
Zeroville
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Buy Now for £12.99
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Narrated by:
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Bronson Pinchot
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By:
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Steve Erickson
About this listen
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.
©2013 Steve Erickson (P)2014 Blackstone AudioThe 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.
Unusual film based story.
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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.The best book I've read in years.
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OK story very well read by Bronson Pinchot
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