Book: James Morrow /
This is the Way the World Ends
Tuesday, March 19, 2002
Possibly my favourite book of all time. It's science fiction, but not the normal sort; it's a bitter satire, and a beautifully framed novel.
George Paxton is the central character, a family man, a tombstone engraver, and a Unitarian:
Unitarians rejected miracles, worshipped reason, denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, and had serious doubts about the divinity of God. George grew up believing that this was the most plausible of all possible worlds.
His story takes us from a sunny, contented New England where Mutually Assured Destruction courtesy of the American and Russian nuclear arms race was to become something of a burning issue, to the nuclear strike itself:
As the mobile survivors passed by, the third-degree burns victims begged to be shot to death..., their owns hands (weeping, pulpy rubble) being useless to the task. "Somebody please kill me," the third-degree burns victims gasped with curious politeness.
And then the real story starts, as the people of the future (the "unadmitted"), who have been denied existence by the complicity of the people of the present, demand their vengeance.
The power of the narrative, the interweaving of little snippets of an imaginary Nostradamus foretelling the story, the fantastic chapter headings (Chapter 5 - In Which the Limitations of Civil Defense Are Explicated in a Manner Some Readers May Find Distressing) and the incredibly obvious-but-amazing central message combine to produce an un-put-downable book. I have read it many times now, and it's still fantastic. You should read it too!
Album: Blueboy / Unisex
Monday, March 04, 2002
One of my luckiest purchases this one. I had no idea even what type of music it was when I bought it. I'm not sure I can classify it even now.
The first thing to say is that this isn't the same band as "The Blueboy" which had some (one?) recent dance-type hit(s). This is an altogether different type of boy. It's beautiful, and like a lot of the music I like it's inaccessible by design the first time you listen to it. But it has some of most lovely laid back melodies you could ever hope for, sung in a breathy voice - well, several breathy voices in fact.
There's a lovely little review-interview thing here which contains the following apt description:
Have you listened to the sound of shyness sometime? ... Blueboy are the point where mix well bossanova, femenine sensibility, Pet Shop Boys, Dirk Bogarde, classic arrangements, Picasso, indiepop and the rational side of masculinity.
That's pretty much it. They don't like the record any more, which is a shame I think but pretty much par for the course. Enjoy, if you can get hold of a copy (Sarah Records SARAH620/WDRU035).
Book: Michael Cunningham /
Flesh and Blood
Thursday, February 28, 2002
I've bought a copy of this book for six or seven people now, and I don't usually do that sort of thing. This one really affected me. It's beautiful, deep, and spot on on every page.
Broadly speaking it's the story of a Greek immigrant family settled in the US and watching its generations cascade outwards. There is, of course, a central character who is gay; but that isn't actually the deal with this book. It covers so much of what you really do feel in life, it's frightening. I should warn you as well, that it isn't a feel-good deal! But if you're anything like me you'll love it and you'll want to treasure the time you spend reading it.
Once an angry man dragged his father
along the ground through his own orchard.
"Stop!" cried the groaning old man at last.
"Stop! I did not drag my father beyond this tree."
Gertrude Stein, The Making of Americans
(from the frontispiece)
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