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From: Henry
Category: Other stuff
Date: 29 August 2004
A big book, that makes you sleepy, it fell apart under its own weight. http://www.williamgaddis.org/recognitions/preface.shtml Website with chapter by chapter synopsis because its easy to drift through long sections of it and forget whose who, and even if you're concentrating, the large wastelands of unattributed dialogue are confusing, and to add to all that, the characters also change names.
To put it simply, its a bit of a fusty satire of 50s bohemianism and business with a lot of references and quotes in foreign languages, that seem to be thrown in to look clever. Sometimes it works and the character speak into life the world, but mostly they all seem a bit indistinguishable, sort of 50s sterotypes that are now forgotten.
Reminds me of postmodern books like Pynchon which aren't that good. And the stuff about art and forging also seems phoney. It's a good book to have read because you can be superior to those that haven't read it.
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