Good golly. There was so much promise here: the ill-fated Franklin expedition, now with a monster! I finished reading the book at page 271, and I onlyGood golly. There was so much promise here: the ill-fated Franklin expedition, now with a monster! I finished reading the book at page 271, and I only wish the book had ended at that point as well. This review in The New York Times says everything I'm thinking, particularly:
"That persistence alone isn't enough to transform a bad idea into a good one is probably the chief lesson of the Franklin expedition in particular and the quest for the Northwest Passage in general. The attempt to produce a massive historical novel isn't, of course, a folly on that level. The quest for the Big Book is neither as heroic an endeavor nor, fortunately, as lethal. ('The Terror' won't kill you unless it falls on your head.)" http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/boo......more
4/16: Well, that's it, I'm done, I gave up. My subway ride last night got fucked and it took me over two hours to get home. There I was, angry, shuffl4/16: Well, that's it, I'm done, I gave up. My subway ride last night got fucked and it took me over two hours to get home. There I was, angry, shuffled up and over and down again to the local track in an enormous mass of equally frustrated people, waiting for another train, waiting and waiting and hearing conflicting messages about the one I just got off. Waiting while six trains that aren't mine pass by, and finally giving up and getting on one that I'll just have to transfer off of later, and then I'm stuck on that, in the tunnel, under the river, for 40 minutes, the air turned off, starting to panic, thinking about the pressure of the water on the tunnel, hearing a dozen announcements that are too low and drowning in static to make out, seeing that the doors on the car are locked, how nobody could leave if someone vomits or gets violent, hoping that lady doesn't faint, and all I have to keep my mind off the fact that I may never make it home is this book that I had decided that very morning to give up on. When I finally got off the train at my stop, I left the book on a bench in the station, went home, and had a drink. As far as I could tell from the opposite platform, the book was gone this morning.
4/15: I don't know if I will read much more of this. I'm about 100 pages into it, and really, this is opposite of why I read. This is like the Rabbit books, or Richard Ford, or hell, even the Cheever stories I've been slowly chipping away at--a reflection or extremely accurate depiction of how sad and bleak post-WWII American life is. I don't want to read that. I live through that. I read to escape that....more
I can't believe I kept reading this for so long. He's a good writer, and there are some good parts, but I mostly wanted to "forget" the book on the suI can't believe I kept reading this for so long. He's a good writer, and there are some good parts, but I mostly wanted to "forget" the book on the subway. I gave up with about 60 pages left.
It's a weird coincidence that does The Sportswriter no help that I chose to read this right after reading The Accidental Tourist. They have, essentially, the same basic plot, but are handled so differently. Alice Hoffman says exactly what I felt in her review for The New York Times:
"The death of a son and a history of marital stress pushed to the limit by a husband's gloomy indifference are central not only to 'The Sportswriter' but also to Anne Tyler's most recent novel, 'The Accidental Tourist.' These novels display an uncanny series of similarities. In each we find a major character who is a workmanlike, rather than a creative, writer, a father and former husband who insists on continuing a suburban life after his family has left him, an intellectual nit-picker drawn to an unsuitable woman whose vitality and pragmatism attract him. But in spite of their corresponding characters and themes, the novels could not be more different in tone or consequence. Though 'The Sportswriter' aims for a tougher, more realistic stance than 'The Accidental Tourist,' it suffers from a lack of compelling action and an emphasis on Bascombe's dry meditations that obscures and minimizes the complex domestic structure the author initially presents."
Started to read this too soon after having read Nobody's Fool. Like, a year later, but it's still too close. It's the same book, essentially. Old maleStarted to read this too soon after having read Nobody's Fool. Like, a year later, but it's still too close. It's the same book, essentially. Old male protagonist whose lady is with a more attractive man, diner in a cold, failing Northeastern town, eccentric elderly lady, daddy issues...and once the cop showed up I had to put it down. It's very funny, very well-written, but I'm going to need to try it again many years from now, after I've forgotten more about Nobody's Fool than I remember. ...more
It's not that it was bad, it's just that I wish the tiger had eaten him so the story wouldn't exist.
I read half of it, and felt really impatient the wIt's not that it was bad, it's just that I wish the tiger had eaten him so the story wouldn't exist.
I read half of it, and felt really impatient the whole time, skipping whole pages, and then I realized that I didn't have to keep going, which is as spiritual a moment as I could hope to get from this book. ...more
I got about a third of the way in, which was a generous trial. Too dull for me. Of the little that was happening, there wasn't enough of a fire lit foI got about a third of the way in, which was a generous trial. Too dull for me. Of the little that was happening, there wasn't enough of a fire lit for me to care what happened next. There is some beautiful writing, some lovely little parts, but...eh. I gave up!...more
Loading...
