reading (Radiator Days)
Jan. 1st, 2010 02:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eorI finished "Radiator Days" a couple of weeks ago now, but with the holidays and work and all, I just didn't have the wherewithal to make a proper post and I wanted to make a proper post. First a bit of disclosure: The author is an online friend who I've known for years now, so I'm a bit biased. I think she's a very nice person and amazingly talented.
I enjoyed this book more than "French Milk" because of it's varied nature and because of the progress you get to see in the autobiographical passages. I like Lucy's auto-bio bits because she manages to make them personal enough so you feel they're really auto-bio and still keeps them universal enough so you can empathize. They don't come off as stereotyped characters like a Dilbert or a Cathy, they're more human. But they're still phrased and plotted out so that the reader can participate. They often have humor and irony but don't cross over into mean spirited even when dealing with characters who'd be easy to mock harshly. Most of her non-bio pieces don't have the same pull for me, but I enjoy the variation and think they actually add strength to her work with the thematic and stylistic departures.
I think my favorites in this collection are "My Addiction" and the pages of faces. The whimsy of "My Addiction" just wows me. The funny thing is I don't remember it having the same effect, when I first encountered this piece online. I love the implied motion of the squid tentacles and the playful mixture of scary reality and playful fantasy (the squid at the table versus the hard facts). I liked the pages of faces because I think it shows the joy of thinking about faces, making faces in both senses of the phrase. I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can almost feel the joy of being one when I look at all those variations.
Lucy's work is a tonic: like the perfect cup of tea, a conversation with an intelligent friend, or that piece of cheese with just the right flavor.
54. Lucy Knisley "Radiator Days"
I enjoyed this book more than "French Milk" because of it's varied nature and because of the progress you get to see in the autobiographical passages. I like Lucy's auto-bio bits because she manages to make them personal enough so you feel they're really auto-bio and still keeps them universal enough so you can empathize. They don't come off as stereotyped characters like a Dilbert or a Cathy, they're more human. But they're still phrased and plotted out so that the reader can participate. They often have humor and irony but don't cross over into mean spirited even when dealing with characters who'd be easy to mock harshly. Most of her non-bio pieces don't have the same pull for me, but I enjoy the variation and think they actually add strength to her work with the thematic and stylistic departures.
I think my favorites in this collection are "My Addiction" and the pages of faces. The whimsy of "My Addiction" just wows me. The funny thing is I don't remember it having the same effect, when I first encountered this piece online. I love the implied motion of the squid tentacles and the playful mixture of scary reality and playful fantasy (the squid at the table versus the hard facts). I liked the pages of faces because I think it shows the joy of thinking about faces, making faces in both senses of the phrase. I am not an artist by any stretch of the imagination, but I can almost feel the joy of being one when I look at all those variations.
Lucy's work is a tonic: like the perfect cup of tea, a conversation with an intelligent friend, or that piece of cheese with just the right flavor.
54. Lucy Knisley "Radiator Days"
