I'll fess up and say I'm something of a James Franco fan. He has many talents, but, mostly, I love the fact that he's passionately into so many things. (Where are all the other renaissance men?) When I saw his 2010 short story collection, Palo Alto, I couldn't resist picking it up.
He's a strong stylist. Some critics say the work is more style than substance and I don't know if I can disagree with that. It's an awful lot of teenage angst stuff and, at fifty, I may just be too old for a lot of that. That said, I not long ago discovered and thoroughly enjoyed the masterful work of Junot Diaz. And, hey, I loved The Perks of Being A Wallflower and I've read all of Miriam Toews, thank you very much.
Vacuous, amoral teenage California zombies populate Franco's linked stories. These kids are hollowed out monsters in a way-beyond Less than Zero kind of way. If characters can't be lovable they might at least be pitiable. Franco's characters just aren't, so I don't care about any of them. It's also odd how these kids aren't especially shit on by life, yet so many exhibit puzzling cruelty and destructiveness.
I'll add that I don't find it very believable when truly insipid teens with no depths to plumb make mental references to great works of literature. Mostly it feels like an author trying to weave in favorites from his own reading list.
A Gia Coppola film based on Franco's linked stories is scheduled for release in spring 2014. I imagine I'll catch it at some point, but I won't be itching to see it right away.
He's a strong stylist. Some critics say the work is more style than substance and I don't know if I can disagree with that. It's an awful lot of teenage angst stuff and, at fifty, I may just be too old for a lot of that. That said, I not long ago discovered and thoroughly enjoyed the masterful work of Junot Diaz. And, hey, I loved The Perks of Being A Wallflower and I've read all of Miriam Toews, thank you very much.
Vacuous, amoral teenage California zombies populate Franco's linked stories. These kids are hollowed out monsters in a way-beyond Less than Zero kind of way. If characters can't be lovable they might at least be pitiable. Franco's characters just aren't, so I don't care about any of them. It's also odd how these kids aren't especially shit on by life, yet so many exhibit puzzling cruelty and destructiveness.
I'll add that I don't find it very believable when truly insipid teens with no depths to plumb make mental references to great works of literature. Mostly it feels like an author trying to weave in favorites from his own reading list.
A Gia Coppola film based on Franco's linked stories is scheduled for release in spring 2014. I imagine I'll catch it at some point, but I won't be itching to see it right away.