Monday, March 14, 2005


				
				
					 
					 
Housekeeping

					 
				

				


				
So I finally got around to finishing McSweeneys #14 last night.  I had received it for Christmas, read about a third of it, and put it down until now.  There were: good stories, bad stories, and one or two horrifically boring stories.  I think I caught the whole McSweeneys wave too late.

Meanwhile, reductive literary equations.
David Foster Wallace - Thomas Pynchon = Nicholson Baker. 

I think that's being a bit too generous.  It's more like David Foster Wallace - Thomas Pynchon - J.D. Salinger - any residual genius = Nicholson Baker.

I really, really despised Fermata.  The creepy protagonist was just creepy enough to repel one's sympathies, but not creepy enough to be interesting.  The plot was bland.  And to make the whole thing worse, Baker tried to distract us from the novel's failings with oodles of clumsy smut.  Tsk tsk, Mr. Baker.


				


				

					posted by Debbie at 6:23 PM