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Slaughterhouse 90210: Where Great Books Meet Pop Culture
The perfect book for anyone with a Netflix account and a library card.
Slaughterhouse 90210 pairs literature's greatest lines with pop culture's best moments.
In 2009, Maris Kreizman wanted to combine her fierce love for pop culture with a lifelong passion for reading, and so the blog Slaughterhouse 90210 was born. By matching poignant passages from literature with popular moments from television, film, and real life, Maris' work instantly caught the attention (and adoration) of thousands. And it's easy to see why.
Slaughterhouse 90210 is subversively brilliant, finding the depth in the shallows of reality television, and the levity in Lahiri. A picture of Taylor Swift is paired with Joan Didion's quote, "Above all, she is the girl who 'feels things'. The girl ever wounded, ever young." Tony Soprano tenderly hugs his teenage son, accompanied by a line from Middlemarch about, "The patches of hardness and tenderness [that] lie side by side in men's dispositions." The images and quotes complement and deepen one another in surprising, profound, and tender ways.
With over 150 color photographs from some of popular culture's most iconic moments, Kreizman shows why comparing Walter White to Faust makes sense in our celebrity-obsessed, TV-crazed society.
Slaughterhouse 90210 pairs literature's greatest lines with pop culture's best moments.
In 2009, Maris Kreizman wanted to combine her fierce love for pop culture with a lifelong passion for reading, and so the blog Slaughterhouse 90210 was born. By matching poignant passages from literature with popular moments from television, film, and real life, Maris' work instantly caught the attention (and adoration) of thousands. And it's easy to see why.
Slaughterhouse 90210 is subversively brilliant, finding the depth in the shallows of reality television, and the levity in Lahiri. A picture of Taylor Swift is paired with Joan Didion's quote, "Above all, she is the girl who 'feels things'. The girl ever wounded, ever young." Tony Soprano tenderly hugs his teenage son, accompanied by a line from Middlemarch about, "The patches of hardness and tenderness [that] lie side by side in men's dispositions." The images and quotes complement and deepen one another in surprising, profound, and tender ways.
With over 150 color photographs from some of popular culture's most iconic moments, Kreizman shows why comparing Walter White to Faust makes sense in our celebrity-obsessed, TV-crazed society.
213 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2015
About the author
Maris Kreizman
3 books1,551 followersMaris Kreizman is the creator of Slaughterhouse 90210, a blog and book (Flatiron Books, 2015) that celebrates the intersection of her two great loves--literature and pop culture. She is a writer and critic whose work has appeared in the New York Times, BuzzFeed, Vulture, and more. A former book editor, Maris takes special pleasure in critiquing her own writing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
November 14, 2015
"The perfect book for anyone with a Netflix account and a library card."
How can you resist a book description like that? As a fan of pop culture and books, I am totally in awe of how this author matched popular TV shows, movies, sports and political icons, and celebrities who have no talent other than being famous (y'all know who I'm talking about, right?) with passages from both literary classics and contemporary fiction that really hit the mark.
The title comes from the first plate which has a photo of the Beverly Hills 90210 gang with the caption from Kurt Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE: "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."
And then there's this quote from Charles Baxter's THE FEAST OF LOVE: "In truth, there are only two realities: The one for people who are in love or love each other, and the one for people who are standing outside all that." This is below a photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
I would post the captions for Donald Trump and the Kardashians, which are spot-on perfection, but they are rather lengthy. Trust me, get this book and read them for yourselves.
Thanks to Flatiron Books for the copy of this fabulous book. Recommended as a gift to anyone who loves books and might know the photo references.
How can you resist a book description like that? As a fan of pop culture and books, I am totally in awe of how this author matched popular TV shows, movies, sports and political icons, and celebrities who have no talent other than being famous (y'all know who I'm talking about, right?) with passages from both literary classics and contemporary fiction that really hit the mark.
The title comes from the first plate which has a photo of the Beverly Hills 90210 gang with the caption from Kurt Vonnegut's SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE: "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt."
And then there's this quote from Charles Baxter's THE FEAST OF LOVE: "In truth, there are only two realities: The one for people who are in love or love each other, and the one for people who are standing outside all that." This is below a photo of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
I would post the captions for Donald Trump and the Kardashians, which are spot-on perfection, but they are rather lengthy. Trust me, get this book and read them for yourselves.
Thanks to Flatiron Books for the copy of this fabulous book. Recommended as a gift to anyone who loves books and might know the photo references.
October 22, 2015
By some alchemy, Kreizman neither degrades great books nor condescends to pop culture with her inspired juxtapositions. Her pairings of text and loaded images are clever and poignant and profound, finding new shades to the "high" and "low" art, celebrating the value and insights in both as well as in the conversations between them.
October 5, 2015
As a fan of the Tumblr I'm so glad many of the cross-cultural pieces were new to me. Spot on comparisons. (And there's an appendix so if you can't immediately place the photograph it helps)0
July 22, 2016
Yes, five stars.
The concept itself is so clever and something I think most people could only execute well a handful of times. She does it over and over and over. I wonder if she picked the quote first, or pop culture reference first? I was absolutely amazed how so many classic lit quotes were matched perfectly with scenes from pop culture--tv, movies, politics, etc. Sometimes hilarious, sad, touching, thought-provoking but always spot-on!
If you are the slightest bit intelligent and have any knowledge of pop culture and classic lit, read this. So insightful and smart. Shows all the ways culture and lit change, sometimes the general stories stay the same.
The concept itself is so clever and something I think most people could only execute well a handful of times. She does it over and over and over. I wonder if she picked the quote first, or pop culture reference first? I was absolutely amazed how so many classic lit quotes were matched perfectly with scenes from pop culture--tv, movies, politics, etc. Sometimes hilarious, sad, touching, thought-provoking but always spot-on!
If you are the slightest bit intelligent and have any knowledge of pop culture and classic lit, read this. So insightful and smart. Shows all the ways culture and lit change, sometimes the general stories stay the same.
November 2, 2015
Maris Kreizman's "Slaughterhouse 90210: Where Great Books Meet Pop Culture" is an excellent book for any literature/pop culture lover's library. The book features quality, color photos from pop culture paired with lines from classic literature.
It is attractive, with a good layout, and will make a fine addition to my table books. I won my copy from the Goodreads.com website and I appreciate the opportunity to peruse and review this book.
It is attractive, with a good layout, and will make a fine addition to my table books. I won my copy from the Goodreads.com website and I appreciate the opportunity to peruse and review this book.
December 8, 2015
What a waste of a good premise. Kriezman is to be commended on her work. Unfortunately, the book's format doesn't do it justice. Why should the reader need to constantly flip back and forth from the quote/photo to the book's end to find out the source of the photo? That should be given as the source at the same time as the quote source. Admittedly, the discussions are informative, but shouldn't be hidden as they are.
October 14, 2015
This is one of the coolest books I own. Anyone who loves pop culture or classic literature (or longs for a combination between the two) should buy this book and enjoy flipping through it forever and ever.
January 25, 2016
This was fun to browse through. Why it needed to be a book, I can't explain. It's a concept made for a funny, quirky, endlessly scrolling Tumblr. However, as a book, it can be entertaining bathroom reading, I guess (hey, don't judge - we all do it).
December 8, 2016
This was fantastic. Great for book nerds and lovers of pop culture. Well suited for a coffee table book or fun gift as it's mainly pictures and captions. Insightful look at our society through apt book excerpts paired with photos of celebrities, movies and tv shows.
October 7, 2015
I was a huge fan of the Tumblr. Very stoked to add this book to my coffee table.
August 23, 2017
almost all of the quote choices were appropriate and some of them quite frankly hilarious
June 25, 2017
What a disappointment! With such a promising title I expected far more from what is little more than a selection of quotes and pictures from contemporary movies and TV shows. Guess that will teach me not to judge a book by its cover!
February 13, 2017
The mashup of pop culture and literary quotes seems a little gimmicky at first, but I kept feeling pulled in by the aptness of so many pairings, even for shows or movies I haven't seen. One example shows a photo from the series "Friday Night Lights," which I never watched, but it came highly recommended to me for its portrayal of small town life, high school, and complicated yet solid family relationships. The accompanying quote is from Colum McCann's "Let the Great World Spin" [swoooooon]: "I guess this is what marriage is, or was, or could be, if you drop the mask. You allow the fatigue in. You lean across and kiss the years because they're the things that matter."
Another good one, in which the protagonist from the quote doesn't exactly match the experience of the character in the photo, but the language from the quote fits the spirit: from WB series "Felicity" which takes place in NYC, with a quote from Toni Morrison's Jazz: "How soon country people forget. When they fall in love with a city it is forever, and it is like forever. As though there never was a time when they didn't love it. The minute they arrive at the train station or get off the ferry and glimpse the wide streets and the wasteful lamps lighting them, they know they are born for it. There, in a city, they are not so much new as themselves: their stronger, riskier selves." As a country kid who moved to the city (multiple cities), this is so completely perfect.
Probably my favorite is a quote from Wallace Stegners's Crossing to Safety (thank you, Ms. Smith, for making us read that in high school), that accompanies a photo of Melanie Griffith and Joan Cusack from "Working Girl" (great 80s movie, look it up Millennials). "It is love and friendship, the sanctity and celebration of our relationships, that not only support a good life, but create one. Through friendships, we spark and inspire one another's ambitions." YES.
My takeaway from this book is that I need to revisit some of my old favorites and read/watch some new ones I haven't tried. For that humorous and necessary reminder, I give four stars.
Another good one, in which the protagonist from the quote doesn't exactly match the experience of the character in the photo, but the language from the quote fits the spirit: from WB series "Felicity" which takes place in NYC, with a quote from Toni Morrison's Jazz: "How soon country people forget. When they fall in love with a city it is forever, and it is like forever. As though there never was a time when they didn't love it. The minute they arrive at the train station or get off the ferry and glimpse the wide streets and the wasteful lamps lighting them, they know they are born for it. There, in a city, they are not so much new as themselves: their stronger, riskier selves." As a country kid who moved to the city (multiple cities), this is so completely perfect.
Probably my favorite is a quote from Wallace Stegners's Crossing to Safety (thank you, Ms. Smith, for making us read that in high school), that accompanies a photo of Melanie Griffith and Joan Cusack from "Working Girl" (great 80s movie, look it up Millennials). "It is love and friendship, the sanctity and celebration of our relationships, that not only support a good life, but create one. Through friendships, we spark and inspire one another's ambitions." YES.
My takeaway from this book is that I need to revisit some of my old favorites and read/watch some new ones I haven't tried. For that humorous and necessary reminder, I give four stars.
August 24, 2016
So I went into this book without realizing that it started out as a blog. But after figuring that out, I still don't really understand the point of making a book out of it. The format itself was a bit annoying, because you flip back and forth from the picture/quote page to the background/connection page in the back, which made actually reading the book kind of a pain.
Also, while the quotes fit the context of the media reference, some of the connections seemed pretty shallow and there wasn't really any analysis included. It was a good starting point to get people thinking, but I think you'd have to be pretty obtuse to not think about some of these things in the first place. Taylor Swift is paired with, "Above all, she was the girl who 'feels' things." Enough jokes have already been made about that on the Internet, I don't think this one really added anything to the discussion.
So while it was a unique idea, I think the execution was a little dull. If you subscribe to Thomas C. Foster's idea that "there's only one story", these connections are really not that big of a leap. Teenagers from Pretty in Pink (1986) and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) feel the same? What are the odds?
Also, while the quotes fit the context of the media reference, some of the connections seemed pretty shallow and there wasn't really any analysis included. It was a good starting point to get people thinking, but I think you'd have to be pretty obtuse to not think about some of these things in the first place. Taylor Swift is paired with, "Above all, she was the girl who 'feels' things." Enough jokes have already been made about that on the Internet, I don't think this one really added anything to the discussion.
So while it was a unique idea, I think the execution was a little dull. If you subscribe to Thomas C. Foster's idea that "there's only one story", these connections are really not that big of a leap. Teenagers from Pretty in Pink (1986) and The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007) feel the same? What are the odds?
December 31, 2015
What a great way to annoy a literature lover!
By coupling book quotes with scenes from film and television, Kreisman manages to create a distinctive cognitive dissonance, especially when serious and profound literary works get paired with corny movies or TV shows.
The technique "works" when the tone of the book and movie match. The quirky Vonnegut is a great pairing to Jersey Shore, the absurdist Heller with Trump, the dark and broody Tartt with Black Swan.
But The Grapes of Wrath paired with Revenge of the Nerds? Nathaniel Hawthorne with White Chicks? Sylvia Plath with The Bachelor?
Really?
Maybe I'm just not hep enough to appreciate the snarkiness, or maybe I just respect literature too much and feel obligated to defend it, but I found this book unreadable beyond a skim.
By coupling book quotes with scenes from film and television, Kreisman manages to create a distinctive cognitive dissonance, especially when serious and profound literary works get paired with corny movies or TV shows.
The technique "works" when the tone of the book and movie match. The quirky Vonnegut is a great pairing to Jersey Shore, the absurdist Heller with Trump, the dark and broody Tartt with Black Swan.
But The Grapes of Wrath paired with Revenge of the Nerds? Nathaniel Hawthorne with White Chicks? Sylvia Plath with The Bachelor?
Really?
Maybe I'm just not hep enough to appreciate the snarkiness, or maybe I just respect literature too much and feel obligated to defend it, but I found this book unreadable beyond a skim.
November 22, 2015
"The perfect book for anyone with a Netflix account and a library card." I wholeheartedly agree with that tagline for this book. The author pairs images of pop culture figures in film, TV, and life with quotes from literature of all eras. For example, Wayne and Garth cheering along side "There could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison" from Jane Austen's Persuasion. The quotes are so fitting, I can only imagine how long it took for the author to find the perfect pairing. If you're only on the fringe of recognizing pop culture icons, this book likely isn't for you - the images are not coupled with identification until the end of the book, where the author describes the connection between the icon and book.
December 29, 2015
We've seen many a tumblr make the leap to print with lackluster results, so I didn't really expect too much from this one. But, after a recommendation from a friend who has excellent tastes in books, I figured I would flip through. I read the whole book in one sitting and loved every page! I was so impressed with the thoughfulness with which Kreizman paired a profound literary quote with a scene from pop culture. Who knew that Jane Austen has written the perfect quote to describe Wayne & Garth's friendship!?! Genius! I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a quick read that will make you laugh, make you think, & make you want to binge watch 90's television.
July 27, 2016
I picked this book up for some relaxing, no-more-effort-than-flipping-through-a-magazine reading, and was surprised by how whip smart the pairings of pop culture photos and quotes from literature were. Whether it's Dan Chaon's musings about how a person's most vulnerable failings can eclipse their greatest accomplishments paired with Lindsay Lohan passed out in the back of a car, or Wodehouse's quote about how girls develop a poise at about 11 that most men never equal at 70 next to a photo of young Hermione and Ron, each page brings new meanings to the works represented, and made me long for my days of writing papers as I watched television in my dorm room.
February 22, 2016
This was so great! I think it really helps that the pop culture touchstones in this book are largely ones that I like/have seen/am aware of. It draws really fun parallels and drives home the poptimist point of view that you can extract the same big ideas from TV and movies as you can from literature, and I am OK with that.
July 18, 2018
Yes, it is literally a Tumblr account in book form, but sometimes Tumblr can hold hidden gems. This concept is definitely one of them, and it's a delightful afternoon alternative to browsing the web.
March 30, 2016
Love the blog, love the book, love Maris Kreizman on Twitter.
August 10, 2022
En blok. Möjligen har jag hittat på ordet själv. Hur som helst var det här från början en tumblr och man frågar ju sig alltid om det verkligen nödvändigt att omvandla innehållet i pappersform. Samtidigt är det lite trevligt att ha en kollektion med popkulturella och litterära favoriter, även filmer.
Alla är där: Gilmore Girls, Seinfeld, Before Midnight, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation, Thelma & Louise, Mad Men, Prince, Patti Smith, Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, Wayne's World. Det är förvisso farligt att producera så här samtida material.
Sedan bokens tillkomst har två av deltagarna blivit mer eller mindre cancelled, Kevin Spacey och Morrissey. Nabokovcitatet som paras ihop med Lady Gaga får en oavsiktligt elak ton, efter A Star is Born och Gucci-filmen t.ex. Oavsett det är det fantastiska rader och får mig att kolla efter hans Despair.
Lägger ut det samt några smakprov på instagramkontot @mindthebook nu.
Maris har också en intervjupodcast som gästats av Deborah Levy, Tessa Hadley, Emily St.John Mandel, Miriam Toews, Melissa Broder, Maggie Nelson, Kristen Radtke, David Sedaris, Rebecca Solnit och många fler.
Alla är där: Gilmore Girls, Seinfeld, Before Midnight, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lost in Translation, Thelma & Louise, Mad Men, Prince, Patti Smith, Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, Wayne's World. Det är förvisso farligt att producera så här samtida material.
Sedan bokens tillkomst har två av deltagarna blivit mer eller mindre cancelled, Kevin Spacey och Morrissey. Nabokovcitatet som paras ihop med Lady Gaga får en oavsiktligt elak ton, efter A Star is Born och Gucci-filmen t.ex. Oavsett det är det fantastiska rader och får mig att kolla efter hans Despair.
Lägger ut det samt några smakprov på instagramkontot @mindthebook nu.
Maris har också en intervjupodcast som gästats av Deborah Levy, Tessa Hadley, Emily St.John Mandel, Miriam Toews, Melissa Broder, Maggie Nelson, Kristen Radtke, David Sedaris, Rebecca Solnit och många fler.
June 20, 2017
"The perfect book book for anyone with a Netflix account and a library card." If you want one sentence to describe this book, that is it! If you like to read and you know a bit about pop culture (movies, TV shows, celebrities)--this book is fantastic. It takes iconic photos of pop culture and pairs them with a poignant quote from classic literature and it works. It works so well!
Some of my favorite pairings include:
Oscar Wilde with Pulp Fiction.
Ernest Hemingway with Twin Peaks.
Michael Cunningham with Prince.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky with My So-Called Life.
Even if you only know the pop culture side, the paired quotes are wonderful and maybe you'll find something interesting to read!
Some of my favorite pairings include:
Oscar Wilde with Pulp Fiction.
Ernest Hemingway with Twin Peaks.
Michael Cunningham with Prince.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky with My So-Called Life.
Even if you only know the pop culture side, the paired quotes are wonderful and maybe you'll find something interesting to read!
November 8, 2017
If you love pop culture and literary quotes, look no further. In the lovingly assembled compilation, Maris Kreizman matches snapshots from popular stars, shows, and events with their utterly appropriate pairs of quotations from literary masterpieces. The perfect conversation piece of a coffee table book!
July 18, 2021
This beautiful, accessible book is the perfect intersection of great literature and our vast vault of TV and film knowledge. For those who can't quite connect the dots between the quote from a famous novel or thinker and an image from modern memory, like Bruce Springsteen or Claire Danes from "My So-Called Life." the Appendix offers pithy insights.
March 10, 2017
All the best posts in a book.
September 15, 2017
masterful but it works better as a blog.
December 2, 2017
The review is correct-this is the perfect book for anyone with a Netflix account and a library card! So much fun!
April 9, 2020
blog into book, would be good waiting-room thing to flip through at the dentist's office.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews