JR
Been a while… I mean a long while.
For this past August’s Civil Life reading group we read JR by William Gaddis. This was my second reading of it. I remember the first time I read it I blew through it in about a week. Not so, this time. I started it, with what I thought was ample time… and didn’t finish it until shortly before the next meeting in October (I did take some time to read October’s book).
Anyway, I love this book. Many people do not. Many people who came to the meeting did not. It can be difficult to read, since Gaddis almost never explicitly tells you who’s talking, and the book is primarily dialog. Funny thing is, that’s one of the things I loved about it. Getting to know the characters’ voices is really fun. And funny.
It’s also very dark. I really don’t wanna give a big ole synopsis of the book here, because 1., I’d oversimplify it and 2. it’s really just more fun to read the book itself. Listen to the voices. Laugh about how even though the book was written in the 70s it sounds like it could be taking place right now (with a few minor changes to the technologies used, perhaps).
