Tag: art

“…I lived in a series of all-decisive moments, and the intensity was so great that sometimes life felt almost unlivable….”

Knausgaard 2

This is not a book for readers who hate getting lost when a scene on page 105 doesn’t get resolved until page 340. It is for readers who would like to see how a literary genius describes the challenges and boredom of a normal life. The story’s structure consists of … Read More

“Which way lies truth, in the end? In power, or in Art?”

Barbery croppedNovelists make assumptions about their readers’ interest in technical details, whether they’re writing about sabotage, romance or philosophy.  The Elegance of the Hedgehog is written by a philosophy professor who assumes we want to know the technical details of her two main character’s struggle to find a philosophy of life … Read More

“We can’t chose what we want and what we don’t want and that’s the hard lonely truth.”

tartt cropped

At 771 pages, this is a long novel.  Is it worth it?  Many of the 57 commentators on the Kirkus review didn’t think so.  However, I love the way Tartt develops big themes.  And she has sentences that are works of art. The NY Times review, written by Stephen … Read More