The New Yorker - Discussion

[Brokeback_1]

A friend sent this news item to me:  "The entire city council of Ashland, OR has decided to enter relationship counseling.  The catalyst was Councilman David Chapman's telling Councilman Eric Navickas to "shut your f**ing mouth" during last week's meeting, though Navickas had previously called the city's mayor "a Nazi."  Taxpayers will pay $37,000 for the council's five months of therapy."

So this is where the chocolate entrepreneur lives. 

ROFLMAOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Got back in the swing....anyone read, "The Dog"?? Very AP'ish, as if she went all cosmo and modern....author has same eye for nuance and realistic detail.

Oh wow, The Dog was weird!   (SPOILERS)



So, do you think the guy believes his wife left the gate open?  And do you think she let the dog escape because actually, she could see her husband really liked the dog, and so she took that pleasure from him?

I almost think, at this point, that in the scene when he came into the kitchen and found the dog had had "an accident," now I am even suspecting the wife of putting the poop there just to be mean.

I'm not sure I get the end, though.  All he says is "nice coat," when he could have said so much more about what he noticed about his wife.  Is that the point?

[CANSTANDIT]

Got back in the swing....anyone read, "The Dog"?? Very AP'ish, as if she went all cosmo and modern....author has same eye for nuance and realistic detail.

Oh wow, The Dog was weird!   (SPOILERS)



So, do you think the guy believes his wife left the gate open?  And do you think she let the dog escape because actually, she could see her husband really liked the dog, and so she took that pleasure from him?

I almost think, at this point, that in the scene when he came into the kitchen and found the dog had had "an accident," now I am even suspecting the wife of putting the poop there just to be mean.

I'm not sure I get the end, though.  All he says is "nice coat," when he could have said so much more about what he noticed about his wife.  Is that the point?

I hadn't thought of her doing it..but maybe by accident, and needed to shift the blame, knowing the hubby was only too ready to take it, or something like that....but I also like the idea she did it, to take it away from him. .I like the 'nice coat', like this is what they are reduced to. Nothing else can be complimented, almost.

I gotta reread it.

[CANSTANDIT]

A friend sent this news item to me:  "The entire city council of Ashland, OR has decided to enter relationship counseling.  The catalyst was Councilman David Chapman's telling Councilman Eric Navickas to "shut your f**ing mouth" during last week's meeting, though Navickas had previously called the city's mayor "a Nazi."  Taxpayers will pay $37,000 for the council's five months of therapy."

So this is where the chocolate entrepreneur lives. 

ROFLMAOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

lovely. taxpayers money to 'fix' the dimwits running the town...great. so much for salary raises next year...

[Rosewood]

Finally received my Nov. 19th issue THIS week, AFTER I'd received the
November 26th issue. Go figure!

I couldn't get into the story you're talking about, Ellen. But I did read
the story in the Nov. 26th issue, which again, made little sense to me
other than the fact that I enjoyed the style of writing with it's whirls
and flourishes very like my own. And essentially, I think it is a story about
a man afraid to face himself. That's about all I got out of it. I'm anxious
to hear what you guys thought or think or even if you'd read it at all. 

Title: ALVARO ROUSSELOT'S JOURNEY by Roberto Balano
(Which I gotta' tell you reminds me of baloney since I can't do the accent
over the n which changes the pronounciation.)

Back to the Nov. 19th issue:
Wonderful, wonderful piece on Orson Welles and Lawrence Olivier
titled: THE PLAYER KINGS, accompanied by a splendid b/w pix of Welles,
which will be added to my bulletin board. By Avedon, of course.

Also a humorous small piece by Nora Ephron on NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN with
SPOILERS! And in The Talk of the Town a great bit of nonsense about chefs
and what they'd pick for their last meals: Check Please Department, NO SECONDS.

Thought I'd add my two cents to this last meal roundup considering that
it's Thanksgiving tomorrow and what the hell.

My Druthers on a Last Meal:

London brand English lager

Soft tacos from this L.A. wagon diner thing I saw
on a tv show recently - I mean, the tacos looked DIVINE!
IF I EVER get out there, THAT'S a destination spot!
It's run by a hardworking brother/sister act and boy the
food looks made in heaven. (And hopefully that's where I'll
be headed!)

Rice and beans
Guacamole and Salsa

Arugula salad with
carmelized Walnuts

Peach Melba for desert (If I can still walk)
And a couple of tablespoons of Chocolate Mousse with whipped cream,
to top it all off and MAYBE, if I still have room, a soupcon of Dairy Queen
vanilla ice cream with hot caramel sauce and peanuts.

Hey, it's my last meal. I can eat any wierd combination I want to. 

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Couldn't get into the story I LOVED?   

 

Surely you didn't try hard enough.   


Well, I am not as definite on the last meal as you are.  Although in almost every restaurant, if they offer some form of seafood pasta with red sauce, that is what I will order.  But no, that is not a last meal item.

I think (like you) it would have to be an all-day meal, so I could do justice to the full bottle of oakey chardonnay and the vanilla milk shake a bit later.  You can't have the milk shake first or you won't appreciate the wine -- and you can't have the milkshake too soon after the wine, or you won't appreciate the milk shake.

 

[Rosewood]

Yes, words of truth:
"...you can't have the milkshake too soon after the wine, or you won't appreciate the milk shake."
Applies to a lot in life.
Maybe I'll have it embroidered on a pillow...or perhaps stamped on a T-shirt?!

I'll give the Nov.19th story another chance, Ellen.
Only because you liked it so much.
Obviously I must be missing something...
 

[WhenPigsFly]

Got back in the swing....anyone read, "The Dog"?? Very AP'ish, as if she went all cosmo and modern....author has same eye for nuance and realistic detail. !

I don't think the wife OR the husband opened the gate; Emma meant too much to both of them for either to have been willing to harm her just to spite the other. The dog was an interlude in a complete disconnect that was remarkable for its lack of communication:  now the wife is probably having an affair (menopausal, a tan, a thong), and all he can say is "nice coat."

 (Interesting ... if you do a search of the author on the TNY site, he's written several other stories for them, and all but one seem to be about mid-life crises.)

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

Hi jd, glad to see you here.

hmmm, a refreshingly uncomplicated view of the story.  And the wife is having an affair, which I think I may have missed concentrating on, because -- the husband is trying his best not to see it.

Did you read  "Or Else"  ?

[garyd]

Title: ALVARO ROUSSELOT'S JOURNEY by Roberto Balano
(Which I gotta' tell you reminds me of baloney since I can't do the accent
over the n which changes the pronounciation.)

Read it yesterday afternoon while watching football games.
 Upon finishing my first thought was, "need to get on line and see if Rosie or Jo can explain what in the world is going on with this thing".
 Must be a whole bunch of South American cultural allusions to which I am simply unaware.

[WhenPigsFly]

Did you read  "Or Else"  ?

Yes.  And probably couldn't dislike David more.  But I'm more intrigued by the girlfriend ... didn't she seem remarkably unperturbed by one revelation after other?  What's the normal reaction of someone who's been lied to about such things and who-knows-what-else and embarrassed in front of strangers 500 miles from home? -- seems to me it would be to wave bye-bye to David, ANYTHING except stay with the guy for another day.  And she not only stays but picks up all his tabs and even sleeps with the jerk again (intentionally condomless which is when we learn of an abortion she wished she hadn't had ... hmmm ... so was David a means to an end and did Danielle intend to go home pregnant?)

[Ellen (tellyouwhat)]

^^^Yes, that is what I think.  She wants to have a baby, no better relationship is happening for her otherwise, so she wants his sperm.  Her motives for the weekend were different than his, for her it probably was not ever considered a "romantic" sort of getaway, and furthermore it turns out David had been "revealing" himself all along, even though he didn't realize it.  Finally, when his guard is down, he starts asking her about her life, and we learn that he has never asked her any questions before, only talked about himself.

So, she also knows now, he does not have any money and would be useless if it came to supporting a child financially.  By this time, she is rolling with the punches, still trying to salvage what minimal satisfaction there might be for HER.

But I don't see her as a victim in this at all, or even very sad.  She has taken control of the situation, and her own life decisions.

The thing I liked about the story was that, at the end, it seemed David had been shaken by the events, enough, possibly to change, although not overnight.

Do you think he is salvagable?

[CANSTANDIT]

I read it, too....in a nutshell, I think the title, tells us he has a choice...

I find it very pathetic, and uncomfortable, too: I've known more than one of the type of pathological liars that he evolved into, in an attempt to escape his family of origin and how he felt amongst them...And funny how you know the adoptive family also kind of catches on to him, somehwere, and he doesn't realize it, until the sister almost casually catches him in that lie about the father, and as if she expects it, is ok with him staying there, herself. A lesson for that sort of personality in not thinking they are fooling people all the time.

The author, to me, is a major talent. I got that feeling of the guy being in an almost mechanical pre-conscious state, and I could sense the ugly hard edges of reality peeking in around him now and again. Very interesting atmosphere.

[Rosewood]

Title: ALVARO ROUSSELOT'S JOURNEY by Roberto Balano
(Which I gotta' tell you reminds me of baloney since I can't do the accent
over the n which changes the pronounciation.)

Read it yesterday afternoon while watching football games.
 Upon finishing my first thought was, "need to get on line and see if Rosie or Jo can explain what in the world is going on with this thing".
 Must be a whole bunch of South American cultural allusions to which I am simply unaware.

Me too. (Need to get online and see if ANYONE else can explain...)
Couldn't figure things out much except that it seemed to be about
a man afraid to face himself or, perhaps, facets of himself.
Hardly a revolutionary or even, original, thought. But still, I read the whole thing through
possibly because I kept waiting for THINGS TO BE REVEALED.
Gosh, I hate when that happens.
Still, inspite of all that, I liked the style of writing.
Go figure.

An idea:
Maybe it had something to do with some sort of South American inferiority complex when
compared to Europe?? I know so little about South America that anything's possible, I suppose.
Although it shouldn't be a prerequisite that you actually KNOW about South America's cultural/literal
heritage in order to read and appreciate the damn story.
I mean, it is The New Yorker, not the Argentinian Weekly.

[garyd]

Title: ALVARO ROUSSELOT'S JOURNEY by Roberto Balano
(Which I gotta' tell you reminds me of baloney since I can't do the accent
over the n which changes the pronounciation.)

Read it yesterday afternoon while watching football games.
 Upon finishing my first thought was, "need to get on line and see if Rosie or Jo can explain what in the world is going on with this thing".
 Must be a whole bunch of South American cultural allusions to which I am simply unaware.

Me too. (Need to get online and see if ANYONE else can explain...)
Couldn't figure things out much except that it seemed to be about
a man afraid to face himself or, perhaps, facets of himself.
Hardly a revolutionary or even, original, thought. But still, I read the whole thing through
possibly because I kept waiting for THINGS TO BE REVEALED.
Gosh, I hate when that happens.
Still, inspite of all that, I liked the style of writing.
Go figure.

An idea:
Maybe it had something to do with some sort of South American inferiority complex when
compared to Europe?? I know so little about South America that anything's possible, I suppose.
Although it shouldn't be a prerequisite that you actually KNOW about South America's cultural/literal
heritage in order to read and appreciate the damn story.
I mean, it is The New Yorker, not the Argentinian Weekly.

Well, it is Bolano so
it's metafiction and in this case
a piece of literature about literature, I suppose.
One of the major indicators is, perhaps, the scene with
Alvaro and Guy up in that attic peering out the window at the
two gardens....beautiful and similar in many ways except for the
fact that one is viewed through latticework.
Plagiarism? or different threads from the same tapestry?

 They are in an attic, that recess of the mind
from whence all ideas lay waiting to be discovered/re-discovered.  And yet the stories are, somehow, all the same, there
is, perhaps, no national or geographic literature, only literature.
Hell, what do I know.  As usual the language is exquisite,(he was a poet before he turned
to prose to pay the bills).