This trancelike and often hilarious novella by a cultish young new york writer is all about. Yet, for all his industriousness, his work expresses the apathy and emptiness felt by many members of his generation. Shoplifting short film by neil triffett pete is teaching his son the art of shoplifting. Shoplifting from american apparel by tao lin, paperback. Shoplifting from american apparel center for literary. Best to keep it simple, leaving a 100page slice of life cut with a very sharp and discerning blade one that lin wields well. Set mostly in manhattanalthough also featuring atlantic city, brooklyn, gmail chat. The poem room night from this collection was anthologized in wave books state of the union.
And maybe its similar, if stylistically opposite, from we did porn in this way. Or at least thats what it felt like reading shoplifting from american apparel. Shoplifting from american apparel ebook by tao lin. Shoplifting from american apparel palm beach county. On september 15th tao lins book shoplifting from american apparel was officially released and thus began the usual barrage of tao lin poohpah. Of the contents of his latest release, shoplifting from american apparel, 26yearold tao lin says. Lin admits that he had something like 5,000 more words and it. Shoplifting from american apparel follows the protagonist, a lightly fictionalized or notfictionalizedatall version of lin, through some stuff, where he thinks aboutand to a much lesser extent, assumes some agency in regard togirls and life and veganism. Shoplifting from american apparel by tao lin penguin random. Shoplifting from american apparel the contemporary art of. Download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Theyre not competing with the rest of the books on the shelf. A few minutes later sam walked out of american apparel holding an american apparel shirt. Set mostly in manhattanalthough also featuring atlantic city, brooklyn, gmail chat, and gainsville, floridathis autobiographical novella, spanning two years in the life of a young writer with a cultish following, has been described by the author as a shoplifting book about vague relationships, 2 parts shoplifting arrest, 5 parts vague relationship issues, and an ultimately life.
Excerpt from shoplifting from american apparel kcrw. Although he has had five books published two novels, a book of stories and two books of poems tao lin is not yet thirty. In a weird way, shoplifting from american apparel is one of the best books ive read this year because its making me think really hard about why i. There are books that dont even seem to want an audience, while others explore universal truths with characters, settings, and plots from a slice of some life that seems hardly a mile away. Set mostly in manhattanalthough also featuring atlantic city, brooklyn, gmail chat, and gainsville, floridathis autobi. Shoplifting from american apparel lin tao download.
Nyc author tao lin published an account of shoplifting from an american apparel in manhattan and being caught. I get what he was going forconveying the sense of what its like to be a lazy, apathetic young person in a world that doesnt really care what you do and doesnt even bother to punish you for being a waste of spaceand i guess he was actually successful, but in. Shoplifting from american apparel 2012 plot summary imdb. The security guard who normally stands in american apparel wasnt. Tao lin has a neutral facial expression popmatters.
Tao lins shoplifting from american apparel, a semiautobiographical novella, fits neither description. Tao lin set mostly in manhattanalthough also featuring atlantic city, brooklyn, gmail chat, and gainsville, floridathis autobiographical novella, spanning two years in the life of a young writer with a. Shoplifting from american apparel tao lin hey so like tao lin is basically the voice of the 2012 lost generation he speak in a way. Shoplifting from american apparel by tao lin goodreads. Notes on shoplifting from american apparel matador network. Hes published a number of books, but were here today to talk about his latest book, a novella, shoplifting from american apparel.
Set mostly in manhattanalthough also featuring atlantic city, brooklyn, gmail chat, and gainsville, floridathis autobiographical novella, spanning two years in the life of a young writer with a cultish following, has been described by the author as a shoplifting book about vague relationships, 2 parts shoplifting arrest, 5 parts vague. Shoplifting from american apparel the contemporary art of the novella kindle edition by lin, tao. Writing that looks artless is a difficult trick to pull off. For such a passionless book, shoplifting from american apparel has a lot of passionate defenders. One book will always appeal to a wider audience than another, and each has its own readership in mind. Fiction, novella, autobiography why do i consider this book odd. I read the beginning of shoplifting from american apparel the last 2030% percent of which is the 34 day music festival in this piece to 1525 people and noticed her standing behind a sofa staring at me with a calmly attentive, vaguely zombielike facial expression that i recognized as what i often see in mirrors. The story, which was published in vice magazines second annual fiction issue 7, follows lin as he is brought downstairs and handcuffed and then brought to the precinct and held in. The person with the book made noises behind sam on the sidewalk. A way into shoplifting from american apparel might be found in lins blog. Find books like shoplifting from american apparel from the worlds largest community of readers. Charting directionless lives, shoplifting from american apparel could end anywhere. Both books are necessary, written for people who don t have many books to choose from.
Shoplifting from american apparel lin tao download bok. Shoplifting from american apparel tao lin photo by patrick odell i had a reading that night in brooklyn. Well miss what stealing books says about us by rachel shteir. Shoplifting from american apparel contemporary art of the. Shoplifting from american apparel melville house books. In september, tao lin released his fifth book, shoplifting from american apparel, and in the press cycle that followed, the response was as expected. Shoplifting from american apparel is tao lins first novella, fifth book, and first published fiction since the may 15, 2007 simultaneous publication of his debut. Shoplifting from american apparel center for literary publishing. Shoplifting from american apparel centers on the life of a young writer living in new york looking at the aimlessness and detachment in his life. Tao lins 112page novella from melville houses contemporary art of the novella series is drained of emotion and unfettered by inflection and. I think ive read shoplifting from american apparel 2. Im thinking of a number of recent books that are linguistically playful, compulsively readable, and, you might say, somewhat agnostic when it comes to matters of race, such as ed parks personal days, tao lins shoplifting from american apparel, ed lins this is a bust, sesshu fosters world ball notebook, and porochista khakpours.
With brad warner, jordan castro, noah cicero, james roehl. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading shoplifting from american apparel the contemporary art. Get your kindle here, or download a free kindle reading app. Goodreads members who liked shoplifting from american ap. Shoplifting from american apparel is a docudramedy that melds tao lins autobiographical novel about getting arrested with a film crews misadventures with indie filmmaking. Set mostly in manhattanalthough also featuring atlantic city, brooklyn, gmail chat, and gainsville, floridathis autobiographical novella, spanning two years in the life of a young writer with a cultish following, has been described by the author as a shoplifting book about vague relationships, 2 parts shoplifting arrest, 5 parts vague relationship issues, and an ultimately lifeaffirming book about how the unidirectional nature of time renders everything beautiful and. The narrator of this autobiographical novel is an aimless twentysomething with the maturity of a 12 year old, who works in a vegan restaurant and gets caught shoplifting from american apparel, then is caught shoplifting again. Depending on viewpoint, it is stupid, or funny, or just possibly a clever reflection on the replication of everything online. This trancelike and often hilarious novella by a cultish young new york writer is all. If you get caught and arrested, take your mugshot, superimpose it over a picture of your ass, and mail it to lin. I tell you all of this just so you know that, character for character, discussing tao lin will generate more bullshit, insults and nastiness than discussing a mass murderer of children. Shoplifting from american apparel by tao lin odd things. In shoplifting from american apparel things just happen and they are not very interesting or meaningful. The security guard who normally stands in american apparel wasnt there.
Bookslut shoplifting from american apparel by tao lin. I find that interesting and, frankly, a little unexpected. A french translation was published by au diable vauvert in 2012. Somehow, he mixes up the idea of shoplifting with the idea of robin hood. Published by melville press in 2009, i highly advise that you not buy a copy, but rather shoplift a copy. Books by tao lin authors like tao lin what should i. Shoplifting from american apparel pdf download shoplifting from american apparel and over one million other books are available for. Shoplifting from american apparel the contemporary art of the. Shoplifting from american apparel is a short 103page novella about sam, a young writer living in brooklyn. Tao lins sly, forlorn, deadpan humor jumps off the page and. Shoplifting from american apparel download pdf, 2 mb. Ebooks and digital readers spell the end of the timehonored tradition of shoplifting books. Psychedelics, alienation, and change 2018, taipei 20, richard yates 2010, shoplifting from american apparel 2009, cognitivebehavioral therapy 2008, eeeee eee eeee 2007, bed 2007, you are a little bit happier than i am 2006, and selected tweets 2015.
When lins novella was released on melville house, director pirooz kalayeh entered negotiations with the author and publisher to bring the project to the. The work was published as part of brooklyn based melville houses contemporary art of the novella series. Part absurdest documentary and part cinematic realism, shoplifting from american apparel moves between the life of the actual writer who has written the popular novel on which the film is based to the mishaps of a ragtag film crew who offer each other. He travels to different places where he gives readings, goes to parties, and sees bands. Shoplifting from american apparel by tao lin melville house, 112 pp.
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