Books I Loathed discussion
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TC Boyle
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Ann M
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 12:16PM)
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Sep 01, 2007 08:16AM

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And his short stories are pure genius. Try any one of his story collections and see if you feel the same way. I really think they are first rate.
Also, what would be the distinction between "commercial" and "literary" fiction? I don't get it.

Okra = good. Beets = horrendous. Right? Please tell me that this is the way you feel, Sherri. :)

I do agree with your assessment. He is glib and he does use cliche. But, I feel it fits with the types of characters he chooses to focus on.

It may be the fun he's having telling the story that makes me feel like he's too glib, he's shortchanging the story, goofing around with it. The best writers can have fun without taking shortcuts. Denis Johnson writes about a similar group of characters, without being glib or cliche -- okay, so he's tortured. John Irving has fun but is not smirking -- okay, so he can get corny -- I like him and Johnson better than Boyle, who isn't really telling me a convincing story. More like something to make himself look good. Like some guy in a bar who wants to tell you a really good story to get into your pants. No matter how good the story is, the guy is still there with that shit-eating, I-think-too-highly-of-myself grin. I never lose the sense of the author-as-puppeteer when reading Boyle. Annoying.

Hmmm. I wonder if this is a male characteristic, as it strikes me as being more common in male authors I've read than in women. Julian Barnes and Martin Amis would be further cases in point. Whereas I have no doubt that Margaret Drabble is an extremely intelligent woman, but she doesn't beat you over the head with it while telling you the story.
But wait, then there's her sister, A.S. Byatt. Never mind, scratch that theory.... :)

P.S. Can't stand Grits either. :)




In The Tortilla Curtain I felt Boyle was just dying to show off his PC sensibilities- 'You see I UNDERSTAND these minorities and SYMPATHIZE with their plight. And although I'm probably a rich Californian I live in an ungated community so that the Mexican immigrants are free to enter my street when they come to clean my house and do the yard work.'


When I was in grad school, one of my profs (Frank Conroy,) said that this flaw is called "pissing on your characters from a great height." It's a problem in lit fic. Pisses me off. I hate it when authors draw characters to mock how stupid the lower classes are, "lower classes" being anyone they feel is lower than themselves.
TK Kenyon, Author of RABID: A Novel
"No pissing on characters."