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wmbogart's reviews
72 reviews
The Book of Illusions by Paul Auster
The plot is so, so up my alley. Our protagonist dives deep into an obscure silent-era auteur in a kind of trauma-avoidant mania. Love it. Done it myself, basically. Auster’s couching of his own theories around art/film in the protagonist’s analysis is enjoyable, if not quite as interesting as DeLillo’s in Americana and Underworld.
As Auster gets further into his “thriller” plot, I find myself enjoying the novel less and less. He frames the whole thing in his typical “tell/don’t show” narration. I struggle with it. Elements here are intentional retreads of his earlier work, but I’m not convinced they’re developed any more than they were in the New York Trilogy. The thriller elements don’t quite come off here for me in the way they did in Music of Chance. It probably goes without saying that he still has a problem writing women.
But he’ll bust out a great turn of phrase (tautology of desire, huh!), or make an interesting point, and I can convince myself to get back on board. His cultural reference points are basically my own, but I worry they do a lot of the heavy lifting. Far from my favorite Auster.
As Auster gets further into his “thriller” plot, I find myself enjoying the novel less and less. He frames the whole thing in his typical “tell/don’t show” narration. I struggle with it. Elements here are intentional retreads of his earlier work, but I’m not convinced they’re developed any more than they were in the New York Trilogy. The thriller elements don’t quite come off here for me in the way they did in Music of Chance. It probably goes without saying that he still has a problem writing women.
But he’ll bust out a great turn of phrase (tautology of desire, huh!), or make an interesting point, and I can convince myself to get back on board. His cultural reference points are basically my own, but I worry they do a lot of the heavy lifting. Far from my favorite Auster.
The Last Samurai by Helen DeWitt
Incredible novel. One of the funniest I’ve read. Lighter in tone than some of the other great post-modern works, but no smaller in scope. Egghead gags galore. Incredibly complex in obvious and subtle ways. Feels like a very rich text, but it’s bizarrely approachable in spite of the intellectual rigor and depth. Loved it!
The Oceans of Cruelty: Twenty-Five Tales of a Corpse-Spirit by Douglas Penick
The staging and nesting of the stories makes the reader think about storytelling more broadly - even in translation and retelling, stories have a lasting power in imparting a culture’s morality on the audience. The prose in the early section is strong.
Found the stories themselves to be exhausting after a point. Granted, that’s the idea. They’re staged as something to be endured and puzzled over, or as a kind of monotonous, slow marathon. Sacrifices are repeatedly made not as a test of faith, but in obligation. Lust results in compromise and consequence. Etc.
The King is asked to opine on each - his findings are intended to make us think through our own understanding of each story, even if those findings don’t always hold up to scrutiny. I didn’t get a ton out of it, maybe others will.
Found the stories themselves to be exhausting after a point. Granted, that’s the idea. They’re staged as something to be endured and puzzled over, or as a kind of monotonous, slow marathon. Sacrifices are repeatedly made not as a test of faith, but in obligation. Lust results in compromise and consequence. Etc.
The King is asked to opine on each - his findings are intended to make us think through our own understanding of each story, even if those findings don’t always hold up to scrutiny. I didn’t get a ton out of it, maybe others will.
Minor Detail by Adania Shibli
Incredibly bleak and harrowing, obviously. Necessarily so.
There’s a huge formal (and perspective) shift between the novella’s two sections. The halves really speak to one another, and to the larger impact of Israeli aggression and atrocities waged against Palestinians from the Nakba to the present day. How those things are felt and how they are still happening. The second half is so well-rendered and overwhelming that I had to put it down a couple times.
There’s a huge formal (and perspective) shift between the novella’s two sections. The halves really speak to one another, and to the larger impact of Israeli aggression and atrocities waged against Palestinians from the Nakba to the present day. How those things are felt and how they are still happening. The second half is so well-rendered and overwhelming that I had to put it down a couple times.
Include Me Out by María Sonia Cristoff
A narrator has a bit of a psychological break and tries to methodically remove herself from social obligations. Reminded me a bit of Pip Adam’s The New Animals. Maybe that’s a lazy comparison.
Liked the in-line “notebook” excerpts throughout. The run-on sentences are meant to be indicative of her mental state, but I see how it could turn readers off. Didn’t quite land for me personally.
Liked the in-line “notebook” excerpts throughout. The run-on sentences are meant to be indicative of her mental state, but I see how it could turn readers off. Didn’t quite land for me personally.
In Concrete by Anne Garréta
Appreciate Emma Ramadan’s willingness to take on the most difficult translation jobs imaginable.
I love wordplay as much as anyone, so I thought I'd enjoy this more. Calling the tone “cloying” would be way too harsh. This type of writing (and translation!) is impressive for what it is. But my enthusiasm for the whole thing waned as it went on. Fun to a point and a quick read, but not something I'd ever revisit personally.
I love wordplay as much as anyone, so I thought I'd enjoy this more. Calling the tone “cloying” would be way too harsh. This type of writing (and translation!) is impressive for what it is. But my enthusiasm for the whole thing waned as it went on. Fun to a point and a quick read, but not something I'd ever revisit personally.
The Beginners by Anne Serre
Didn't love it! Plenty to work with thematically - being torn between two would-be lovers, between old and new, is usually fertile enough ground to sustain my interest. Lot to chew on.
The loss of desire for what was, and the fear that comes with leaving the comfort of the familiar. Turning questions around in your head, seeing an older relationship (or someone) in a new situation, you get the idea. Didn't think this explored it enough! The prose felt flat to me - maybe this is meant to further a kind of resignation to "love" as given. I don't know. Didn't land for me emotionally, and I'm an incredibly easy mark for these things.
Nitpicking, but a few things that always irk me - repetition of a full name in someone's inner monologue for dramatic effect and events being described multiple times as "like a novel/book." Tossed-off trauma angles are another big one. A few of the attempts to incorporate trauma in their backstories felt shockingly callous. I winced at a few parentheticals, even allowing for Anna's perspective.
The loss of desire for what was, and the fear that comes with leaving the comfort of the familiar. Turning questions around in your head, seeing an older relationship (or someone) in a new situation, you get the idea. Didn't think this explored it enough! The prose felt flat to me - maybe this is meant to further a kind of resignation to "love" as given. I don't know. Didn't land for me emotionally, and I'm an incredibly easy mark for these things.
Nitpicking, but a few things that always irk me - repetition of a full name in someone's inner monologue for dramatic effect and events being described multiple times as "like a novel/book." Tossed-off trauma angles are another big one. A few of the attempts to incorporate trauma in their backstories felt shockingly callous. I winced at a few parentheticals, even allowing for Anna's perspective.
The Names by Don DeLillo
DeLillo’s always gesturing towards a kind of sublimity of language. Here, there’s a theological tinge to the proceedings. Not a definite one; the ineffability is the whole idea. But it’s an interesting aspect of his writing that became foregrounded in The Names (and furthered in Underworld).
Likewise, a lot of the thoughts here around “the public” or “the crowd” are developed further in Mao II. But it feels like a crucial novel in how it predicts those later works. It’s interesting that DeLillo voices some of these ideas through the cult, in a way that could be read as a collective psychosis. But I do think the novel (and the rest of DeLillo’s oeuvre) supports it as legitimate; something deeply felt but unprovable.
Paul to the Corinthians said men can speak with the tongues of angels. In our time we can do the same.
DeLillo’s always gesturing towards a kind of sublimity of language. Here, there’s a theological tinge to the proceedings. Not a definite one; the ineffability is the whole idea. But it’s an interesting aspect of his writing that became foregrounded in The Names (and furthered in Underworld).
A freedom, an escape from the condition of ideal balance. Normal understanding is surpassed, the self and its machinery obliterated. Is this what innocence is? Is it the language of innocence those people spoke, words flying out of them like spat stones? The deep past of men, the transparent word.
Likewise, a lot of the thoughts here around “the public” or “the crowd” are developed further in Mao II. But it feels like a crucial novel in how it predicts those later works. It’s interesting that DeLillo voices some of these ideas through the cult, in a way that could be read as a collective psychosis. But I do think the novel (and the rest of DeLillo’s oeuvre) supports it as legitimate; something deeply felt but unprovable.
I’ve always believed I could see things other people couldn’t. Elements falling into place. A design. A shape in the chaos of things. I suppose I find these moments precious and reassuring because they take place outside me, outside the silent grid, because they suggest an outer state that works somewhat the way my mind does but without the relentlessness, the predeterminative quality. I feel I’m safe from myself as long as there’s an accidental pattern to observe in the physical world.
We knew in the end we’d be left with nothing. Nothing signified, nothing meant.
The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade by Herman Melville
Characters swindle one another with long, winding appeals to trust. Stories and fables are nested in one another. Aphorisms and lessons that you really have to scrutinize. That kind of thing.
There’s always a lot going on in Melville’s writing; The Confidence-Man is a series of gags, sure, but gags that have serious thoughts on judgment, philanthropy, racism, hypocrisy, integrity, humor, literature (and literary audiences), political organization, etc. Because these thoughts are often voiced by a swindler trying to borrow money (or sell you a “Pain Dissuader”), you have to be discerning as a reader. Which goes against that whole “trust” thing. Tricky stuff!
“Fact is, when all is bound up together, it’s sometimes confusing.”
Characters swindle one another with long, winding appeals to trust. Stories and fables are nested in one another. Aphorisms and lessons that you really have to scrutinize. That kind of thing.
There’s always a lot going on in Melville’s writing; The Confidence-Man is a series of gags, sure, but gags that have serious thoughts on judgment, philanthropy, racism, hypocrisy, integrity, humor, literature (and literary audiences), political organization, etc. Because these thoughts are often voiced by a swindler trying to borrow money (or sell you a “Pain Dissuader”), you have to be discerning as a reader. Which goes against that whole “trust” thing. Tricky stuff!
Brian Eno: His Music and the Vertical Color of Sound by Eric Tamm
A brief survey of Eno’s body of work (and critical attitudes towards that work). And a few quotes from Eno himself on his philosophy at that point in time. Consistent guy, as it turns out!
The questions of “what is and is not music” and “is this pop” are… not interesting to me personally. Feels like a forgone conclusion these days. As a dork, I do love reading the harmonic analysis. A few fun diagrams here too.
Not essential and not a ton of depth devoted to any particular work, but mostly enjoyable for the initiated.
The questions of “what is and is not music” and “is this pop” are… not interesting to me personally. Feels like a forgone conclusion these days. As a dork, I do love reading the harmonic analysis. A few fun diagrams here too.
Not essential and not a ton of depth devoted to any particular work, but mostly enjoyable for the initiated.