piccadilly kim

(originally from november 29, 2006)

Well, at least for a Calvin student: I'm not sure I like Blue Like Jazz. I'm about halfway through, and I have found some bits I really like (and several that have made me laugh out loud; once a man on the train asked if I was okay ... oh dear ...), but I went into the book thinking I'd be crazy about it (since EVERYBODY else is, right?), and I'm just not that crazy about it. I get bored in parts. It feels a bit too tell-y in parts (I know, I know, I'm in no position to judge ... but if I were, that's what I'd say). I think if I went into it thinking it were a devotional sort of a book, I'd really like it, because it would seem so interestingly written. But, I went in thinking a bit more Anne Lamott (maybe I shouldn't have read the back cover ...), and he's not quite her. (Shocker, I know.) Anyway, I'll read the whole thing and give it a fair assessment then, but I just wanted to confess these heathen thoughts while they were fresh.

AND -- I must say, I am shocked and appalled and positive there is some tremendous mistake and that perhaps he has not actually read Taming of the Shrew?? The bit where he alludes to Lucentio pursuing the belligerent Bianca with kindness -- I think it's more likely he's referring to the Petruchio/Katharine relationship (after all, L&B aren't usually major Shakespearean characters referred to in other texts -- and Bianca is not usually called belligerent) -- but then he should have used their names! And, if that is what he meant, how can he possibly call Petruchio "kind"?? Did he miss that bit about "KILL a wife with kindness"??