nouveau

in a perverse case of reverse incentive, i picked up this book from the used bookstore because it was in mint condition. but why it was in mint condition became clear, the work is about nothing at all. an old man, retired from 30 years with one clerkship, financially stable but experiencing brief surges of emotion with a trio of women involved in his life. no Seinfeldian absurdity, no Tanizaki or Kawabata obsession, just "slice of life" for the barely upper-middle class.

Brookner, who began writing late in life after a successful career in art history academia, has written some twenty-four novels, all of which are apparently short novel-length and all of which deal with minor surges of emotion / slice of life of the London upper-middle class (or so it seems from descriptions at the back of the book). 24 book is a respectable output, and one of the books won a Booker; Brookner was honored with a CBE as well.

give me some obsession, Brookner!

tell me about people who cut themselves!

who cut others!

i care not for this weak tea and crackers; london at 2pm and gray clouds "novel"