tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959286621592188397.post5326355562684487164..comments2024-02-20T07:06:18.516-05:00Comments on Brilliant Corners: Revue: Roddy Doyle's Novel "Oh, Play That Thing"Steve Provizerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09757505876939504133noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959286621592188397.post-59849975775948878882011-06-04T13:25:39.890-04:002011-06-04T13:25:39.890-04:00Thanks for the further info. As is typical, I got ...Thanks for the further info. As is typical, I got carried away in the writing and acted more confused than was merited. You did come down on the side of recommending, and you also wrote the review the way other folks including me would: "It's a little of this and a little of that; this works, and that doesn't, but over all it's probably worth your time." So much easier when one merely LOVES or HATES something, and so speaks directly... Your added musings are a plus.IWitnessEdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18312808828448124509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959286621592188397.post-12834790322529758562011-06-04T08:35:24.193-04:002011-06-04T08:35:24.193-04:00Following up---It's easy to be conflicted abou...Following up---It's easy to be conflicted about Doyle's portrait of Louis, as it is reading any rendering of a jazz hero in a fictional context. Things happen in a life like Armstrong's, but a novel has to make them happen in a compressed and (unless it's "avant-garde") dramatic way. <br /><br />If you know something about the guy's life-which we all do about Armstrong-there's always the tension between what we (think) we know, our projections based on that and what we are seeing on the page.<br /><br />We both cut an author slack because he/she has chosen jazz as a focus-and scrutinize more closely. Hard to avoid some ambivalence in our response.Steve Provizerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09757505876939504133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959286621592188397.post-22511628369144964522011-06-03T23:00:00.122-04:002011-06-03T23:00:00.122-04:00Guess I kinda danced around that. Not what a revie...Guess I kinda danced around that. Not what a review should do...I say read it. I'd be extremely interested in your take.Steve Provizerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09757505876939504133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959286621592188397.post-66670234775782597002011-06-03T21:25:09.313-04:002011-06-03T21:25:09.313-04:00Weird coincidence... I found a copy of this novel ...Weird coincidence... I found a copy of this novel a week ago, and shoved it into the to-be-read stack wondering what in the hell quintessential Irish novelist Doyle could find to link his character to Louis. So your casually informative review answers some questions but leaves me wondering whether or not to actually read the Buddy thing! Sure an' you're sayin' thumbs up the spout? Or is it then only thumbs down and out?Ed Leimbacherhttp://www.mrebks.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.com