book: stars and bars
author: william boyd
method: borrowed (dad)
completion date: 04/06/10
this post finally brings me up to date with my writing. this is the first post that i'm writing right after completing the novel.
this is a book my dad lent me a while ago that i kept starting then something got in the way. consistently. so dad- this one is for you. and i can see why you like it. it is a woody allen meets curb novel (which i liked because it meant i could put it down when it got to be too much). poor henderson just can't win for losing. you want him so badly to stick up for himself, but then when he does he gets himself into even worse of a pickle than he was in before.
at first i had very little sympathy for henderson. i felt he had got himself tangled in this situation by not standing up for himself or by spinning a very sloppy web of lies. but then you realize the problem is henderson keeps making decisions based on what he thinks he should do as opposed what he would like to do. he's so blunderingly adorable you can't help but sympathize with him. he's just a child who needs someone to guide him along. however he's surrounded by either blundering idiots or to-good-for-you spoilt brats. and you feel so sorry for him, but you know that henderson is the kind of man who is followed by this cloud of misfortune that he can't ever outrun. its so deliciously tragic.
thank you for lending me this book dad- i really enjoyed it and i'm sorry it took me so long.
xo-elle bee
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I'm glad you enjoyed it. given how funny he can be, it's strange that boyd doesn't write more comedies. a good man in africa is also very funny.
ReplyDeletedon't give up on pynchon. some of it will always soak through. and you're absolutely right about the number of ideas. one of his paragraphs holds enough for some authors' novels.