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Wednesday, May 4, 2016

The Recognitions

My latest book was  The Recognitions by William Gaddis.  Next up are Chapterhouse: Dune, The Education of Henry Adams, and The Sound and the Fury.

It's not easy to describe this book, and I mean that on couple of different levels.  There's no simple way to summarize the plot and my feelings cannot be described as simple like or dislike.  When it was published, most reviews of the book were negative.  While many people, the author foremost among them, have gone to great lengths to castigate the critics who didn't like the book, I can certainly understand why it got such a poor reception.  It's like the author came up with an interesting story with compelling characters but felt a pretentious need to make it as difficult to read as possible in order to be artsy.