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/lit/ - Literature

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5479570

The cats Wed Sep 24 13:02:00 2014 No.5479570 [Reply] [Original]

I finished this convoluted piece of shit a few days ago, and I've got to say /lit/ it was worth it. Around the 200 page mark there was some serious "lag" in the writing and development, and I considered dropping the book. I'm glad I didn't though, the final 60 or 70 pages had some great imagery. The writing was unlike anything I've ever seen, it really forced me to pay attention and even then it was easy to get "lost".

It's all told as a series of interconnected, shifting memories and as the narrator's sister puts it everything is introduced in "two steps backward one step forward" style. This was a thoroughly strange book, but I'm glad I read it. I have A Smuggler's Bible here but I think I'll wait a while to check that out.

Some favored quotes:
>Experience is nearly priceless, a necessity like water
>What is a bond but a suture, a divide between two wholes?
>She had left something out, I knew, sealed in a fond female act just as she had made out time a gift

So /lit/ anyone else read any McElroy? I see Women and Men on those charts all the time, but I don't know if I'd want to read it now being 1200 pages and out of print (for good reason?)

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 13:39:50 2014 No.5479683 McElroy purposefully keeps Women and Men out of print, not sure why?

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 13:43:44 2014 No.5479699 >>5479683 Because it's terrible, and I'm not even joking. McElroy said he was embarrassed by the book and didn't want it in print again. Let me upload a file of it for you, so you can see for yourself, give me a mo.

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 13:49:48 2014 No.5479716 >>5479699 I'm curious about that too, I put it on my to-read list the other day. What McElroy should I do if not that one? Cannonball I guess?

>>

Anonymous Wed Sep 24 14:14:57 2014 No.5479795

>>5479716
Cannonball is a better first McElroy than some of his other books but the best place to start would be Night Soul and Other Stories or maybe The Smuggler's Bible, which can be found pretty cheaply.

>>5479683
>>5479699
Where did he say he was embarrassed by it? He's currently (or finished) proofing the ebook version for Dzanc and there's discussion of doing a print version as well. It's just hard to get a publisher to print a 1200-page book no one will read.

I'm excited that his water book is supposedly finally close to being done, he talks about it here: http://www.momaps1.org/expo1/event/joseph-mcelroy/

>>	The cats Wed Sep 24 14:15:21 2014 No.5479798 >>5479699 I've heard that before and seeing his style I can definitely believe it. I would be grateful if you do upload that file for me to see for myself. >>5479716 This is the first one I've read by him and it was manageable.

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 14:17:16 2014 No.5479806 >>5479798 >>>/x/

>>	The cats Wed Sep 24 17:01:54 2014 No.5480430 >>5479806 Hey if I respond to you it's like a bump!

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 17:35:50 2014 No.5480556 >>5480430 Haha hell yeah! Where is that asshole who said he'd upload a file of Women and Men >>5479699 I used to think he was cool

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 17:41:15 2014 No.5480577 >>5480556 Women & Men is on libgen.

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 18:35:41 2014 No.5480781 >>5480556 http://www15.zippyshare.com/v/24735183/file.html Haven't read the book and haven't read this either so I don't know how good the copy is. Dzanc is releasing an official ebook eventually.

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 19:02:04 2014 No.5480865 >>5480781 >>5480577 Thank you my friends

>>	The cats Wed Sep 24 22:21:37 2014 No.5481632 >>5480865 Same

>>

Anonymous Wed Sep 24 23:00:11 2014 No.5481758

Hey OP I read Cannonball too! But it was way back around Christmas, so I've forgotten a lot of the particulars. But I remember I really loved the way McElroy told the story. At times the story went in and out of focus, sometimes becoming really clear and then really fuzzy with a lot of events and unknowns happening all at once. It reminded me of someone trying to focus a camera lens until it finally reached some sort of stability towards the end.

I'm thinking about reading Ancient History by him next since it's been reprinted, but I may need to wait till I'm done with school again because his works really demand a lot of attention.

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 23:42:07 2014 No.5481921 I just don't understand the obsession with McElroy.

>>	Anonymous Wed Sep 24 23:47:39 2014 No.5481932 >>5481921 While there are some obsessives out there some of us just like his writing.

>>	The cats Thu Sep 25 00:28:44 2014 No.5482081 >>5481921 >Obsession >Two topics this month >Started by me >About his book released last year Wat