For a change, this journal entry will not mention rats.
I just finished reading "The Piano Man's Daughter", by Timothy Findley. It has the possibly meaningless distinction of being the only Findley novel I've been able to get all the way through. I came close with "Not Wanted on the Voyage", made a fair stab at "The Telling of Lies", only made it a few pages into "The Wars"... but this one I finished. Maybe it's because this one has more humour in it (or at least I was able to see more). "Not Wanted..." was so allegorical and allusive that I lost track of the story. "The Wars" was irritating, because the author kept going on about "what he did" (the main character), but didn't tell the reader. (I know he had some philosophical point to make about points of view, etc... but anyway.)
You might (should you actually happen to be reading this) be wondering, "If he didn't like the first three, why did he even bother with the fourth?" A fair question. The answer is that a friend assured me that this one was different. She was right.
Findley is a master of dialog. Here's a sample:
"Charlie tells me your husband makes the Wyatt piano," she said to Ede.
"No," she said, "My husband is a businessman, Mrs. Harris. His employees make the pianos. Why do you ask?"
"Oh," she said. "It's not of any real interest. It was just a way of cutting through the chill."
My next entry will probably be about "Bel Canto", by Ann Patchett, which I'm very close to finishing. It will also not mention rats.
Don't forget, September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day http://www.talklikeapirate.com/
I just finished reading "The Piano Man's Daughter", by Timothy Findley. It has the possibly meaningless distinction of being the only Findley novel I've been able to get all the way through. I came close with "Not Wanted on the Voyage", made a fair stab at "The Telling of Lies", only made it a few pages into "The Wars"... but this one I finished. Maybe it's because this one has more humour in it (or at least I was able to see more). "Not Wanted..." was so allegorical and allusive that I lost track of the story. "The Wars" was irritating, because the author kept going on about "what he did" (the main character), but didn't tell the reader. (I know he had some philosophical point to make about points of view, etc... but anyway.)
You might (should you actually happen to be reading this) be wondering, "If he didn't like the first three, why did he even bother with the fourth?" A fair question. The answer is that a friend assured me that this one was different. She was right.
Findley is a master of dialog. Here's a sample:
"Charlie tells me your husband makes the Wyatt piano," she said to Ede.
"No," she said, "My husband is a businessman, Mrs. Harris. His employees make the pianos. Why do you ask?"
"Oh," she said. "It's not of any real interest. It was just a way of cutting through the chill."
My next entry will probably be about "Bel Canto", by Ann Patchett, which I'm very close to finishing. It will also not mention rats.
Don't forget, September 19 is International Talk Like A Pirate Day http://www.talklikeapirate.com/