Lee Klein > Recent Status Updates

Interesting to read/interpret as an intentional trainwreck of a self-consciously "experimental" meta-novel -- most of the fun involves figuring out what DeWitt wrote and how the gems throughout could've been excavated for interesting novella maybe? But even more fun to consider its total mess-ness as intentional, the point.

Feels like KOK groping through darkness, not sure what he's grasping for a second before he takes another step and touches something else. We know what's coming for the narrator but it's not particularly suspenseful yet, more mysterious, beguiling, few tie-backs to the supernatural. Focused on death, amnesia, deja vu. Feels semi-Fosse-ish setting-wise. Probably will be considered minor/lesser but interesting enough.

Portrait of a fancy society lady and her suitors and hangers on. Amusing characterizations and generalizations in excellent flowing prose. Need to return to it more often.

Lots of Zs in the words give a page of prose a snazzy sidewinding look. Active, energetic, often insightful, straightforward/direct language. Feels absolutely real despite the great propulsive opening pages, like Leve's Suicide.

Slower, icy, isolated, more interior, about Syvert's father. Enjoying it but tougher sledding for my nascent Norwegian skills.

So much suspense at the end, concern that something will happen to Leo.

gonna finish this fucker this week (started it in January)

Has really taken off. Probably most enjoyable/accessible in series but also works as standalone novel so far.

Will K and Liz get it on? Looking forward to finding out. Trying to read 1% a day (~6-7 pages)

Created a playlist with all the songs Kristian mentions (still need to update the first 100 pages or so) https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3VW...

Now a chapter into Part 2, I'm worried this won't continue to fizz along with everything working out really well for Claude -- at the big concert he plays Mozart, which seems to bode well for a pleasant resolution but the laws of literary fiction demand conflict, complication, or some inevitable wrenching back of fortune. We shall see. Loving it so far. Wish I'd read it when I could've talked to him about it.

I hope to finish before the English translation comes out in the fall!

Increasing my quota to 5 ebook pages a day -- really enjoying it, fairly easy reading, even in the original (the streams of dialogue particularly)

Jeg kan leser det! Jeg må bruk oversettelseapp noen ganger men jeg forstår det meste. Og jeg liker det veldig godt. Som hans andre senere bøker, men om boxsing for det meste.

Loving this so far -- cinematic and moving

Totally enjoying this but am not sure I’d call it “a novel.” More of a biopic, creative nonfiction, crafty, very readable journalism. Thematic extrapolation is provided for the reader. Reader just needs to receive the text. That’s not really what lit is. Recommended for fans of Good Will Hunting.

Just said aloud “I’m digging his, man. This is (adjectival expletive redacted) great.”

That first chapter may be the best opening to a novel I’ve ever read

Totally irritated and accelerating reading through long paragraphs of abject naturalism for example cooking or taking a shower. It worked in My Struggle but just reads like unnecessary padding in this. Author is known for this sort of thing but in this one at this point without sufficient supernatural stuff it’s way too much and boring.

Starting to seem like the British novelization of The Invention of Morel?

Only a few stories into this but I keep saying things aloud like damn he's a great writer

Intermittently insightful, amusing, vivid but too diffuse or natural or at least I could hardly read more than two pages before zoning out. Characters aren't well enough established maybe? A great paragraph about gravemarker workers not wanting to toast to their prosperity since that would mean they're hoping for genocide or plague.

Putting this down on 480 or so -- just not the right book at this juncture. Maybe will revisit when I can easily knock out 50 pages a day