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#weirdwords #weirdwordwednesday @CBee

Pulchritude: beauty

“How rare pulchritude is among the Irish, I said to myself; therefore what a trouble is made when it does appear...“

4⭐️ I reread this with my IRL bookclub and I loved it the same. My favorite character is Mrs. Cullen 😍 I can see myself in her 🤭 but not with a hawk. A raven is more likely 🐦‍⬛

Psychological novella set in 1920s French village—foreigners meet for an afternoon of drink and conversation. Part “Who‘s afraid of Virginia Woolf?” & part Gatsby. Cinematic scene-setting & world-weary narrator in the spirit of Nick Carraway. The random cruelties of marriage & intimacy, desire for beauty (symbolic & otherwise). Class, power, jealousy, domestication. Beautifully switches between flat, clear-eyed cynicism & romantic longing. 1940

^^The shifts from drama to comedy to spiritual longing, romantic symbolism, psychological musings, all in 100 quick pages. A cycle in an afternoon, furiously churning. Such great story pacing.

Loc 152: “I brought my hawk,” Mrs. Cullen unnecessarily announced.
>>Wry, spare humor.

KILLER line:
Loc 1055, Mrs. Cullen speaking of husband: “He has bated, don‘t you know.”

Bated, as in when the kept bird flaps wings frantically on tether. CALLBACK

I enjoyed this novella so much that I read it twice. A perfect example of how to write a story. The observations of a third party witnessing the tension of a marriage, the jealousy of a husband over his wife‘s devotion to a hawk, the perils of marriage itself, were spot on and delicious. Almost each sentence held a concept worth stopping and thinking about or chuckling over. This was just a delight. #NYRBbooclub

Caricatur-ish! A fantastic and satisfying read, and definitely a modern classic. Set in 1920s, the location was idyllic (who wouldn't love a novel set in French countryside?), the characters were a brilliant mess, and the prose was perfect. I am still wondering at the genius of Wescott to pack a ton in just 108 pages. It's essentially a tale of love triangles, not a common one though. There is a bird involved, literally. 👇🏽

#NYRBBookClub what a gem of a book! A garden party & our narrator has a gift with words & a gift of observing the human condition.Are we as tethered to our condition as Lucy the hawk is tethered to Mrs.Cullen?I sought out Wescott from a reference in a book about F.Scott Fitzgerald long ago.Book club members may recall 1 of my choices for the club was his Apartment in Athens.Tho I wouldn‘t have wanted to miss The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne .😁

Trying to be ready for tomorrow's #NYRBbookclub discussion, but not sure about this 99¢ 'excerpted' edition for Kindle. Hopefully I don't miss too much.
@vivastory @Suet624

Dear NYRBers: this week I‘ve been working 12 hour days at City Hall sending, receiving and alphabetizing thousands of ballots. 4,000 in the last three days. Then dividing these by district and then by ward. I‘ve also been reporting campaign financing for my daughter. Throw in two Airbnb cleanings somehow in there. I‘ll be working both days this weekend on ballot items. Scott has graciously offered to host tomorrow‘s discussion. I‘m so grateful.

I have been carrying a feeling of emptiness the entire week, because there was zero reading in it. Ugh! Today seems to be that day when i say bye bye to that emotion. 🙂

Loving the prose in here. That quote for instance -

“But on as fine a day as this, modern art was dimmed and dwarfed by the view of the garden and the park beyond it,...”

Maybe it's my #HarpySpinster condition, but I find all marriage novels to be vaguely exotic; it tells me about a life I only want to imagine. This novella grips you like how I imagine a falcon's claws would. A compact, menacing, & mysterious gem that's best summarised in Cunningham's intro: "in terms of character & event it is strung throughout with little bombs, some of which explode on contact, some considerably later." The writing is brilliant.

I love the description here. "The solemn glance of its maniacal eyes" seems to come off the page. I don't know much about Glenway Wescott as a writer but there's a precise clarity to his writing and a psychological acuity that makes every page feel very complex and rich so far. #nyrbbookclub

The starting of the next #NYRBBookClub pick always calls for a glass of wine. 🍷

@vivastory @Suet624

This book breathes the 1920s in all its observations. It‘s The Great Gatsby all over again from the moment a young American opens the door and lets the Cullens in - a somewhat eccentric Irish couple of which the woman takes an hunting hawk everywhere she goes. The American - an unsuccessful writer, of course - tries to imagine their relationship during the course of an afternoon, based on how they behave towards the hawk. ⬇️⬇️ #NYRBBookClub

Cracking open this one. #nyrbbookclub

@vivastory @Suet624

Those Trumps just have to get their name on everything! 🤣🤣🤣😳😳😳. And Trump Mediaeval is a trademark of Linotype-Hell. How fitting.

#3Books Day 1: #IPlanToReadThisMonth

#AboutAugust Day 31: I #always pair molten chocolate cake with my books, especially #NYRBBookClub titles.

#AboutAugust Day 29: Food is the #accessory to my book shots, evidently. #NYRBBookClub - mix grill for the win!

4⭐️ I love it when I get to read this kind of novella. Thin, but packed with so many details that got me thinking 😃 Michael Cunningham‘s intro said it all: this is “an endlessly intricate meditation on freedom versus captivity and passion versus peace.” This is my second Wescott, and am looking forward to reading more of his works

#AboutAugust Day 24: This is called the #absence of self-restraint. 🤷🏻‍♀️😭🤣😂
Our #NYRBBookClub choice for September is here!

This #BookDepository bookmark (that came with my latest order for the #NYRBBookClub) is pretty funny I think 😀. It doesn‘t really pair with the book cover, which is super creepy!

"The circumstances of passion are all too petty to be companionable...It is the kind of thing you have to keep quiet about for others' sake, politeness's sake"

Heartbreaking facts about hawks.