literature update

[lobelia321]

I finished Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections. Irritated me for the first 100 pages then got better. Fat, baroque writing which often veers towards the pretentious. Terribly 'ooh la-de-da i'm an auteur' sex scenes. But sort of kept me going. Ultimately, though, forgettable.

Now am reading Ann Patchett's Bel Canto. I love it! This is the sort of writing I adore! I hold my breath, fearing the spell will evaporate with the next sentence... but no, she's keeping it up. Beautiful, sparse sentences. Such spare prose and such humanity and love in every paragraph. I'm 3/4 of the way through and I have had tears welling up at least a dozen times. And not because of anything dramatic or willfully quirky (the domains of Mr Franzen) but just because of the stillness in people's hearts and her ability to dance in and out of different povs so effortlessly. It's a brilliant premise, too: hostages trapped in a vice-president's mansion by terrorists, somewhere in Latin America.

*fangirls*

P.S. T'h read The Lovely Bones by whatsername Sebold over the hols. The bits he read to me were rather surprisingly good but ultimately it seems that the book slides into sentimental claptrap. I fastforwarded to the bit where she kills her killer: what a cop-out. Does he go to his own heaven now then? So it's not terrible for him to die! He'll be happy! These are the contradictions of inventing a world with no Hell. Has this woman even heard of Dante? Still, I will read it after, if only to keep up with the Joneses.

Comments

[brightest-blue.livejournal.com]

Ah, you finished The Corrections! I did enjoy the style for the most part, although I was annoyed enough at the beginning that I almost put it down. It's one I'll give away.

So glad to hear you love Bel Canto My mother-in-law has been raving about it, so I should be getting it next.

[mandalaya.livejournal.com]

Mmmm, I loved Bel Canto, devoured it in a weekend. Enjoy!