[kibs] Finished: THE PURE LAND by Alan Spence
- From: Mike <michael@xxxxxxxx>
- To: KIBS Literary Treehouse <kibs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2017 12:53:58 +0100
* Mike wrote on 2017-07-19 12:24 +0100:
Started re-reading THE PURE LAND by Alan Spence in early July.
Finished reading on 2017-07-16.
I initially read this when it first came out, not long after I
graduated. I'd taken a creative writing course by Alan Spence whilst he
was writing this, and remember him talking about his process and the
book itself.
He was writing it entirely on his orange iBook, and hadn't printed any
manuscript drafts -- the deadline demands had forced him to work
entirely digitally. I joked with him that if he didn't print off any
work-in-progress manuscripts he couldn't sell them later as parts of his
papers. The next week, in his office, he had a freshly printed copy of
the work-in-progress manuscript sitting on his desk.
I remember enjoying it more than I did this time around. The book feels
quite rushed. A lot happens, but not all of the events are ones the
reader needs to see first-hand. I think it would be stronger if it had
slowed down and covered key parts in more depth.
The last two or three chapters are brilliant -- one summarising the
entire lifetime of a character after they're out of Glover's life. That
chapter especially was written how I wanted the rest of the novel
written -- suffused with a sort elegiac, Zen-ish quality, and evocative
of a deeply spiritual, deeply Japanese feeling.
I'm behind in updating KIBS, so dates are estimated.
--
Mike | <
http://koralatov.com>
"A camel is a horse designed by
a committee." -- Larry Wall
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