The Deer Park

By Norman Mailer

Book Overview

Amid the cactus wilds some two hundred miles from Hollywood lies a privileged oasis called Desert D'Or. It is a place for starlets, directors, studio execs, and the well-groomed lowlifes who cater to them. And, as imagined by Norman Mailer in this blistering classic, Desert D'Or is a moral proving ground, where men and women discover what they really want--and how far they are willing to go to get it. As Mailer traces their couplings and uncouplings, their uneasy flirtation with success and self-extinction, he creates a legendary portrait of America's machinery of desire. Praise for The Deer Park "A scathing portrayal of Hollywood . . . studded with brilliant and illuminating passages." -- The New York Times Book Review "A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent . . . Mailer] drives us up and down The Deer Park at breakneck speed. It is a trip through unfamiliar country, for a time funny and then unnerving." -- The New Yorker "Savage . . . brilliant . . . exhilarating." -- The Atlantic Monthly "Entertaining and wise . . . In addition to his furious energy and true ear, Mailer is simpatico with humanity . . . on a level rare in American fiction." -- The New Republic Praise for Norman Mailer " Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation." -- The New York Times "A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent." -- The New Yorker "Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure." -- The Washington Post "A devastatingly alive and original creative mind." -- Life "Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance." -- The New York Review of Books "The largest mind and imagination in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book." -- Chicago Tribune "Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream." -- The Cincinnati Post

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0812986156
• ISBN13: 9780812986150
• Release Date: October 2015
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Mailer's best

This is by far the best Mailer novel I have read. I appreciate that it is not for everyone - the characters are not particularly likeable and the plot rambles forwards without any real structure. But this is a work of verisimilitude and the writing is superb. I have read several Mailer novels now and I consider him to be one of the most talented American writers of the twentieth century even if he did not quite live up to his potential. This book is probably his masterpiece and I believe he considered it himself to be his best work for many years. I encourage anyone interested in Mailer or American literature to have another, closer look at this one.

Most Provoctive Book I've Read In Years

'The Deer Park' should become compulsary reading for the human race - forget school reading lists. It is an absolute masterpiece and Mailer's way words could knock Donna Tartt (author of Secret History) for six any day of the week. If you want to read a real masterpiece - sink your teeth into Mailer's 'Deer Park.' James P. Robinson