What to do with one of theirs who protests the war. With Wilfred Owen. Certainly not as realistic as the Poets.
Eris is the one to watch out for. A real troublemaking Goddess. Before the Big Bang. And after. Extraordinary great history. Like junkies, people addicted to their own poison are often less interesting than they think. Despite a foreword by Barry Humphries I failed to be captured by these less than legendary tales from The Colony Club. The Fall of Robespierre Colin Jones I found this one of the most dissatisfactory books on one of the most fascinating reversals of fortune in all history β the fall of the monster Robespierre.
Eschewing all attempts to keep the dramatic flow focused, instead we get tons of not on the spot reports. This is bewildering, confusing and irritating. I have never put down a book more frequently or picked it up to try again so frequently. Constantly leaping from place to place, some fascinating, some not, he is always cutting away from the moment to pick it up elsewhere. A large blue pencil and the book would be shorter, simpler and more clearly defined. It is way too long, rambling, discursive and deeply frustrating.
My tip is to skip β not the book β but when reading. I mean apart from Putin I guessβ¦.. You wonder why he puts up with her for more than a date. Sixties coming of age writer. I like him, but this one I found annoying. He should have left her behind in Houstonβ¦. Essays from the mid Sixties and an examination of the West. LA, Vegas, Freeways. Her title essay is all about hippies in San Francisco, whom she examines with the pitiless glare of someone ten years too old to be fooled by the hippie dippie bullshit.
But it is chilling to remember that there is a war on and these kids are being sent away to fight it. Interconnected essays, for instance the Vegas Wedding Chapel sees 67 couples married on the last day that this will be allowed to delay the draftβ¦. Her reflections are ironic, and sometimes plain old funny. About the Swiss preparedness for war. A rivalry that would not be apparent if they were men, and that is in fact inspired by and encouraged by their employer. A man of course. This sweet sickness Patricia Highsmith Another cracker up to scratch.
