OK this is the greatest writer in the history of American literature. This is the single greatest novella in the history of the English language.
I actually can’t think of any other novellas except the other two in this particular printing. One is called “Revenge” which is also incredible. The other is called “The Man Who Gave Up His Name.” All three are unbelievable because he is an absolutely superlative writer. Perfect and then some. But you can see why they unfortunately chose legends of the fall to massacre in a shitty 90s film in a mall of America 1980s cliche style butchering.
Well this is sure depressing. And such great writing that seems wasted. Really like ok, shitty book you don’t wanna read spoiler his wife, his son, and his dad die. So he gets in a 1930s automobile to go on a trip and shit gets actually worse. And these are the parts that aren’t boring. It’s either depressing or boring. The whole time. But also the whole time incredibly beautiful and lyrical.
To say there’s a glut of “The Girl” books would be an understatement. That being said let me also say I’ve not read any book quite like this nor have I ever or will ever again read a “The Girl” book even though this is pretty much as good as a book could possibly get.
It’s a Hollywood murder mystery period piece but is it set in 1930s Hollywood Babylon? Nope. It’s set in 1992 Baywatch Shittywood and it’s strangely deep and fugging hysterical.
I’ll be reading more from this series. If I can find them.
This book is awesome. What if we found an ancient interspacial teleporting building. Well, it would ruin the cars, planes and travel industry and cause total global economic collapse if we figured out how it werked.
That and a shitton of other subtelties about other lifeforms and the nature of science in general.
I can feel my mind expanding as I’m reading.
Incredible.
UPDATE 11/6: What a concept. This guy is good. I wish i was still reading it. But for my final flight home being delayed four times it lasted me almost the entire Australian trip.
It’s strange how much life is in a book while you read it and the second you finish, it’s as if all that life has drained out.
This by the way is the strangest writer and book yet. He is basically showing off how much minutae he notices in day to day life. He also is showing off how trippy stream of consciousness he can be. And I must say he is fucking good at both.
There’s a problem with consistency here where one minute it’s surviving the Arctic and the next it’s pages of an elderly couple musing about their unremarkable relationship. There’s also the girl riding in the giant dog’s fur with the marble formations dripping between the shafts only to dissolve into the sun. Or whatever.
I used this book to put myself to sleep. It was phenominally interesting and equally boring in turn. Strange. Truly.
Set in the pre-Hitler Berlin, this follows a few of the zillion or so homeless teenagers after WW I. Interesting subject and told in a plain, straightforward voice. The book was apparently labeled “degenerate literature” by the Nazis and thought to be eradicated in the massive book-burnings. Not much is known about the author but is thought to have been a social worker and journalist at the time. Immediately engaging and strangely dispassionate.
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