Hi Abigail I love a good retelling. I am actually reading yet another one: The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor. Good is not the word for it… I can’t pass final judgement until I finish it though.
I found the way that Choi pays with POV in Trust Exercise very interesting. The shifting POVs, even within a paragraph. A lesser writer would not have been successful with this.
Agreed, Victoria. It’s funny that I don’t remember noticing it within paragraphs which just goes to prove your point because usually that is something I find irritating, when writers try to do that.
I'm finally working my way through the stack of NYRB classics I've purchased over the years. Right now I'm reading "Command Performance" by Jean Echenoz. It's really fun so far, the narrative is wild, shifting from 1st person to some sort of omniscient 3rd person in different chapters.
When reading your notes on Audition, I kept thinking about Trust Exercise. Of course you included it! I'm trying to remember what books I've read that have had narrative loops. Such an interesting structure. You've given me something to think about, thank you!
I don't think I've read Rebecca, though more than once I've picked up a book, started reading and said, hey, this is familiar! I read a boatload of books in my teens and twenties and promptly forgot almost all of them except The Hobbit and one about dragons and bonsai (don't ask). Rebecca is the only title from this group that appeals, puzzles or even annoys me enough to add to my TBR.
This weekend: starting “Orley Farm” (Anthony Trollope) and dreaming of going to Manderley once more.
excited for audition! if you enjoyed rebecca and want more like it, i wrote a post about 3 re-interpretations of it:
https://therollingladder.substack.com/p/rebecca
Hi Abigail I love a good retelling. I am actually reading yet another one: The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor. Good is not the word for it… I can’t pass final judgement until I finish it though.
ohhh curious what you'll think of that one. i was not a fan...
Usually I do not write about books I don’t find worth my time. We shall see!
I’ve just finished The Granddaughter by Bernard Schlink who wrote The Reader. Such a pleasure!
Ooh, that sounds good and like it may fit with a theme I have been noodling for next month!
This is a goooooos group of books. I’m so interested in the Kitamura but I want to read Intimacies first
Yes, good idea. More interesting that way.
I found the way that Choi pays with POV in Trust Exercise very interesting. The shifting POVs, even within a paragraph. A lesser writer would not have been successful with this.
Agreed, Victoria. It’s funny that I don’t remember noticing it within paragraphs which just goes to prove your point because usually that is something I find irritating, when writers try to do that.
She does it to emphasize the fact that once person is swallowing another person’s story in telling it as her own—at least that’s the sense I got.
I'm finally working my way through the stack of NYRB classics I've purchased over the years. Right now I'm reading "Command Performance" by Jean Echenoz. It's really fun so far, the narrative is wild, shifting from 1st person to some sort of omniscient 3rd person in different chapters.
I had never heard of that book before but I looked it up and it does sound wild! I have not read a European spy novel for awhile.
Excited to hear your thoughts about all of these, but especially the Balle and the Kitamura.
Thanks. Yes already thinking on what I have to say about the Kitamura. Still need to read the other!
When reading your notes on Audition, I kept thinking about Trust Exercise. Of course you included it! I'm trying to remember what books I've read that have had narrative loops. Such an interesting structure. You've given me something to think about, thank you!
I don't think I've read Rebecca, though more than once I've picked up a book, started reading and said, hey, this is familiar! I read a boatload of books in my teens and twenties and promptly forgot almost all of them except The Hobbit and one about dragons and bonsai (don't ask). Rebecca is the only title from this group that appeals, puzzles or even annoys me enough to add to my TBR.