bob@cadovax.UUCP (Bob "Kat" Kaplan) (06/25/85)
I don't know why I'm such a masochist. As soon as I finished a cold and
humorless book ("The White Hotel" by D. M. Thomas), I started in on a
self-indulgent long-winded piece of academic fiction ("Mulligan Stew" by
Gilbert Sorrentino). I was thinking of adding "The White Hotel" to my
list of books I couldn't get through, but with perseverance and the passage
of time, I was able to finish it. I would have been happier if I had left it
unread, however. "Mulligan Stew" is another story. I just began reading it,
and I don't know if I'm going to make it. At first, I thought Sorrentino was
taking his cue from John Barth's self-indulgent and long-winded "Letters"
until I realized that "Mulligan Stew" was written first. (Actually, I once
saw Barth reading passages from "Letters" while it was still in progress,
and it was entertaining to hear. But reading it was like watching someone play
with himself for 1000 pages.) After finishing "Letters," I thought I'd be able
to finish any book. Not so, perhaps. But I'll keep reading "Mulligan Stew" for
a while, because it looks like it may have a few gems buried in it.
Here's my list of books I couldn't finish, in case you're interested. If
you've gotten through any of them, you've got something I don't have.
(The first three were just uninteresting; the last two I don't think I was
ready for.)
"Our Lady of the Flowers" Jean Genet
"The Public Burning" Robert Coover
"Islandia" Austin Tappan Wright
"Ulysses" James Joyce
"Rememberance of Things Past" Marcel Proust
It's not all bad news, however. Fortunately, there are some books I've read
recently that I like a lot. I was browsing around at my local bookstore a
month or two ago and saw a copy of Ann Beattie's "Love Always." There's
probably no greater experience you can have in a bookstore than finding a new
book by an author you like a lot. The book is good. It might be a kind of
departure from her other novels, but I liked it a lot and recommend it. I
think she's one of the best novelists around, and (even though her short
stories are not always that great) I like reading her so much that I feel
guilty sometimes.
On the same day, I got a book by Emily Prager called "A Visit From The
Footbinder." It's a collection of short stories. I'd never heard of her
before but the cover on the paperback edition was so disgusting that I had
to buy it. The quality of the stories varies a lot, and none of them were
quite worthy of the back cover hype, but I still enjoyed the book. She's
supposedly working on a novel, which should be worth reading.
I also finally got around to reading "Budding Prospects: A Pastoral" by
T. Coraghessan Boyle. The story isn't much, but Boyle is an excellent writer.
In this book and in "Water Music" he displays quite a talent for describing
people in excruciatingly unpleasant situations, but he's also quite funny. He's
got a new book out called "Greasy Lake and Other Stories" which I haven't
read yet but I'm looking forward to it.
--
Bob Kaplan
"To be completely safe is to be completely dead."