In a funk
A few weeks ago I finished Revolutionary Road (which I started before the Time List came out). Since then I have been in such a funk. I mentioned this to LC Saturday at dinner as I knew she had read it, hoping that she might help me see my way through this. Or just nod her head, yes, this is how you are to feel.
The novel itself is fantastic. I enjoy great writing, and perfect characterization, and metaphorical language, and all those things the Ya-Ya Sisterhood isn't (sorry to pick on that book so much but it was the biggest waste of time for me--I guess that makes me a snob). And it isn't as though I only like books with happy endings (Lolita is one of my favorites, remember?). I tried and tried to deconstruct elements of the story line to assure myself that if X hadn't happened then Y wouldn't have happened which in the end would have prevented.....But I couldn't figure out a single causal relationship in the whole damn book. It was like these people were poison to begin with. Everything in the book that leads up to IT is more symptomatic than cause-effect.
The kindest thing Yates did for his readers and the other characters was to let April die. That is another feeling I don't like having, but it is hard to be sympathetic toward anyone, except for Jennifer and Michael, who despite having these people for parents still look forward to seeing them.
And before anyone answers it's the 20th century culture blah blah blah, the last book that left me feeling as hopeless was Jude the Obscure.
As an antidote I am racing through all the Harry Potter books we own. That is helping.
The novel itself is fantastic. I enjoy great writing, and perfect characterization, and metaphorical language, and all those things the Ya-Ya Sisterhood isn't (sorry to pick on that book so much but it was the biggest waste of time for me--I guess that makes me a snob). And it isn't as though I only like books with happy endings (Lolita is one of my favorites, remember?). I tried and tried to deconstruct elements of the story line to assure myself that if X hadn't happened then Y wouldn't have happened which in the end would have prevented.....But I couldn't figure out a single causal relationship in the whole damn book. It was like these people were poison to begin with. Everything in the book that leads up to IT is more symptomatic than cause-effect.
The kindest thing Yates did for his readers and the other characters was to let April die. That is another feeling I don't like having, but it is hard to be sympathetic toward anyone, except for Jennifer and Michael, who despite having these people for parents still look forward to seeing them.
And before anyone answers it's the 20th century culture blah blah blah, the last book that left me feeling as hopeless was Jude the Obscure.
As an antidote I am racing through all the Harry Potter books we own. That is helping.
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