Writer, singer, composer and poet Rick Moody first gained widespread acclaim with his 1994 novel, The Ice Storm, a portrait of dysfunctional suburban life that plays out over the course of a long Thanksgiving weekend. In 1999, The New Yorker named Moody one of America’s most talented new writers, with a voice that constantly pushes the stylistic boundaries of modern literature. He has published five novels, three collections of short fiction and two nonfiction works. He also performs with the Wingdale Community Singers, an acoustic band that blends the sounds of old-time folk, gospel and bluegrass, with hints of rock and baroque chamber music to augment their arch, literary lyrics. Their most recent album is Night, Sleep, Death, released only on LP by Drag City. Moody will be guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Moody: The funniest, most original novel I have read in some years. Chevillard makes no compromises at all, and the emphasis is on the voice, and he goes where the language goes, with those French comma splices, and he doesn’t worry about story very much at all. The book is sort of about cave paintings in France, and a guy who works as some kind of security expert at a display of these cave paintings, but that’s like saying The Catcher In The Rye is about a prep-school dropout. Don’t worry about what it’s about, just watch those sentences spool out before you like the threads in a bolt of some fabulous cloth.
Video after the jump.
