Skinny Dipping Into Books
I like the rain. I want to have a spring bookworming rain party full out with wellies—but not those Hunter Boots; absolutely not—, with yummy airy things like puffed pastries, meringues, mini fluffy cheese cakes, mousse dessert, macaroon, biscuits, crepe, and Earl Grey tea, definitely Earl Grey tea. and Tillandsia. We'd have lots of "air plants". Lots! And We'd read, but not anything structured. We'd bring books, trade books, read out-loud, pass books around between sentences and paragraphs. We'd leave with books we hadn't discovered.
I like books like I like my Jazz; euphoric, dangerous, occasionally a bit manic, sorrowful, bleak, raging, mood-incongruent, mournful, unforgivingly ragged, symbolic in a quiet way, warm apple pie for the soul. Give me a Plath style. Yōko Ogawa, M. Roach,
Criteria: Not rated on likability of characters. Not objective. I like Moxie Soda; chances are you don't.
time spent in that before bed reading slot:
5-until blurry eye 4-Later than I intended, but I still kept to my extended, extended reading time 3-I really should have been to bed an hour ago 2-customary 30 minutes. 1-book. side table. eyes closed.
How are common themes handled?
5-With an aesthetic that repurposes everyday themes into something fresh. Think of Hole Celebrity Skin covered by Cat Power 4-there is a comfortable air of familiarly.
3-Deja Vu 2. No deviation from its mates 1. Devastatingly trite, redundant, and stale.
Where would you keep it post-reading?
5-Next to my bed. 4-it's the center piece of my favorite bookshelf 3. On my other favorite bookshelf, but it's a bit dusty over their 2-Great cheap bookends 1-It never made it out of the box marked 'moving'.
Emotional response-
5- Where is my teddy bear? Emotional-hangover 4- If I wasn't so emotionally stunted I'd cry.
3. Did James Cameron co-wrote this? Artfully contrived.
2- calculative emotional manipulation. This was literally written by James Cameron.1- I…feel…..nothing.
Mechanics (plot structure, voice, presentation, word choice, sentence structure, characters, writing style, pacing, and consistency):
5-Chanel 4-Prada 3-J-Crew 2-Gap 1-Old Navy
a nice and harrowing short
This short story holds a barren coldness and a detached feeling that only a well skilled author could fathom up. The small page numbers don’t detract from character development, and in fact, they are expertly tuned and refined, and are differentiated from each other.
This short and sweet, pushes the boundaries of exploring the contours of the ways people conform. Some are blatant conformists, others show subtle shades of challenges to the ‘old ways’, while a few remain steadfast in adhering to what is familiar. Characters’ commentary, physical positions to the event, body language, and convenient lack of adherence to tradition, are all echoed throughout the book, and reflect both sides personal reflection of what occurs in the town square.
It takes a keen and perceptive look at how customs and traditions are warped and formulated to assimilate to changes in peoples’ perceptions, and the current ‘moral lens’. The author looks into the strife between groups of individuals aligning with evolutions in thinking, and the hesitancy, or outright rejection of older generations to facilitate and embrace changes to things that are part of their world-view.
The title is perfect and expertly designed to illustrate, from my POV, the way individuals are subjected to these traditions, and how luck of the drawing of a piece of paper is a source of hope for those whose folded paper is blank, or, for that one person holding a black marked paper, the antithesis of hope.
This book comes before The Hunger Games, and all its little trite and redundant siblings, and packs a punch larger, and one that clearly reverberates even decades since The Lottery’s publication.