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Sep. 27th, 2012
J. K. Rowling
Sep. 27th, 2012 12:44 pmJ. K. Rowling has come out with a new novel, leaving behind the children’s world of Harry Potter that has won her fantastic acclaim and has made her a millionaire, if not a billionaire. She apparently wants to try to kick up a little dust in the adult literary world. Naturally, this is something of a big literary event.
I never got into Harry Potter myself. Though, always hearing so much about the books, I would sometimes check out the excerpts, the opening pages, and I am always left thinking, “My god, this really is a children’s book. I can’t read this.” Nevertheless, I am still curious about this latest offering.
The reviews are not encouraging, and I am more than a little put off by the fact that I cannot find an excerpt anywhere, not even on Amazon. However, while reading through a heavily negative review by Michiko Kakutani at the New York Times, I came across this spicy nugget:
This is definitely not a book for children: suicide, rape, heroin addiction, beatings and thoughts of patricide percolate through its pages; there is a sex scene set in a cemetery, a grotesque description of a used condom (“glistening in the grass beside her feet, like the gossamer cocoon of some huge grub”) and alarming scenes of violent domestic abuse. The novel contains moments of genuine drama and flashes here and there of humor, but it ends on such a disheartening note with two more abrupt, crudely stage-managed deaths that the reader is left stumbling about with whatever is the opposite of the emotions evoked by the end of the “Harry Potter” series.
And my interest is revived! But why won't they give us an excerpt? Well, I am not itching to lay out twenty dollars and start reading it right away, but I am very, very curious. Maybe more information will come out in the weeks ahead, and maybe an excerpt or two.
======================
ONTD
New York Times
I never got into Harry Potter myself. Though, always hearing so much about the books, I would sometimes check out the excerpts, the opening pages, and I am always left thinking, “My god, this really is a children’s book. I can’t read this.” Nevertheless, I am still curious about this latest offering.
The reviews are not encouraging, and I am more than a little put off by the fact that I cannot find an excerpt anywhere, not even on Amazon. However, while reading through a heavily negative review by Michiko Kakutani at the New York Times, I came across this spicy nugget:
This is definitely not a book for children: suicide, rape, heroin addiction, beatings and thoughts of patricide percolate through its pages; there is a sex scene set in a cemetery, a grotesque description of a used condom (“glistening in the grass beside her feet, like the gossamer cocoon of some huge grub”) and alarming scenes of violent domestic abuse. The novel contains moments of genuine drama and flashes here and there of humor, but it ends on such a disheartening note with two more abrupt, crudely stage-managed deaths that the reader is left stumbling about with whatever is the opposite of the emotions evoked by the end of the “Harry Potter” series.
And my interest is revived! But why won't they give us an excerpt? Well, I am not itching to lay out twenty dollars and start reading it right away, but I am very, very curious. Maybe more information will come out in the weeks ahead, and maybe an excerpt or two.
======================
ONTD
New York Times
J. K. Rowling
Sep. 27th, 2012 12:44 pmJ. K. Rowling has come out with a new novel, leaving behind the children’s world of Harry Potter that has won her fantastic acclaim and has made her a millionaire, if not a billionaire. She apparently wants to try to kick up a little dust in the adult literary world. Naturally, this is something of a big literary event.
I never got into Harry Potter myself. Though, always hearing so much about the books, I would sometimes check out the excerpts, the opening pages, and I am always left thinking, “My god, this really is a children’s book. I can’t read this.” Nevertheless, I am still curious about this latest offering.
The reviews are not encouraging, and I am more than a little put off by the fact that I cannot find an excerpt anywhere, not even on Amazon. However, while reading through a heavily negative review by Michiko Kakutani at the New York Times, I came across this spicy nugget:
This is definitely not a book for children: suicide, rape, heroin addiction, beatings and thoughts of patricide percolate through its pages; there is a sex scene set in a cemetery, a grotesque description of a used condom (“glistening in the grass beside her feet, like the gossamer cocoon of some huge grub”) and alarming scenes of violent domestic abuse. The novel contains moments of genuine drama and flashes here and there of humor, but it ends on such a disheartening note with two more abrupt, crudely stage-managed deaths that the reader is left stumbling about with whatever is the opposite of the emotions evoked by the end of the “Harry Potter” series.
And my interest is revived! But why won't they give us an excerpt? Well, I am not itching to lay out twenty dollars and start reading it right away, but I am very, very curious. Maybe more information will come out in the weeks ahead, and maybe an excerpt or two.
======================
ONTD
New York Times
I never got into Harry Potter myself. Though, always hearing so much about the books, I would sometimes check out the excerpts, the opening pages, and I am always left thinking, “My god, this really is a children’s book. I can’t read this.” Nevertheless, I am still curious about this latest offering.
The reviews are not encouraging, and I am more than a little put off by the fact that I cannot find an excerpt anywhere, not even on Amazon. However, while reading through a heavily negative review by Michiko Kakutani at the New York Times, I came across this spicy nugget:
This is definitely not a book for children: suicide, rape, heroin addiction, beatings and thoughts of patricide percolate through its pages; there is a sex scene set in a cemetery, a grotesque description of a used condom (“glistening in the grass beside her feet, like the gossamer cocoon of some huge grub”) and alarming scenes of violent domestic abuse. The novel contains moments of genuine drama and flashes here and there of humor, but it ends on such a disheartening note with two more abrupt, crudely stage-managed deaths that the reader is left stumbling about with whatever is the opposite of the emotions evoked by the end of the “Harry Potter” series.
And my interest is revived! But why won't they give us an excerpt? Well, I am not itching to lay out twenty dollars and start reading it right away, but I am very, very curious. Maybe more information will come out in the weeks ahead, and maybe an excerpt or two.
======================
ONTD
New York Times
Romney's Boca Moment
Sep. 27th, 2012 03:41 pmSome sharp comments on the Romney tape that seems to have really done a number on his campaign and perhaps saved America for a few more years from itself. Nothing really new here, but the episode is worth revisiting.
__ __ __
I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again, but I may never have been as wrong as I was when I initially predicted that Mitt Romney’s heinous diatribe against 47 percent of America would have little direct impact on the election. It’s an absolutely crushing blow. Obviously it doesn’t guarantee his defeat — if a secret video surfaces depicting Obama promising to impose Sharia law in his second term, Romney will stand a good chance of coming back — but it destroys his public standing in ways that make a comeback nearly impossible.
[...]
And then, finally, there is a poetic justice in the substance of Romney’s self-immolation. This is not a random gaffe, a joke gone bad, or even a terrible brain freeze. It is Romney exposed for espousing a worldview that is at the heart of his party’s mania. The idea he summed up at that fund-raiser was a combination of right-wing fever dreams I’ve been analyzing since Obama took office — the Ayn Randism, the fact-free class warfare, the frantic rage at a changing America. The Republican Party is going down because its candidate was seen advocating exactly the beliefs that make the party so dangerous and repellant.
-- Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine
__ __ __
I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again, but I may never have been as wrong as I was when I initially predicted that Mitt Romney’s heinous diatribe against 47 percent of America would have little direct impact on the election. It’s an absolutely crushing blow. Obviously it doesn’t guarantee his defeat — if a secret video surfaces depicting Obama promising to impose Sharia law in his second term, Romney will stand a good chance of coming back — but it destroys his public standing in ways that make a comeback nearly impossible.
[...]
And then, finally, there is a poetic justice in the substance of Romney’s self-immolation. This is not a random gaffe, a joke gone bad, or even a terrible brain freeze. It is Romney exposed for espousing a worldview that is at the heart of his party’s mania. The idea he summed up at that fund-raiser was a combination of right-wing fever dreams I’ve been analyzing since Obama took office — the Ayn Randism, the fact-free class warfare, the frantic rage at a changing America. The Republican Party is going down because its candidate was seen advocating exactly the beliefs that make the party so dangerous and repellant.
-- Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine
Romney's Boca Moment
Sep. 27th, 2012 03:41 pmSome sharp comments on the Romney tape that seems to have really done a number on his campaign and perhaps saved America for a few more years from itself. Nothing really new here, but the episode is worth revisiting.
__ __ __
I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again, but I may never have been as wrong as I was when I initially predicted that Mitt Romney’s heinous diatribe against 47 percent of America would have little direct impact on the election. It’s an absolutely crushing blow. Obviously it doesn’t guarantee his defeat — if a secret video surfaces depicting Obama promising to impose Sharia law in his second term, Romney will stand a good chance of coming back — but it destroys his public standing in ways that make a comeback nearly impossible.
[...]
And then, finally, there is a poetic justice in the substance of Romney’s self-immolation. This is not a random gaffe, a joke gone bad, or even a terrible brain freeze. It is Romney exposed for espousing a worldview that is at the heart of his party’s mania. The idea he summed up at that fund-raiser was a combination of right-wing fever dreams I’ve been analyzing since Obama took office — the Ayn Randism, the fact-free class warfare, the frantic rage at a changing America. The Republican Party is going down because its candidate was seen advocating exactly the beliefs that make the party so dangerous and repellant.
-- Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine
__ __ __
I’ve been wrong before, and I’ll be wrong again, but I may never have been as wrong as I was when I initially predicted that Mitt Romney’s heinous diatribe against 47 percent of America would have little direct impact on the election. It’s an absolutely crushing blow. Obviously it doesn’t guarantee his defeat — if a secret video surfaces depicting Obama promising to impose Sharia law in his second term, Romney will stand a good chance of coming back — but it destroys his public standing in ways that make a comeback nearly impossible.
[...]
And then, finally, there is a poetic justice in the substance of Romney’s self-immolation. This is not a random gaffe, a joke gone bad, or even a terrible brain freeze. It is Romney exposed for espousing a worldview that is at the heart of his party’s mania. The idea he summed up at that fund-raiser was a combination of right-wing fever dreams I’ve been analyzing since Obama took office — the Ayn Randism, the fact-free class warfare, the frantic rage at a changing America. The Republican Party is going down because its candidate was seen advocating exactly the beliefs that make the party so dangerous and repellant.
-- Jonathan Chait at New York Magazine
David Foster Wallace
Sep. 27th, 2012 04:02 pm
“It’s not really that David [Foster Wallace] had any answers for people. But he never stops taking his life seriously and he never stops taking the reader’s life seriously. And I think that’s the connection: you never stop mattering to him and he never stops mattering to himself.”
-- D. T. Max at The Millions Millions
Maybe that was part of the problem. You cannot take life that seriously all the time. It will drive you crazy and crush your spirit.
David Foster Wallace
Sep. 27th, 2012 04:02 pm“It’s not really that David [Foster Wallace] had any answers for people. But he never stops taking his life seriously and he never stops taking the reader’s life seriously. And I think that’s the connection: you never stop mattering to him and he never stops mattering to himself.”
-- D. T. Max at The Millions Millions
Maybe that was part of the problem. You cannot take life that seriously all the time. It will drive you crazy and crush your spirit.
