noooir

This is truly a book that incites a review of contradictions. I bought it because it was reviewed well by Tom Franklin and Dan Chaon, and was published by McSweeney's. I expected it to be a book of sentences that I could easily fall into, and it was. In many ways, the prose was almost too stylized, too well punctuated. The author focuses your attention by not bothering with descriptions of non-essential moments or scenery, and the tone comes from whichever of the three protagonists is being followed by our narrator, who is a prizeworthy storyteller with shit for an attention span. The concept of middle school, the angst, the conflict, the feeling threatened by anyone who understands you, it's all there, deftly created and seething just below the surface. But ALL three of these protagonists are doing things for seemingly no reason. It's hard to relate to their actions, but so easy to understand how they feel. There are also frequent references to its setting, as though these things could only happen there, that this place is of some meaning to the story... But it's unclear why. It seems to me that the story had nothing to do with the setting. Why is this book called Citrus County? I enjoyed reading it: I read it in two days. Some great passages, some interesting characters, a lot of investment in the characters. The three protagonist, one narrator thing is done well, which I find rarely.

2023-06-07 19:08