Death by Leisure: A Cautionary Tale - Brossura

Ayres, Chris

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0719560152 ISBN 13: 9780719560156

Casa editrice: John Murray Publishers Ltd, 2008

Riassunto

After a brief and undignified stint as a war correspondent, Chris Ayres is exiled by his newspaper to Hollywood, where he lives in a building called The Leisureplex and sends celebrity tittle-tattle back home. Seduced by the apparently infinite wealth of LA, Ayres embarks on an ill-advised odyssey of self-gratification (in the name of research) and breaks first rule of foreign reporting: he goes native. Before long, he is an SUV-driving narcissist with a flat-screen TV in every room, eight pairs of designer flip-flops, a seven-digit overdraft, and a wife he met on the internet. As always, however, disaster looms. After a fire the size of Luxembourg, a Biblical flood, and the apocalypse of Katrina, Ayres realises he is living on a precipice. Like a gonzo Great Gatsby, Death by Leisure is a savage and hilarious takedown of our times, and a wake-up call to aspiring Leisuretocrats everywhere.

Su questo libro

Recensione:

'Ayres is beautifully self-deprecating, very funny and he's clearly a brilliant blagger, all of which makes for a diverting read' (Daily Mail)

'Part anthropological study of LA, part self-deprecating comic misadventure' (Independent on Sunday)

'A hilarious look at the excesses of LA life, with a sobering undercurrent' (Daily Express)

'Hilarious, this is Hollywood laid bare' (The Sun)

Death by Leisure presents a delicious vicarious thrill for the reader (Herald)

'(Ayres) carries it off with wit, panache and wry social observation . . . this may be death for leisure but its reading for pleasure' (Tatler)

'Ayres second (book) chronicles his life as an LA show-bix hack. Highlights include when he takes a date to Michael Jackson's Neverland and slams a door in Mike Tyson's face' (GQ)

'A very funny book with nice comic timing' (Guardian)

'A frank, gonzo-esque account of his life among the glittering stars of Hollywood' (Gay Times)

Ayres, a Times journalist, not only has a gift for comedy . . . but nails the complicated character of the world's maddest, saddest city (thelondonpaper)

Descrizione del libro:

Caviar facials, air-conditioned convertibles, desert lawn-sprinklers. Welcome to the Leisuretocracy.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: John Murray Publishers Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0719560152
• ISBN 13: 9780719560156
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 320