Trips Travel and All That Jazz: So there!

Sunday, September 16, 2007

So there!

I'm going to see Bjork on Friday! Found out she's playing in an obscure venue in Montreal next Friday evening. I'm teaching the next day, but what the hell.

I just thought I would post this to make you all very very jealous of what a great city this is. Where else could you see Bjork perform at a week's notice, for 55 dollars!?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Book Review: The Accidental by Ali Smith

My friend Chris got me this book in the Oxfam on Durham's Elvet Bridge. It saw me through a week of lazing about Montenegrin beaches.

Each chapter is narrated from the point of view of a different character. The opening chapter is a bit dense, and takes some getting used to, as it's narrated by the 12 year-old daughter Astrid, and is full of her quirky streams of consciousness seasoned with insecurity. She films everything and sees the world with a filmmaker's eye, which is important later on.

Essentially this is the story of a middle-class family, two children and an adoptive father, which breaks down due to an outside character, Amber, who stays with them. The father-in-law, Michael, is a professor of English. He falls in love with her, although this is mitigated by his string of affairs with students, and starts to make mistakes in his affairs because of Amber, thus showing up the gaping holes in his marriage. His wife Eve is an author who popularizes history by fictionalising the lives of deceased war victims in spite of their families. She is clearly in a dry spot with her writing and welcomes Amber as a potential friend. Amber's interests in the families are dubious, although she initiates the couple's son, Magnus to his sexual awakening, and sparks Astrid to self-confidence by shattering her camera.

The novel culminates in a full-circle cycle with Eve taking on Amber's role, but this is not really giving away the ending as it doesn't really have one. The narrative is shaped but not really defined, and nobody should read this book expecting a satisfying ending. It is brilliantly written, and suckered me in by weaving a sort of history of film for dummies into the content and the characterisation of the novel itself. It's not a million miles from Don DeLillo in its social commentary and style. But Smith's style is definitely his own, which is what makes this novel a definite five out of five.

All in all, it's hard to put my finger on what I liked best about this novel, except that it kicked me out of my summer comfort zone without giving me the impression I had to work too hard for it. If you're stuck for a copy, borrow mine, if you don't mind the smell of sea water on its crumpled pages.

Trips Travel and All That Jazz

Sunday, September 16, 2007

So there!

No comments:

A Limerick on Limericks

Book Review: The Accidental by Ali Smith

Mouthwatering musical musings

Blog Archive

About Me