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another 'classic' that I just fail to follow the hype around
the moral of the story is not particularly ground breaking (enjoy what you have, live in the moment / be present) and is told is the most straightforward and repetitive way
the prose is ok, but it lacks any restraint whatsoever and is heavy on descriptions that just weren't gripping after the Nth time
I can already tell where this is headed

it's good. can't quite put my finger on it, but feels like it's missing something
auctioneer could have been more charismatic and subtle w plans at the beginning. hardly a slow drip which i feel is what author intended
in general the auctioneer as a character - from someone w charisma, to an evil force, fell a bit flat
- the moores were inconsistent in such a way that i couldn't tell if truly intentional

I just don't find Portis' prose good enough to justify the structure he chooses. I enjoy a dry / witty satire but I just feel like Portis misses the mark and mostly skips the wit

Has potential to be excellent
However, structure is disparate / sloppy transitions
Character set but too broad when author is constantly changing perspectives to really build attachment to any of them, yet not so broad to intentionally paint the town as a system or something along those lines. Stuck in a weird goldilocks zone (where goldilocks has neg connotation in this case)
Writing, solid. Atmosphere, 👍

- prevents from living life, but others (boss, friend) aren't living theirs either arguably. one is wrapped up in other entertainment, simple comforts (afraid to date) and the other has near explicitly filled void with work / business
- shows near genius-level intellect via system implementation and extreme richness of inner world via creativity / storylines around players

Good so far - author clearly drew inspiration from American Psycho, or that was just a mainstream cultural element of the time - either way many pieces read similar but less surreal.

if he says 'so it goes' one more time i swear...

As expected, another universally hyped book that is very impressive for its time, but overrated in terms of absolute quality
Also, surprised I haven't heard this as a negative re: the book, but the detailed scenes of the whale dying are pretty disgusting. The author's casual near tongue in cheek comedic tone during the scenes doesn't help

- world needs simple towns / any places
- so much of life is mystery, best not to prod until you arrive at dead end facts - builds case for going to a tarot card reader even though it's BS to induce a sense of mystery into day

overall great so far, though a few inconsistencies popped up
myles is a pushover but he starts arguments with the police officer in every interaction going out of his way to be an ass? also tells owner of his restaurant how he'd like to kill her cat

jeanine represents vanity, coping with finiteness of life via reliving youth

Thompson so far can't understand that agnostic of the true crime statistics around the Hell's Angels people are annoyed by loud motorcycles rumbling around in groups and don't want to live near homes where they congregate.

'The way you love the first person who ever touches and and never quite love anyone in that way again'

Again just an extremely odd view to be passed along as a given that one can generalize to an entire population

If a partner thought like this it would be an immediate deal breaker for any sort of relationship

'where are you?
in a piano bar 😜
why?
why not? 😜'

Again the author is showing us her incomparable wit and uniqueness. So proud of the dialogue above she decides to publish it.
Insufferable

'Los Angeles? Oh people think the weather is nice but it's actually a hellscape with fire and 100+ mph winds and any time it's nice people just are ignorant re: how close to catastrophe they are'

I'm sensing a pattern with this author

Letters from Paradise

'Everything everyone else talks about is so frivolous and superficial. They can't understand me'

(while those the author implicitly feels above the entire time are, ironically, portrayed as much happier and more well-adjusted)

Visiting Hawaii? Let's discuss the most morose topic (Pearl Harbor) the entire time and somehow turn an island vacation into an exercise in depression

-Sentence-level craft is very good
-A bit too neurotic / depressive / introspective in ways that don't resonate with me, or feel pseudo intellectual, but hearing a well-written voice like that is interesting in a sort of observational way
-Topical non-fic was better so far (eg title essay was quite good)

Some of the dialogue is incredibly cringey / awkward. Particularly the high school kid (Jerome). It's so bad it breaks the narrative at times. Even the core plot is so/so but readable enough. Again, and as expected going, not King's best work. Wouldn't recommend unless you're a big fan of his other books and aiming more for completion or comparison.

Not sure how this book is considered to be on a similar level as The Stand. The characters are much less believable - most of them horribly developed, or a child's idea of what each archetype would be like in such a situation. The dialogue also has so many grating / cringey moments so far as well. Going to finish at this point, but although I love a good pulpy apocalypse thriller this just doesn't seem like the one.

1: good
2: meh
3: poor
4: poor
5: good
6: good
7: meh
8: poor (all over the place)
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9:
10:
11:

Author has already used the word 'ardent' idk maybe 100 times
I've never seen so many unnecessary adjectives to gum up such a simple story
One of the worst-written 'classics' I've ever read so far
Someone should have burned Mary's thesaurus

Decent overall so far and worth a read like most of SK's books.
Also while SK has always had some questionably cringey / cheesy lines especially around the opposite sex, this book has to take the cake. I really don't understand how an otherwise well-written book can have some of these horrible lines / sex interludes thrown in. To please the editors maybe? To create 'mass appeal'? SK is way smarter than this

Doesn't have the magic that Lonesome Dove had in it, and even less magic than streets of laredo
Still, well-written enough and interesting backstory for Gus and Call (though Gus' implied character development is a bit exaggerated for my liking - he's the exact opposite of how he is in Lonesome Dove in nearly every way)

Any time someone makes a mistake it's always hypoxia of course, and any time they do something positive full credit. The tone is so weird throughout the entire book...reads like a mix of a defense statement in a civil suit and like a great grandpa's recollection of his role in some war

Mostly Jon Krakauer insufferably bragging about his 'climbing skills' in a way that is thinly vailed as self-effacing. Like buddy we literally don't care about you and how you climbed more quickly than a group of wealthy 60 year-old women. Just tell us the actual story of what happened

wish they would have flushed out the at home routine a bit more before creating the deviation, would have been intriguing to see how eclectic they were more explicitly and also sharpened the contrast as they break from routine