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I started reading the new Pynchon book. It got good reviews and I love him in principle, he's disconnected, he's a writer, he doesn't need the penumbra, the media profile. Then again, I bought "Gravity's Rainbow" and never made much headway, never mind "The Crying of Lot 49."

So I'd just finished this book "The Wilderness," by Angela Flournoy. I started to love it, but then it became a bit tedious, hard to stick with, although I did. It's the story of young Black women and their friendship and it's a great insight into Black culture, even hip-hop and the clubs, and I loved the choices and personal relationships, but then reading it turned into work, so I didn't tell you about it.

I am telling you about Joan Silber's "Mercy."

After I finish one book, it's hard to get into another. Even when I try. I guess if I read a book all the way through I'm connected to it, I'm invested, and it's a rare book that hooks you immediately, so I try a new one and am disappointed and end up surfing the web on my iPad or catching up with print periodicals and I feel guilty that I'm wasting time, especially as the Grim Reaper comes into focus on the horizon, but even if I force myself, I just can't stick with a new book.

I tried with Pynchon's "Shadow Ticket" but it was so dense, it was hard to figure out what was going on.

And then I read a few pages of "Mercy," and the main character was talking about his relationship with his daughter and I thought it was another family drama, and I like these, but it only had three and a half stars on Amazon, and shouldn't I be reading the Pynchon anyway?

If it's got less than four stars, be wary. But with days passing when I couldn't get into a new book I decided to give "Mercy" another try, because unlike "Shadow Ticket" it cut like butter, it was easy to read.

And it wasn't what I expected whatsoever. Yes, there is a reference to Ivan and his daughter on the very first page, but not long thereafter it goes into Ivan's life, his history.

Not everybody is going to set the world on fire. And not everybody is a member of the underclass. Some go to college, fumble and find their way, maybe get married and have a couple of kids and before they realize it, they're at the end of the road.

Ivan starts talking about going to Europe with his buddy Eddie, and being in search of dope.

O.K. They're in Amsterdam.

But they come back to America and...

This is where the book becomes riveting. Ivan is driving a cab but he lives for extracurricular activities. Eddie is tending bar. But he's got this girlfriend Ginger, is she into him or not? And they all get together one night and...

It all becomes vivid and real and I'm not going to tell you what happens but it certainly isn't a domestic story in the suburbs.

And I like to read a story totally blind. I want to be surprised 100%. Just like I see no need to view a movie more than once. The surprise is what gets me, the new, it's part of the essence of the experience.

So... I thought the book would be all about Ivan, but then it switched characters. Yes, I'm telling you this. Because it's so hard to get someone to read a book, and I'm really recommending this one.

What we've got here is multiple lives, which intersect a bit, but everybody lives out a story and it is delineated. These are not the stories of the so-called "Greatest Generation," these are the stories of boomers, which include divorce, multiple partners, job-hopping.

As for your friends...you maintain contact with some, but others can be incredibly close for a while and then you lose touch. But how do you feel about them?

One of the amazing things about the celebrities is how they jump from one person to another, multiple marriages and... I don't get over people that fast. I wonder if you ever get over people. Or maybe I don't and others do. Or maybe those celebrities don't have deep relationships. But this concept is addressed in this book:

"I'd been so interested in all of them—now they were residents of another segment of time, though I was still attached. They belonged to me. I didn't forget."

Can you?

I could see myself in this book, my inner feelings. I don't need that to enjoy a book, but when done right it both spooks me and makes me feel warm inside.

And part of my identity is my wariness, my judgment of those who are insecure and need to burnish their image based on who they know:

"They narrated their lives by citing any known figures they'd had any ties to or even just met, as if familiar names were needed to anchor stories and give them meaning. As if someone else's glory was a credential."

You can be in a tent in the Alaskan wilderness, or off the grid in North Dakota, and still someone will reference a famous person they know...

As for telling your story at all:

"He reacted very badly to a lack of enthusiasm for things he felt strongly about..."

Actually, in the book, this is about someone who always needs listeners to agree with them, to hang on every word and not challenge them. But for me...if you don't show even a modicum of enthusiasm, I find I can't tell the story at all! I just fade out, I stop.

As for that friend you had contact with that you no longer do...

"He never did have a friend like Ivan again. He was very glad for the years he hung out with Nathan—they had great talks and could happily chew over any world question. But the two of them didn't persuade and tempt and corral each other into further adventures, pushing the proverbial envelope."

You're surprised to find that you connected best with a friend from long ago. You thought you'd have that connection with someone in the future, but you never did. And that resonance, that identification, when you click and can talk forever...that's very hard to find.

And...

"A woman who went to award dinners in a long, spangled gown with a train. Of course she was still Ginger underneath that."

People don't really change. Or should I say underneath the trappings they're still the same old no one from nowheresville. Some try to cover it up, with airs, emanating fabulousness, but in truth...even life at the top ain't so fabulous, and you always want someone to understand you.

I still don't think I've made clear what "Mercy" is about, but...

If you're interested in the stories of people, not only their inner lives, but their choices, the unfolding of life...wow, I couldn't put this book down. It was easy to read, but unfortunately it was short, I could have read a couple hundred more pages!


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