Friday, March 28, 2003
I read a lot more fiction (books) than I do non-fiction, largely because of the insights I get from fiction - about life, about love, about living. Like this one from Felice Picano's masterpiece, his 1995 novel Like People In History, in which the protagonist has been commissioned to tell his ex-lover's parents, both of whom have Down's syndrome, that their son is dying of AIDS:
"For the briefest of seconds I thought, This is punishment. Matt is getting back at me. That's why he sent me here. Then I reconsidered. No, Matt sent me because it was so hard, too hard for anyone else to do, and because that's what you did for someone you loved."
That last sentence just about sums it all up, I think. History is one of my favorite novels of all time, and that perfectly skewers the reason why. Picano's a genius; check out his recent 2001 novel Onyx as well.
"For the briefest of seconds I thought, This is punishment. Matt is getting back at me. That's why he sent me here. Then I reconsidered. No, Matt sent me because it was so hard, too hard for anyone else to do, and because that's what you did for someone you loved."
That last sentence just about sums it all up, I think. History is one of my favorite novels of all time, and that perfectly skewers the reason why. Picano's a genius; check out his recent 2001 novel Onyx as well.
# posted by Thomas : 6:13 PM
