Saving Fish and Sukhanov
I am having a furious internal battle with myself over what to read at the moment.
Choice number one: Saving Fish From Drowning (Amy Tan)
Choice number two: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (Olga Grushin)
I've read the first few pages of each one. Choice number two was delved into whilst I waited at Supercuts (where they massacred my hair). Perhaps it was too "sophisticated, ironic and witty, multilayered, intricately constructed, deeply informed, elegantly written" (Washington Post) for me to get much further than the first few lines, which I read over and over and over again. But maybe that was the fault of the unfriendly, harsh and freezing cold waiting-area. Screaming babies hollering in the background and a devil-ish old woman cackling away next to me and making rude remarks about the length of my skirt and the state of my hair (pre-cut) were not concentration friendly...
Choice number one also had its problems. I usually don't read the "Note to the reader" until after I have read the book. With Saving Fish From Drowning, I spent half an hour trying to find out where the "Note to the reader" ended, and the novel begun, without actually having to read the note in its entirety. After a while, I threw it down in frustration. Starting a new book shouldn't have to be such an effort!
Anyway, today being another day and all that, I've decided to give one of them another chance. But which one? If any of you have by some small miracle read them both, tell me which one you prefer. Until then, I am resigning myself to reading the backlog of the G2 we have on a pile in the dining room.
(Anger management can take many forms. After asking around, the most effective solution to near-incurable anger or upsetness is to simply go to bed and drift off for half an hour. I tested it, and it works. Make sleep not war!)
Choice number one: Saving Fish From Drowning (Amy Tan)
Choice number two: The Dream Life of Sukhanov (Olga Grushin)
I've read the first few pages of each one. Choice number two was delved into whilst I waited at Supercuts (where they massacred my hair). Perhaps it was too "sophisticated, ironic and witty, multilayered, intricately constructed, deeply informed, elegantly written" (Washington Post) for me to get much further than the first few lines, which I read over and over and over again. But maybe that was the fault of the unfriendly, harsh and freezing cold waiting-area. Screaming babies hollering in the background and a devil-ish old woman cackling away next to me and making rude remarks about the length of my skirt and the state of my hair (pre-cut) were not concentration friendly...
Choice number one also had its problems. I usually don't read the "Note to the reader" until after I have read the book. With Saving Fish From Drowning, I spent half an hour trying to find out where the "Note to the reader" ended, and the novel begun, without actually having to read the note in its entirety. After a while, I threw it down in frustration. Starting a new book shouldn't have to be such an effort!
Anyway, today being another day and all that, I've decided to give one of them another chance. But which one? If any of you have by some small miracle read them both, tell me which one you prefer. Until then, I am resigning myself to reading the backlog of the G2 we have on a pile in the dining room.
(Anger management can take many forms. After asking around, the most effective solution to near-incurable anger or upsetness is to simply go to bed and drift off for half an hour. I tested it, and it works. Make sleep not war!)
kiwiqueen - 6. Feb, 19:28
