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Demolition Noon, or The Story in the Air
Feb. 8th, 2009 08:05 amI finished Sister Noon on Friday. This was good because I went to NYC on Saturday. I was danger of finishing the book in the midst of the trip. Since whatever I take with me to NYC, I have to carry with me the whole day, I try to take as little as possible. Finishing Sister Noon meant that I could take Demolition Angel with me in confidence that it would last the entire trip.
Karen Joy Fowler did a magnificent job. Sister Noon is compelling, readable, engaging and I have no real idea why. The plot, such as it is, is sliver thin and she nudges it along only occasionally. However, it's not a very long book, it moves quickly, and the world she evokes is fascinating. Sister Noon could have easily been marketed as a fantasy the way that The Lions of Al-Rassan is, despite that 19th century San Francisco is a real place and I have no doubt that she's gotten all the details right.
I love the way the story jumps around in time. The narrative voice really works to hold me in the story. Intellectually, I know that the main character, the point-of-view character and the narrator do not have to be the same person. Practically, I haven't pulled this off yet. It's great to see an example of this totally working.
I finished Demolition Angel this morning. (Actually, it's a good thing I decided to bring the most recent F&SF with me. Otherwise, I would have run out of stuff to read.) It's definitely a change of pace from Sister Noon. Whereas the former is ethereal and evanescent, the latter is visceral, and solid. Whereas the former is probably classed as literary fiction, the latter is probably classed as a police procedural or thriller. Whereas the former worked for me despite me having no idea why, the latter worked for me because I knew exactly why.
For me, part of the thrill of reading Demolition Angel was seeing a master at work. I read it, and I understand what Robert Crais did in the few chapters to make it so tense and exciting. I read it, and I can see how everything he's done has built up to the inevitable conclusion. (This is not to say that I saw every twist coming. As with all good writing, those twists were inevitable in retrospect.) I understand the book's structure and why he did everything he way he did. This isn't the same thing as being able to do the same myself, but it's a start. (I think I might have managed something similar on a smaller scale. I can't say whether I was as successful though.)
A minor criticism: the romance subplot gets very short shrift. It's indicated more than anything else. However, it's hard to see how the novel could have had more of one. (Also, I haven't read many police procedurals. I suspect that for a police procedural, it has a lot of romance subplot. It's not really the kind of thing I'd expect the target audience of this book to go for.)
Also, what a pleasure to have read two books in a row that come to an Ending. No, it's not that their stories are over. However, they've reached some sort of new stability. The final page feels satisfying.
Next is either Salt Fish Girl by Larissa Lai or John Kessel's short story collection The Baum Plan for Financial Independence. Actually, the next thing is the current issue of F&SF. I started it on the way home. I should finish it. I'm part way through Yoon Ha Lee's "The Unstrung Zither" and I really want to know how it ends.
As for the NYC trip, I saw The Story of My Life and the Encores! concert production of Music in the Air. Coincidentally, they're both musicals about the creation of art, books in the former, operettas in the latter. They were both fine, but the latter was more successful than the former.
The Story of My Life is still in previews. However, it's suppose to open on the 18th so I don't think they're making many changes. It's a two character show about the friendship between two men as they age from 6 to 36(?). The music is Sondheim-esque, and the show can best be described as Merrily We Roll in the Park with George.
This isn't a bad thing. If it's not the most original premise, then it all depends on execution. What you do is important, of course, but so is how you do it. The show is structured as a bunch of stories the two characters tell each other about their lives. Some of the stories really work. However, the whole really doesn't add up to more than the sum of its parts. And what the show says about writing is downright banal. Still there are a bunch of decent songs and some great work by two talented actors. (If there is a cast album, I'll likely buy it.) However, I suspect the point of the B'way run is to get the show some publicity so that the regional theaters in this country will program the work into their seasons in subsequent years. (A cast album will help with this.)
Music in the Air is a 1932 musical written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Written during the transition between the operetta era and the modern musical era, it really is a beast unto itself. All the songs in the show are diegetic. That is, the characters are explicitly singing to each other, as opposed actors singing as a part of the conventions of the musical form. There's lots of inventive stuff going on in the way the scenes are structured. Lots of continuous underscoring. Half reprises and prepreises that drift in and out. In lots of ways, it prefigured musicals that wouldn't show up for decades.
In terms of dramaturgy, the show doesn't really hold up. It ends pretty much as it has to end, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the context of what has happened up to that point. However, the achievement in terms of music is outstanding. It has a set of terrific songs. The way the underscoring mates with and propels the action is stunning. It's unfortunate that no one has gone into the studio and made a complete recording of the score. (Of course, it wouldn't sell many copies.)
The concert itself was terrific. Lots of strong performances. A director who really knows how to deal with such dated material. And this is really the sort of thing that Encores! is supposed to do. i.e., great American scores that are unlikely to ever receive a full production. Having mounted these concerts, I do hope that there is the money somewhere to get everyone into the recording studio. (Of course, to get all the music will likely require 2CDs. That just lowers the number of copies it'd sell. *sigh*)
Karen Joy Fowler did a magnificent job. Sister Noon is compelling, readable, engaging and I have no real idea why. The plot, such as it is, is sliver thin and she nudges it along only occasionally. However, it's not a very long book, it moves quickly, and the world she evokes is fascinating. Sister Noon could have easily been marketed as a fantasy the way that The Lions of Al-Rassan is, despite that 19th century San Francisco is a real place and I have no doubt that she's gotten all the details right.
I love the way the story jumps around in time. The narrative voice really works to hold me in the story. Intellectually, I know that the main character, the point-of-view character and the narrator do not have to be the same person. Practically, I haven't pulled this off yet. It's great to see an example of this totally working.
I finished Demolition Angel this morning. (Actually, it's a good thing I decided to bring the most recent F&SF with me. Otherwise, I would have run out of stuff to read.) It's definitely a change of pace from Sister Noon. Whereas the former is ethereal and evanescent, the latter is visceral, and solid. Whereas the former is probably classed as literary fiction, the latter is probably classed as a police procedural or thriller. Whereas the former worked for me despite me having no idea why, the latter worked for me because I knew exactly why.
For me, part of the thrill of reading Demolition Angel was seeing a master at work. I read it, and I understand what Robert Crais did in the few chapters to make it so tense and exciting. I read it, and I can see how everything he's done has built up to the inevitable conclusion. (This is not to say that I saw every twist coming. As with all good writing, those twists were inevitable in retrospect.) I understand the book's structure and why he did everything he way he did. This isn't the same thing as being able to do the same myself, but it's a start. (I think I might have managed something similar on a smaller scale. I can't say whether I was as successful though.)
A minor criticism: the romance subplot gets very short shrift. It's indicated more than anything else. However, it's hard to see how the novel could have had more of one. (Also, I haven't read many police procedurals. I suspect that for a police procedural, it has a lot of romance subplot. It's not really the kind of thing I'd expect the target audience of this book to go for.)
Also, what a pleasure to have read two books in a row that come to an Ending. No, it's not that their stories are over. However, they've reached some sort of new stability. The final page feels satisfying.
Next is either Salt Fish Girl by Larissa Lai or John Kessel's short story collection The Baum Plan for Financial Independence. Actually, the next thing is the current issue of F&SF. I started it on the way home. I should finish it. I'm part way through Yoon Ha Lee's "The Unstrung Zither" and I really want to know how it ends.
As for the NYC trip, I saw The Story of My Life and the Encores! concert production of Music in the Air. Coincidentally, they're both musicals about the creation of art, books in the former, operettas in the latter. They were both fine, but the latter was more successful than the former.
The Story of My Life is still in previews. However, it's suppose to open on the 18th so I don't think they're making many changes. It's a two character show about the friendship between two men as they age from 6 to 36(?). The music is Sondheim-esque, and the show can best be described as Merrily We Roll in the Park with George.
This isn't a bad thing. If it's not the most original premise, then it all depends on execution. What you do is important, of course, but so is how you do it. The show is structured as a bunch of stories the two characters tell each other about their lives. Some of the stories really work. However, the whole really doesn't add up to more than the sum of its parts. And what the show says about writing is downright banal. Still there are a bunch of decent songs and some great work by two talented actors. (If there is a cast album, I'll likely buy it.) However, I suspect the point of the B'way run is to get the show some publicity so that the regional theaters in this country will program the work into their seasons in subsequent years. (A cast album will help with this.)
Music in the Air is a 1932 musical written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II. Written during the transition between the operetta era and the modern musical era, it really is a beast unto itself. All the songs in the show are diegetic. That is, the characters are explicitly singing to each other, as opposed actors singing as a part of the conventions of the musical form. There's lots of inventive stuff going on in the way the scenes are structured. Lots of continuous underscoring. Half reprises and prepreises that drift in and out. In lots of ways, it prefigured musicals that wouldn't show up for decades.
In terms of dramaturgy, the show doesn't really hold up. It ends pretty much as it has to end, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the context of what has happened up to that point. However, the achievement in terms of music is outstanding. It has a set of terrific songs. The way the underscoring mates with and propels the action is stunning. It's unfortunate that no one has gone into the studio and made a complete recording of the score. (Of course, it wouldn't sell many copies.)
The concert itself was terrific. Lots of strong performances. A director who really knows how to deal with such dated material. And this is really the sort of thing that Encores! is supposed to do. i.e., great American scores that are unlikely to ever receive a full production. Having mounted these concerts, I do hope that there is the money somewhere to get everyone into the recording studio. (Of course, to get all the music will likely require 2CDs. That just lowers the number of copies it'd sell. *sigh*)
