This book has unsettled me, and I'm still mulling over why. Slouka, a professor of creative writing (Univ. of Chicago, then Columbia) places me under a waterfall of some of the most descriptive sentences I've ever read--so much so, that at times the sheer VOLUME of detail becomes overwhelming.The...
Historical fiction; story is based on the conjoined twins from whom the term "Siamese twin" was originally coined. Chang and Eng had fascinating lives that stretched from Siam to Europe to the US. Before I knew this was based on a true story, I actually believed the author asked the reader to tak...
It wasn’t a good time. He had to watch Gene. His old man would be back soon. I’m sorry, man, he’d say. OK, I’d say. Behind him I’d see Gene sitting on the couch, his legs sticking straight out into the air. “So how’s the runn...
The first, I want to say, is stone, goes deep, is mute. The second, like helium, surfaces relentlessly, is all gas and fiber-optic chatter. The first is about the endless negotiations between time and place; the second slips these coordinates, by which human beings have always plotted their posit...