Some unlight reading and the Chicago skyline
When I was last traveling in May, I bought a book that has sat on the shelf for a month. I liked the cover which was the reason for the purpose. It was nice to think that I would have no preconceptions about a book before opening the pretty cover. I opened it on the plane.
I just finished reading Picture PErfect — by Jodi Picoult. I have liked some of her other work — not to rave about it, but enough to know her name and her typical genre. This was different. This was a book about abuse within a marriage — yes, I know, not my typical choice in literary undertaking, but what the hell. I thought this book would be a cliche — and maybe it is (I know almost no interpersonal data about this topic) but what I read was beautiful and angry and pathetic — which is my typical undertaking. What I enjoyed most about this work was that the characters were so vivid and human that it made me shut the book multiple times just to take it all in. I haven’t read anything of note in recent months (save The Painted Veil) that was so perfect in its approach to human nature and human justification. I couldn’t fully hate or love anyone in the novel because they were too human. I loved that. I found myself so engrossed that I thought about it the rest of the day — I started to people watch to figure out the flaws and perfections in us all. It felt really good. This book won’t be everyone’s cup of tea — but it may be everyone’s glass of water.
More about Chi town later. Just had to get these thoughts on the page for now.
