Wednesday, April 9th, 2008
I was trying to find ways to kill time today because for whatever reason and trust me im not complaining, its is dead at work. reading for me is the most efficient killer of time but thinking it would be busy as usual i neglected to bring a book. So i started reading through the New Yorker’s archives of recently published short stories. I read a John Updike first which was very John Updike-ish. I read one by Jeffrey Eugenides (the Virgin Suicides and Middlesex) I read one by Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn and one of my favorite books, The Fortress of Solitude). I read one by Richard Ford and one by Salman Rushdie and one by Alice Munro and one by recent Pulitzer winner Junot Diaz. I was not overly impressed by any of them and i will get to why in a second.
The New Yorker must be going through some kind of TC Boyle phase because in the last 6 months they have published three of his stories. I am big TC Boyle fan in the way that i am a big Grateful dead fan. I like the idea of TC Boyle. I like his zaniness and he is obviously a good writer, but sometimes he can be too zany and most of the time he can be too long winded. he is also a little self indulgent for my taste but i do enjoy that piece of hair that he has that he always lets droop over his face. Anyway, I like the guy, i have enjoyed his stories in the past and i enjoyed the two i read today as well: Ash Monday and The Lie. Both very funny but with tons of heart, hes always been good at writing characters with a soul which is nice.
God, i am really taking forever to make this point.
My point is that the reason i liked the TC Boyle short stories and why wasnt crazy about any of the other ones i read today was because sometimes the TC Boyle’s got out of control. as you were reading it you could tell he let his mind wander a little bit and in goes a clever aside or a witty piece of dialogue or the whole mood of the story shifts to make it not only lighter and give it more of that heart stuff i was talking about it also makes them both instantly more readable. I am not a short story fan. I appreciate the genre and i especially appreciate all the work that goes into writing one but i have never been a shorty story “guy” for the specific reason that to write a good short story you have to have more control over your emotions and your language than i could ever dream of having but also more than i consistently enjoy reading. I go through phases, Like the New Yorker with the Boyles but i cannot sit down on a regular basis and chew through a series of short stories. the reason being that whole control thing. there doesnt seem to be enough space for the imagination to really take flight and do something crazy you didnt expect. You need to do your business and then get out! Thats why i find people who write fantastic short stories like EA Poe (I like how that looks, im going to start doing that to my name) and Jimmy Joyce so fascinating. they are able to let their imaginations take off while still keeping the story and the plot and the idea under control.
You know what else is a good way to kill time while you’re supposed to be working?
Writing for your blog.
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Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
Added a new link to the blogroll suckas!
Zak Smith, a sometimes artist and according to his website a sometimes porn star, decided to illustrate what happens on every page of Thomas Pynchon’s classic Gravity’s Rainbow. It could be seen as an installation at various museums when he originally finished 4 or 5 years ago but is available now, everyday, in book form or at the web site i have so graciously given you a link to.
Your welcome.
Dont try to look at these all in on sitting. Also, dont try to read Gravity’s Rainbow while simultaneously following along with the pictures. I tried it once and my head exploded. I happen to have been blessed with a particularly useful disease known as Regenerating Cranium but i am unaware of anyone else who has been afflicted with this tragic but helpful illness and i wouldnt want to be responsible for anyone being permanently absent a head.
Thats not what Im about.
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Tuesday, March 18th, 2008
The title of the book in question is The Blue Star by Tony Earley. he wrote a book earlier this century called Jim the Boy which features the same main characters as The Blue Star but was different in one important fundamental way: it was good. Not just compared to The Blue Star but, compared to lots of other good books, Jim the Boy holds its own among them. Its a very simple story about a boy named Jim Glass and a brief moment in his life growing up in North Carolina with his mother and three uncles. Its told simply, no flashy language, no massive plot points pushing the story in a direction it doesnt want to go, just a nice simple story about nice characters who all develop slowly but fully leaving you feeling very satisfied and glad you spent a couple days in their company. It even sports a cover reminiscent of a children’s book and thats what it is really, and this has been backed up by the author, a children’s book for adults.
The Blue Star features the same characters, the same type of cover, the same simple writing, the same essential story arch. so. why isnt it good? This time Jim is 17 year old baby. The writing while cute before and the perfect vehicle to tell the coming of age story of a 9 year old just seems ridiculous trying to unfold the story of a teenager being difficult during Worl War II. To make things even more awkward for Mr. Earley he decided to use his quaint innocent country voice to describe Jims emotions as he finds himself falling in love with the town war hero Bucky Bucklaw’s Native American girlfriend eventually involving the three of them in a pretty little love triangle.
It really all comes down to the writing with this one. The book hit the wall for me almost instantly. While technically sound (just because i cant do it doesnt mean i cant recognize it) the voice is just too sweet for the subject matter. its is amazing how a writer’s natural voice can either sink a book or make it soar. Even if you hate a book like Fight Club, that book would not have worked if the idea was executed in anyone else’s voice other than Chuck Palahniuk. Same thing with High Fidelity, same thing with Paul Austers best books, same thing with all of Thomas Pynchons books. This list could go one forever. Unfortunately i dont have forever, i was just trying to make a point at which i believe i have succeeded.
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