tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855076037924078503.post5353811352843915253..comments2023-09-28T08:56:57.955-05:00Comments on The Mighty Blowhole: Difficult lives...Igorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11857186835391466064noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855076037924078503.post-5501957360909695112012-08-07T18:03:09.435-05:002012-08-07T18:03:09.435-05:00Yeah, Hunchback reminded me a lot of Moby Dick... ...Yeah, Hunchback reminded me a lot of Moby Dick... which I love, but think would be a stronger book at half the length. (I love Melville, but he's odd... some stuff is total genius and compulsively readable ("Bartleby the Scrivener" - I re-read that every few months) and others are almost impossible to get through (Billy Budd). <br /><br />I stubbornly keep trying Hemmingway, and he's not unreadable or anything, but I don't get where the genius is supposed to come in. Maybe at the time he was wildly original or something, I dunno, but now it's a big eh. I'm also trying to like Faulkner but having the same trouble.<br /><br />I think you'll like McTeague... I was impressed with that one. I read it in a Library of America volume of Norris's stuff that I picked up for almost-nothing at a library sale just 'cuz it was a Library of America book (I worship those things), and now I'm psyched that there are two more of his novels in there...Zwolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02364540771153476179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855076037924078503.post-39855389151286137492012-08-06T10:09:22.716-05:002012-08-06T10:09:22.716-05:00Delightful. I've already added McTeague, The G...Delightful. I've already added McTeague, The German, and The Short-Timers to my must-read list. Never been much of a Hemingway fan, so your review of TH&HN reconfirms my bias. I read HoND in high school and appreciated much of it, especially the gothic overtones and depressing ending, but HOLY SHIT did Hugo need an editor. Such wordy bloat.kicker of elveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15819019135835419846noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855076037924078503.post-5478395057715970212012-08-03T23:39:33.595-05:002012-08-03T23:39:33.595-05:00Somebody needs to reprint Hasford, preferably all ...Somebody needs to reprint Hasford, preferably all in one volume. Those books are going for stupid money now, and if his other two are even half as good as Short-Timers, it's a crime to have 'em out of print.Zwolfhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02364540771153476179noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7855076037924078503.post-2539352201849161922012-08-03T23:03:45.238-05:002012-08-03T23:03:45.238-05:00I read Short Timers ten years ago and it sticks wi...I read Short Timers ten years ago and it sticks with me. Without question the best 'Nam novel ever. The sequel, "The Phantom Blooper," starts off nearly as good, but spirals off into a weird sort of communist fable in which the VC are like Snow White's elves and the American soldiers morph into inhuman, murdering demons...which makes it super strange that Hasford dedicated the novel to his fellow vets. I reviewed both of them on Amazon back in '03 or so, but really need to re-read them, as it's been that long since I've read the books.Joe Kenneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03285576322579808153noreply@blogger.com