![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
muckefuckToday was held in suspension. It kept felt like it was going to rain, but it never did, and I was at a loss for what to do with myself. Plenty of things I need to do, but the thought of tackling any of them just fills me with inertia and run away to YouTube for distraction. By midafternoon, I realised I couldn't piss away the entire day this way, so I reread Brokeback Mountain.
I think I read it for the first time last year. Afterwards I kept Close range by my bedside afterwards but made slow and intermittent progress and only finished it last week. "Brokeback Mountain" comes off as the most completely realised story in that volume. Some of the others feel a bit picaresque, lacking the classic arc that one has. The quirky diction feels less show-offy and more in service to the narrative, particularly compared to "The Governors of Wyoming", which comes right before it.
Knowing how close I was to the end of African farm, I started on Edward P. Jones' The known world. I liked his short stories, but they didn't really prepare me for how he writes a novel. The first thirty pages of so were slightly bewildering, not just because of how he piles on the character introductions but because almost every one of them involves some nested excursus into history and gossip. At one point I found myself constantly having to remind myself which character was being discussed, the dead patriarch or his son.
I'm willing to do that sort of work for a rich setting and a seductive style, but I was seeing little of either for a while there. The narrative seems to be finding its stride, but I'm still toying with the idea of diving into Woodrell or Vanderhaeghe instead.
I think I read it for the first time last year. Afterwards I kept Close range by my bedside afterwards but made slow and intermittent progress and only finished it last week. "Brokeback Mountain" comes off as the most completely realised story in that volume. Some of the others feel a bit picaresque, lacking the classic arc that one has. The quirky diction feels less show-offy and more in service to the narrative, particularly compared to "The Governors of Wyoming", which comes right before it.
Knowing how close I was to the end of African farm, I started on Edward P. Jones' The known world. I liked his short stories, but they didn't really prepare me for how he writes a novel. The first thirty pages of so were slightly bewildering, not just because of how he piles on the character introductions but because almost every one of them involves some nested excursus into history and gossip. At one point I found myself constantly having to remind myself which character was being discussed, the dead patriarch or his son.
I'm willing to do that sort of work for a rich setting and a seductive style, but I was seeing little of either for a while there. The narrative seems to be finding its stride, but I'm still toying with the idea of diving into Woodrell or Vanderhaeghe instead.
Tags: