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224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
the earth should spin a little faster on its axis, fling us from the trees we'd cling to, hurl us into outer space. nature is cruel but the cruellest seam runs through us: we dream of apocalypse.preceding ducks, newburyport by a full twenty years, lucy ellmann's third novel, man or mango?: a lament, is the tale of eloïse, a largely anti-social middle-aged cottager, burdened by unrequited love and annoyed by nearly everything. with acerbic humor and biting commentary (perhaps ducks in its nascency), man or mango? is largely uneven, but best when focused on eloïse in all her misanthropic glory. herein the american-born, scotland-based author (with one of the finest "about the author"s ever) shifts formats and narrative in a way that doesn't always work, but is yet somehow invariably enticing.
life itself is as senseless and unthinking as the sea, as storms that finger prairies in spirals. in this it reflects the apathy of galaxies. we try to impose some purpose (love?) on life but through the fence we get glimpses of meaninglessness. when a pair of drowned children, brother and sister, wash up on a norfolk beach and life just goes on. when generation after generation of donkeys suffer. the map of the world is covered by layer upon layer of such tragedy. a body is always washing up on some shore.