Why the Devil Chose New England for His Work is a collection of short stories by a Jason Brown. Some were good; others weren't. I did encounter some interesting comparisons and sentences.
1) A narrator is talking about an "officious presence" that all members of his family share and that he has "only otherwise noticed in school crossing guards and the managers of fast food restaurants." (page 51) I might have added mall parking lot guards, but that's based on a personal incident involving my van, a huge and empty lot, and its guard who needed to flex his power. Falls in the why-are-academic-politics-so-bitter category.
2) Another narrator describes a lake seen from far above as being "like a glass eye peering up out of the earth." (page 96) Cool.
3) Cool simile number two: on his "mother whose voice plucked at my nerves like the yowl of a cat in heat." (page 139) I'm pretty sure it was "plucked" and "in heat" that won me over.
4) A less-than-peripheral character was in "the Augusta Mental Health Institute, a place so infamous for what my mother called its 'dirt basement ways' that perfectly sane people visiting their unfortunate relatives were known to have fallen apart behind its walls and never come out." (page 140) A friend and I had a similar experience in the Ansonia Hotel in NYC, but we didn't fall apart. Instead, for two hours got very lost and very, very giggly.
5) "When the doctor arrived, his greeting was hollow, echoing across the distance between his and his attention." (page 229) I'm mulling whether an interesting sentence that totally pulls a reader out of the story is a good or bad thing. Maybe Jason Brown should write only sentences and give up the idea of a story.
So will the above writing samples make me recommend the book? Nope. IMHO you've seen the best moments.
Last edited by humphreysmar; 06/11/09 03:34 PM.
