I have a brilliant friend whose bailiwicks include mid-twentieth century fiction and depictions of madness. Shirley Jackson, unsurprisingly, is a favorite. The only things I'd read of hers before were "The Lottery," (#iconic) and The Haunting of Hill House (1959), which I read as a teenager and barely remembered. But inspired by my friend, I … Continue reading Mid-Century Macabre: Shirley Jackson and Josephine Tey
Unreliable Narrators
Going off Book: Fleabag
Season one of Fleabag knocked me over, picked me up, and then broke me into a thousand pieces. It seemed semi-criminal that something so awkward and cruel and heart-breaking should also be so funny. It deals with grief and regret and being the family scapegoat and making terrible decisions and punishing yourself because you've done … Continue reading Going off Book: Fleabag
Unreliable, Round Two
Drinking: Americano. Listening to: Rhiannon Giddens, There is No Other, then Joy Williams, Front Porch. In response to my post on Kazuo Ishiguro's unreliable narrators, my brother asked if Ishiguro's work showcases the impossibility of getting outside your own history to see your self and culture clearly. His entry point is An Artist of the … Continue reading Unreliable, Round Two
Unreliable
It's easy to fall of a cliff when talking about "unreliable narrators," those character perspectives who a reader realizes at some point cannot be entirely trusted. Once you head down this path, it becomes very easy to start seeing every narrator as unreliable. David Copperfield? Was he born? Ishmael? Total charlatan! And what is "truth" … Continue reading Unreliable
Dogs, Coffee, & Books 