Jason Pettus's recent posts

Recent public discussion board posts (showing 1-20 of 25).

No, I haven't actually. You reminded me, though, that this book -did- feel awfully similar to the story and film "Memento" in many ways. It's something to keep in mind if you're already a fan of that.

Katherine, it's all at this point about whether I'll be lucky enough to come across it in the Chicago public library system here where I live; that's how I pick 90 percent of the books I review. Here's hoping I'll stumble across a copy soon.

In answer to your question, Medley originally self-published these issues throughout the '90s, and envisioned it as possibly a decades-long "Canterbury Tales" saga, where each character at the castle eventually gets their own giant 10-chapter year-long treatment like the bearded nun here. Unfortunately financial difficulties and burn-out caused her to shut down the title in 2001; but the good news is that Fantagraphics picked it up about five years later, published this hardback of the early issues you just read, and have also been sponsoring an entire series of new issues. (In fact, a bound collection of those is coming out soon too.) I haven't gotten to read them myself, but I assume they take on a similar backstory like the bearded-nun tale here, just involving other people at the castle.

Brilliant. I don't write many comments here at Goodreads, but I just had to mention how perfectly you caught here my thoughts about this book too.

Oops, mea culpa! I was obviously thinking of DeLillo's "Falling Man" when writing up these thoughts; I apologize for the confusion. In my defense, it's been almost ten years since I've read the book, and it DOES feature on the front cover a creepy picture of the World Trade Center and a church in the foreground. Can you tell that I generally think of DeLillo's newest books as mostly forgettable and interchangeable?

Hmm, your random comment actually brings up a thing surprisingly complex for any American to still deal with -- of what we think of so-called "9/11 Fiction." Is it weird to confess that seven years later, the subject still has the power to deeply, very deeply upset me, and that I'm still not sure I'm ready to deal with fictional artistic projects based around the subject?

Maybe it's better emotionally and intellectually to respond this way instead...

Pulitzer-winning Chicago-Tribune cultural columnist Julia Keller has asked over and over in her column, "Where is the great 9/11 project? Where is our generation's Guernica?" And I answer, "Maybe no artist really can respond to that actual inhuman day, that day that makes so many of us so upset still, that will maybe make some of us upset to the point of tears to the day we die, even just by bringing it up. Maybe there simply is no decent artistic response to the actual events of that day, and maybe there simply never will be."

Maybe, Ms. Keller, it's better to ask what the great projects are that address how we RESPONDED to 9/11. That's a much easier question to answer: See McCarthy's "The Road," see Brooks' "World War Z," see "The Colbert Report." Maybe 9/11 itself is just too horrible; maybe it's simply too horrible an event unto itself for any of us to react to in any kind of sensible, rational, interesting, thought-provoking way.

Maybe "Underworld" is f-cking terrible. Or maybe I'm unequipped as someone who lives five miles away from the Sears Tower to ever be able to judge a "9/11 Novel" on decent artistic terms. Maybe as an adult witness to 9/11 and the neocon years that followed, I am destined to be like the middle-class Germans of the 1950s, refusing to ever address the Nazi years directly except under the code term "Sonderweg" -- literally, "the wrong path," symbolically, "my God, how is it that we all fell under such a weird dark spell for so long?"

Ms Keller, maybe the more interesting question is this: not "why has there been no great 9/11 literature?" but "What's going to happen with this subject when Obama [most likely:] becomes President?" When suddenly a whole wave of retired soldiers start feeling it ethically okay to finally share their personal opinions and stories with the public? When the subject suddenly switches like South Africa after apartheid to war crimes and international tribunals and retribution? The artistic projects that are produced THEN; that I think is the much more interesting subject to ponder than simple 9/11 fiction...

...which is my long way of telling you that I will most likely never write up a full review of DeLillo's "Underworld," like you asked in your comment. Sorry.

Oh, and did I mention that those who disagree with Menzies' theory tend to PASSIONATELY AND VIOLENTLY DISAGREE with Menzies' theory? Um, yes, there's that too.

I haven't gotten to the book yet, to tell you the truth; in fact, there's somewhere around 20 books ahead of it in my queue list right now, so it'll probably not be until early August that I'll get to it. I do promise, however, to post my review of it here when finished!

Oh, sure; everything you need to know about the CCLaP 100 can be found at the CCLaP website, specifically by clicking on this link.

In answer to your question: I list "drugs" as an interest on my profile because I'm interested in them as a subject -- of the ways they both help and hurt artists, the ways they both reflect and inspire whatever times in history you're looking at -- not necessarily that I'm "into" certain drugs over others, or that I necessarily take drugs myself. Hope this clears up the confusion.

That's true; and it's funny, because I avoid learning any information about a book before I read it myself, I didn't realize that Stephen King is his dad until after I had written my review. Strange that I should mention King in the review anyway; it's obvious that Joe is influenced heavily by him, and especially the work his dad was writing when he was the same age.

Oh, MY yes, do I certainly agree. In fact, I could say that about almost every book from the 1800s I've now read as part of this essay series.

"Horror and nostalgic fondness." I think that's a pretty good way to describe Ayn Rand.

Did you ever finish this? I'm interested in your thoughts!

Oh, this is very interesting to hear about his work in the 2000s; like I mentioned in my review (for those who haven't read it), I've read all of Coupland's books except for his last three, mostly because I've been struggling financially throughout the 2000s and haven't been able to afford to buy many novels. I'm looking forward now to getting caught up and seeing if I agree with what you have to say about JPod; ironically, I've read a lot of good reviews of that book now too, mostly from people for whom that was their first Coupland book.

Thanks for letting all of us know about that, Tom! I don't suppose you know the person in charge of handing out free review copies, do you (hint hint)?

Oh, thanks very much, oriana! I was a big fan of the book, as you can tell; I'm glad to hear that my review inspired you to rush out and get it.

Thanks for reminding me; the "spoiler" option wasn't available here at Goodreads when I first published this review.

No, I haven't; I'll have to see if I can track down a copy soon.

I think it's wrong of you to give this book a bad score just because it doesn't have an ending that makes you feel particularly better about your particular life. I understand how a book can be personally disappointing because of this, but I don't think you should take it out on either the author or the book itself. This book is much better than the review you wrote or the three stars you gave it, and I find it pathetic that you would do such a thing simply because it didn't make you feel better about yourself.