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The Secret Lives of Grocery Shoppers
Virgin Books
March 2008
On Sale: March 18, 2008
128 pages
ISBN: 1905264178
EAN: 9781905264179
Hardcover
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A comic original in the tradition of Tracey ullman and lily
Tomlin—with cindy Sherman’s eye— Hillary carlip creates
america’s most unforgettable grocery shoppers. It’s happened to all of us—we find, tucked away in the
corner of our shopping cart, someone’s discarded grocery
list. It first happened to Hillary Carlip when she was a
teenager, and she’s been wondering to whom the lists
belonged ever since. Who’s the person buying “Leche,
Panpers, and Chanpu”? Or “Whole milk, heavy cream, Ice
cream, cheese, and Gas-Ex (!!!)”? Why would someone need to
write down “Coors and Oreos” on a matchbook cover—couldn’t
he just remember those two items? And what’s the person
like who scrawled their list on a PROZAC notepad? Taking her clues from the items listed, the types of paper
written on, the handwriting, and even misspellings (“Aunt
Spray”), Hillary saw that each list—at once mundane and
personal—offered an intimate peek into a complete
stranger’s life. She picked twenty-six lists and imagined
who the shoppers might be. She next transformed herself
into all twenty-six people, one by one, literally stepping
into each character—all ages, genders, and ethnicities—with
hair, make-up, outfits, and one Fu Manchu. Photographer
Barbara Green then captured unforgettable images of Hillary
portraying these shoppers at their neighborhood markets.
Hillary came to love these characters, so her accompanying
stories for each are as poignant and hilarious as the
photographs. She brings to life richly imagined inner
worlds, including one for macho Woody, a self-
described “Lady’s Man with NO BANKRUPTCIES ready to meet
just one Special Lady with NO KIDS.” After getting to know
these grocery shoppers through Miss Carlip’s dedicated
voyeurism, going to the market will never be the same.
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