First published in 1967, Sontag's second novel is a classic of modern fiction as well as brilliant exploration of the recesses of the American conscience.
This book deserves attention, and is in some ways Sontag's best fiction. Rough in some places, painfully rough, the prose grinds through the protagonist's agony, lightens with his fancy, slips away from coherence as he slips from coherence. This is writing on a par with a rough and angry, poignant and bittersweet symphony. It reminds me more of the Shastokovich Symphony no. 7, "Leningrad", than of any other book that I have read. Read it. Read it twice because the first time it can hardly be taken in.This is the story of man's hallucination during and after his suicide. The surface tone is cold and metallic, distanced. But underneath it is achingly, sadly, brutal.Interpret this story. Exercise your mind, your powers of analysis and of sensation. This is a layered piece of writing that holds up and puts out on many levels. And don't miss the exquisite prose on pages two through four.
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