Joe's review
Refresh, Refresh by Benjamin Percy
*sigh*
This is a second collection that reads like a first. Honest to god, these stories came fresh from an MFA workshop, filtered through a thesis reading and went straight to video. He has a workman-like concept of plot -- the stories get to all the right places, but in a plodding, paint by number sort of way with no compelling voice and a lot of sophomoric sloppiness when it comes to language.
I also feel that a good deal of grunting and adjusting of the balls occurred during the making of this book. It walks with its crotch thrust forward.
In all fairness, I've been reading the shit out of Annie Proulx and everyone sucks compared to her.
This is a second collection that reads like a first. Honest to god, these stories came fresh from an MFA workshop, filtered through a thesis reading and went straight to video. He has a workman-like concept of plot -- the stories get to all the right places, but in a plodding, paint by number sort of way with no compelling voice and a lot of sophomoric sloppiness when it comes to language.
I also feel that a good deal of grunting and adjusting of the balls occurred during the making of this book. It walks with its crotch thrust forward.
In all fairness, I've been reading the shit out of Annie Proulx and everyone sucks compared to her.
Seriously? You're reading this? Is your TV broke? No, I haven't read it, but I've read enough of that guy's stories to know he writes with pretty much zero heart, and the fact that he's being hailed as some new literary stud is evidence that we've lost our way, big time.Anyway, enjoy. If you're looking for a palette-cleanser after this, I suggest Bill O'Reilly's "Culture Warrior". It's at the supermarket!
I know, okay? I totally bought the hype. He studied under Brady, which prolly means something to you, but should have warned me warned me warned me.
I've muddled through two stories so far and have come to realize that he has a decent feel for plot, but absolutely no voice. Or, rather, he has a voice that reads remarkably as though he were a Speak-n-Spell.
Also, he talks to interviewers about his literary vision of "new masculinity" which, to hear him say it, sounds like the old masculinity that muscle-queens and leather dykes have been performing and subverting for decades.
For someone who was only possible because of the current war, Ben Percy is so pre-9/11.
Ouch!
Yeah, the Speak-n-Spell remark was quite a burn, but I'd say it's justified. Never let it be said that Joe Simonsen doesn't have the stomach for this book review business. Keep an eye out for his critical work: "This May Sting A Bit: Ruminations on Why You Suck". Coming to the walls of men's bathrooms everywhere this summer.
Exackly. It's the companion work to my first stall-side publication For Good Time Call Ben: Grappling, Wrassling and Homo(social) Bonding.
On a side note, the best bathroom graf I've seen to date was in the good ol' LA building: "Southeast Asia is in here." Why, yes, hippie. Yes, it is.
Best bathroom graffiti I've ever seen? Buck's Club:"I fucked your mother."
(lower down, same wall)
"Go home, Dad. You're drunk."
