Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Just finished reading...

...William Faulkner's LIGHT IN AUGUST.
A hypnotizingly paced book about a set of characters in the American South. Smooth, descriptive, floating, dreamlike. Disturbing and unflinching in its portrayal of race, rage and insanity. The violence happens with the same detachment, the same somnambulance as everything else. The haze that permeates the narrative has the effect of being once-removed from reality without making the story unbelievable.
I think it's the heat in the South. It distorts perception. This is the same reason Magic Realism generally comes from hotter climates.

Recommend? Yes.

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