Colors Insulting to Nature

Colors Insulting to Nature: A Novel [Cintra Wilson] on leondumoulin.nl *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Like any healthy, red-blooded American, young Liza.
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Colors Insulting To Nature by Cintra Wilson

But no Pop Idol contest on earth will ever crown someone like Liza, with her spookily vulgar 'vocal stylings' and her stripper's wardrobe. Her wits addled by celebrity culture, the ashes of failed stardom in her mouth, she decides to turn her back on her tinsel dreams and embrace her outsider status with a ferocious purity.

Colors Insulting to Nature is a brazenly hilarious odyssey through teen humiliation: Cintra Wilson is a pyrotechnic wit — the natural heir to Douglas Coupland and the challenger to Dave Eggers. This novel will have readers howling with laughter and writhing with retrospective embarrassment. She is a staggering talent. Biography Cintra Wilson is a playwright, essayist and former columnist. This author has talent, she knows her subject, and the bones of this story are witty and wise, hence the two stars.

I might suggest that next time she writes a book rather than an article that she climb down off her hipster tower do hipsters have towers, or do they pontificate from Bushwick rowhouse roof decks? She has it in her to write a really kickass book once she gets over herself. View all 5 comments. May 01, Matte rated it it was amazing Shelves: Jul 05, misha rated it did not like it Shelves: Colors Insulting to Nature makes me wonder about my previous thoughts about a Massage Swelling. The book started off wonderfully, with great one liners and moments that made you go ah. Unfortunately, Liza Normal and her family are not likable or unlikable.

They are just simply vapid, thoughtless dolts that have fed on the teat of celebrity for so long that they too have become as glossy and flat as a People Magazine page. Great commentary about the Hollywood worship for awhile, but it becomes as as dull as I imagine the Keeping up with the Kardashian car wreck of a show is. I wanted this book to be as great as Freedom was. Jul 10, Amy rated it liked it.


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I think this book might be doomed because, on the cover of the version I read, there's a quote by the NYT Book Review stating "Wilson is the thinking woman's David Foster Wallace" which doesn't make any sense to begin with. Anyway, the book made me laugh and surprised me at some points - clever, but not clever like "see I'm being so clever" more like, a bunch of friends that live in what's called the "Elf House" because I think this book might be doomed because, on the cover of the version I read, there's a quote by the NYT Book Review stating "Wilson is the thinking woman's David Foster Wallace" which doesn't make any sense to begin with.


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Anyway, the book made me laugh and surprised me at some points - clever, but not clever like "see I'm being so clever" more like, a bunch of friends that live in what's called the "Elf House" because they all had a trip in which they discovered they were elves and wear pointy shoes and have long hair. It's funnier if you read it in the book. There really is no plot, it's one of those books you just have to go with the flow and when you do you will find yourself entertained.

Colours Insulting To Nature

But not David-Foster-Wallace-y at all. Jul 24, Laura rated it really liked it Shelves: In "Colors Insulting to Nature" Wilson explores the effect of pop culture on a young girl who is raised believing that happy-ever-after, prince-in-shining armor, wish-upon-a-star, ugly-duckling-into-a-swan fairytales are actual, possible life outcomes. Not only are they "possible", but her mother Peppy actively chases dreams to the exclusion of pretty much everything else Liza and her brother are lucky to have a grandmother who ensures they make it to their t In "Colors Insulting to Nature" Wilson explores the effect of pop culture on a young girl who is raised believing that happy-ever-after, prince-in-shining armor, wish-upon-a-star, ugly-duckling-into-a-swan fairytales are actual, possible life outcomes.

Liza and her brother are lucky to have a grandmother who ensures they make it to their teenage years fed and physically intact.

However, for Liza, the pull of achieving dreams "if she only tries hard enough" is overpowering, and her life careens from one tragedy to another. Wilson's coming of age tale is ironic, satirical, sometimes funny, often pathetic, and occasionally downright sad. Cintra makes the reader wonder how many children raised with the television for a babysitter view the world the way Liza does. And in what ways has the rise of social media since the book was written in changed or intensified the way television spun "perfect lives"?

In any event, the Normal family is an interesting commentary on our present culture, and is definitely thought-provoking. Wilson is laugh-out-loud funny at times. In particular, the "Sound of Music" play had me rolling, and had my husband giving me funny looks: I especially liked Lorna and Ned. Parts of the book are a bit far-fetched ie. Overall, 4 stars or "Excellent". Recommended for anyone who enjoys irreverent humor!

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I didn't know how I'd feel about this book when I started it. Liza Normal is unlike any protagonist I'd ever read about. But this book hooked me in and I enjoyed every bit of the ride from there on. Cintra Wilson is an expert on celebrity- but more so the bizareness of it all, and here she transforms that into a world you can easily imagine. One where you didn't do as your parents told you to and you got to just follow every weirdo whim you had as a teenager.

The book is by turns to I didn't know how I'd feel about this book when I started it. The book is by turns touching, hilarious, weird, and insightful. I personally enjoyed the weird narrator interjections and formatting of the book, and I knew once the 80s references started that it was a winner. I'd heard that said before - "characters that pop off the page", and now I believe that can happen.

My only mistake was to read this in spurts; I think if I'd read it in one quick go it might have gotten a 5. Someone had said it was relatable to a John Waters movie, and that's the closest I can get to describing it, although I enjoyed this more than I've enjoyed any of those flicks.

Simply put, I've never read anything like this before, and don't know that anything like it will ever come along again. And if you haven't already read wilson's "A massive swelling", please do. The character of Liza just came to life. Her name is Lady Gaga. May 20, Erin rated it it was amazing. I absolutely adored this. Great writing; exemplary vocabulary; wonderful, flawed, real characters; great story; smarmy narration by a jaded meta-voice - ahhhhh. I do so love a story wherein a character f's up with the best intentions and inadvertently ends up fulfilling her destiny, because it feels awfully familiar to my own life story.

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And the childhood and high school humiliations were written perfectly right. Drop what you're doing and go find this book right now. Sep 06, Loren rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Recommended to Loren by: I used to see Wilson's plays in SF. It just kills me that the cover of this book is clearly illustrated by someone who never read the thing! I felt dirty after I read it, but in a good way. Wilson is a great writer of mad, vivid characters, and the story is depraved and wonderful and nutty.

I adored this book and I'm sorry it didn't do better- I suspect the cover didn't help. Mar 28, Martin Turnbull rated it it was amazing. What a wonderful find this book turned out to be. Oct 05, Candice rated it it was amazing. One of Wilson's heroes was Hunter S. Thompson, and she's a pop culture critic, so not only can her descriptions be wildly, hilariously imaginative and outlandish much of the time, "The waitress working at the Korral was a sixty-year-old woman with a firmly structured silver permanent and a name tag that said PANSY, who had obviously worked as a cocktail waitress since the dawn of table service and had, like an eyeless, deep-sea creature, become accustomed to casino life without sunlight or wind One of Wilson's heroes was Hunter S.

Thompson, and she's a pop culture critic, so not only can her descriptions be wildly, hilariously imaginative and outlandish much of the time, "The waitress working at the Korral was a sixty-year-old woman with a firmly structured silver permanent and a name tag that said PANSY, who had obviously worked as a cocktail waitress since the dawn of table service and had, like an eyeless, deep-sea creature, become accustomed to casino life without sunlight or windows, among the truly drunk, where the party never stopped and had never really started.

It's a very "American" story. It took a little while to get into because at first it seemed like farce, but then it evolved into a pretty recognizably accurate depiction, albeit skewed, of our society, not unlike Thompson's world view. Very entertaining, but wise. Jan 15, Sarah rated it really liked it Shelves: I previously read Wilson's book "A Massive Swelling", which was a nonfiction book about the horrible nature of Fame. This book takes a fictional look at the same topic. There are many aspects of Liza's personality that remind me of a younger me.

I also wanted to be "Famous". I yearned for recognition and the envy of my peers. Wilson is around my age. She talks about 80s movies as a jumping-off point for many kids to this fame-worship. She I previously read Wilson's book "A Massive Swelling", which was a nonfiction book about the horrible nature of Fame. She has a brilliant section at the beginning that talks about the 80s movie as new-Greek Myth.

The actual plot is good too, if somewhat meandering. But then, life sorta meanders. You end up caring about these people, even though they are completely flawed and miserably ridiculous a lot of the time. Just like most people. Also features some great gay guys, cross-dressers and bondage loving Little People.

Nov 14, Kate rated it really liked it. But what's with the interruptions from a self-conscious narrator? We're rolling along in the story of Liza --a girl who grows up with no sense of self, just a burning desire to be famous -- and all of a sudden we're interrupted by the author herself, in boldface type, explaining that "now we're going to have a flashback," or something.


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It doesn't even come close to working. All those passages could simply be removed and it would be a better book. And she even finds some success writing slash fiction featuring a fearless dominatrix named Venal de Minus. However, Liza does have one amazing skill—the skill to survive whatever obstacle is thrown in her way. She is scrappy and indestructible. And despite making some rather unfortunate decisions, she is fully human and very sympathetic. I found myself rooting for Liza time and time again even when she was in the gutter especially when she was in the gutter.

Liza is a survivor with a capital S! Wilson is a fabulous writer, mercilessly skewering our obsession with celebrities and fame while also giving Liza an interesting story. I must say the ending of Colors Insulting to Nature was a wee bit too pat, but I reminded myself that it was one hell of a roller coaster ride, with amazing twists and turns, heart pounding ascents and tummy turning descents.