Matthew McElroy > Recent Status Updates

The section on the Superscience of Man was "Meh". The section on "Dangerous Inventions" was mindblowing.
This is a good book for a train trip- some of the stories are longer and require a good deal of focus. If you have other things to do, you'll be distracted.

I wish I was reading this in closer conjunction with Soul on Ice and Revolutionary Suicide, the autobiographies of Cleaver and Newton, respectively. How does the perspective of forty years change the story?

The last few stories, especially The Approximate Size of My Favorite Tumor seem to be a little more linear and literal. And they are excellent.
Me not understanding the previous stories isn't inherently a flaw in Alexie's writing either. It could just as easily be the flaws in my own limited brain.

Frankly, this isn't as good as the other books I've read by Alexie. But it is a good first effort. All things are relative- I'd rather read Alexie's average work, than many other authors' best work.

Apparently Sherman Alexie started off writing poetry. That is evident in his prose. Not all of it makes sense, but most of it is evocative and well written. The sentences FEEL good, until you reread them.

Alexie is an immensely talented writer- thoughtful, creative, funny, even surreal at times, without giving into flights of fancy.

But the first three stories here are devastating. You don't have to read 800 page times by turn of the century Russians. This talent is all around us, waiting for a chance.

One advantage to this play vs. The other plays I have read- Wilson keeps all the action in one place. Plays are inherently challenging to read, so skipping the action all over makes things harder.
Using Berniece's house as the sole setting makes this much more accessible.

Dammit, why?

On another note- Nadia's father being the guy who carries the loads and lifts the weights has to be an allegory for something.

There is a wonderful quality to both of the Bennett books I have read.
There are no villains. Or at least no important villains. Events happen to people which change their lives and perspectives and emotions, but the characters wind up feeling like someone you remember from your past.

Capitalism is a tool that people with money like to wield when it is convenient. When it isn't convenient, they change the rules, just like the rest of us would.