This summer I picked up the book Zona by Geoff Dyer. The subtitle is “A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room,” and so far it is is just that. Dyer recounts his first experience with Andrei Tarkovsky’s seminal piece of cinema Stalker (1979). I came across this book by chance, and the cashier at Gulf of Maine informed me “if you read this book and watch the corresponding film at the same time, you will finish each at the exact same moment.” That sounded pretty cool, but clearly it was an attempt at humor along the lines of “Tarkovsky’s films are so long!” Anyway, the book is an astute mix of film summary, film analysis, and the author’s personal obsession with the film. In Zona, Dyer recounts not only his musings on the movie — yes, he indeed seems haunted and even possessed by it at times — but also the life events coeval with his exploration and study of the film. Quite an interesting and unique work, to be sure.
There is a really interesting interview with Goff Dyer in the Winter 2013 Paris Review. Check it out, Michael!