Join Nostr
2026-01-29 04:16:02 UTC
in reply to

snackin happy on Nostr: My one attempt at reading Joyce plunged me into the blackest depression I've ever ...

My one attempt at reading Joyce plunged me into the blackest depression I've ever experienced. I'll probably get over it and try again some day.


"I had not though to pick up any of Maguire's work thinking it would be lacking substance."

Possibly so. I find there's a lot of emotionally difficult material lightly touched upon or encased in easily digestible prose, the change in style is a welcome relief after hammering myself with McCarthy for years. Maguire writes in a style that offers a kind of quiet encouragement to brush past the parts the reader doesn't really want to deal with, I think. The slower and more intentionally you read the darker things become.

Then again, I'm generally hesitant to recommend fiction to anyone. People's literary palates are so varied, after all. [i]In Watermelon Sugar[/i] was a revelation to me when I first read it and I still think about it all the time. Most people I've met that have read some Brautigan have been beyond negative about it. As time has passed I've become less convinced that they just don't like, get it man, and more inclined to believe that I just have acutely shit taste in literature. Lol.