Carl > Recent Status Updates

Mesmerizing use of the shifting narrators—a Modernist gem. But why does Darl use words like “stertorous” and phrases like “a cubistic bug”? (I love the names.)

Mattie Ross is as vivid a character as I have read lately. The dialogue in this book is a delight.

A bit of Truman show?

(Totally unnecessary rant: Why can’t people get the difference between “nauseous” and “nauseated”? She gets it right once and wrong twice—I’d be less surprised if at least it were consistent, but this is a highly educated author with professional editors. And no, it’s not an aspect of the unreliable narrator device. Okay, rant over. Sorry.)

Thought #1: Is it Kindred + Christianity + unreliable narrator?

Thought #2: The writing, which is energetic and smooth, reminds me of Lessons in Chemistry.

Thought #3: I know it’s satire, which requires hyperbole, but the depiction of Harvard has almost nothing in common with what I remember from the ‘80s. I guess college was wildly different 25 years later…or my experience was just weird.

The villains: “frightened,” “tame,” undeservedly-sainted historians

If the Bible is among the banned items, why is there so much using of the names of God and Jesus and Christ? Are the residents of Montag’s dystopia religious or not?