Wednesday, April 17, 2002

More on Spies In a dialogue on the Well, a reader of Michael Frayn's novel Spies said he "couldn't recommend it." I replied as follows: I would recommend "Spies" (now that I’ve finished it), though it’s not in the “you’ve got to read this” category.  I didn’t find it boring or predictable; in fact, my expectations were upset several times as the plot developed, and in ways that made perfect sense. One thing it has in common with "Atonement" is that an adolescent’s incomplete understanding of adult behavior drives the plot. But unlike "Atonement," "Spies" has something of the feel of a book for adolescent readers. I also wrote the following, but didn't post it because it made my comments a little long for the Well: The surprises at the end of "Spies" do not overturn the reader’s frame of reference as they do in McEwan’s book. Although the last chapter does flesh out certain facts about the narrator that add to the frame, the framing narrative is made known in the beginning and it doesn’t mislead. Like in a detective story, the surprises are in the resolution of the mystery. 12:15:41 PM

Tom, Ray, Ashley and Dario With the CART (champ-car) racing season back underway after a month hiatus, water cooler conversation with the race fan in the next cubicle turned to this week's race. Talking about CART, I remembered a classic clip from the radio show, Car Talk, when Dario Franchitti's wife, actress Ashley Judd, called up to talk to Click and Clack. We had to check out their site, and sure enough the seven-minute RealAudio clip is there. 10:52:45 AM

© Copyright 2003 Jim Klopfenstein. Last update: 3/14/2003; 11:41:28 AM.