Counterbalance

Adrift on a Sea of Baker

I've not read a single review of Baker's The Anthologist.  I'm sure I will shortly, but I'm not sure I'd care. He does something with language in this book that reminds me of what I love best about DFW.  There is such forthrightness, such straight-forward talk that I spent much of the book thinking "yes, yes, this is how great stories are told...without all the linguistic somersaults and trumped up similes that other writers use...just honest, heartfelt words on a page."  Which is perfection on top of perfection, since that is what Baker spends much of his novel arguing against.  Kind of.

And yet.

He's employed some of the most somersaulty language I've seen in a long time.  Sentences that hop, skip, jump, lay flat then get back up again for another go, counterclockwise. Fantastic phrases. And all of it is delicious. And reminiscent of DFW in a not-very-similar way...but a little bit when you think of DFW's plain-speak coupled with his multi-page footnotes.  It looks quiet and lovely on the surface, a sweet little tale. Yet it is bursting with big arguments and universal truths and fully intended ironies and delectable avoidance techniques and heartache on a cosmic level. Quietly.

Here's the main thing: I laughed out loud more than I've laughed out loud in a very, very long time. (Perhaps this says more about my current mental state than it does about Baker's novel...) Especially when reading fiction.  Bravos and well-dones are in order, particularly on the heels of Human Smoke (which both destroyed me and inspired me) and I'm sure I'll eventually compose myself enough to hash out a proper tribute or review or smattering of more coherent thoughts.

But just now I'm thinking, what a delicious delight.

Tying it All Together

I finished Human Smoke late last night after a crazy few days. It was late, it was quiet, and Baker's Afterword about what he hoped to accomplish with this book has left me pensive and still:

"Was it a 'good war'? Did waging it help anyone who needed help? Those were the basic questions that I hoped to answer when I began writing."

It isn't a coincidence that Obama spoke today in Berlin, the city that was very much at the center of the events in Human Smoke.  I may still be angry with Obama about FISA, but I'll admit to getting teary-eyed again when watching him deliver an excellent speech in Berlin:

Obama's speech gave me -- yes, I'll use the now-dirtied word -- hope that Baker's closing sentiments may (heavily caveated and in direct relation to who the American people vote for in November) not fall on deaf ears should heeding them become necessary in our near future:

"I dedicate this book to the memory of Clarence Pickett and other American and British pacifists. They've never really gotten their due. They tried to save Jewish refugees, feed Europe, reconcile the United States and Japan, and stop the war from happening. They failed, but they were right."

Lit Bits & A Bit About FISA

• I'm now deep in Human Smoke land, which is not so different (strangely or no?) from Revolutionary Road land, at least as far as the examination of the human condition is concerned.  I want to talk and talk and talk about this book for hours and I'm only 1/3 of the way in.  I am kicking myself for not having been hip to this book when Ed had his Human Smoke Roundtable in March.
• More reasons to kick myself: Baker weighed in on the Human Smoke roundtable.
• Possible reason (if we were prone to kicking others, which we are not, certainly not esteemed bookish folk that live in our own city) to kick Silverblatt: He has interviewed Baker on Bookworm six times. The last interview was seven years ago and Baker doesn't appear on the schedule anytime soon to talk about Human Smoke. What's up with that?
• I have arrived at that precarious place in novel writing where you know enough to really dive in, but you are still tinkering with voice and nothing feels quite right. I am trying like all hell to resist re-writing it in every voice and from every angle. I fear this might be necessary, however, so I'm stalling. Big time.
• Pinky beats me to the punch on taking a look at some of AIGA's 50/50 book cover design winners.  As I live and breathe design all day, it is always nice when my work self and my book self can become one.  Go admire the beauty.
• I may still unearth a few of my favorites from the competition -- and a few other cover shenanigans I've uncovered recently.
• Barbara Ehrenreich read from This Land is Their Land last night at Skylight Books to a very full house and she tip-toed around Obama and FISA like a woman grappling with deep disappointment.  She also did something that I've never seen done before at a reading: She used her moment in the sun to not just talk about the importance of causes, but to actually shine a light on a specific local issue. 
• I've got my own specific issue to rant about: It's called FISA. It's called Obama. It's called, what the hell? I'd definitely like to kick someone involved in this mess.
  
• Now back to Human Smoke.