Gum That Doesn't Lose It's Shoe
Oct. 1st, 2003 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jakebe
Hey there, all...
On my 'lunch hour' (which for the past couple of weeks means being completely alone in the store and unable to leave the front desk) I finished Johnathan Lethem's "Gun, And Ocassional Music". I have to say, Part 2/Epilogue really made it worth the read.
I'm always ambivalent about books/movies/etc that tie everything together in a chapter or two, taking all of these seemingly unrelated incidents and tying them together in ways that are just...not there up until the point they're pointed out to you. One side of me goes, "Wow, that's amazing!" The other side of me goes, "It's really crappy that the story-teller never gave us a chance to figure this out, where's the fun in it?" And yet another side of me goes, "Actually, the connection was probably there all along. You're just too stupid to see it." And then all three sides of me shut up and think about that. And the fact that in an argument, I'm always the triangle.
But still, the execution was pulled off well, and Part 1 was interesting enough to wallow in ignorance happily, letting Metcalf take you on a ride through a world hell-bent on dystopia. By the time he wakes up six years later, you see shades of Zamyatin and Orwell punching up in ways that make Part 1 seem like a very frightening bridge.
Thinking back on this, I am even more disappointed that I missed Lethem's NPR interview last night. :/
On my 'lunch hour' (which for the past couple of weeks means being completely alone in the store and unable to leave the front desk) I finished Johnathan Lethem's "Gun, And Ocassional Music". I have to say, Part 2/Epilogue really made it worth the read.
I'm always ambivalent about books/movies/etc that tie everything together in a chapter or two, taking all of these seemingly unrelated incidents and tying them together in ways that are just...not there up until the point they're pointed out to you. One side of me goes, "Wow, that's amazing!" The other side of me goes, "It's really crappy that the story-teller never gave us a chance to figure this out, where's the fun in it?" And yet another side of me goes, "Actually, the connection was probably there all along. You're just too stupid to see it." And then all three sides of me shut up and think about that. And the fact that in an argument, I'm always the triangle.
But still, the execution was pulled off well, and Part 1 was interesting enough to wallow in ignorance happily, letting Metcalf take you on a ride through a world hell-bent on dystopia. By the time he wakes up six years later, you see shades of Zamyatin and Orwell punching up in ways that make Part 1 seem like a very frightening bridge.
Thinking back on this, I am even more disappointed that I missed Lethem's NPR interview last night. :/
