Currently in the homestretch of reading Thomas Berger's Little Big Man. It's a very funny book and as good a story of belonging to/being torn between two cultures as I've read. Berger's style in this is very reminiscent of Mark Twain. Of course when it was first published Twain was taken to task for exposing the nation's youth to filth and vulgarity. Imagine what those critics would have thought of this...
1. The Band - To Kingdom Come
2. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - You'll Never Be a Man
3. The Who - Girl's Eyes
4. Broadcast - Corporeal
5. Diana Krall - Pick Yourself Up
6. Metric - Lost Kitten
7. Morphine - All Wrong
8. Sun Ra - Where Is Tomorrow
9. Patsy Cline - She's Got You
10. Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache
1. The Band - To Kingdom Come
2. Elvis Costello & the Attractions - You'll Never Be a Man
3. The Who - Girl's Eyes
4. Broadcast - Corporeal
5. Diana Krall - Pick Yourself Up
6. Metric - Lost Kitten
7. Morphine - All Wrong
8. Sun Ra - Where Is Tomorrow
9. Patsy Cline - She's Got You
10. Roxy Music - In Every Dream Home a Heartache
2 comments:
glad to hear you're enjoying it. i think the book's right up there with 'catch 22' on the evisceration/devastation scale, & not too far behind on the twisted humor scale, also :) ...
many have attempted 'you'll laugh! you'll cry!' i think it's likely the hardest thing to go for in a work, which's why most don't even bother, & many who do try it fail. that berger not only pulls it off, but, in the process of doing so, exposes/demolishes a national narrative in the process, is a pretty extraordinary accomplishment...
Well put. And I appreciate that Jack Crabb is a likable figure but not really a heroic one. As determined as he might be to get something done, he's along for the ride whether he likes it or not. And of course the ride includes a tragic misunderstanding between cultures intermittently punctuated with active malice on the more powerful side.
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