Jean Lamore's AKA

[Ghetta Life]

Has anyone on the P-list read this book, AKA?  The publisher, FRANK, makes 
such an over-the-top promotional blurb:

"According to FRANK’s editorial board and confirmed by several literary 
critics, including Linda Lappin of Poet’s and Writers, AKA could be as 
significant to 21st century literature as Joyce’s Ulysees was to the 20th 
century. FRANK, which has published around 1200 writers, poets, and artists 
in Paris since its inception in the early 80s, and is known for its 
eclectism and strong commitment to internationalism, has announced that it 
is devoting all of its available resources to successfully publish AKA. At 
the heart of the effort is the publishers direct appeal to visionary readers 
to support serious and difficult writing by reserving a copy on the FRANK 
website. “Essentially, we are asking thoughtful readers around the world to 
take a risk and pre-order ‘sight-unseen’ a signed and numbered copy of what 
we think is the most exciting innovation in contemporary fiction today,“ the 
FRANK editorial board states on www.readfrank.com. The editor, known for his 
commitment to unorthodox and ground-breaking writing from around the world, 
asks readers to ask themselves: “Would you have said yes to an offer from 
Sylvia Beech to purchase a copy of Joyce’s Ulysees in 1922? We like to think 
we would. Here is such an opportunity."

Does "FRANK" really have any literary reputation as described above?  One 
can't even purchase this book elsewhere than from FRANK.  What's that all 
about?

Ghetta

>From: "Ya Sam" <takoitov at hotmail.com>
>
>AKA
>
>Lamore’s novel, written mostly in a working class suburb of Paris, and the 
>product of 6 years of intense and wildly eclectic research ranging from 
>African geo-politics to ornithology (Lamore´s father is an expert on rare 
>birds) has been compared to Anthony Burgess’s Clockwork Orange, Thomas 
>Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow, and Danté’s Purgatory. Aside from a short 
>excerpt published in FRANK’s recent issue of Expat Writing, the work has 
>been kept from public view. AKA by Jean Lamore is one of the most 
>innovative and thought-provoking novels to emerge so far in the 21st 
>century. Set in Paris, New York, and diverse parts of Africa, AKA is a 
>rambunctious romp through almost everything we know about both life and 
>language. Both upsetting and amusing at once in the best sense of both 
>words. FRANK, Paris’s longest running anglophone literary journal, has been 
>publishing cutting-edge fiction, poetry, and visual art since the early 
>1980s in the great tradition of expat avant-garde publishing. The first 300 
>readers to reserve a copy will receive a numbered and signed copy from a 
>first limited edition.
>
>http://www.paris-anglo.com/dedent/dedent.php?request=gift_shop/jeanlamore/index.php
>

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