Ander Monson

SO MUCH SNOW COMING DOWN


If the pieces of the whole were mostly "luminous", were somehow made actual as in "galvanized", then the "scrambled"-ness of this editorial "experiment" may have proven to be more successful. Problem for me was I only believed one half of it and the "charge" was not as "sparkling" as it might (could) be.

I think the promise made by the Kentucky publisher, Sarabande Books, was a little beyond the pale when they claimed this work "...uncompromising and relentless, hypnotic and dreamlike, darkly humorous and surprisingly tender". Again, I would say maybe with a luckier draw they may have gotten something else half right. That is not to say there weren't some bright spots and near brilliance in this collection of stories for me. There were. But don't believe the hype.

Instead of a novel or a group of short stories I would much rather have from Monson mere doses of truth, or even false heads that feel like the truth, than whole stories made-up and sounding like they want to be seriously listened to. In other words, I prefer any day over these examples a Monson essay, or memoir, that isn't really or exactly true to these, for the most part, so-called fictions.… (mehr)