11:04 AM matt: did you make it through what is the what?
me: almost! I have about30 pages left!
what were your thoughts?
matt: well
it's too long by about half
11:05 AM and maybe it was very true to the guy's voice, but it seemed pretty flat.
i wasn't a huge fan
me: yeah, that's what I thought too!
11:06 AM matt: but i did like seeing how his refuge community sort of knit itself together
me: I actually thought the "voice" changed a lot-- it wasn't consistent
and I didn't like the narrating to the present day characters-- like the nurse in the ER or the attackers' son
I feel guilty for not liking it more
11:07 AM matt: yeah i didn't like that either - really really pedantic.
11:08 AM i started to feel guilty and then realized that a david eggars book is not to be confused with the actual plight of these people, you know
me: I think he would have done better to have a different ghost writer
Eggers I think was too focussed on his own story
(heartbreaking work of staggering genius)
11:09 AM matt: i also wonder if this type of book is just the P.C. modern version of travel narratives like the heart of darkness and robinson crusoe
me: it did seem politically motivated
matt: which would sort of cast in a light of appropriation of these peoples' story
me: I did like that the story became more real
11:10 AM It made it make more sense to me
I felt sad about William K, and Tabitha...
which isn't something you get from the news necessarily
11:11 AM matt: well true. the book definitely wasn't terrible, and is effective as a educational or political tool, which is probably what it was meant as
but if i'd realized that beforehand i probably wouldn't have started it
when is your book club?
11:14 AM me: book club is Saturday!
I might be the only one who read it
