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| Home > Reads > "Specimen Days" by Michael Cunningham |
| "Specimen Days" by Michael Cunningham | | Date Created: Jun 20, 2005, 09:49 AM |
I'm sure you've already heard the buzz: Michael Cunningham, writer of The Hours, has a new book out, Specimen Days.
The rundown: 3 stories, one in the past, one in the present, one in the future. Basically the same 3 characters: Luke, Simon, and Catherine (and maybe a 4th charac ter, the city of New York). Like The Hours, there's a literary inspiration: this time, it's Walt Whitman. The book is one part historical fiction, one part noir thriller, and one part science fiction. Yet, each story is connected through the characters, through New York, and through Uncle Walt.
It's a wonderful and weird book. In parts, Cunningham's descriptions and prose seem ripped from Whitman (even when he isn't quoting him directly.) The quiet desperation of The Hours is gone now, replaced with an expansiveness and expressiveness befitting Whitman.
Certainly worth the read.
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Also just finished Luncheonette by Steven Sorrentino. This is a lovely little book about a guy named Steven (semi-autobiographical, apparently). When his father becomes ill, Steven's New York theater career is cut short when he moves back to New Jersey to run his the family diner.
Year after year of being the dutiful son (as his father has one health problem after another) eventually take their toll on Steven's self-worth. We see the contrast of Steven's inner sickness and his father's outer illnesses. From his father, Steven eventually learns important lessons about survival, and even happiness, in the face of adversity.
One of the better books I've read in a while. |
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