![]() ![]() Keillor's writing engages me on many more levels than that of Thurber through an intricate mix of pathos and slapstick. I wonder if I also compare this work with that of, for example, Garrison Keillor - a writer who is a self-avowed literary descendent from, and fervent admirer of, Thurber. ![]() ![]() My favourite sections are really the preface and end note, which, being reflections upon the work encompassed, presumably required a little more discipline than the author's usual style. This technique clearly works extremely well in the very short context of the author blurb, but can become just a wee bit tiresome in the longer - although still reasonably bite-sized - chapters of 'reminiscence' (I put the word in quotation marks as the work is marked 'fiction' and, based on the 'biography' I would presume is merely loosely based on reality) which comprise this book. Thurber announces in introduction that he doesn't believe in over-working a composition/self-editing, preferring to let his writing flow. Quick to arouse, he is very hard to quiet and people often just go away." You get the picture. ![]() It's a hard act to follow: an absolute cracker that never fails to leave me in tears of laughter, chock full of such deliciously absurd observations as "He has not worked as a cow-puncher, ranch-hand, stevedore, short-order cook, lumberjack, or preliminary prize fighter. I inevitably pick up a Thurber with great expectations due to the absolute genius hilarity of his, presumably self-written, back-cover 'biography'. ![]()
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