[.ca] Grapefruit: A Book of Instructions and Drawings by Yoko Ono (ISBN 0743201108)

Yoko will help you make your life fun!:
Follow Yoko's instructions, and free yourself from your common-sensed, conventional, routined way of thinking! Yoko will guide you how to break out of your shell and have fun! You can read this book as poetry, or you can use these hints to trigger your creative mind, or you can use it as a self-help book. For example, whenever there are days when you're bored or stressed out, you can declare yourself, "Today is gonna be a Yoko Ono day", and you can pick a page out of this book, and just do it. Reading these unusual instructions is one way to enjoy this book, but actually DOING them is what makes it even more liberating! If you're a wanna-be artist, this is a must read, because it shows you how a TRUE ARTIST thinks. I think this is how Yoko's art ideas originated. She's turned some of these ideas into her performing arts later on, such as the famous nail thing. I'm surprised that some folks down there have written negative reviews about this book, because I think it's a charming little book that everyone will enjoy. I guess such folks were expecting something along the line with the Beatles' taste or something. Or maybe they didn't "get it", such as taking some of her humor seriously and being bothered by it---which is exactly her point, because true art is about challenging the conventional. You should know that Yoko's creativity has always been completely individual from the Beatles, sometimes way over ordinary people's heads. In short, she's a GENIUS!

Viva Yoko!:
We are lucky indeed that this book is back in print. I chanced upon an early printing at a used book store years back, and have enjoyed it ever since. Grapefruit is full of Ono's conceptual "paintings", which take the form of instructional poems...they are sometimes insightful, sometimes thought-provoking, sometimes wickedly funny and poignant at the same time ("Hide and Go Seek Piece: Hide until everyone forgets about you. Hide until everyone dies.") Throughout the poems she displays brilliant imagination and a unique appreciation of life. This book is truly original...as you can see from the reviews below, it's not for everybody...but I think anyone with an open mind and a passion for creativity will love it.

Master Piece:
I bought this book in England in 1970 when it was released with the charming cover of a grapefruit atop a female posterior. I loved the book and kept it rather than follow Yoko's instructions to burn it afterward. Yesterday I read it again. It is funny how one's perceptions change over thirty years for better or for worse. My conclusion is that this book is a Master Piece. Sorry Yoko! Please experience this book. SERIOUSLY!

Lighthearted, clever and, most of all, funny:
Yoko Ono did not break up The Beatles. And even if she had anything to do with the band's inevitable divorce, The Beatles broke up in their prime, which is what we love so much about them (And if you don't believe me, think about how much you wish the Rolling Stones packed things up twenty-some years ago). So kudos to Yoko either way. Sorry, just had to make that public service announcement before continuing. This is some of the most charming, thought-provoking and downright funny writing that the 20th century produced. Lighthearted and friendly at times, creepy and unsettling at other times (see "Back Piece I"), "Grapefruit" stands as proof of Yoko's status as one of the great "conceptual" artists of her age. Don't take this book too seriously. Sit down with it, and don't be afraid to laugh--or shiver. Move over Samuel Beckett, "Grapefruit" is absurdist humor at its best.

"Grapefruit" is a work of genius:
(As I write this I am listening to the cd that comes with the YES Yoko Ono book). Some years back I was having a party and one of my guests came across my treasured hardback copy of Yoko Ono" "Grapefruit"...he was so amazed and delighted that he started crying. And so I gave it to him even though I was upset I told him that I'd owned it long enough...it should belong to someone else..to him. A few months later I received a signed and numbered Yoko artwork in the mail. Was it karma?