On Levin's The Instructions:
Wanting to like a book doesn't always work.
A book with many clever bits might not add up to something clever, in the end.
A book over 1000 pages is almost certainly less than the sum of its parts. (Aphorism not applicable to Infinite Jest.)
Funny carries you so far. Same kind of funny, over and over, begins to carry you less and less far.
Creating characters that the reader may not know how to take is a good start. It is not all that is needed.
Setting up your 1000-page novel as directly comparable to Infinite Jest via similar setting and smart-alecky characters is a bad idea. Unless you're really, really good.
McSweeney's binds books beautifully.
I'm glad to be done. A reviewer on Goodreads said they wanted to turn back to the first page. Not me. Levin's left me wanting less.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
A return of sorts
To get this blog moving again, here is the commitment: short posts.
Oh, there may be longer ones here and there, but I need to leave behind the belief that each post should be long, artfully constructed, carefully considered. Get the conversation going.
Quick thoughts:
Iron Man 2: Atrocious. The first film succeeded on its repartee and star power, not on its just-okay action scenes. So what do they do? Fail to bother to write any decent dialogue, make Tony Stark pouty and entitled (I was rooting for Mickey Rourke by the end), and increase the amount of still-just-okay action scenes. On top of that there were serious credibility problems, even for a comic-book-derived film. ("I'm being chased through the air by dozens of missile-launching killer robots, but rather than taking this fight out over the very nearby Pacific Ocean I'll go ahead and fly this missile-fight into/around/through traffic and as many innocent bystanders as possible!")
Winter's Bone: Solid indie drama. Noirish. Great lead performances and a strong female protagonist to boot. The Missouri locations are stark, beautiful and terrifying, and the cinematographer uses them well.
The Secret in Their Eyes: I was angry with this film before I saw it for its effrontery in winning Best Foreign Oscar over Haneke's The White Ribbon, but once I finally saw it I forgave. Suspenseful, surprising, touching and even a bit romantic.
The White Ribbon: Haneke's always interesting, even when he's unwatchable (see either version of Funny Games, or maybe don't) but this film is gripping even as it continually eludes your expectations. The tone of it reminds me of Bolano's 2666 in a strange way (I only thought of it just now) in that there are events that give one pause, but there's something else, almost as if it's just out of the corner of your eye, that leaves you perpetually unnerved, on edge. An amazing film.
The Celebration: This one's pretty old, actually, one of the early Dogme films, one of them not directed by Lars von Trier. I finally got it on DVD and wished I'd seen it years ago. The grimy, unstaged feel of Dogme works wonderfully, and the characters ring true in all their confusion and angst. (Note, too, how care is extended, by the writer/director, to characters regardless of their social class or position.)
Oh, there may be longer ones here and there, but I need to leave behind the belief that each post should be long, artfully constructed, carefully considered. Get the conversation going.
Quick thoughts:
Iron Man 2: Atrocious. The first film succeeded on its repartee and star power, not on its just-okay action scenes. So what do they do? Fail to bother to write any decent dialogue, make Tony Stark pouty and entitled (I was rooting for Mickey Rourke by the end), and increase the amount of still-just-okay action scenes. On top of that there were serious credibility problems, even for a comic-book-derived film. ("I'm being chased through the air by dozens of missile-launching killer robots, but rather than taking this fight out over the very nearby Pacific Ocean I'll go ahead and fly this missile-fight into/around/through traffic and as many innocent bystanders as possible!")
Winter's Bone: Solid indie drama. Noirish. Great lead performances and a strong female protagonist to boot. The Missouri locations are stark, beautiful and terrifying, and the cinematographer uses them well.
The Secret in Their Eyes: I was angry with this film before I saw it for its effrontery in winning Best Foreign Oscar over Haneke's The White Ribbon, but once I finally saw it I forgave. Suspenseful, surprising, touching and even a bit romantic.
The White Ribbon: Haneke's always interesting, even when he's unwatchable (see either version of Funny Games, or maybe don't) but this film is gripping even as it continually eludes your expectations. The tone of it reminds me of Bolano's 2666 in a strange way (I only thought of it just now) in that there are events that give one pause, but there's something else, almost as if it's just out of the corner of your eye, that leaves you perpetually unnerved, on edge. An amazing film.
The Celebration: This one's pretty old, actually, one of the early Dogme films, one of them not directed by Lars von Trier. I finally got it on DVD and wished I'd seen it years ago. The grimy, unstaged feel of Dogme works wonderfully, and the characters ring true in all their confusion and angst. (Note, too, how care is extended, by the writer/director, to characters regardless of their social class or position.)
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