About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherBlack Heron Press

ISBN-100930773683

ISBN-139780930773687

eBay Product ID (ePID)2866940

Product Key Features

Book TitleOdd Puppet Odyssey

Number of Pages82 Pages

LanguageEnglish

TopicGeneral, American / General

Publication Year2010

IllustratorYes

GenrePoetry

AuthorRichard Gold

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height8 in

Item Weight12.5 Oz

Item Length7.2 in

Item Width0.6 in

Additional Product Features

Intended AudienceTrade

Reviews"Enhanced with six full-color illustration by Celeste Ericsson, The Odd Puppet Odyssey is a series of fifteen narrative poems by Richard Gold telling the story of Pongo and Rico, two memorable puppet characters. The satirical pieces are meant for adult readers, as they explore such images as the malevolent presence of Geppetto, sexuality, relationships, identity, and the powerful social forces that shape views of themselves and the world. Sometimes dark or crude, often with keen psychological insights, and bearing a penetrating message about the quest for understanding, The Odd Puppet Odyssey is unique, thought-provoking, and unforgettable. "And as the search goes on / Peeko's doing not bad / except for the fact he despises / for all the love he rejects along the way / and all the little things he's hurt, / which may be the same thing." -- Midwest Book Review , August 12, 2004

TitleLeadingThe

SynopsisThe Odd Puppet Odyssey is an illustrated (six four-color illustrations) series of narrative poems. Reading as parables, they are poems for adults about the voyage of two puppet characters, Pongo and Rico. In the course of their journey, they explore identity, sexuality, adulthood, relationships and some of the social forces that affect them and their world. Recalling Homer's Odyssey as well as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Collodi's The Adventures of Pinoccio, and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Pongo and Rico travel down a rabbit hole to meet Death in Wonderland, are chased by the Hairy Monster of Manhood, and climb through the interior of a giant model of themselves. Leavened with humor and irony, this book is a picaresque story of self-acceptance and growth. Celeste Ericsson, the illustrator, worked in tandem with the author, so that poems and illustrations evolved together. The artist has been influenced by Renaissance and Baroque art, the commedia dell'arte and the satirical etchings of James Gillray.