mjj (flemmings) wrote,
mjj
flemmings

The dawn comes up like thunder

Well, not exactly. The dawn came up kind of flat pre-storm tropical, the red-tinged grey I associate with Tokyo. Of course I was awake to see the dawn, which peeves me, but one cannot fight those light = awake instincts. The storm came along a little later and was occasionally louder than it needed to be; but mostly it just rumbled constantly, in the way non-TO storms do, and monsooned rain as if from fire hoses. And I read the first chapter of Cloud Atlas which definitely suited that weather, and in the sunny warm blowy afternoon the second chapter, which was fun. I love epistolatory novels except when they forget they're epistles; and yes, Mr. Richardson, I *am* looking at you. Now I'm reading the third chapter, set in the 70s, and wondering sourly if the flat unconvincing female protagonist is a clever shout-out to those flat unconvincing 70s female protagonists written by men-- we could be channeling Pyncheon here-- or if Mitchell is just incapable of writing women, the way China Mieville is. You know where my money lies.

As for why I'm reading Cloud Atlas, last April returning from my cortisone shot I came across some Toronto Library volunteers fundraising in the Yonge subway station, selling off (clearly, donated by some bookstore) hardcovers at a loonie a hit. Good cause etc so I bought Cloud Atlas for the cover and Idoru because there was nothing else remotely interesting. And I'm reading CA because I don't want to read Idoru because, like many people who've lived in Japan, I dislike reading other people's ridiculous versions of the place, that so stunningly fail to match my own misperceptions.
Tags: japan, reading_09, rl_09
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