Percival Everett: ever interesting

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forclosure

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I thought i'd make this as i am currently reading and most of the way through his most recent book The Trees which i am really liking and i was wondering if anybody here has read any of his books or has thoughts on his work.

This is for one of his other books that i haven't read but it touches on aspects of his style and influences that you can possibly traced(i picked up on the Ishmael reed thing myself) i also think the point that considering their arguably of the same generation and trajectory people who love David Foster Wallace by right should really be into Everett but aren't and how both authors aren't read by the same people https://www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/online-only/sad-and-boujee/
 
luka

luka

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dont worry about anyone being interested do it
a)for the love of the sound of your own voice
b)to clarify your thoughts to yourself in the act of articulating them
 
F

forclosure

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i mean people have said that I have a good voice i'm happy to take that compliment even though i don't see the big deal but here's a more in depth thing https://thebaffler.com/salvos/without-a-reader-mcknight

"His characters very often want nothing more than to be left alone, but other people and their own sense of duty always intervene. In this way, they are made to confront, however reluctantly, a host of cultural maladies—especially stupidity, racism, materialism, greed, any sort of certainty or righteousness, violent disregard for others, and environmental destruction."
 
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forclosure

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Like all his books (only read I am not Sidney Poitier and a decent chunk of Erasure) his stuff has a formal sense of daring to them with how he likes to experiment with structure but not in a way that's like massively spelt out or obnoxious but like when a kid keeps prodding at a balloon to remind you how easy it is to collapse this thing.

It's informed by history and address America's original sin of racism but its in a way that's contemporary and "of the moment" how the past informs the present also for a book that deals with such a dark subject it's actually very funny it goes from being slapstick to deadpan to serious in a chapter by chapter basis (the fact that they're short sometimes a page also lends a episodic quality to it)

It reminds me of George S Schuyler's Black No More in that it paints a really grotesque picture white racists in Money Mississippi but it doesn't have Schyler's pessimism or contempt, they're grotesque cause the flaws they have seem more realistically human rather than just cyphers.

There's a chapter where the two black cops are made aware that there's a really pathetic looking cross burning on the lawn just as pathetic as the Klan chapter of this town and one of them says "i guess i was supposed to be afraid"
 
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forclosure

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It's a detective novel at its core but there's so many different aspects being juggled and its done with such confidence that's hard to not admire
 
jenks

jenks

thread death
Good to see this thread. I think he’s not only one of the funniest writers around, he’s also one of the most interesting - the only thing like him I’ve come across is the Sellout.
Sidney Poitier is a pretty good entry into his work but I think both Erasure and Percival Everett by Virgil Russell are even better. Trees on my list once I’ve got through a pile of other stuff.
 
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forclosure

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jenks said:
Good to see this thread. I think he’s not only one of the funniest writers around, he’s also one of the most interesting - the only thing like him I’ve come across is the Sellout.
Sidney Poitier is a pretty good entry into his work but I think both Erasure and Percival Everett by Virgil Russell are even better. Trees on my list once I’ve got through a pile of other stuff.
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he's one of a few writers i've encountered whose actually made me laugh when critics say their work is "laugh out loud" Erasure i find when you get to the My Pafology book like it's different for me because i have read and seen works by authors who make that kind of work and its accuracy it's why i don't find it funny.

It's like the inverse of Showgirls of all things that's a movie that's not meant to be funny but is and that stuff is suppose to be funny but isn't
 
F

forclosure

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glad to see you here @jenks from what i saw from a search you're the only person to bring up everett on here (which was followed by one mr. tea telling you to fuck off)

It's funny you bring up The Sellout cause i got that yesterday as much as i want to crack it open i feel like i need to finish The White Boy Shuffle first
 
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forclosure

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thanks appreciate it

It's interesting listening to Everett talk about race cause for me anyway his attitude and approach to the conversation goes against alot of ways how i was brought up to, it's not that he hasn't thought about it, its like he's almost apathetic towards it

But apathy denotes that he doesn't care which doesn't feel accurate to me
 
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forclosure

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there's a bit in the Tree's i've just come to where they talk about the oldest man working in the FBI who could say he was there when J Edgar hoover was running it and had actually seen a lynching

the way he sums up his political views and entire history of presidents is fantastic,revealing and funny at the same time: "didn't like Kennedy's hair,hated Johnson's politics, loved Nixon,claimed to have a bullet with Jimmy Carter's name on it, suspicious of Reagan, didn't care for H.W. Bush,un-oficially investigated Clinton, thought W Bush was an intellectual elite, nearly died of a stroke when Obama got elected and was in love with the current clown"

brilliant way to sum up the last 80 years of US presidents, now that i'm near the end it's clear to say that the spectre of Trump looms in the book but i think he took the smart decision to not name him outright, acknowledging that he's the culmination of trends strategies, exploitation and resentment on the part of politcians and the corporate powers that directly influence this shit rather than put all the blame on his shoulders
 
woops

woops

is not like other people
WebEschatology said:
acknowledging that he's the culmination of trends strategies, exploitation and resentment on the part of politcians and the corporate powers that directly influence this shit rather than put all the blame on his shoulders
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can't we do both ?
 
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forclosure

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woops said:
can't we do both ?
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we can and some people have done but the pervading attitude with Trump from his critics and supporters was that he was the end game and while alot of terrible things happen the apocalypse was yet again held off for another time
 
woops

woops

is not like other people
WebEschatology said:
we can and some people have done but the pervading attitude with Trump from his critics and supporters was that he was the end game and while alot of terrible things happen the apocalypse was yet again held off for another time
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no i get it same way that the trump "thing" won't end with his death there is another generation ready to go
 
F

forclosure

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i mean alot of them are ready right now and they've BEEN ready

some of the people who've prepped for this moment on the radical left side of things have been ready but they're also really old
 
F

forclosure

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i also like how soon after the ancient FBI agent(who is in the area on special demand from Trump) is talking to these agents with all this muddled bullshit saying how the black panthers really didn't go away they're training in secret and working with the ruskies the second the black FBI agent Herberta Hind steps in (yes that's her name) he starts to shrink
 
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