Wednesday, July 13, 2005
book thirty-three
The Wall of the Sky, the Wall of the Eye: Stories
by Jonathan Lethem
I think I've mentioned before that I have a hard time knowing what to write about short story collections. I thought the quality of the work in this collection varied wildly. The first story, "The Happy Man," was haunting and scary in an icky way, and I can still recall it nearly word for word even though I read it nearly a month ago. But I thought the later stories, like "Five Fucks" (or was it only four fucks?) were not as tightly crafted. Lethem has some unusual ideas, like the story about the hardened criminals who are literally hardened into bricks and used to build prisons... but it seems like his execution on those ideas varies.
by Jonathan Lethem
I think I've mentioned before that I have a hard time knowing what to write about short story collections. I thought the quality of the work in this collection varied wildly. The first story, "The Happy Man," was haunting and scary in an icky way, and I can still recall it nearly word for word even though I read it nearly a month ago. But I thought the later stories, like "Five Fucks" (or was it only four fucks?) were not as tightly crafted. Lethem has some unusual ideas, like the story about the hardened criminals who are literally hardened into bricks and used to build prisons... but it seems like his execution on those ideas varies.
Labels: book reports
