“So you’re the guy who wrote that piece.”
June 5, 2021 11:28 AM Subscribe
“So you’re the guy who wrote that piece.”That sounds like the kind of line that a charmer could use to get tight with basically any journalist.
posted by clawsoon at 4:46 PM on June 5, 2021 [6 favorites]
Good read. Thanks for sharing.
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 7:52 PM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Don.Kinsayder at 7:52 PM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
This was fantastic - was this non-fiction or fiction?
posted by chinese_fashion at 9:46 PM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by chinese_fashion at 9:46 PM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
A short story, chinese_fashion.
The piece on the White House Prom is good. Haven't finished reading a Novel in like 2 years, sure it's a confession but narrative, reading it, it is as if a leaf blower is nearing, glazed sorta repartee that is easy enough to appreciate the many descriptive elements of a character I frankly don't visualize. It's ok though, the ease of character transition is like driving on fresh road, ahead and behind, there are delays. But this gem stands like prefab confabulation of minor vanity.
"Pretty soon, I was at Princeton, and she was in the fashion magazines. I bought them and kept them. Even up until a few years ago, you would still see her. And the minute I knew my marriage was over was when Becky found a stack of those magazines in my closet. She was all, ‘What the hell is this?’ I didn’t bother to explain.”
K, so she never looked in the closet or what, the glossy angels petitioned are not necessarily happy with minor vanity, it sticks like the mistaken adverb and vOla, causus belli in the re-rationalization of second hand information knowing any verification inquiry would defie itself. That's really good and effective. Again my teacher is right to be suspicious of Narrative.
Down here with us now for example the ending stalled observation, translucent.
functional.
Nice find, I needed that to finish the story and most likely, re-read it.
posted by clavdivs at 10:08 PM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
The piece on the White House Prom is good. Haven't finished reading a Novel in like 2 years, sure it's a confession but narrative, reading it, it is as if a leaf blower is nearing, glazed sorta repartee that is easy enough to appreciate the many descriptive elements of a character I frankly don't visualize. It's ok though, the ease of character transition is like driving on fresh road, ahead and behind, there are delays. But this gem stands like prefab confabulation of minor vanity.
"Pretty soon, I was at Princeton, and she was in the fashion magazines. I bought them and kept them. Even up until a few years ago, you would still see her. And the minute I knew my marriage was over was when Becky found a stack of those magazines in my closet. She was all, ‘What the hell is this?’ I didn’t bother to explain.”
K, so she never looked in the closet or what, the glossy angels petitioned are not necessarily happy with minor vanity, it sticks like the mistaken adverb and vOla, causus belli in the re-rationalization of second hand information knowing any verification inquiry would defie itself. That's really good and effective. Again my teacher is right to be suspicious of Narrative.
Down here with us now for example the ending stalled observation, translucent.
functional.
Nice find, I needed that to finish the story and most likely, re-read it.
posted by clavdivs at 10:08 PM on June 5, 2021 [1 favorite]
Good writing. Brisk, interesting, lively - enjoyable: reminded me of Chekov or I.B.Singer, the curt descriptive sentences illuminating whole worlds of dumb near-misery. Made hating Francis thoroughly enjoyable.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:18 AM on June 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by From Bklyn at 4:18 AM on June 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm really side-eyeing the narrator for not being more critical of Francis!
Can anyone spell out to me what's with the scene at the end and the brittle woman? Is it significant? I get the feeling I'm missing something.
posted by Omnomnom at 7:57 AM on June 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
Can anyone spell out to me what's with the scene at the end and the brittle woman? Is it significant? I get the feeling I'm missing something.
posted by Omnomnom at 7:57 AM on June 6, 2021 [3 favorites]
I'm really side-eyeing the narrator for not being more critical of Francis!
I'm pretty sure that all the narrator had to do in the criticism department was let Francis breathe.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 8:04 AM on June 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm pretty sure that all the narrator had to do in the criticism department was let Francis breathe.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 8:04 AM on June 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
I'm really side-eyeing the narrator for not being more critical of Francis!
I read it as a sort of Salieri v Mozart relationship. The narrator detests Francis, but doesn't let it show until the very last sentence of the story.
posted by verstegan at 8:15 AM on June 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
I read it as a sort of Salieri v Mozart relationship. The narrator detests Francis, but doesn't let it show until the very last sentence of the story.
posted by verstegan at 8:15 AM on June 6, 2021 [2 favorites]
I read it as a sort of Salieri v Mozart relationship.
The narrator reminded me of people who will befriend someone difficult because "he was always nice to me." I suppose jerks need friends too. It is implicit in the telling of the story that he has now totally given up on the friendship, that what he now reports in detail were things he tuned out the first time.
posted by anhedonic at 9:32 AM on June 7, 2021 [2 favorites]
The narrator reminded me of people who will befriend someone difficult because "he was always nice to me." I suppose jerks need friends too. It is implicit in the telling of the story that he has now totally given up on the friendship, that what he now reports in detail were things he tuned out the first time.
posted by anhedonic at 9:32 AM on June 7, 2021 [2 favorites]
I think I had some adult-sounding theory, like, ‘Yeah, the great thing about ugly chicks is they have to make up for it in other ways.’ I felt a presence behind me.
This story feels so much like outtakes from Fates & Furies or A Little Life that I was shocked NOT to find the other half of the story at the bottom of the page - the part where Francis gets his gruesome comeuppance. I'm not satisfied with imagining the outcomes of Francis torpedoing his own marriage and career for a woman who only stands out in his psyche because he used her to find new and innovative ways of objectifying people, I want to see him suffer.
posted by All hands bury the dead at 1:55 PM on June 7, 2021
This story feels so much like outtakes from Fates & Furies or A Little Life that I was shocked NOT to find the other half of the story at the bottom of the page - the part where Francis gets his gruesome comeuppance. I'm not satisfied with imagining the outcomes of Francis torpedoing his own marriage and career for a woman who only stands out in his psyche because he used her to find new and innovative ways of objectifying people, I want to see him suffer.
posted by All hands bury the dead at 1:55 PM on June 7, 2021
I was honestly expecting the narrator to see Francis stuffing a woman's corpse into the boot of his car. I watch too much shlocky tv.
posted by Omnomnom at 2:01 PM on June 7, 2021
posted by Omnomnom at 2:01 PM on June 7, 2021
Francis boosting catalytic converters with a muffled zaw saw.
posted by clavdivs at 7:59 PM on June 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by clavdivs at 7:59 PM on June 7, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by Thisandthat at 1:52 PM on June 5, 2021 [3 favorites]