I did not enjoy the beginning of Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. It was far too simple and realistic for my personal taste. I usually prefer stories that are eclectic and adventurous. I just seem to be bored with the intricate detailing about the garages, and newspaper delivery. As much as I hate to compare books because I believe that each one lives on as a separate entity unless they are part of a sires; I must say that I was much more quickly drawn into the Liars' Club than I am Fathers, Sons, and Brothers. I think it Liars' Club was set out to be a quick attention grabber, and Fathers, Sons, and Brothers seems to be a story that may develop over time. I think the author, Brett Lott, maybe pointing out some significant facts of life in the fact that sometimes, or a great deal of the time, life is not an adventure story, or filled with romance, or pain. Sometimes life is beautiful in its simplicity and need not be exaggerated.
I feel I may grow to enjoy this book because the transitions are rather smooth and easy to keep track of. I believe that the author will dive deeper in to the relationships in his life and I am curious to understand more details about how he relates to his brothers from the times when he was young and living in California and knew his brothers as best friends, to their move to Arizona when they began to grow apart and faced their awkward stages of puberty, and then how they relate in their teenage years. One statement that I picked up on was how the author referred to his new location as being so foreign that it could be a distant planet. I noticed this because he wrote that twice with in three pages and I am curious so see if this foreign difference becomes a recurrent theme. I think I will grow to enjoy this book but right now I find it to be rather slow.
The last paragraph at the end of the chapter titled Atonement, holds a great deal of truth and wisdom which I feel is very meaningful and gives emphasis to the small pleasures and simplicity of the book. "There are days like today. Days with no story, really, other than, the misstep, the idiot words and gestures, the sincere belief for a moment, however blind, that all this yelling might actually do some good, when the world and Velcro sandals seem somehow malevolently aligned against you. Then the right word, the right gesture. The lunch at Wendy's, atonement after confession. No story, really, other than that of being a father." --- and i am not quite finished---
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteI think your criticisms are valid, but I hope you'll stick with it. You're right about Lott being interested in the small truths (see the Lopate lecture on this).
I'd like to see you bring us to the text and analyze qualities of the writing. What is he doing to construct his narratives?
Also, try to run a spell-check on the posts. There are some distracting errors. Can you go back and correct these? When you do, full credit!
Keep working!
Danielle,
ReplyDeleteGood expansion. I'd really like to see you focus this post on those small, beautiful moments. You mention them at the end of the first paragraph and then you bring us to this wonderful passage at the end of "Atonement" (which we just talked about in class--you must be feeling smart!). That's Lott's game, I think. He wants to see what's big about the small. In our interpretations of books, we have to do the same thing. Sometimes it's just a word or a series of images that can tell us something true about the book. Can you point to two other places where Lott either mentions that his philosophy is to focus on the small things or noticeably focuses on something small? (Maybe his wife's hair at the end of Zebulon). I think this can be he nugget of your larger paper on this book.
Good.
9/10