May 26, 2007

Low comedy, so low that, as they contemplated the sunset which, unbeknownst to those who enjoyed their final moments of sanity...

The book contains passages like this one:
"One would have to be dead, very stupid Fuchida thought," the book says about the fighter pilot Mitsuo Fuchida, "not to realize they were sallying forth to war."
As a man, and a gay man, I think "harrying forth" might suggest more force and concentrated power, but I'm tolerant with regard to such stylistic issues.

And then there are sentences like this, concerning a man about to eat lunch:
James nodded his thanks, opened the wax paper and looked a bit suspiciously at the offering, it looked to be a day or two old and suddenly he had a real longing for the faculty dining room on campus, always a good selection of Western and Asian food to choose from, darn good conversations to be found, and here he now sat with a disheveled captain who, with the added realization, due to the direction of the wind, was in serious need of a good shower.
See Janet Maslin's review of Pearl Harbor, by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen, for further examples.

This novel (it appears I use the word imprecisely) was written (imprecision, once again). It was edited, or at least had an editor (or two or three) assigned to it. And it was published, by an imprint of St. Martin's Press. It is 366 pages long.

Suicide seems an entirely reasonable course of action at the moment.

P.S. I had a longer title, but it wouldn't fit in the title field. The injustice! Here it is:
Low comedy, so low that, as they contemplated the blazing sunset which, unbeknownst to those who enjoyed their final moments of sanity, seemed to arise from nether regions never explored by men, or perhaps even by women, since history tends to overlook, as is often its pattern, one which is repeated from age to age, when cultures appear to...
There. I think that's more in the spirit of the proceedings.