Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Victory Lap and The Corrections
Yesterday I completed The Corrections, that desolate saga of aging. Today I read "Victory Lap" (from Tenth of December), the most heart-burstingly youth-centered thing I've witnessed in a while. The contrast is epic, the whiplash devastating, denouement euphoric. I'd like to think the difference lies not just in the differing subjects of youth and aging, so I can believe aging into and beyond my 30s doesn't place me squarely in the realm of The Corrections, with the realm of "Victory Lap" fully bygone. I'd like to think bearing children like those in "Victory Lap" isn't my only escape from Franzen's nightmare. I'd like to think the tonal discrepancy isn't fully described by the divergent subjects; that Saunders paints a more hopeful picture in general, employing children as his brightest paints but painting brightly nonetheless. I'd like to think one can choose Saunders' worldview, and one can not be deluded.
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I read half of this story and it's unbearable. Worth continuing?
ReplyDeleteHa, Erik loved it, and I surprisingly agreed. Just finish it, it's hardly any pages. I never thought it was unbearable except in a perfect kind of way
DeleteIf there's any reason to doubt my credibility, it's that I read it approx 5 minutes after waking up in the morning. So maybe it was extra gripping?
DeleteThe circumstances played a role, though not a decisive one. I read it in the afternoon heat. This environment is usually a fruitful one, though post wake-up would be superior. I read the second half today waiting at the DMV. It went better, but only because I was closer to the end. Light at the end of the tunnel. The story itself is not that bad. His writing style just prevents anything interesting to emerge from it.
Delete"writing style just prevents anything interesting to emerge from it"
DeleteSounds like something I would say, yet I find myself saying the opposite, in this case. Usually literature is all about writing style for me, and I have no patience for a story, but that's shifting a little these days