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Off the King's Road: Lost and Found in London
US $9.31
Approximately£6.94
Condition:
Good
A book that has been read, but is in good condition. Minimal damage to the book cover eg. scuff marks, but no holes or tears. If this is a hard cover, the dust jacket may be missing. Binding has minimal wear. The majority of pages are undamaged with some creasing or tearing, and pencil underlining of text, but this is minimal. No highlighting of text, no writing in the margins, and no missing pages. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of any imperfections.
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Located in: Interlochen, Michigan, United States
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eBay item number:126790915552
Item specifics
- Condition
- Release Year
- 2007
- ISBN
- 9781590512593
About this product
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Other Press, LLC
ISBN-10
1590512596
ISBN-13
9781590512593
eBay Product ID (ePID)
53556894
Product Key Features
Book Title
Off the King's Road : Lost and Found in London
Number of Pages
312 Pages
Language
English
Publication Year
2007
Topic
Personal Memoirs, Literary, American / General
Genre
Literary Criticism, Biography & Autobiography
Format
Hardcover
Dimensions
Item Height
1.2 in
Item Weight
18.4 Oz
Item Length
8.5 in
Item Width
5.8 in
Additional Product Features
Intended Audience
Trade
LCCN
2006-008843
Reviews
Kirkus Reviews Journalist and novelist Raphael chronicles her daunting but ultimately rewarding stint living in London in 1968 as the abandoned wife and mother of three. An elegant, low-keyed memoir of a swinging time. Publishers Weekly Raphael's memoir encompasses her personal journey from early 1960s New York wife and actress to divorcée and single mom in swinging 1968 London....By 1971 she returns to New York a novelist, triumphantly a woman on her own. Raphael (They Got What They Wanted) offers stylish anecdotes for the historical record. Marie Claire TO SUM UP: Perennial good girl from Brooklyn discovers drugs, sex, and poetry in '60s London after her husband dumps her for an 18-year-old. WHY THIS MEMOIR'S NO SNOOZE: Sure, it has the old "search for self" theme going on, but what a journey! Raphael cavorts with everyone from tripping poets to Marlon Brando. BooklistMiriam Tuliano "...immensely appealing." Los Angeles Times Off the King's Roadis a memoir of a particular time in London: a time of psychiatrists pushing sex with strangers and acid trips, people crashing on your sofa, and children wondering who the adults are and who's in charge. Add the perspective of an entitled, totally dependent girl from Brooklyn via L.A. and you've got Alice through the looking glass.... [Raphael's] decision to stay in London with her children after [her husband] Bob leaves is the first she's made for herself in a long time and a turning point in this fascinating book. Her weeding through London's poseurs and hypochondriacs to find a good man is laugh-aloud funny. She emerges a full-fledged single woman, and the memoir ends with her departure for New York. East Hampton Star InOff the King's Road, Phyllis Raphael, an associate professor of creative writing at Columbia University and the winner of multiple prizes, takes us around the London of that time and gives some insight into what adversity on the one hand, and a rousing good time on the other, might have looked like there in the late '60s and early '70s. In doing so, she gives us insight into the nature of abandonment and crushed expectations. She also shows what pushing the boundaries of her expectations of herself can lead to. What follows is a spirited account that is equal parts participation and observation. At a time when liberation may well have been equal parts terrible and exalting, [Raphael] is thrust into a challenge she did not volunteer for. She shows the reader the process she went through, a process that included sexual adventure and recreational drug use and a fair amount of contemplation. She also watches her children undergo their own transformation as they become, in Ms. Raphael's eyes, if not English, then certainly less American. Her observations of her children are made with a mother's love. But more interestingly, she also seems to admire her children for adjusting to circumstances over which they have no control. It's refreshing to read a parent acknowledge that children in adverse emotional circumstances have a role in shaping their own world. Moreover, some of the book's best writing is not about London at all. She is quite eloquent on her Brooklyn childhood, where she was the "Spice King's Daughter" - her father sold spices to slaughterhouses and butchers - and grew up not far from the boxer Rocky Graziano and the Dodger Gil Hodges. But, as she makes clear, her sights were always set beyond her roots. "I was the first grandchild to move away," she writes, an act that set a precedent for subsequent family members eager to leave the confines of Brooklyn. Columbia Daily SpectatorGizem Orbey Off the King's Road: Lost and Found in Londonis at once a powerful coming-of-age memoir and a vivid study of London in the swinging '60s. <b, Kirkus Reviews Journalist and novelist Raphael chronicles her daunting but ultimately rewarding stint living in London in 1968 as the abandoned wife and mother of three. An elegant, low-keyed memoir of a swinging time. Publishers Weekly Raphael''s memoir encompasses her personal journey from early 1960s New York wife and actress to divorcée and single mom in swinging 1968 London....By 1971 she returns to New York a novelist, triumphantly a woman on her own. Raphael ( They Got What They Wanted ) offers stylish anecdotes for the historical record. Marie Claire TO SUM UP: Perennial good girl from Brooklyn discovers drugs, sex, and poetry in ''60s London after her husband dumps her for an 18-year-old. WHY THIS MEMOIR''S NO SNOOZE: Sure, it has the old "search for self" theme going on, but what a journey! Raphael cavorts with everyone from tripping poets to Marlon Brando. Booklist, Miriam Tuliano "...immensely appealing." Los Angeles Times Off the King''s Road is a memoir of a particular time in London: a time of psychiatrists pushing sex with strangers and acid trips, people crashing on your sofa, and children wondering who the adults are and who''s in charge. Add the perspective of an entitled, totally dependent girl from Brooklyn via L.A. and you''ve got Alice through the looking glass.... [Raphael''s] decision to stay in London with her children after [her husband] Bob leaves is the first she''s made for herself in a long time and a turning point in this fascinating book. Her weeding through London''s poseurs and hypochondriacs to find a good man is laugh-aloud funny. She emerges a full-fledged single woman, and the memoir ends with her departure for New York. East Hampton Star In Off the King''s Road , Phyllis Raphael, an associate professor of creative writing at Columbia University and the winner of multiple prizes, takes us around the London of that time and gives some insight into what adversity on the one hand, and a rousing good time on the other, might have looked like there in the late ''60s and early ''70s. In doing so, she gives us insight into the nature of abandonment and crushed expectations. She also shows what pushing the boundaries of her expectations of herself can lead to. What follows is a spirited account that is equal parts participation and observation. At a time when liberation may well have been equal parts terrible and exalting, [Raphael] is thrust into a challenge she did not volunteer for. She shows the reader the process she went through, a process that included sexual adventure and recreational drug use and a fair amount of contemplation. She also watches her children undergo their own transformation as they become, in Ms. Raphael''s eyes, if not English, then certainly less American. Her observations of her children are made with a mother''s love. But more interestingly, she also seems to admire her children for adjusting to circumstances over which they have no control. It''s refreshing to read a parent acknowledge that children in adverse emotional circumstances have a role in shaping their own world. Moreover, some of the book''s best writing is not about London at all. She is quite eloquent on her Brooklyn childhood, where she was the "Spice King''s Daughter" - her father sold spices to slaughterhouses and butchers - and grew up not far from the boxer Rocky Graziano and the Dodger Gil Hodges. But, as she makes clear, her sights were always set beyond her roots. "I was the first grandchild to move away," she writes, an act that set a precedent for subsequent family members eager to leave the confines of Brooklyn. Columbia Daily Spectator, Gizem Orbey Off the King''s Road: Lost and Found in London is at once a powerful coming-of-age memoir and a vivid study of London in the swinging ''60s. veryshortlist.com A compelling memoir that captures an era...Raphael is a talented writer, and she captures her heightened awareness of her post marital-split life with refreshing vigor.
Dewey Edition
22
Dewey Decimal
813/.54 B
Synopsis
The city had begun to enter me. It was the ultimate distraction. London was an endless maze of places I could lose myself....Walking, I wanted to live on every gorgeous London street.--from Off the King's Road In an understated, urbane style that recalls such memoirists as Joan Didion and Paula Fox, Phyllis Raphael describes how she landed in London in December 1968 as the restless wife of a Hollywood movie producer. She had brought her three young children from Los Angeles and the plan was to live in London for three months on MGM's dime while her husband was producing a film there. Instead--in a maneuver Raphael wasn't expecting--he left her for an eighteen-year-old actress. And in a decision she could never have predicted, Raphael stayed. In Off the King's Road, Raphael writes of being an exile and an accident victim, an expatriate let loose in a country and in a world that in the turbulent 1960s was becoming expatriated from itself. She arrived in London nave, dependent, and dissatisfied, and left several years later as another person entirely--a woman in command, for better or worse, of her own life. Written with seductive elegance, humor, and sexual candor, Off the King's Road speaks to women of all ages of the possibilities of a life transformed by circumstance.
LC Classification Number
PS3568.A6Z46 2006
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- 2***4 (108)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseThis book is in perfect like new condition! Appears to have never been read....the pages are clean crisp and inviting....much better than described. The price value is really super nice, as the fast shipping is. My books arrived double wrapped which prevented any damage during delivery...love that. I will certainly be shopping with this Seller again. Seller cares about the books they sell and the customer service is a big WOW. Thank you Seller!
- t***5 (55)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseBook matches the description in the listing. The price was great as well. Shipped quickly. Packaging was terrible, just a thin plastic envelope with no cardboard to protect the book or bubble wrap. Luckily it only had a few dings, but it should have been better protected. Unsure if I'd risk buying again after this experience.Somebody Feed Phil the Book: Untold Stories, Behind-the-Scenes Photos and Fa... (#116473176781)
- n***m (674)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseBook was in very good condition as described. Quick shipping but mailed in thin plastic film bag so book arrived with one corner's cover and pages slightly bent. Decent value vs buying new.
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Seller Feedback (251,321)
- 2***4 (108)- Feedback left by buyer.Past monthVerified purchaseThis book is in perfect like new condition! Appears to have never been read....the pages are clean crisp and inviting....much better than described. The price value is really super nice, as the fast shipping is. My books arrived double wrapped which prevented any damage during delivery...love that. I will certainly be shopping with this Seller again. Seller cares about the books they sell and the customer service is a big WOW. Thank you Seller!
- t***5 (55)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseBook matches the description in the listing. The price was great as well. Shipped quickly. Packaging was terrible, just a thin plastic envelope with no cardboard to protect the book or bubble wrap. Luckily it only had a few dings, but it should have been better protected. Unsure if I'd risk buying again after this experience.Somebody Feed Phil the Book: Untold Stories, Behind-the-Scenes Photos and Fa... (#116473176781)
- n***m (674)- Feedback left by buyer.Past 6 monthsVerified purchaseBook was in very good condition as described. Quick shipping but mailed in thin plastic film bag so book arrived with one corner's cover and pages slightly bent. Decent value vs buying new.