Andy Warhol is a very strange man, so it is not very much of a surprise that his novel (I use the term novel loosely) is rather strange as well. The 15 hapters are divided into themes - such as Love, Fame, and Underwear Power - which Warhol extrapolates upon at length. Some of his musings are extremely clever and amusing, but I found that his discussion became quite tedior as the book carried on. It may be just the lack of interesting themes (sorry, but the "Tingle" chapter on cleaning is quite dull), but the format (that of discussions between himself and "B") is rather trite and not at all engaging. At least there are some hilarious quotes in the early chapters, and the single line of the Death chapter is highly memorable. ( )

In The Philosophy of Andy Warhol—which, with the subtitle "(From A to B and Back Again)," is less a memoir than a collection of riffs and reflections—he talks about love, sex, food, beauty, fame, work, money, and success; about New York, America, and his childhood in McKeesport, Pennsylvania; about his good times and bad in New York, the explosion of his career in the sixties, and his life among celebrities.

I am glad to have experienced an Andy Warhol exhibition in Hong Kong a few years ago to provide some context to this work. Despite my initial trepidation, I found myself intrigued. Warhol seems to me to be Freudian in that he says what we all think but are afraid to say. Either that or I have a similar problem. Does it take one self-centred person to enjoy another self-centered person? Warhol has led me to read Freud and Truman Capote. But increasingly, I fear I am running out of time to read what I wish to read in my remaining lifetime. ( )

B: Is that a female impersonator?
A: Of what?

Enjoyable in both expected and unexpected ways - I was expecting glorified superficiality and amusingly glib comments, I was not expecting much in the way of warmth and genuine reflection - but the book contains both.

I discovered midway through reading (thanks to other Goodreads members' reviews) that Andy didn't actually pen the book himself which, were this any other artist, might be an outrage but with Warhol seems par for the course! It was actually ghost-written by Bob Colacello, Pat Hackett and Brigid Berlin (who is responsible for a chapter I-N-T-R-I-C-A-T-E-L-Y describing her incredibly thorough cleaning routine in minute detail which is by turns exasperating and jaw-dropping!)

Overall a fun read! ( )

Andy Warhol mette a nudo i suoi pensieri contorti e le sue ossessioni. Parla delle sue idee sull'arte in generale, soffermandosi soprattutto sui suoi campi preferiti, ovvero Pittura, Cinema ed anche Teatro.
Esplora i suoi rapporti con gli altri e si racconta spudoratamente al suo pubblico.