zhudanna knitted them sweaters and they switched!!!
[Image description: A half body digital drawing of Laudna and Imogen from Critical Role set on an orange background, with white circles behind each of their heads and pink flowers and orange musical notes surrounding them. Laudna, an undead human woman, is on the left and she is wearing a fluffy bright pink sweater, her arms held close to her chest, like t-rex arms. Sat on Laudna’s shoulder is Pâté, a taxadermied rat with a bird skull for a head, and he is wearing a little red sweater. Imogen, a human woman, is on the right and she is wearing a fluffy black sweater. She is holding a steaming mug between both hands. Both women are facing each other, their eyes closed and both smiling warmly. End description.]
Like all Great American Novels, it’s about the death of the American Dream.
That doesn’t tell me much.
In particular, it’s about the collapse of the Southern Way of Life, a largely fictional reconstruction of what life was like for white people in the southern states of America (under slavery, which is never mentioned/realised by the kind of people who wave Confederate flags unironically).
So it’s a political book?
No. That was just me venting. Sorry. It’s actually the collapse of the South using the microcosm of a single family. We get to watch the very strange relationships they’ve built up among themselves slowly fall apart. There’s a bit of implied brother / sister stuff, but if you’ve read Game of Thrones and you still think the sibling incest overtones are too much, you should present yourself to the relevant authorities at first light.
I’ve started it, but it’s all gibberish.
Right. The first seventy pages or so are written in a style called “stream of consciousness”, the primary example of which is Ulysses by James Joyce. The narrative style tones down to something more comprehensible after that, so stick with it. By the fourth section, you’ll start to realise you remembered more than you thought.
What should I say to make people think I’ve read it?
“A genuinely brilliant attempt to model how human thought processes work and how our memories sometimes control who we are.”
What should I avoid saying when trying to convince people I’ve read it?
“These are the nonsensical ravings of a lunatic.”
Should I actually read it?
Yes. You’ll never come across a book quite like this. It primes you for the final emotional punch early on and you don’t even know it’s happening. Just keep reading.
Flannery O’Connor is getting her own postage stamp!
Born in Georgia, O’Connor attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and was always determined to be an author. She had lupus, so at age 25, she moved back to Georgia, where her mother helped take care of her. O'Connor used crutches to get around, raised peacocks, and wrote novels like Wise Blood that came to define Southern Gothic. Her work was twice nominated for the National Book Award before she died in 1964 at just 39 years old.
a red tiefling trying to frighten imogen and imogen simply raising an eyebrow at him in response and fresh cut grass asking “you okay?” and imogen turning to laudna and saying “nothing compared to you, laudna. nothing.” (bonus: laudna saying “he clearly has a tiny penis.”)
laudna saying “this kind of reminds me of when we found zhudanna’s place.” and imogen smiling slightly and saying “a bit, yeah.” (bonus: travis, who is all of us)
