Colors Insulting to Nature
A Novel
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On Sale:
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02/06/2005
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Formats:
Trade paperback
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Like any healthy, red-blooded American, young Liza Normal wants to be famous. Like "people will see me and cry" famous. She lacks only talent. . . . Colors Insulting to Nature is a scaldingly hilarious coming-of-age novel, savage on the exterior but with a heart as tender as a marshmallow chick. It is a remarkable comic debut.
This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.
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Author Extras
Reading Guides:
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Critical Praise for
Colors Insulting to Nature
"Smart, funny and filled with so much breathless ridiculousness, you’ll marvel that the author never runs out of satiric ammunition...[Cintra Wilson] has a verve few writers can match."
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Rocky Mountain News
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San Francisco Chronicle
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Publishers Weekly
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Gotham
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Booklist (starred review)
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New York Times Book Review
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Us Weekly, Hot Book Picks
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Harper's Bazaar, Hot List
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Portland Oregonian
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Portland Oregonian
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People
Reader Reviews from First Look
Cintra Wilson has woven a nice novel, both funny and thought-provoking, silly and serious, this story echoes the reader's adolescent dreams. Liza Normal is a great new character in contemporary literarture. Her voice is appealing. Her motives are innocent. All in all a very good read. The language will also have you laughing weeks after.
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Eric (Baltimore, MD)
Cintra Wilson has woven a nice novel, both funny and thought-provoking, silly and serious, this story echoes the reader's adolescent dreams. Liza Normal is a great new character in contemporary literarture. Her voice is appealing. Her motives are innocent. All in all a very good read. The language will also have you laughing weeks after.
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Eric (Baltimore, MD)
Colors Insulting To Nature by Cintra Wilson is a funny and disturbing look at the entertainment business. This book explains why our young entertainers have such a hard time finding confidence, self-esteem and ultimately true happiness. It is a wonderfully funny and entertaining book. Above all, hysterically funny -- the kind of laugh out loud book you seldom find yourself reading. A true gem.
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Deborah (Newport News, VA)
A very interesting book with deep character development, it tells the story of a star-struck, less-than-beautiful teen struggling to come of age in beautiful California. The characters are tragic and comic and the reader can relate to them in their trials and idiosyncrascies.
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Gaye (Saint Peters, MO)
[Liza Normal] is one of the most unforgettable and indestructible characters I've come across in recent fiction. I'm impressed by the way Wilson was able to make her so often prickly and unlovable, but still entirely sympathetic. Wilson really nails the 1980s too. Like Liza, I was a high schooler in the early '80s, and I was overwhelmed by nostalgia as I read. Remember falling for Robby Benson in Ice Castles? Remember Frankie Goes to Hollywood? Remember leg warmers? Well, Wilson remembers that and much, much more and uses it to great effect in this book. I thoroughly enjoyed Colors Insulting to Nature, and I look forward to more books by Cintra Wilson.
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Jennifer (Temple, TX)
I really enjoyed this novel. Cintra Wilson knows how to draw you in to the characters life starting on page one!! Liza Normal reminded me, only on the flip side, of C.C. Blume in Beaches. My emotions went from one end to the other with the happy romp of words.
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Quetzi (South Bend, IN)
Readers familiar with Wilson's work will recognize her jam-packed turns of phrase steeped in cynicism and pop-culture kitsch; her prose holds nothing back. Liza's tale will resonate with many of us in our thirties who once took leg warmers and George Michael to heart and longed to be the next Martha Quinn. What Wilson does best is bring together a cast of colorful misfits whose weirdnesses consume them like a total eclipse of the heart, with just a nimbus of humanity visible around their edges. Fame has many faces, the author implies, and none of them are happy. It's sound storytelling delivered with the force of a sledgehammer.
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Kathleen (Dearborn, MI)
This novel runs a whacky course! At times sad and at times funny and sometimes when I was reading it, I didn't quite know what to make of it. The author has a firm grasp on the time period and culture she writes about. Took me right back to the 80s. The novel is vividly written, with sometimes hilarious adjectives -- the novel pops and crackles, no doubt about it. All-in-all, a pretty enjoyable, tongue-in-cheek read, with a snappy pace.
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VICTORIA (OLYMPIA, WA)
Great book. Wilson takes us back to the eighties as seen through the eyes of Liza. It is well written and very funny. Liza just might have the reader second guessing their perceptions of stereotypes and the fame that has replaced royalty in America. Just a smart funny writer.
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Cynthia (Milwaukee, WI)
Liza Normal is anything but normal. This over-the-top zanny novel will captivate readers who follow the fame-shallow doings of today's "stars." A wickedly accurate portrait of our society's "15 minutes of fame" culture.
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Annie (East Greenwich, RI)
Like Liza I was 15 in 1981. Thanks to author Cintra Wilson, I relived memories of angst, emotional turmoil, day to day shit and eternal hope for something/someone incredible to pull me from the murky cesspool of teen life. This is a brave story, one we can all relate to. GREAT SUMMER READ!
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Tanya (Puyallup, WA)
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