- Paperback: 129 pages
- Publisher: Sarah Crichton Books; 1 edition (3 Feb 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0374175306
- ISBN-13: 978-0374175306
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 18.1 x 1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 487,962 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
29 of 29 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I ordered this because I read a review of it on Boldtype, but even that didn't really prepare me for how well the cool idea behind the book is put into practice. The book poses as an auction catalogue for the sale of all the shared objects exchanged by two lovers during their now-ended relationship. But it's just so amazingly well done. How a mere auction catalogue can tell the story so well... of how they fell in love, of how they experienced a few tricky times, of what they hated about each other as well as what they loved.. it's astounding.
Leanne Shapton made the book by 'casting' two people to play the main parts of Leonore and Hal, then assembling all the things that they gave each other, which is just the most unbelievable labour of love on her part. But the result is really a brilliant book. Makes you think about how ordinary fictions are constructed, and how original this is; but also it is a great love story. The best present - I just ordered three more copies for my sister, best friend and cousin as I know they will all love it. I cannot recommend it more highly.
PS update
googling looking for my original reference i found that Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman are rumoured to be taking on the parts for a film...
Leanne Shapton made the book by 'casting' two people to play the main parts of Leonore and Hal, then assembling all the things that they gave each other, which is just the most unbelievable labour of love on her part. But the result is really a brilliant book. Makes you think about how ordinary fictions are constructed, and how original this is; but also it is a great love story. The best present - I just ordered three more copies for my sister, best friend and cousin as I know they will all love it. I cannot recommend it more highly.
PS update
googling looking for my original reference i found that Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman are rumoured to be taking on the parts for a film...
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This was on my christmas list after seeing it reviewed on India Knight's Posterous. I received it this morning from my husband and have spent one of the nicest Christmas afternoons of my life reading it. It's a gorgeous book. A relationship told in the form of an auction catalogue of the belongings of the couple. I particularly like how there are little gaps which just list lot numbers but say: 'these lots have been removed', it all adds to the intrigue and the need to know what was missing. It is full of details like this, and makes you think of your own life in terms of objects you might leave behind. I loved it.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is by far the most original novel, if indeed that is what it can be called, that I have read this year. I am struggling with the classification, as what Leanne Shapton has created here is the story of a relationship, told via an auction catalogue containing various bits of material evidence of that relationship, and the possession that chart its ebbs and flows.
It is told via the black and white photographs in the catalogue that being with the meeting of Lenore and Harold, affectionately know as Hal and Buttertart, at a friend's Halloween party and tracking their relationship in a very revealing, intimate and entirely original way. Indeed it is so obvious that it's a wonder no-one thought if it before. We all do it (or maybe that's just the females of the species). We keep mementos of our lovers in the form of cards received, tickets from events we have attended together, e mails we have exchanged, gifts we have given, and photographs to chart all this so lovingly.
Lenore is a Canadian living in New York who is starting out on her career as a food writer with an occasional newspaper column about cake. Fellow New Yorker Hal is a British slightly older man whose career as a photographer frequently takes him away from his girlfriend. The way is which this book takes us right to the heart of the intimate little exchanges between this couple feels almost indecent.
And we see the relationship blossom, flounder, and unravel before our eyes. He is a bit of a commitment phobe who also needs a psychiatrist. She is a lively cake creator who catalogues the minutiae of their partnership in a borderline obsessive manner.
Shapton makes us like these characters, and really feel for them as we take the journey with them. The only words are the descriptions of each catalogue entry, but it feels as if we have lived each intimate and argument moment with them. A very original and creative idea which is very well executed and enjoyable, if a little sad in its seemingly inevitable conclusion.
It is told via the black and white photographs in the catalogue that being with the meeting of Lenore and Harold, affectionately know as Hal and Buttertart, at a friend's Halloween party and tracking their relationship in a very revealing, intimate and entirely original way. Indeed it is so obvious that it's a wonder no-one thought if it before. We all do it (or maybe that's just the females of the species). We keep mementos of our lovers in the form of cards received, tickets from events we have attended together, e mails we have exchanged, gifts we have given, and photographs to chart all this so lovingly.
Lenore is a Canadian living in New York who is starting out on her career as a food writer with an occasional newspaper column about cake. Fellow New Yorker Hal is a British slightly older man whose career as a photographer frequently takes him away from his girlfriend. The way is which this book takes us right to the heart of the intimate little exchanges between this couple feels almost indecent.
And we see the relationship blossom, flounder, and unravel before our eyes. He is a bit of a commitment phobe who also needs a psychiatrist. She is a lively cake creator who catalogues the minutiae of their partnership in a borderline obsessive manner.
Shapton makes us like these characters, and really feel for them as we take the journey with them. The only words are the descriptions of each catalogue entry, but it feels as if we have lived each intimate and argument moment with them. A very original and creative idea which is very well executed and enjoyable, if a little sad in its seemingly inevitable conclusion.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
copping out on a clever idea
This book was a disappointment: A story told through an auction catalogue sounded promising but in the event the conceit of the catalogue wasn't fully exploited and the story... Read more
Published 7 months ago by monica
Ever wanted to rifle through someone else's drawers?
In this unusual novel (Graphic novel? Auction catalogue?), we follow the relationship of Leonore Dooland and Harold Morris, from first meeting through lovers tiffs and milestone... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Book 1981
Love for Sale
This is a cross between a photo-love story and having a really good nose around a stranger's appartment. Read more
Published 14 months ago by Coco
Important Artifacts and Personal Property from the Collection of...
This is an excellent book. Great to read when approached as a novel and equally fascinating as a fictional anthropological text and work of art.
Published 14 months ago by saliva
Disappointing
The concept is interesting. However the 'lots' contain many scrappy handwritten notes or emails which are needed to tell the story but are not worthy of auctioning. Read more
Published 16 months ago by jsy44
An extraordinary book about two ordinary people
This book deserves to win prizes for its concept which is totally unlike anything I've ever seen (or read) before. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Annabel Gaskell
completely absorbing
Although I had bought this book knowing it was fiction by the time it arrived and I began reading I'd completely forgotten that. Read more
Published on 28 April 2010 by anonybeader
An Account of Artifacts of Love That Ring True
I am still pondering if `Important Artifacts and...' is a novel or not as it does tell a tale incredibly well. Read more
Published on 12 Mar 2010 by Simon Savidge Reads
Great Read!
Such a simple idea but what a great read. the story unfolds just like reading a normal book. I hate to think how much time went into collecting all the things used in the book. Read more
Published on 21 Jan 2010 by Ian Suttle
Original but ends too soon
This is a great book and it is so refreshing to pick up something that is so originally excuted. I only wish the story had continued - the build up to the relationship is well... Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2010 by Hayles
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