Next stop… Whores!
Posts tagged Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Benutty’s Book Review: A Death in the Family
Aug 22nd
(James Agee, 1956)
Wow. I can’t think of a book I’ve read recently that could even dream of standing up to this one in greatness. Tinkers comes close — and is actually probably heavily inspired by Agee — but, let’s be real. I mean, this shiz was simply amazing. A semi-autobiographical story of how a small family in Tennessee copes with the death of one of their own, A Death in the Family is heartbreaking from the very beginning. Told through the experience of most of the novel’s characters, Agee’s writing is magnificent in the way he weaves in and out of each character’s inner & outer dialogue. In one moment we know what a character wants to say, and in the next we see him say something entirely different out of social grace. In the minds of the two children we are able to understand the confusion of an adolescent who must learn what death is, while also dealing with typical childhood problems – sibling rivalry, school bullying, and parental appreciation. In the adults we learn of their religious and/or atheistic justifications for death, and how simplistic either explanation of life can actually be. A character-driven novel, A Death in the Family is moving & universal; Agee’s characters are inspiring, and his talent for description top of the mark.
I just can’t recommend this book enough. But if you pick it up, have a sympathetic heart because it’s not an easy read emotionally.
Notable excerpt:
“Joel, I know that God in a wheelbarrow wouldn’t convince you,” his sister said. “We aren’t even trying to convince you. But while you’re being so rational, why at least please be rational enough to realize that we experienced what we experienced.”
Benutty’s Book Review: Tinkers
Jul 21st
(Paul Harding, 2009)
Winner of the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Tinkers is the story of a man on his deathbed, falling inside himself to recount the memories of his childhood that involve his epileptic father. While sweet in its examination of the trials of life and death, Harding’s simple writing style also gives way to a haunting & melancholy tone. The metaphor of the universe as a clock — we as ants marching across a face of time that we can only wonder at the immensity of, while below us, unknowingly, gears and mechanisms spin and turn, guiding the meaning our lives — is beautiful in its simplicity. A lot like Cunningham’s The Hours, Tinkers brings together a small cast of characters (this time men) who discover fear, regret, and helplessness in a regressive movement of time through memory. Harding has a great ability to describe in a new way the universal curiosities of all of us — those about nature, disease, fatherhood, and life & death.
I can’t recommend this book enough. I absolutely adore it. It’s simple, heartbreaking, life-affirming, and magical. Perfect with a glass of white zin, a shawl, a brooch and a wood-burning fireplace. Don’t finish it while in public. You’ll want to let yourself cry it out and relish in the sweet & depressing emotion of it!
Notable excerpt:
Your cold mornings are filled with the heartache about the fact that although we are not at ease in this world, it is all we have, that it is ours but that it is full of strife, so that all we can call our own is strife… rejoice that your uncertainty is God’s will… and part of a greater certainty… be comforted in the fact that the ache in your heart and the confusion in your soul means that you are still alive, still human, and still open to the beauty of the world…