Set This House in Order
Finished Matt Ruff’s Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls yesterday. Absolutely amazing! He’s one of a handful of writers I want to BE.
A description of the plot would be inadequate because his work is so layered and full of texture that it wouldn’t do it justice. Kind of like explaining procreation in clinical terms. Suffice to say that his ability to convey a multitude of distinctive characters has never been stronger than in this twist on a coming-of-age tale of two people with multiple personality disorders. Each personality, or “soul” as he calls them, is as sharply drawn as any of the major characters in Fool on the Hill or Sewer, Gas & Electric: THE PUBLIC WORKS TRILOGY, and the way he presents life inside their heads is nothing short of brilliant.
That the story takes place in the real world, as opposed to the hyper-realistic fantasy settings of his first two books, is a testament to his versatility and a body blow to the idea that “fantasy” and “literary” are two separate genres.
The lives of Andy Gage and Penny Driver, the protagonists of House, will stick with me for a long time.
Up next: Crawfish Dreams, by Nancy Rawles, another random-while-browsing discovery. One chapter in and I’m liking her style.