[fuzzy world]

To Taty and English majors everywhere:

I finally understand why you like classic literature that is sprinkled with 5-dollar words and lacks a story. I understand why you enjoy mind-numbingly-boring narratives that only work to saciate your thirst for adjective-filled writing styles. I am currently reading “The Wreck of the River of Stars” and that book fulfills almost every criteria for a classic English-major-endorsed masterpiece: the author goes on and on about every minute detail, nuance of character and minor past happenstance; he uses 5-dollar words, complicated metaphors and exquisite play on words; there are entire chapters devoted to character analysis/development that at the same time manages not to progress the story forward by even a millimeter.

I have so far progressed 200 pages out of 1100, (and here is yet another criteria you people so long for: 10-pound books), and not much at all has happened. But I do know an awful lot about each and every member of the crew. Hooray!

So, that being said, how do I feel about the book? It’s great. Yes, it’s slow, the author is quite verbose and it seems that every single word a character utters is misunderstood by another character (which, obviously, has to be expounded in detail as being a result of each character’s varied upbringing and personality), but so far I like it. The word-play is quite good and reminds me of some of the better episodes of House (and I can’t believe I have to wait three more weeks!). The character development, though drawn-out, introduces more of the universe that the story is based in. And that’s the main reason I put up with and enjoy this experience: the story, once you get past the exposition, is a captivating one. Which is not something I could say of “the classics”: I could care less about the romantic prancing of 18th century Englishmen or bootlegging millionaires (man, I hated that book). “The Wreck of the River of Stars” is a book about a revamped magnetic-sail spaceship flying to Jupiter. Aside from the obvious sci-fi angle, I am drawn to the story by the whole “magnetic-sail” angle, as that is something I have been very recently studying and quasi-experimenting with. Oh, and the spaceship’s computer might be self-aware. I don’t know, I’m just a fifth of the way into the book, but it seems that the computer might pull a HAL fairly soon and try to “off” the crew.

So, there we go, I’ve admitted to having a problem, but I don’t think I’ll be seeking help for it. I quite like Michael Flynn’s style and prose and the next book on my list will be his novel “Eifelheim“. Let’s see how that turns out.