Here's part of Amazon's plot summary for James Franco's Palo Alto: Stories:
James Franco’s story collection traces the lives of a group of teenagers as they experiment with vices of all kinds, struggle with their families and one another, and succumb to self-destructive, often heartless nihilism.
And "vices of all kinds" is no hyperbole. Franco wrote about: teen oral orgies, teen (anal) sex orgies, a student-teacher affair, and a lot more - including a number of age-gap sexual scenes and references.
Let's take a look at some of the teen "vices" in the short stories:
"Lockheed"
In "Lockheed", during the summer between her freshman and sophomore year of high school, Marissa got a summer job recording "blemishes and splices" in "old film reels of the moon." However, Marissa got bored and drew: "[...] people getting shot and bleeding, and people having sex." Marrisa shared that her life was boring too. "I only had one kiss, and it was with my gay cousin, Jamie." And at a high school party, Marrisa saw Zack Cuttle, a water polo player: "[...] getting a blow job from someone behind the car."
"Emily"
In "Emily", Emily shared that Ryan wasn't: "[...] like the assholes in my grade like Adam and Roberto who just wanted to fuck and do it in the ass. Or come on my face like a porn star [...]" At the Patten twins' house party, Emily played "I Never" with the twins and a "bunch of other girls." Here are the rules of the game: "Someone says, "I never..." and if you've done the thing that they say [...] you have to drink."
"I never had sex at school."
I [Emily] drank.
"I never had sex with two guys at once."
I [Emily] drank.
"I never had sex with three guys at once."
After the game, Emily described what she did to Ryan in one of the twins' bedrooms: "[...] I told him to lie back and he did. His feet were on the floor. Then I undid his pants. I pulled his boxer shorts down to his feet. I did if for a while. He made sounds [...] After it was finished [...] I asked him if he liked it."
"Camp"
In "Camp", at the YMCA water-ski camp, some twelve and thirteen-year-old boys dared Howard to "make out" with Angela, a Black girl, in the back of the bus. Consequently, Howard kissed Angela, the other boys saw Howard feel Angela's "small breasts", and under the towel he felt her vagina."
In "Camp" is where we see our first example of nympholepsy. The narrator related that he had his first girlfriend in forth grade - in Mr. DeFelice's class. "Her name was Simone. She was pretty and blonde like Madonna [...] Once Simone said Mr. DeFelice asked if he could take pictures of her at his house, but her mom wouldn't let her go."
Later, the narrator shared: "The second time [I had sex] was in Susan's bed. I was about to come [...] After, when we pulled away, it was sticky and frothy. Buttery, like pulling apart a Baby Ruth."
"Chinatown In Three Parts"
"Chinatown In Three Parts" is about Pam, a half Vietnamese and half Caucasian teen, whom, Roberto, the 16-year-old narrator, met in Jordan Middle School's parking lot.
In "Part 1: Vietnam", after smoking "a lot of pot" at Tom's house, Roberto suggested to Pam, "Let's play 'Camping'!" Roberto shared what he did to Pam during Camping: [...] I took her pants off. [...] Her ass was fantastic, very hard. And her tits were big for an Asian. I spit on my hand, and then I put my dick inside her. It was good [...]"
In "Part II: Headless", Pam gave Roberto a "blow job" in the shed behind her home. "I asked her if she liked it. She said that she did. Then I left."
A week later, Pam, "on her knees in the middle of the soft, manicured [lawn] bowling green", had an (oral sex) orgy with Seth, Tom and Roberto. Roberto described his turn:
"After, Tom zipped up [...] She stayed on her knees. Next, I walked over to her, before Seth, because I didn't want her to be too messy. She had to do it for a while. I made a mess. It got on her shirt and hair. I laughed, and Tom laughed. She was all messy for Seth."
The following summer, between her sophomore and junior year of high school, Pam visited Simon Kats' house. Conveniently: "His mom worked nights as a nurse." On one occasion, Roberto got Pam naked before: "The guys lined up outside the bedroom. We went in, two and three at a time. Everyone fucked her. She got really messy."
Roberto described what he did to Pam: "I put a carrot in her butt. Everyone in the door was laughing [...] She let me keep it in there for a while. I moved it in and out. Then Jose and Angelo stopped, and we turned her over onto her back. I put a cucumber inside her. She didn't really want it, but I shoved it up there. I kept it up there for a while."
In "Part III: Caffe Buon", Al, an Italian bartender at Caffee Buon, told Roberto that if he got him "laid", Roberto could have a free dinner. Consequently, at five o'clock on a Monday, Robert took Pam to the restaurant where Al, who is also a friend of Roberto's dad, had sex in the bathroom while Roberto dined on "a chicken dinner with farfalle". (Later, Roberto took Pam back to Caffee Buon. Roberto lunched on angel hair pasta with shrimp while Juan, a cook, and Pam had sex in the kitchen's bathroom)
Lastly, Franco returned to teen sex. In the parking lot behind Palo Alto High School: "She [Pam] got into the back seat. She was on her hands and knees on the seat. Seth got behind her [...] He pushed her skirt up and took off her panties. Ramone stood at the open back door, in front of her face, and undid his pants. His dick was huge [...] Seth was doing it really hard, and the car was shaking. Pam was choking [...]"
"April In Three Parts"
In "Part III: April" of the short story "April In Three Parts", April attended a bat mitzvah where Shauna became a "woman". But before going to the bat mitzvah, April went to Mr. B's house to babysit Michael - Mr. B's five-year-old son. April and Michael watched Fast Times at Ridgemont High, which April described as: "Sex in a baseball dugout, sex in a pool, and abortion." By the way, Mr. B is April's forty-two-year-old tanned 8th grade soccer coach.
After Mr. B returned from his date with another teacher, April put on her "light lavender" dress for the bat mitzvah. Before driving April to the bat mitzvah and giving her a kiss on the cheek, Mr. B informed April, "I really fucking like you, April." April replied, "I like you too."
After losing at the soccer championships at a junior high school in Los Altos, Mr. B drove April to his house. April described what happened: "We went to the couch. I was wearing sweats and he undressed me and got a condom and I lay on my back and we did it, simple. And then it was over. I was fourteen."
Mr. B, whom April described as having "[...] a good body, good hair, and a nice smile", and April had an age-gap teacher-student affair for almost two years. It even continued after April started high school at Paly. The only person who knew about the affair was April's sister who opined that the affair was "okay" as long as Mr. B and April were in love.
"Tar Baby"
"Tar Baby" elaborates a bit on April. We learn that April moved to Palo Alto: "[...] at thirteen with her tan and muscular legs, [and that] she had already fucked [before having sex with Mr. B]." In addition, after April started high school, she began "[...] fucking older guys. This guy Denny Johnson and this guy Adam Cohen. They played water polo, and were really tall. Also my friend Barry."
"I Could Kill Someone"
Lastly, in "I Could Kill Someone", "[...] in eighth grade Teague took Kate ["Keller, who went to the all-girls school, Castilleja."] to Wayne's World and fingered her during the whole movie. Just watching and working."
Interestingly, O, The Oprah Magazine, opined of Palo Alto: Stories: "Spare and riveting." (I'm not sure what spare means in this context.) The Economist opined: Startling and original." And Vogue concluded: "Compelling and gutsy."
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