Status Updates From Enquanto Agonizo

darl’s libido as a 28 or something year old is actually eye opening for me knowing and being familiar with his overall character - his deep observational skills are intimate, this night time act with himself is a mirror to that. it’s not erotica, but rather, another facet of his intuitive and perceptive character; i’m interested in his hyper aware eventual breakdown during their journey.

end of cora’s chapter. “someone comes through the hall. it is darl. he does not look in as he passes the door. eula watches him as he goes on and passes from sight again toward the back. her hand rises and touches her beads lightly, and then her hair. when she finds me watching her, her eyes go blank.” i’ve never seen someone portray unrequited love in a dry, but almost sensual way.

darl starts this novel off strong; strength in physical imagery and ends the chapter in an unsettling way, which i think is the perfect opening for the novel’s dry horror. i loved jesmyn ward’s preface, it was beautifully written. hearing a black woman’s history growing up in the same mississippi faulkner wrote so beautifully and intimately about was really something else.