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“The story? The characters devour the story.”
Just read Rick Moody’s suspiciously effusive review of Charlie Smith’s Three Delays. I get the feeling that Moody wants every living writer to go out and read Three Delays, and I am not sure if I will, but I like this idea of the characters devouring a story. It reminded me of a book I recently read– Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell.
A friend told me to read Mrs. Bridge a few years back and I asked what the book was about. She said something like, “Oh, it’s just about Mrs. Bridge, who lives in Kansas and is married and has three children and a maid and a big house and she is faintly unhappy all the time.”
(I should mention that this recommendation was given while we were at a Halloween Party and my friend was dressed as Mrs. Bridge and she had gone through some trouble to get the 1940’s style costume; she loved the book that much.)
But despite the recommendation from a person dressed as the title character, Mrs. Bridge sounded a little dull and already-been-done-before so I told myself I wouldn’t read it because I felt like I had read it already, thirty times over.
But a copy of Mrs. Bridge found me while I was traveling, desperate for a book. And it was awesome. It’s of a breed of book that I think is rare– a book that relies nearly 100% on the emotional life of a single character even without being in first person. The character devours the story.
So yeah, I know I should probably take Moody’s recommendation. Or I guess I can just wait for Three Delays to corner me in a dark alley, years from now.
Tags: charles smith, mrs. bridge
I’ve had Mr. and Mrs. Bridge recommended to me by a person I trust, but have yet to find my way to either. Thanks for another little push.
“suspiciously effusive”? what’s suspicious about it. i love unapologetic passion.
The last scene in Mrs Bridge is by far one of the most memorable in my own literary history. The Bridges (particularly Mr, Mrs, and Ruth) all come very nearly alive in the two novels.
Sounds like Stoner, which has been on seemingly everyone’s reading list this year.
One year for Halloween I was the Log Lady from Twin Peaks.
True. I forget to mention that Mrs. Bridge ends with my all-time favorite last scene.
Oh, it’s fine. I like effusive reviews, actually, but just go read it.
i read both Stoner and Mrs. Bridge recently thanks to Chris Bachelder, and i found them both terrific
both are interested in the novel as a way of occupying the mind and feelings of a single person over that person’s whole life, a project the novel still seems to do better than any other medium
Evan Connell just won a lifetime acheivement award at the LA Times Book Prizes.
I did already. I like the review. Thanks for posting, Catherine.
I’ve had Mr. and Mrs. Bridge recommended to me by a person I trust, but have yet to find my way to either. Thanks for another little push.
“suspiciously effusive”? what’s suspicious about it. i love unapologetic passion.
The last scene in Mrs Bridge is by far one of the most memorable in my own literary history. The Bridges (particularly Mr, Mrs, and Ruth) all come very nearly alive in the two novels.
Sounds like Stoner, which has been on seemingly everyone’s reading list this year.
One year for Halloween I was the Log Lady from Twin Peaks.
True. I forget to mention that Mrs. Bridge ends with my all-time favorite last scene.
Oh, it’s fine. I like effusive reviews, actually, but just go read it.
i read both Stoner and Mrs. Bridge recently thanks to Chris Bachelder, and i found them both terrific
both are interested in the novel as a way of occupying the mind and feelings of a single person over that person’s whole life, a project the novel still seems to do better than any other medium
Evan Connell just won a lifetime acheivement award at the LA Times Book Prizes.
I did already. I like the review. Thanks for posting, Catherine.
I’ve never gotten around to “Mrs. Bridge” but I can recommend another novel of Connell’s, “The Connoisseur.” Older narrator, not a lot happens, but it was thoroughly absorbing.
No way, really? That’s awesome. I thought everyone had forgotten him.
3rd person?
Charlie Smith is my favorite contemporary poet. His poems are heartbreakingly beautiful, and smart and I can’t get enough of them. My feeling about his poetry is that one cannot be too effusive in singing its praises. I have never felt the same about his fiction. But why suspicious? Is it that one is immediately suspicious of unqualified praise, that it is unseemly not to temper such enthusiasm?
I’ve never gotten around to “Mrs. Bridge” but I can recommend another novel of Connell’s, “The Connoisseur.” Older narrator, not a lot happens, but it was thoroughly absorbing.
No way, really? That’s awesome. I thought everyone had forgotten him.
3rd person?
Charlie Smith is my favorite contemporary poet. His poems are heartbreakingly beautiful, and smart and I can’t get enough of them. My feeling about his poetry is that one cannot be too effusive in singing its praises. I have never felt the same about his fiction. But why suspicious? Is it that one is immediately suspicious of unqualified praise, that it is unseemly not to temper such enthusiasm?
If that drawing up there was the cover of “Three Delays,” and not a dog on a beach, I’d definitely read it. And the same goes for Rick Moody’s forthcoming novel, which is atrocious.
If that drawing up there was the cover of “Three Delays,” and not a dog on a beach, I’d definitely read it. And the same goes for Rick Moody’s forthcoming novel, which is atrocious.
In my brand-new issue of Ninth Letter, which just arrived yesterday, there’s a special section called National Book Award 1960, Revisited. Five writers went back and rejudged the award from 50 years ago, and the winner they chose is . . . Mrs. B.
In my brand-new issue of Ninth Letter, which just arrived yesterday, there’s a special section called National Book Award 1960, Revisited. Five writers went back and rejudged the award from 50 years ago, and the winner they chose is . . . Mrs. B.