Undestroyed
Monday, October 29, 2007
Upon re-reading So Long, See You Tomorrow (William Maxwell) for the third time, the mystery was not what would happen—I already knew—but what I would find that would remind me of why I have always loved this book.
Why it has haunted me.
Why I think that it is perhaps the truest (I didn't say best, I didn't say most beautiful, I don't say most perfect, I said truest) novel I've ever read.
Just now, finishing, I remember.
It is the word "undestroyed" in the final sentence. How it pins the heart to the page.
P.S. A little bit of something nice today: Booklist posted its starred review of UNDERCOVER as today's Review of the Day. http://www.booklistonline.com/
4 comments:
Congratulations on book list!
And yes, "Undestroyed." Isn't it great when an author can set up one word so that it means everything?
There's one incredible everything-hangs-on-it sentence in Maxwell's novel. And then there's the word "undestroyed." I don't know if I've ever read another book where everything depends so entirely on those two junctures. Have you?
And thanks for the congratulations, Melissa. Guess where I'm going today? To the bookstore to buy your book.
I don't think I have, but on your strong endorsement, I'm about to read Maxwell's novel, so that'll be my first.
Thanks for checking out Violet!
I will be interested to see what you think. SO LONG is subdued, quiet, undecorated. It is about remorse. It is plainly spoken, Maxwell's method, I have always thought, of trying to shake the story down to its essential core. No flourish.
Important for me, a lover of flourish, to be calmed and taught by books like that. Michael Ondaatje's work makes me want to get up and dance to the sound of it. Maxwell's makes me want to take a long walk and think.
We need both in our lives, and in our writing.
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