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Limit Point
Fiction. From the author of the novel Detour, for which he received the Ernest Hemingway Foundation Citation of the PEN American Center, comes LIMIT POINT, another volume of short fiction by the prolific Michael Brodsky. Born in New York in 1948, Brodsky writes in what Publishers Weekly has called a "vigorous, eccentric style that enables [him] to bring a Swiftian gusto to the novel of ideas and write a challenging, at times dazzling book." Brodsky's work has also been performed on some of New York City's most venturesome stages.
278 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2007
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February 10, 2009This collection of short pieces is likely the best entry point to a writer, Michael Brodsky, who isn't afraid of using his text as a virtual barrier to entry unto itself.
Brodsky writes best about the close interactions between individuals, though he is no mere miniaturist nor traditional realist. Those interactions are tracked with a precision that verges on the clairvoyant and the paranoid. A given character's slightest movement, even a pause between syllables, is frequently allowed to be interpreted for a depth of meaning that may relate to something that just happened, or that is about to happen, or that is suddenly inevitable precisely because it is the least likely even to occur next.
Interactions between individuals gain an artfully claustrophobic darkness in his work, reminiscent of Beckett (whom he has translated) and Kafka, that suggests that both as individuals and as a unit they are not particularly free of pressures beyond them -- from a larger social unit, from the urban environment, and inevitably from society.
Brodsky has explored such themes in numerous novels and shorter works, but this collection of two novellas and several fairly brief stories provides a useful concision. The title story in particular -- which recounts a "hardboiled"-style thriller, albeit focused entirely on moments of inaction -- gives Brodsky an opportunity to dive deep into his characters' motivations, and yet to color them with a setting that holds a true, pulpy appeal.
One unfortunate thing: during the editing process, numerous em-dashes in Limit Point were replaced with hyphens, which makes the inherently difficult text even more difficult to navigate than had been intended by the author.
Brodsky writes best about the close interactions between individuals, though he is no mere miniaturist nor traditional realist. Those interactions are tracked with a precision that verges on the clairvoyant and the paranoid. A given character's slightest movement, even a pause between syllables, is frequently allowed to be interpreted for a depth of meaning that may relate to something that just happened, or that is about to happen, or that is suddenly inevitable precisely because it is the least likely even to occur next.
Interactions between individuals gain an artfully claustrophobic darkness in his work, reminiscent of Beckett (whom he has translated) and Kafka, that suggests that both as individuals and as a unit they are not particularly free of pressures beyond them -- from a larger social unit, from the urban environment, and inevitably from society.
Brodsky has explored such themes in numerous novels and shorter works, but this collection of two novellas and several fairly brief stories provides a useful concision. The title story in particular -- which recounts a "hardboiled"-style thriller, albeit focused entirely on moments of inaction -- gives Brodsky an opportunity to dive deep into his characters' motivations, and yet to color them with a setting that holds a true, pulpy appeal.
One unfortunate thing: during the editing process, numerous em-dashes in Limit Point were replaced with hyphens, which makes the inherently difficult text even more difficult to navigate than had been intended by the author.
Displaying 1 of 1 review