Today, my friends, is Independence Day. Meaning I just (finally) finished the book of that name by Richard Ford, and am now free to spend my free time reading something better. Something less . . . well, boring.
With all due respect to Mr. Ford, and to the folks at the Pulitzer institute or wherever it is that sit around and give prizes to books and other works each year, this book bored me to tears. Yes, Mr. Ford can turn a phrase, and every few pages he would manage to articulate a thought or feeling in a creative manner. But there wasn’t a story here. I slogged through 451 pages in the hopes that this character, Frank Bascombe, whose name I’d heard mentioned in awestruck reverie by literary folks, would do something. And when I say do something, I mean something that should take 451 pages to tell the story of. This book could have been a short story. And it would have been a fine one, I bet (although query whether I would have finished it and wondered where the story was).
As those of you who’ve read my prior posts may have gathered, I’m not the most patient of readers. I often start reading books that have garnered critical praise, only to bail on them after thirty pages because they couldn’t engage me. Well, this time I gave the book the benefit of the doubt and kept on going, and I can’t say that I’m any better for it.
My apologies to those of you who loved this book. I guess I’m just not picking up on something that’s there.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
I haven’t read Independence Day, but I just recently finished the further adventures of Frank Bascombe, The Lay of the Land. I think that I have a feel for what you mean. The Lay of the Land seems to meander until the “big thing” that you were waiting for happens and turns everything upside down. More on that in a post coming soon on a blog near you. Better luck next time.
January 29th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
But the problem with Independence Day is that *** non-spoiler alert **** there ISN’T any “big thing” that turns everything upside down (or even makes what happened before take on a new perspective or otherwise seem worthwhile to have read about). I find Mr. Ford’s personal story fantastic, and I think he has a great command of the English language. But Episode 2 of the Frank Bascombe story is pretty non-episodic.
January 29th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
Shaft — Recently finished it myself and agree with you wholeheartedly. I couldn’t stand Frank Bascombe and found the book unreal and anticlimactic. Not up to his Sportswriter standards for sure. I agree, too, that he is a wonderful crafter of the language.
January 30th, 2007 at 8:44 am
Let’s start a new trend and list books we do not recommend. Here’s mine. Beyond Measure by Pauline Holdstock (a Giller Prize finalist). I bailed at page 114. Not one of the 7 (?) characters “engaged” me. I quit at the part where they were digging up a body from a graveyard because of a belief that wearing a dead person’s dried up skin brought good luck. Big yuck.
(BTW, it was one of our Book Club selections. Every once in a while some of us bail on the selection. This was my first time. Life’s too short. Too many good books out there calling my name…)
January 30th, 2007 at 11:48 am
Good idea, Beth. I’ve mentioned it in the past on this blog, but it bears repeating: avoid The Crimson Petal and the White at all costs. Worst. Book. Ever. It was hailed as a Victorian novel told with modern sensibilities. What this meant in practice was very graphic (and really bad) descriptions of various sex acts for no other apparent reason than to be shocking. And it was 1000 pages long, too. Avoid it all costs. Cease talking with people who endorse it. Run if you see it coming down the sidewalk. Change cars if you see someone reading it on a train. It’s bad.
January 30th, 2007 at 4:20 pm
Wow — I was worried my house would get egged for engaging in Frank Bascombe blasphemy. But it’s a good reality check that people aren’t labeling me the village idiot for not liking Independence Day (well, at least not primarily for that reason).
January 31st, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Lurker here. Loved Independence Day. Sorry to disagree, but I thought it was a masterful work. I think fiction can be too plot driven. Ford can be a bit pretentious, but he is gifted.
January 31st, 2007 at 11:33 pm
Marlowe: Good to hear from you again. As I said, I didn’t read I-Day, but I recently finished The Lay of the Land, which I can highly recommend if you’re a Ford fan. Much of the “action” is just getting to inhabit Frank Bascombe for a few days. There are some jostling external events that shake everything up, which is what I think that Shaft was complaining about. I’m hating it that I read the last one first.
August 16th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Man, I’m glad to see that others were disappointed with Independence Day. I thought the Sportwriter was pretty good and had high hopes for Independence Day based on the critical raves and awards. Yes, he can write. Yes, he has some interesting observations about suburbia, New Jersey and the real estate biz. But this book just misses. It goes nowhere (or takes too long to get there), and it comes across as artificial (unreal is a good description) and self-indulgent.