Still Life Las Vegas

Still Life Las Vegas PDF Author: James Sie
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250055660
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
"Recent high school graduate and aspiring artist Walter Stahl lives with his ailing father in the dregs of Las Vegas, their lives overshadowed by the disappearance of Walter's mother, who drove off when he was five and never returned. Although Walter has never so much as seen a photograph of his mother, it doesn't stop him from keeping an eye out for her in the groups of tourists he caters to in his dead-end job along the Strip. Then Walter meets Chrysto and Acacia, a brother and sister working as living statues at the Venetian Hotel, and his world cracks open. Spending less time caring for his father, and more time riding on the backs of Vespas and drawing, Walter finds life has more to offer than he could have imagined. But as his feelings for Chrysto deepen, and as clues behind his mother's disappearance start to reveal themselves, Walter is forced to face the truth about himself and his family history. Threading through this coming-of-age story are beautiful and heart-wrenching graphic illustrations, depicting how Walter's mother Emily, a Vietnamese-born accordion player, abandoned her family to chase a vision of Liberace across the country; and how Walter's father went searching for her amongst the gondolas of the Venetian Hotel. In Still Life Las Vegas, the magical collides with the mundane; memory, sexual awakening and familial ties all lead to a place where everything is illuminated, and nothing is real"--

Still Life Las Vegas

Still Life Las Vegas PDF Author: James Sie
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250055660
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Get Book Here

Book Description
"Recent high school graduate and aspiring artist Walter Stahl lives with his ailing father in the dregs of Las Vegas, their lives overshadowed by the disappearance of Walter's mother, who drove off when he was five and never returned. Although Walter has never so much as seen a photograph of his mother, it doesn't stop him from keeping an eye out for her in the groups of tourists he caters to in his dead-end job along the Strip. Then Walter meets Chrysto and Acacia, a brother and sister working as living statues at the Venetian Hotel, and his world cracks open. Spending less time caring for his father, and more time riding on the backs of Vespas and drawing, Walter finds life has more to offer than he could have imagined. But as his feelings for Chrysto deepen, and as clues behind his mother's disappearance start to reveal themselves, Walter is forced to face the truth about himself and his family history. Threading through this coming-of-age story are beautiful and heart-wrenching graphic illustrations, depicting how Walter's mother Emily, a Vietnamese-born accordion player, abandoned her family to chase a vision of Liberace across the country; and how Walter's father went searching for her amongst the gondolas of the Venetian Hotel. In Still Life Las Vegas, the magical collides with the mundane; memory, sexual awakening and familial ties all lead to a place where everything is illuminated, and nothing is real"--

Still Life Las Vegas

Still Life Las Vegas PDF Author: James Sie
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1466859261
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 333

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Book Description
When Walter Stahl was five-years-old, his mother drove away in the family's blue Volvo and never came back. Now seventeen, living in the dregs of Las Vegas, taking care of his ailing father and marking time in a dead-end job along the Strip, Walter's life so far has been defined by her absence. He doesn't remember what she looks like; he's never so much as seen a photograph but, still, he looks for her among the groups of tourists he runs into every day, allowing himself the dim hope that she might still be out there, somewhere. But when Walter meets Chrysto and Acacia, a brother and sister working as living statues at the Venetian Hotel, his world cracks wide open. With them he discovers a Las Vegas he never knew existed and, as feelings for Chrysto develop, a side of himself he never knew he had. At the same time, clues behind his mother's disappearance finally start to reveal themselves, and Walter is confronted with not only the truth about himself, but also that of his family history. Threading through this coming-of-age story are beautiful, heart-wrenching graphic illustration, which reveal the journey of Walter's mother Emily: how she left everything to chase a vision of Liberace across the country; and how Walter's father Owen went searching for her amongst the gondolas of the Venetian Hotel. In James Sie's debut novel, Still Life Las Vegas, the magical collides with the mundane; memory, sexual awakening and familial ties all lead to a place where everything is illuminated, and nothing is real.

Leaving Las Vegas

Leaving Las Vegas PDF Author: John O'Brien
Publisher: Open Road + Grove/Atlantic
ISBN: 0802197299
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
This “brutal and unflinching” novel of fleeting love in Sin City inspired the film starring Nicholas Cage and Elizabeth Shue (Jay McInerney, author of Bright Lights, Big City). John O’Brien’s debut novel, Leaving Las Vegas, is an emotionally wrenching story of a woman who embraces life and a man who rejects it; a powerful tale of hard luck, hard drinking, and a relationship of tenderness and destruction. An avowed alcoholic, Ben drinks away his family, friends, and, finally, his job. With deliberate resolve, he burns the remnants of his life and heads for Las Vegas to end it all in the last great binge of his hopeless life. On the Strip, he picks up Sera, a prostitute, in what might have become another excess in his self-destructive jag. Instead, their chance meeting becomes a respite on the road to oblivion as they form a bond that is as mysterious as it is immutable.

The Desert Rose

The Desert Rose PDF Author: Larry McMurtry
Publisher: Pan Macmillan
ISBN: 1447274652
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Bittersweet, funny and touching, Larry McMurtry's The Desert Rose is the story of Harmony, a Las Vegas showgirl. At night she's a lead dancer in a gambling casino; during the day she raises peacocks. She's one of a dying breed of dancers, faced with fewer and fewer jobs and an even bleaker future. Yet she maintains a calm cheerfulness in that arid neon landscape of supermarkets, drive-in wedding chapels, and all-night casinos. While Harmony's star is fading, her beautiful, cynical daughter Pepper's is on the rise. But Harmony remains wistful and optimistic through it all. She is the unexpected blossom in the wasteland, the tough and tender desert rose.

All Kinds of Other

All Kinds of Other PDF Author: James Sie
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0062962515
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
In this tender, nuanced coming-of-age love story, two boys—one who is cis, and one who is trans—have been guarding their hearts, until their feelings for each other give them a reason to stand up to their fears. Two boys are starting over at a new high school. Jules is still figuring out what it means to be gay…and just how out he wants to be. Jack is reeling from a fall-out with his best friend…and isn’t ready to let anyone else in just yet. When Jules and Jack meet, the sparks are undeniable. But when a video linking Jack to a pair of popular trans vloggers is leaked to the school, the revelations thrust both boys into the spotlight they’d tried to avoid. Suddenly Jack and Jules must face a choice: to play it safe and stay under the radar, or claim their own space in the world—together.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas PDF Author: Hunter S. Thompson
Publisher: Turtleback Books
ISBN: 9781417665884
Category : Journalists
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Records the experiences of a free-lance writer who embarked on a zany journey into the drug culture.

Still Life with Bottle

Still Life with Bottle PDF Author: Ralph Steadman
Publisher: Random House (UK)
ISBN: 9780091820244
Category : Distilling industries
Languages : en
Pages : 64

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Book Description


Divas Las Vegas

Divas Las Vegas PDF Author: Belinda Jones
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1446474232
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
This fast-paced, heart-warming and laugh-out-loud romantic comedy from bestselling author Belinda Jones is perfect for fans of Jo Thomas, Lindsey Kelk, Sophie Kinsella and Paige Toon. 'Great characters...hilariously written...buy it!' - New Woman 'Perfect summer fun!' - SUN 'Top holiday reading!' - Closer 'Great, hilarious book full of drama and humour.' -- ***** Reader review 'Laugh out loud moments, brilliant writing' -- ***** Reader review 'Read it, you will not be disappointed'--***** Reader review ************************************************** ALL DREAMS COME TRUE IN LAS VEGAS, DON'T THEY...? Jamie and Izzy, friends for ever, have a dream: a spangly double wedding in Las Vegas. And, at twenty-seven, they decide they've had enough crap boyfriends and they're ready for crap husbands: all they have to do is find them. So where better than Las Vegas itself, where the air is 70% oxygen and 30% confetti? But as they abandon their increasingly complicated lives in sleepy Devon for the eye-popping brilliance of Las Vegas, their groom-grabbing plan starts to look less than foolproof. And those niggling problems they thought they'd left behind - like Izzy's fiancé and the alarming reappearance of Jamie's first love - just won't go away...

Running Scared

Running Scared PDF Author: John L. Smith
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 9781568581903
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 376

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Book Description
Steve Wynn is the former owner of the Bellagio — Las Vegas's latest monument to conspicuous consumption whose hotel and casino contain over $300 million in fine art and $1.5 billion in Wall Street money. He's a mogul whose empire at one point included the Mirage, the Golden Nugget, and Treasure Island. But how did he gain and wield his tremendous power in Nevada? And why did a confidential Scotland Yard report prevent him from opening a casino in London? When this biography, written by a local reporter, was first released in 1995, Steve Wynn brought suit against its original publisher and forced him into bankruptcy. Now available in paperback, the inside story of the biggest phenomenon to roil Las Vegas since Hoover Dam gives readers an intimate glimpse at the real business that's conducted beyond the gaming tables.

Inscrutable Belongings

Inscrutable Belongings PDF Author: Stephen Hong Sohn
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 1503605930
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 445

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Book Description
Inscrutable Belongings brings together formalist and contextual modes of critique to consider narrative strategies that emerge in queer Asian North American literature. Stephen Hong Sohn provides extended readings of fictions involving queer Asian North American storytellers, looking to texts including Russell Leong's "Camouflage," Lydia Kwa's Pulse, Alexander Chee's Edinburgh, Nina Revoyr's Wingshooters, and Noël Alumit's Letters to Montgomery Clift. Despite many antagonistic forces, these works' protagonists achieve a revolutionary form of narrative centrality through the defiant act of speaking out, recounting their "survival plots," and enduring to the very last page. These feats are made possible through their construction of alternative social structures Sohn calls "inscrutable belongings." Collectively, the texts that Sohn examines bring to mind foundational struggles for queer Asian North Americans (and other socially marginalized groups) and confront a broad range of issues, including interracial desire, the AIDS/HIV epidemic, transnational mobility, and postcolonial trauma. In these texts, Asian North American queer people are often excluded from normative family structures and must contend with multiple histories of oppression, erasure, and physical violence, involving homophobia, racism, and social death. Sohn's work makes clear that for such writers and their imagined communities, questions of survival, kinship, and narrative development are more than representational—they are directly tied to lived experience.