with an uncomfortable feeling. The spirit of a prisoner has attached himself to you, a friend tells her. He sensed the sympathy you had for those men. In more than two dozen stories and vignettes, accompanied by an evocative curiosity cabinet of artifacts and images, Guestbook beckons us through the glimmering, unsettling evidence that marks our paths in life.

Reviews:

“Reading [ Guestbook] feels akin to walking through an art exhibit, each piece linked in ways that are ineffable but clear. . . Guestbook blurs the lines between haunting and reality. . . Certainly, Shapton suffuses both art and text with longing. . . That yearning, like a ghost, lingers long after the stories are done.”

— NPR“The exquisite minimalism that defines Shapton’s style hews much closer to verse than prose. Shapton’s thoughtful layout of text and her use of images sets a deliberate, poetic pace. She invites her readers to slow down, to linger, to let the language percolate . . . Through the immersive, wholly original reading experience of Guestbook, Shapton has bested herself yet again, masterfully elevating the ghost story form to new heights.”

-LA Review of Books

“Strange in the way that being haunted must inevitably be strange . . . Guestbook is best appreciated as a portable art installation. The book is enigmatic at every turn, but gorgeously realized. It pushes the boundaries of both ‘ghost’ and ‘story,’ and the discomfort that it creates crawls beyond the covers of the book and into the mind, haunting long after the last page.” –New York Journal of Books

“A mesmerizing pastiche of found photos, original art, and dinner party anecdotes that answer the question ‘What haunts us?’ with evidence so chilling, you’ll keep flipping through the fear.” –Martha Stewart Living  

“Shapton combines found and original visuals with unsettling, evocative stories to capture the sensation of what it feels like to try to remember a dream upon waking.” – Harper’s Bazaar“Persistently uncanny . . . Shapton’s prose will leave you craving more... tactile, mysterious and seductive.” – The Guardian

“The writing and images are equal parts funny, spooky, and devastating, and by the time I was done reading I felt haunted myself.” –The Rumpus“Part evidence log, part crime scrapbook, part secret diary, part lost family photo album, Leanne Shapton’s Guestbook is a mesmerizing collection of texts and images that builds more like a symphony than a novel. Each distinct chapter . . . elevates the traditional ghost story into an art form.”  –Interview Magazine“Trained as an art director, each of Shapton’s books are carefully constructed objects . . . Shapton’s stories create wells of meaning from the shadows cast by items left behind; these hauntings, full of memories and longings, are visceral . . . Guestbook is a melancholy ode to people lost and a celebration of what they leave behind.”  –Brooklyn Rail

“Full of unconventional storytelling. . . Guestbook also has wonderful moments of humor that reminds us that just because we are being haunted, doesn’t mean we can’t laugh.” –FLAUNT Magazine

“Entirely original . . . Shapton ekes ghostly mystery out of few words . . .  Like the spiritual world that inspired it,  Guestbook draws eerie, tantalizing power from moments of confusion. It throws into question the meanings of...

EAN: 9780399158186

Release Date: 26-03-2019

Languages: english

Item Note: Great shape- pages are unmarked and sharp.Has a remainder mark. Hardcover Used - Like New Ships fast! 2019Illustrated

Item Condition: UsedLikeNew

Binding: Hardcover