[From the August dog days of my New York City staycation comes the following review of a doggedly long monster-minded novel that won the Dublin Literary Award in 2024 and was longlisted for the International Booker Prize in 2025.]
Depends on the quality of the language, I guess. I mind less reading a repeated witty metaphor by Wm. Gass than a cliched cry for help help help etc. Then there's repetition of a kind of discourse such as dreams. If I don't have respect for the discourse, then repeating it is burdensome. But you are asking a person who wrote five novels about the same protagonist.
Have not read Miss McIntosh the book most people ask me about. But I have repeatedly read Moby-Dick.
Thanks. If you own a copy, you should give it a try. Mine is a minority opinion. Wait, wait, I don't say "opinion." I say judgment. Have not read Hersch. Will look into it.
Excellent review, I have the novel in my overly voluminous TBR bookcase, but now won’t likely rush to read this…btw, speaking of monsters, have you ever read Rick Harsch’s The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas (from Zerogram)? I’d put off reading that one, too, but Rick H just died, and now I am wishing that I had read it while he was alive, ofc.
Depends on the quality of the language, I guess. I mind less reading a repeated witty metaphor by Wm. Gass than a cliched cry for help help help etc. Then there's repetition of a kind of discourse such as dreams. If I don't have respect for the discourse, then repeating it is burdensome. But you are asking a person who wrote five novels about the same protagonist.
Have not read Miss McIntosh the book most people ask me about. But I have repeatedly read Moby-Dick.
Thanks. If you own a copy, you should give it a try. Mine is a minority opinion. Wait, wait, I don't say "opinion." I say judgment. Have not read Hersch. Will look into it.
Excellent review, I have the novel in my overly voluminous TBR bookcase, but now won’t likely rush to read this…btw, speaking of monsters, have you ever read Rick Harsch’s The Manifold Destiny of Eddie Vegas (from Zerogram)? I’d put off reading that one, too, but Rick H just died, and now I am wishing that I had read it while he was alive, ofc.
Hi Tom,
Do you think repetition can be a good thing? What's your opinion of Miss MacIntosh, My Darling by Marguerite Young?