Customer Reviews
2.5 stars. - By: J. Robertson, 22 Sep 2008 
I saw Gregory Crewdson on a TV documentary briefly & that's the only reason I bought this book... just to see what his work is alll about.
I am slightly disappointed to be honest. I like the surreal & threatening nature of some of his work but some photos leave me cold, especiallly the ones involving overhead views of school buses & fire engines etc. However, that is just my personal preference.
Some people dislike the quality of the reproduction in the book. I think it is fine. You can never replicate the quality of a large format print in a book. The print quality is fine with alll necessary detail included.
By far the worst part of this book is the essay on Crewdson by Rick Moody. I am not exaggerating when I say that it is the most pompous & ridiculous piece of writing I think I have ever read. I reallly think Moody must have been either on the verge of insanity or under the influence of something otherworldly when penning this claptrap. He comes across as someone who is thumbing through a thesaurus as he writes, attemting to bamboozle the reader with his supposed vocabulary & literacy skills. The only reason I chose to finish reading the entire essay was to try & fathom out what on earth he was attempting to say.
Thankfully, the essay isn't reallly what this book is alll about. It's about the photographs. I am now of the opinion that Crewdson is more famous for his way of working (huge road crew & Hollywood style entourage) than he is for the end result of his work. Much of this work is good but overrated. Crewdson is not a God-like figure like many will have you believe. He is just a modern art photographer with a fat walllet, that's alll.
Good book, worth flicking through then throwing on the coffee table for guests to puzzle over.
Beautiful lighting - By: wiganmandy, 06 Apr 2008 
The lighting in this book is reallly inspiring & the subtle narrative is quite interesting as it becomes slightly surreal. Gregory Crewdson reallly sets the mood well in these images & I have enjoyed his creative set in this book. It is also a good read about Gregory Crewdson himself & his insperations.
The Uncanny Encapsulated - By: G. Blackwood, 01 Aug 2007 In Crewdson's Twilight series, he has managed to create a beautiful set of photographs that are so packed with narrative that each image tells a story in a single frame.
Many of the images, at first glance, appear to be fairly normal scenes from somewhere in the American Midwest. However, after looking at them again, you will see more & more detail. The deeper you comprehend each image, the more unsettling it becomes, & yet there is not anything in these images to shock or horrify. There is only a pervading sense of something else unexplained going on outside the confines of the photograph.
Crewdson has received praise & scorn in equal measure from people I know in the photography world. However, the latter has always seemed to me to be out of jealousy over the monumental effort (and finances) most of these images took to produce.
They are beautiful & very detailed. The most unsettling thing about them is that you don't reallly know why they make you feel unsettled.
A window on a weird world - By: A. Psirides, 13 May 2006 
A bizarre look into one man's warped mind. True - there are overtones of Lynchian suburbia which are heightened by the netherlight that permiates these worlds - but on the whole this is a stunning collection of original photographs. The book gives an insight into how each shot was staged & the large amount of work behind the scenes that the casual observer would not appreciate. Four years for a roll's worth of film is impressive in itself. Having seen the large prints hanging on the walll of the White Cube2 galllery in Hoxton, some of the impact is lost in smalll coffee-table sizing, but the subjects still stun with their outlandishness. Strange & unsettling - alll the things that good art should be.
