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James Franco

Author of Palo Alto: Stories

39+ Works 677 Members 32 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

James Franco was born on April 19, 1978 in Palo Alto, California. He enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles as an English major but dropped out after freshman year to pursue a career as an actor, taking acting lessons with Robert Carnegie at Playhouse West. After 15 months of show more training, he began auditioning in Los Angeles California and got his first break in 1990 after he was cast in the leading role of the television series Freaks and Geeks. His first major film was the romantic comedy Whatever It Takes. He was later cast in the title role of the 2001 TV special James Dean. He received a Golden Globe Award and nominationations for an Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002 the superhero film Spider-Man was released and James Franco played Harry Osborn, the son of the villain. Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success. In the same year he was cast in the drama City by the Sea. The following year he co-starred in Robert Altman's The Company. With the success of the first Spider-Man film he was able to reprise the role in the sequel Spider-Man 2 in 2004. The movie was well received by critics. He continues his acting career with roles in films such as the Great Raid, Annapolis, Flyboys and Wicker Man. He is a successful actor, director and screenwriter. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Includes the name: James Franco

Image credit: James Franco. Photo by Nick Step.

Works by James Franco

Palo Alto: Stories (2010) 371 copies
Actors Anonymous (2013) 90 copies
The Disaster Artist [2017 film] (2017) — Director — 50 copies
A California Childhood (2013) 26 copies
Straight James / Gay James (2015) 16 copies
As I Lay Dying [2013 film] (2013) — Director — 7 copies
The Broken Tower [2011 film] (2011) — Director — 7 copies
Interior. Leather Bar [2013 film] (2014) — Director — 6 copies
Child of God [2013 film] (2014) — Director — 6 copies
The Institute (2017) 4 copies

Associated Works

Slaughterhouse-Five (1969) — Narrator, some editions — 43,809 copies
Spider-Man [2002 film] (2002) — Actor — 1,069 copies
Spider-Man 2 [2004 film] (2004) — Actor — 956 copies
Spider-Man 3 [2007 film] (2007) — Actor — 694 copies
The Holiday [2006 film] (2006) — Actor — 527 copies
Rise of the Planet of the Apes [2011 film] (2011) — Actor — 421 copies
Oz the Great and Powerful [2013 film] (2013) — Actor — 293 copies
Milk [2008 film] (2008) 290 copies
Never Been Kissed [1999 film] (1999) — Actor — 245 copies
Flyboys [2006 film] (2006) 215 copies
The Green Hornet [2011 film] (2011) — Actor — 197 copies
Tristan + Isolde [2006 film] (2006) — Actor — 170 copies
Nights in Rodanthe [2008 film] (2008) — Actor — 164 copies
This is the End [2013 film] (2013) — Actor — 117 copies
Veronica Mars [2014 film] (2015) — Actor — 115 copies
127 Hours [2010 film] (2011) 107 copies
Annapolis [2006 Movie] (2006) — Actor — 80 copies
Your Highness [2011 film] (2012) — Actor — 78 copies
Homefront [2013 Film] (2013) — Actor — 66 copies
The Little Prince [2015 film] (2015) — Actor, some editions — 59 copies
The Interview [2014 film] (2015) — Actor — 52 copies
City by the Sea [2002 film] (2003) 46 copies
Howl [2010 film] (2010) — Actor — 46 copies
The Great Raid [2005 film] (2005) 43 copies
The Company [2003 film] (2004) 41 copies
Spring Breakers [2012 Film] (2013) — Actor — 38 copies
Spider-Man 2.1 [2007 film] (2007) — Actor — 35 copies
Why Him? [2016 film] (2016) 29 copies
11.22.63 [2016 TV mini series] (2016) — Actor — 27 copies
Wild Horses [2015 film] (2015) — Actor — 24 copies
Kin [2018 film] (2018) — Actor — 17 copies
Queen of the Desert [2015 film] (2015) — Actor — 15 copies
The Dead Girl [2006 Film] (2006) — Actor. — 15 copies
Lovelace [2013 film] (2013) — Actor — 15 copies
Ploughshares Winter 2011-2012 (2011) — Contributor — 14 copies
A Manner of Being: Writers on Their Mentors (2015) — Contributor — 12 copies
Sonny [2002 film] (2002) 9 copies
James Dean [2001 film] (2001) 7 copies
True Story [2015 film] (2016) — Actor — 6 copies
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs [2018 film] (2018) — Actor — 6 copies
King Cobra [2016 Film] (2016) — Actor — 5 copies
Love & Distrust (2012) 3 copies
Shadows & Lies (2011) — Actor — 2 copies
Every Thing Will Be Fine [2015 film] (2016) — Actor — 1 copy

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Common Knowledge

Members

Reviews

I really wanted to like this collection. I really did. But every story was about getting high. I guess Franco succeeded in making the reader uncomfortable with some of the stories, mainly the two rape stories. I hated "A Clockwork Orange" and I hated this one, too. I struggled to complete it though it is an easy short read. Were all the teens in Palo Alto like this? There was nothing to relate to even though it is a compilation of stories.
 
Flagged
brozic | 20 other reviews | Jan 27, 2024 |
I know, I should totally bag on this collection of stories because they are written by a goofy and famous actor. I personally have no opinion of James Franco, either way. I mean, I thought he was great in Freaks and Geeks back in the early 00's but none of his movies have really done anything for me. Going into this book, I was completely ambivalent.

But, I mean, I should be snarky and take ol' Mr. Franco down a peg or two, right? That's kind of a problem when the stories in this books are actually pretty decent. None of them reach anywhere close to Fitzgerald but who says that everyone needs to aspire to be someone else? These are just simple stories that intertwine together about a dude and his friends in California as they party, drink, fuck, kill things, destroy property, and wonder why life is the way it is. For that, I give it three stars.

"Halloween" opens up the book and it's about a drunk-driver who possibly kills a woman, but does not stop to find out. "Lockheed" is about rivalries coming to a head at a teenage party. "American History" is about mistaken racism. "Killing Animals" is self descriptive and "Emily" is written from the perspective of a young girl head over heels for a sleazy dude. "Camp" is a nostalgic trip about summer and summer camp and crushes and girls. "Chinatown" ends the first part of the book and is a tragic, sometimes surreal tale about a girl who has sex with any and everyone. "April" is simply about unrequited love and "Tar Baby" is about being friends with someone you can't stand, while "I Could Kill Someone" stands as the most disappointing of all the stories; it builds to an unresolved climax that made it feel like an incomplete work. The last story, "Jack-O'" is a throwaway and ends the book on a whimper-not-bang.

It'd be pretty cool to see another offering from the young actor.
… (more)
 
Flagged
dlbkcmo | 20 other reviews | Dec 8, 2021 |
For some reason, I've started off the summer reading books about monsters: Alan Moore's From Hell, Bret Easton Ellis's American Psycho, Tampa by Alissa Nutting, and this one, Palo Alto.
Except for Ellis's book, which is hilarious, I'm getting a little tired of reading about the very worst of human nature, whether banal or novel. And Palo Alto offers both, leavened with only merest slivers of humanity.
 
Flagged
FinallyJones | 20 other reviews | Nov 17, 2021 |
More irrelevant crap from James Franco. This was a chore to finish and I actually skimmed the last few chapters because I was so bored out of my mind. This collection of stories is so awful that I have a hard time believing the same person wrote Actors Anonymous, a book with much more depth and intriguing experimentation. Each story contains the exact same monotone narrating style, cliche themes, and dull language. At least the film gives the characters some life, who deserve much better than the flatness Franco provides them. I don't think I can even discuss this in a halfway intelligent manner because my perception is too clouded with distaste.… (more)
 
Flagged
LianaH | 20 other reviews | Apr 4, 2020 |

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Works
39
Also by
50
Members
677
Popularity
#37,312
Rating
4.1
Reviews
32
ISBNs
69
Languages
4
Favorited
1

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