In the Lake of the Woods is now in contention with The Things They Carried for one of the coolest things I've read. It is part mystery-thriller, part postmodern metafiction, part Vietnam war story, part awesome. It's about John Wade (John Wayne anyone?), a candidate for U.S. Senate, whose life falls apart when it is revealed that he was involved in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. He and his wife go away to the lake for a while, and she disappears. Some of the chapters are straight forward narrative. Some are "Evidence" chapters which are collections of quotes and footnotes (like the Arcades Project, Kris). And some are "Hypothesis" chapters which offer different versions of what could have happened. This book actually made me want to write a paper, and I'm not even really in school. Amazing. Tim O'Brien is a genius.
Thursday, April 3, 2008
I Just Read A Really Good Book
It's 12:30 a.m. and I should probably be getting rest because I'm probably going to be delivering a baby tomorrow (right? right? please?), but I am too excited because I just finished reading a really good book and I want to talk about it. First off, it's a Tim O'Brien book, so I probably should have already read it. I started it probably a year or so ago, but didn't get very far and now I'm wondering how I ever put it down. I was probably forced to read something necessary at the time.
In the Lake of the Woods is now in contention with The Things They Carried for one of the coolest things I've read. It is part mystery-thriller, part postmodern metafiction, part Vietnam war story, part awesome. It's about John Wade (John Wayne anyone?), a candidate for U.S. Senate, whose life falls apart when it is revealed that he was involved in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. He and his wife go away to the lake for a while, and she disappears. Some of the chapters are straight forward narrative. Some are "Evidence" chapters which are collections of quotes and footnotes (like the Arcades Project, Kris). And some are "Hypothesis" chapters which offer different versions of what could have happened. This book actually made me want to write a paper, and I'm not even really in school. Amazing. Tim O'Brien is a genius.
In the Lake of the Woods is now in contention with The Things They Carried for one of the coolest things I've read. It is part mystery-thriller, part postmodern metafiction, part Vietnam war story, part awesome. It's about John Wade (John Wayne anyone?), a candidate for U.S. Senate, whose life falls apart when it is revealed that he was involved in the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. He and his wife go away to the lake for a while, and she disappears. Some of the chapters are straight forward narrative. Some are "Evidence" chapters which are collections of quotes and footnotes (like the Arcades Project, Kris). And some are "Hypothesis" chapters which offer different versions of what could have happened. This book actually made me want to write a paper, and I'm not even really in school. Amazing. Tim O'Brien is a genius.
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3 comments:
I was actually just going through my book stacks over the weekend and found my Arcades Project all dusty and shoved in the back. I think I read maybe 5% of that book, and yet I feel I must keep it for future reading. Yeah right.
I will, however, be picking up that book sometime soon. Thanks for the suggestion!
Wow, I am seriously going to read that book. I love stories like that.
tim o'brien is my favorite american author. read him when i was just starting college and fell in love.
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