Word: novelized
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Structurally, because the novel is reflecting on the past, there is an inherent stability in the narrative: the outcome is already known, and therefore the fluidity of Minot's language is not as jarring as it might be. We always know that her narrative is moving forward toward something, although like her characters, we must wait for it to arise. Ultimately, Minot conveys the sense that there is nothing extraordinarily unsettling, or sad, about Ann's years of waiting. Similarly, there is nothing extraordinarily sad in the conversations Ann's children have among themselves...
...Lord, the Ann of her youth who was dazzled by Harris Arden, the older, married Ann who has spent her life waiting--yet it is difficult to place how exactly they are different except in name, and they merge together into one over the course of the novel...
Evening, then, while not particularly joyful, is not a novel about grief. It is compelling in its honesty, showing us the near-selfishness created by love without lecturing us or demanding that we listen. Minot expertly balances the intertwined threads of her novel, moving the story along in a verbal tapestry that plays with the potential of language without insisting that we read a deeper meaning in her word play. Perhaps its elements have been done before, but Evening is still able to transcend the bounds of its cliched parts to create a lovely and eye-opening whole...
From the outset of Armand, it becomes evident just how fascinated Rice is by her subject. Rice bestows upon her novel one of the most complimentary gifts any writer can give--an image-rich setting. Couched in the velvet, vibrance and vixens of medieval Constantinople and Venice, Armand continues the vampire exposition that began with Interview with the Vampire. Figuring to a small degree in Interview (whose later film spawned my eighth-grade obsession with Brad Pitt) was Armand, the head of the Paris coven of vampires. How was it that Armand rose to such otherworldly prominence? Armand relates...
Murray talks like a teacher, throwing in vocabwords like "obstreperous" and "obviate," lingeringon tangents that are more educational than theyare relevant. Nothing makes criticism of Imarried a Communist more of a dilemma than thehalf tangential/half-conclusive speeches Murraymakes throughout. In a novel that doesn't revolvearound a climax that estranges its main characterfrom the reader by making him the subject of twoother people's conversation, Murray'sphilosophical effervescence is a rare source ofenergy. Yet, it cloys. For example, after a longdiscussion of how Ira's Estonian nurse used topoke fun at his dainty wife by daintily giving Irablow jobs, Murray mildly...