Table Of ContentMore Praise forPALO ALTO
“Thestoriesarerawandfunny-sad,andtheycapturewithper-
fectpitchtheimpossibleexhilaration,theinevitabledownbeat-
ness, and the pure confusion of being an adolescent…. Franco
hasaflairforcreatingthesestoppedmomentsthatliftastory
fromitsspecificsettingintoauniversalplace,sothatparticular
meanings resonate out from themselves and redouble their
effect.”
—Elle
“Delightfully coarse, riffing dialogue that hones in on subjects
like race and sex, love and violence …Compelling and gutsy.”
—Vogue
“Francowriteswithsuchdeepempathyandaffinitythatonehas
to wonder if he lived this life.”
—USA Today
“You’llbeabletopickoutFranco’sinfluences:RaymondCarv-
er’stight-lippedstoicism;thesun-streakeddisaffectionofLess
ThanZero…HubertSelbyJr.’sLastExittoBrooklyn….Heex-
cels at dialogue.”
—Salon.com
“In‘ICouldKillSomeone’especially,aboutahighschooler’sde-
liberationsovermurderingabully,thereisanelementofsym-
pathy for the tormented narrator that makes his thought pro-
cess real and frightening…. Franco is a serious writer.”
—The Wall Street Journal
3/194
“[Franco’s]economicconstructionseemssosimplethroughout,
but the stories end up approaching profundity. These stories
were not published because James Franco is a movie star but
because they are good. He makes the difficult appear simple,
which only a good writer can do.”
—Booklist
“The collection exhibits a …clear sense of purpose…. It is, in
short, literature.”
—New York Journal of Books
“It’s the harsh humor that surprises in these stories—that and
theobservationsthatshowJamesFrancotobeanoriginaland
simpaticovoicefinelytunedtotheterritory.Thesequotable,un-
settlingstoriesstaywithyou;theyseemtochangetheionsina
room.”
—Amy Hempel
“James Franco’s stories are raw, unsettling, and delectable.
Each articulates a very American yearning within a dystopic
suburban landscape ofshifting sexuality, class, and race. They
are both really scary and fun to read.”
—Darcey Steinke, author ofEaster Everywhere
“Franco’stalentisunmistakable,hisambitionprofound.Hehas
takenthetwinsubjectsofsuburbanPaloAltoandAmericanad-
olescence and made them as scary and true as they must be.
Thisisabooktobeinhaledmorethanonce,withdelightand
admiration,withuneaseandpureenjoyment.Asawriter,he’s
here to stay.”
—Gary Shteyngart, author ofSuper Sad True Love Story
4/194
“JamesFranco’schillingstoriesseemtootrueforcomfort.The
characters in Palo Alto navigate off a moral compass so
smashed, they bruise everything they touch. Franco’s intense
artistryswarmsalloverthisgrippingbook.ThinkBretEaston
Ellis, Dennis Cooper, Kathy Acker. Or better yet, just think
James Franco.”
—Ben Marcus, author ofNotable American Women
“Theseroughmessagestornfromthenotebookofangryyouth
justmakeuswanttoaskJamesFrancotosayitain’tso.These
angularstoriesreadlikedispatchesfromtheedgeofcivilization:
all the young people hurting and denying it, denying connec-
tion,denyingtheirhopeforanythingbuttonight,thenextthing.
JamesFrancodoesnotblinkasheoffersusthesestories—andit
is hard for us to look away.”
—Ron Carlson, author ofThe Signal
“James Franco isawriter ofskill and sensitivity whosedepic-
tion of cruelty and neglect, of amusement and loneliness, of
longing and being lost—of the pains and chaos of adoles-
cence—is original and impressive. He manages to depict the
numbingly stupid and dangerous behavior of teenagers and
make it amazingly amusing then suddenly deeply sad.”
—Susan Minot, author ofRapture
SCRIBNER
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Thisbookisaworkoffiction.Names,characters,places,andin-
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Designed by Carla Jayne Jones
Manufactured in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2010032932
7/194
ISBN 978-1-4391-6314-6
ISBN 978-1-4391-6315-3 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4391-7572-9 (ebook)
The story “Jack-O’” first appeared in Esquire magazine in a
slightly altered form.
To the teachers
Ian R. Wilson
Mona Simpson
Amy Hempel
Michael Cunningham
Jenny Offill
9/194
There is hardly a single action that we
perform in that phase which we would not
giveanything,inlaterlife,tobeabletoan-
nul.Whereaswhatweoughttoregretisthat
wenolongerpossessthespontaneitywhich
madeusperformthem.Inlaterlifewelook
atthingsinamorepracticalway,infullcon-
formity with the rest of society, but adoles-
cence is the only period in which we learn
anything.
—Within a Budding Grove,
Remembrance of Things Past
Contents
PALO ALTO I
Halloween
Lockheed
American History
Killing Animals
Emily
Camp
Chinatown
Part I, Vietnam
Part II, Headless
Part III, Caffe Buon
PALO ALTO II
April
Part I, The Rainbow Goblins
Part II, Wasting
Part III, April
Tar Baby
I Could Kill Someone
Jack-O’
Yosemite
Acknowledgments
Description:“The stories are raw and funny-sad, and they capture with per- fect pitch the .. light at Embarcadero and Newell and passed Candice Brown's house on the .. turies, why don't I bring up a little book called The Bell Curve. It shows that wouldn't. Then he told the class that it was a great exercis
