UFR Weekly Newsletter #9: Speaking of Sadness

[David Cotrone]

Susannah and I were talking about this old essay by Steve Almond. He says Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close could have been better. He says that Oskar (the boy narrator) isn’t a part of reality, that the fiction is too heavy and unbelievable. He says some other things, too.

I said I like what he says because I like the lens of sadness, something real. She said it’s okay for literature to be escapist, that art’s purpose isn’t to be just art, not everything has to be sad. She finds something beautiful in happiness. If every book reminded us only about the sad things then she wouldn’t want to pick up a book again. And she said if you think about it no protagonist-based novel is normal. The kids are never normal. Think about The Instructions, the most recent substantial piece of fiction with a young narrator. It’s the furthest thing from normal. I told her that’s a really good point, that she’s right.

But it’s a sad book.

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I Know My Love Can Save The World by Jeanne Holtzman

The Super Nerds by Lacey N. Dunham

A review of No one belongs here more than you. by Judy Clement Wall

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If you haven’t already, you should read this newer essay by Steve Almond.

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A waiter once told me Tom Petty is the best straight-up songwriter and I kind of agreed but I didn’t know what he meant.

This is a really important song; writing about it wouldn’t do it any justice. I don’t usually listen to music while writing but I’m listening to this right now. It makes me feel like water.

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Be well,

David