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Amazon.co.uk Review
As the title of this little book suggests, each of the postcards that fill its pages is, in a sense, quite boring. Stale, often dully composed images of corporate headquarters, roadways, bus station parking lots, convalescent home dayrooms, hospital cafeterias and undistinguished motels. But look carefully and the cards--culled from the collection of artist Martin Parr-- are filled with fascinating little details. As a group, they offer readers the interesting opportunity to puzzle over the collective psyche of the people of the 1950s and 60s (the approximate vintage of the images) who were inclined to create, buy and send these cards. What, one can't help but wonder, could be so scintillating about a room at the Forte Excelsior Motor Lodge near Pontefract, Yorkshire? The singular force of the orange bedspreads, carpet, drapes and walls punctuated by the inexplicably white leather upholstered panel attached to the wall unit behind each of the room's beds. The exterior of the Mirfield Modern School, shot at a distance and unimaginatively placed dead in the centre of the grey sky and green playing field? The building's Bauhaus-like lines. The tarmac of Luton Airport? The pink jumbo jet being towed into the frame from the left. The uniformly shaped trailers parked at the Freshwater Caravan Camp? The hand-written X that presumably marks the sender's location? The chalets at Llandanwg? Arguably, not much. The few 100 images here, unfettered by any explanatory text, offer a far from dull diversion for any readers interested in mid-century design or the mundane details of daily life. --Jordana Moskowitz
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Individually, the cards are a kitsch hoot; collectively, they re-create not only the appearance but the spirit and soul of a Britain that vanished for ever somewhere around the 1970s.... Parr's 'boring postcards' give meaning to a wistful phrase much beloved of recent prime ministers. They show the last time Britain really was, for better or worse, a nation at ease with itself. Look back and mourn." The Sunday Times "Martin Parr's daringly dull collection of 160 coma-inducing postcards from the edge of common sense. Yes, they're funny. But they also reveal a view of the UK in the period from the '50s to the '70s, when road-building and fast development looked like signs of a healthy future." Time Out "Individually each of the postcards more than meet the requirements of the book's title - yes, these are ludicrously boring places - but as whole they make a compelling collection." Dazed & Confused "... far from dull, Parr's book is a strangely compelling commentary on postwar British architecture, social life and identity..." Independent on Sunday "... Groovy, baby." Time "... exquisitely tedious... visual gems..." World of Interiors "... the funniest book [of the year] has been Boring Postcards by Martin Parr, which I keep on the kitchen table and chortle over during breakfast. This sends my cornflakes flying...." Charlotte Cory (novelist), The Independent "... top of the class... Its blend of pathos and bathos is hilarious. It fills the onlooker with Christmas spirit: that's to say, nostalgia, revulsion, hysteria and delight." Evening Standard"
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I first encountered this books in a hotel bar in Evesham, England, that kept a large collection of comic books and magazines for the use of the guests. I had to ask the proprietor which he thought the most amusing, and he suggested this book. At first while browsing through I thought it extremely funny. It seemed that I knew many of the places included and how strange to for postcards to be produced of shoppping centres and motorway service stations in the 1950s and 60s. But after continued browsing, the book transformed into a celebration of post war British architchture and reminded me of the optimism of that period. The Public we proud of the regeneration programmes after the war and the bright future presented before them. Today, sadly these places don't look so well manicured.
But more surpisingly for me was to find a toward the end of the book a postcard including a view the house where I grew up. My parents still live there...
But more surpisingly for me was to find a toward the end of the book a postcard including a view the house where I grew up. My parents still live there...
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I first picked this book up in a high street bookshop, I was gripped by it immediately! Even having lived through the 1970s, the decade often called the one taste forgot, I couldn't believe the range of subjects photographed. In the '60s when motorways were new and thus considered exciting, perhaps one could understand the desire to picture the M1, and various parts of service stations. But who on earth wanted to buy photographs showing traffic on the A40, or indeed to celebrate Carlton Court Shopping Centre, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol (which I've known for 30 years, and it doesn't look any better now than it did then!). Would people be so proud now of Preston Bus Station as they were then? And would anyone really be keen to buy pictures of Butlins' Reception and Dining Halls, or Travelodge bedrooms.
In creating this book, Martin Parr has reminded readers of a now bygone era, when the now hideous was considered magnificent. I could hardly contain myself. If you're 30+ or into architecture, this book is a must-have. As it is if you're a keen photographer, or just want an easy read to make you laugh.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The title of this book is very misleading, because the postcards are far from boring. They provide a fascinating insight into the architecture, cars and clothing of the 1950s and 1960s, with motorways, shopping centres, suburbia, factories, holiday camps, chalets, caravans and much else. I suspect that quite of a bit of what was then regarded as the best of modern architecture has since been demolished, so there are indispensable historical records here too. Nor are the postcards boring on the technical side: the picture of Budleigh Salterton, with its foreground and background, diagonal lines and a wealth of detail, is a brilliantly composed photograph. The picture of the nuclear reactor at Dounreay is like a piece of modern abstract art, with its blocks, cylinders and sphere. Many of the others are also excellent photographs, which is not surprising, as they must have been taken by professionals. This book is stuffed with art and history, and there is not one boring postcard in the whole collection.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
beautifully boring
This book is sublime. It opens up a glorious window to post war Britain. Sit back and marvel at the civic pride that was once attached to what we now consider hideous concrete... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Penguinfeet
Ok for a quick look
I was expecting the photographer to have gone back to some of the places the postcards were from and take some updated images, or at least have taken or adapted a few of his own to... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Delaney
Gripping stuff.
It really is gripping, with no accompanying blurb for the cards, one is left to imagine (if you didn't live there then) what these worlds were like and about the people who... Read more
Published on 20 July 2009 by jaquesaulait
Lives up to its title - with hilarity and an intriguing fascination
I was gripped by this book featuring postcards depicting near-empty motorways, new concrete bridges, car parks, bus stations, supermarket exteriors, town centres, tower blocks,... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2009 by K. L. Wren
Lives up to its title - with hilarity and fascination
I was gripped by this book featuring postcards depicting near-empty motorways, new concrete bridges, car parks, bus stations, supermarket exteriors, town centres, tower blocks,... Read more
Published on 6 Mar 2009 by K. L. Wren
Boring Postcards
The funniest book I have read all year. It made being laid up in a ski resort with a ruptured ligament tolerable
Published on 13 Aug 2006 by Dr. Iain S. Mclean
Sublime, comic, historic, a must have!
This is a very unusual book, but gripping, holding many many photographs of old postcards from a very dull era of the UK, yet they are fascinating to look at today. Read more
Published on 24 Jan 2005 by mrcambridge
Funny, appealing, haunting.
At first glance, a book containing "dull" pictures of nondescript roads, buildings and locations would not be worthy of comment: and a cursory glance through the book might make... Read more
Published on 8 Nov 2003 by j1mb0b
Boring, yes, but moving and hilarious, too
I just love this collection of postcards - they are truly mind-numbing, and as I was leafing through the book, my over-riding thought was WHY??? Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2003 by ED
Intriguing Social History
One of the charms of this book is finding your town, and seeing how dull the postcards were in the late 1960's. Read more
Published on 8 Jun 2002 by "hypocrite_lecteur"
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