Matt Snediker’s Reviews > Walk Me to the Distance > Status Update

The Vietnam War Allegory that has been standing conspicuously, only half-in-the-shadows, this whole time has finally stepped out into the spotlight, or at least threatened to.

I fucking dig it, man. It makes this whole, messy, ugly little novel finally cohere a little thematically in a way that’s actually really satisfying, now that I kinda get the angle it’s taking.

“…a man got out of the van…It was the man who had been sitting at the edge of the cliff weeks earlier, the preacher.
‘Hello, brother!’
David waved, watching the preacher approach.
‘You’re still here. It just be the work of the Lord. It is truly a miracle.’
‘I work here.’
‘That’s wonderful. He takes care of us all.’”

Percival Everett is so fuckin funny, dog

A spiky little, thorny little, angry little, cozy little read so far. And just absolutely mooooves. The way Everett writes dialogue, his use of small, precise sentences, his over-perioding: all just masterful, even this early in his career. His dialogue is probably what he hung his hat on in the beginning, like in grad school and whatnot.

Nice to be back in the capable hands of a master. I slip through the pages of a Percival Everett novel like a hot knife through hot soap. I look up and I’m 50 pages on without even realizing. I’ll be done with this before the end of the weekend, mark my words.