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Original Essays | September 23, 2009

Stops: On Those Things My New Novel Forgot to Be About, Maybe

0 comments By Jonathan Lethem

For me, there's a weird, unfathomable gulf — I almost wrote gulp — between the completion of a novel and its publication. Some days this duration feels interminable, as though the book has... Continue »

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1. 
   $19.56 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

   Chronic City

   Jonathan Lethem

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grotel, December 30, 2008

I'm not generally a non-fiction fan. I purchased this book after it was recommended by The Economist (without question, my favorite periodical). I left it on the shelf for several months, not having been in the mood to read. Finally, yesterday, I started reading. Despite having to work all day, I completed over half of it (I'm not an overly fast reader). At that point, I called one of my good friends, having to share some of the sections that shocked me the most.

The writing presents the information in a very clear, logical order, making it easy to follow and understand. As the author describes the conditions at Guantanamo and the treatment some of the 'detainees' received en route, I feared he would present too much graphic violence, but it was just fear. The author presents the difficult subjects in sufficient detail, but not too much (for a measuring stick, I felt Life of Pi was far too graphic for me).

Having read the first half, I am disappointed in myself for being ignorant about what has been going on at Guantanamo Bay. I have been anti-patriot act since it was approved, but I didn't realize how far the government had taken things. I wish everyone in the world would read this book, to understand what is going on in the US in relation to the war on terror and ways our lives have been changed by it.

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