Comments on: the signal

By: cynthia

cynthia — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:56:22 +0000

Walt, I’m glad you brought those images up.

On clotheslines, a nice bit of dialogue:

“That’s why I hang a clothesline,” he said.
“To welcome you home,” she said.
“So I can find the way,” he said. “But welcome home.”

On abandoned places, a little bit of description:

“There were two old log cabins along the way, slumped and fallen in, new trees thrusting through the collapsed roof beams…they made up stories about the lonely men who lived here…”

Thanks for your comment!

By: cynthia

cynthia — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 18:51:35 +0000

Nice assessment, Sarah–fresh and familiar. I think you’re right.

By: Walt Pascoe

Walt Pascoe — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 14:20:00 +0000

Clotheslines…abandoned places… like catnip to me, Cynthia! Don’t think I can pass this one up. It will have to be put on the TOP of the pile.

By: Sarah Laurence

Sarah Laurence — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:53:46 +0000

The writing sounds both fresh and familiar. I liked how you let the text illustrate your appraisal. It’s easy to see why this book would be appealing.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:31:19 +0000

Peggy, thanks for your comment. For some reason I don’t remember Ron Carlson’s beautiful way with words from Five Skies, but it jumped out here. I’ll have to go back to that one to see if I just missed it.

By: cynthia

cynthia — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:26:48 +0000

Yes, Tricia, after Infinite Jest, this felt like a short story. : )

Thanks for the flowers!

By: cynthia

cynthia — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:25:17 +0000

Hope, which did you like better–The Signal or Five Skies?

By: cynthia

cynthia — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 01:20:44 +0000

Emily, that’s the line that stopped me and then I went back to reread the entire passage and then I could just hear the static from the baseball game and realized in a way I never had before that as baseball fades so does fall.

By: peggy

peggy — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:02:56 +0000

Nice, Cindy.
I agree with what you said about the plot growing out of the character–I couldn’t come up with those exact words to describe how I felt about the book, but that’s exactly how I feel. I liked it a lot. And that last quote is only one of many beautiful passages.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:07:47 +0000

You went from a 1000 page book, a few months ago, to a 184 pager. Must have felt like a New York minute in comparison.

I’ve got some flowers for you over at my blog in honor of your literary wisdom.