tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post3675301073302520821..comments2023-05-21T14:46:54.138+01:00Comments on FictionBitch: So Death Isn't Daring Enough?Elizabeth Baineshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17193751871434773972noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-78879536940818439632007-11-03T12:06:00.000+00:002007-11-03T12:06:00.000+00:00Your last sentences say it all.The same, too, can ...Your last sentences say it all.<BR/>The same, too, can relate to laughter...<BR/>I haven't read the book. I shall.<BR/>Your excerpt is passionate, lyrical. Yet it'scalming. <BR/>Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.Janhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08627338108089464863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-57030808655142917272007-10-24T11:31:00.000+01:002007-10-24T11:31:00.000+01:00Your phrase 'gorgeously sad' is telling. It amazes...Your phrase 'gorgeously sad' is telling. It amazes me how nowadays the media and the whole PR culture (which has literature in its grip) hold sad as bad full stop. As Anne Enright said at the Whitworth, there is a place for tragedy in art (as the Greeks knew)- it's psychologically useful and can ultimately be uplifting. That's what I find (and love) in Enright's work - the laughingly ironic voice of someone who has faced tragedy and survived.Elizabeth Baineshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17193751871434773972noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-35817894652572158092007-10-23T22:56:00.000+01:002007-10-23T22:56:00.000+01:00I really must buy this book, being half Irish and ...I really must buy this book, being half Irish and from a family of nine. The small snippets of writing I have seen have been gorgeously sad.S. Kearneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03976476273818980832noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-58659347764213395342007-10-22T11:57:00.000+01:002007-10-22T11:57:00.000+01:00Thank you for this...I am looking forward to readi...Thank you for this...I am looking forward to reading The Gathering, saving it up for a treat.<BR/><BR/>And thank you too for this, because it is utterly right (for this reader):<BR/><BR/>"if the words were simply clever, I wouldn't be remembering them as vividly..."<BR/><BR/>It's that 'emotional power' you also refer to. Words can be as clever, as sharp as they like, but if they do not ring right and true, then they fall flat in some measure, I think.<BR/><BR/>good stuff.<BR/><BR/>VVanessa Gebbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00833187671441310234noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-84053028589859894212007-10-20T23:58:00.000+01:002007-10-20T23:58:00.000+01:00I found The Gathering to be a boring book rather t...I found <I>The Gathering</I> to be a boring book rather than a depressing one. Sure, it was bleak, but there's nothing wrong with that. For me, the humour didn't really click and it was the same for a friend, although they have since seen Enright in person do a reading and it came across moreso then.<BR/><BR/>Sam's choice to win was <I>Darkmans</I>; mine was <I>Animal's People</I> (although I would have went for <I>The Welsh Girl</I>, if it made the shortlist). <I>Darkmans</I>, I hated - my worst read of the year - because it felt like an exercise in seeing any crap published. But many seemed to like it, despite nobody actually understanding it, were it to be understood.Stewarthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09194399234210621015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26654079.post-53138827201061464142007-10-18T15:29:00.000+01:002007-10-18T15:29:00.000+01:00Great post! I wrote about this too - strange how u...Great post! I wrote about this too - strange how unwelcoming the media are being towards her.Ms Baroquehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01836227454899083962noreply@blogger.com