Ok, its time for one of those catchall posts--
First off, if you didn't notice, the countdown timer on the right sidebar now says, "In Stores Now" for Scott Heim's trippy, dark family affair We Disappear.
I got my copy just over a week ago. I've been reading it on the bus on the way to work. If you know me, you know that it takes just the right author or just the right mood to compel me to pick up a book. I enjoyed the opening of the book, but now I'm in the meat of it--just started chapter 5--and I find myself putting it down occasionally and just processing.
The basic story is a guy goes home to visit his mother with cancer. She has a preoccupation/obsession with missing children, and he has a meth addiction.
What the story is about for me, so far, is how we can hold up pictures of ourselves as children and try to write the story of how we have become who we have become. And the part of that that is hard is that the child has disappeared and the people who remember the child remember him differently or want to keep him as their own. The whole time these ideas are being addressed, they're couched in sort of paranoid meth addicts' fever dream, and also in the dementia brought on by treatment for cancer.
As dark as I'm making it seem, though, it is not without humility and humor. For example, one passage has the narrator describing vapor trails across the Kansas sky and how they change from white to pink to red with the setting sun. The description becomes more and more lavish until the trails are the claw marks of an angel trying to escape heaven. Then, a couple paragraphs later, he makes fun of his outlandish descriptors for a tomato--and inevitably comes back to just referring to it as a tomato.
So, I'm not done with the book yet, but I wanted to remind you to go out and get your copy today. Scott will be reading at the Elliot Bay Book Company on March 20th.
First off, if you didn't notice, the countdown timer on the right sidebar now says, "In Stores Now" for Scott Heim's trippy, dark family affair We Disappear.I got my copy just over a week ago. I've been reading it on the bus on the way to work. If you know me, you know that it takes just the right author or just the right mood to compel me to pick up a book. I enjoyed the opening of the book, but now I'm in the meat of it--just started chapter 5--and I find myself putting it down occasionally and just processing.
The basic story is a guy goes home to visit his mother with cancer. She has a preoccupation/obsession with missing children, and he has a meth addiction.
What the story is about for me, so far, is how we can hold up pictures of ourselves as children and try to write the story of how we have become who we have become. And the part of that that is hard is that the child has disappeared and the people who remember the child remember him differently or want to keep him as their own. The whole time these ideas are being addressed, they're couched in sort of paranoid meth addicts' fever dream, and also in the dementia brought on by treatment for cancer.
As dark as I'm making it seem, though, it is not without humility and humor. For example, one passage has the narrator describing vapor trails across the Kansas sky and how they change from white to pink to red with the setting sun. The description becomes more and more lavish until the trails are the claw marks of an angel trying to escape heaven. Then, a couple paragraphs later, he makes fun of his outlandish descriptors for a tomato--and inevitably comes back to just referring to it as a tomato.
So, I'm not done with the book yet, but I wanted to remind you to go out and get your copy today. Scott will be reading at the Elliot Bay Book Company on March 20th.
He just started his tour--check to see if he'll be reading near you!
He has also graciously agreed to answer a couple questions from me for this ol' site! Yippie!
Also, I wanted to point you to a new weekly at Havana. TJ Gorton aka American Athlete has a new weekly there. It should be tons of fun. Its disco based and the name of it is "Studio".
Click the picture for more info.
Last night was the innaugural night and I would have let you know about it sooner, but I've been slacking in my blog duties.
If you're not familiar with Havana--its up on the hill. Kiki has a Thursday night there that is quite a bit of fun. The place can be too self-conscious and the layout isn't that great, but a good time can be had.
Speaking of music-y stuff, local act The Fascination Movement, half of whom I read regularly at Red Room NW, recently signed to Aube records and put out their first release which features vocals from one of my all time favorites, Marc Almond. The release actually came out a while ago, but like I said, I've been slacking in my blog reading lately. Anyway, great track. Dig the Peter Hook-y bassline and, of course, those vocals.
He has also graciously agreed to answer a couple questions from me for this ol' site! Yippie!
Also, I wanted to point you to a new weekly at Havana. TJ Gorton aka American Athlete has a new weekly there. It should be tons of fun. Its disco based and the name of it is "Studio".
Click the picture for more info.
Last night was the innaugural night and I would have let you know about it sooner, but I've been slacking in my blog duties.
If you're not familiar with Havana--its up on the hill. Kiki has a Thursday night there that is quite a bit of fun. The place can be too self-conscious and the layout isn't that great, but a good time can be had.
Speaking of music-y stuff, local act The Fascination Movement, half of whom I read regularly at Red Room NW, recently signed to Aube records and put out their first release which features vocals from one of my all time favorites, Marc Almond. The release actually came out a while ago, but like I said, I've been slacking in my blog reading lately. Anyway, great track. Dig the Peter Hook-y bassline and, of course, those vocals.
Oh, and Matt bought me a ticket to Sasha and Digweed! (Thanks, Matt!) April 22nd at the Showbox SoDo (aka best soundsystem in town)
And I'm caving and buying a ticket for Ellen Allien and Sascha Funke. May 1st @ Chop Suey for Broken Disco
1 comment:
March 20th? We may be on the Columbia Plateau watching sandhill cranes migrate that week. But if we're in town, sure!
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