Seattlest: Seattlest Book Club: Red Weather

David F.

Tue, 08 May 2007 08:42:43 -0800

"...superfluously detailed events..." I'm not sure what you are getting at there, Matt. Journalism training knocked a lot of the dteails out of my writing and I've been trying for years to get that stuff back into it. The hard part is when is enough enough with the details.

Pauls

Mon, 07 May 2007 16:20:28 -0800

Ha! Well, it's actually really great that folks are reading the book... I mean -- so many writers never get any audience at all. Even Silvie's comments reflect a careful reading of Red Weather, which is something that is pretty cool, overall. But I worry that people won't be honest if they feel that I'll post rebuttals. And, ultimately, there's a lot to learn -- as a writer -- from negative feedback. This is sort of like a writing workshop, actually.

James

Mon, 07 May 2007 15:59:47 -0800

You should stick around and rage against us all you like. Especially Silvie.

Pauls

Mon, 07 May 2007 15:41:22 -0800

And scratch that "has." It should just be is: "...is necessarily colored..."

Pauls

Mon, 07 May 2007 15:39:54 -0800

Ha ha. I love the Internet. If only the New York Times Book Review allowed authors to respond to their critics in this manner! Ok. Regarding this silly Oprah objection... The book is written in reflection from the "present-day" by a thirty-year-old narrator. Of course Oprah's book club wasn't around in 1989. Not a major revelation to me. The "time stamp" of the chapter doesn't mean that everything being thought by these characters is occuring in exactly that moment. That "moment" is completely fictional -- a reconstructed rendering of "present day 1989" that has is necessarily colored by the narrator's life in 2004. None of that changes the fact that "a Stalinist version of Oprah's Book Club," is a great line. Anyway. I will go now -- and I won't post any more. It could get silly, I think, especially given my (and any author's) tendency to defend their own work. (But I have to admit I like James' perspective a bit more.) I'd also like to go on record as agreeing with Oscar Wilde: Critics are the people who go out onto the battlefield -- after the fight's over -- and shoot the wounded.

MvB

Mon, 07 May 2007 15:18:49 -0800

I'm just to the point where cousin Ivan is about to show up. It's been fun reading, discounting the first-novelish aspects, because I once had a crush on a girl who distributed ISO newspapers, which occasioned me popping in at an ISO meeting -- very much like a Seattlest meet-up: actually, lots of beer, talk about blogging/socialism, and vague plans for future growth.

Audrey

Mon, 07 May 2007 15:12:09 -0800

I demand more complaining from Silvie!

Jack

Mon, 07 May 2007 14:27:56 -0800

I just bought the book. That is all I have to say.