Belle Falls

I read very slowly, especially when I'm heavily into a WIP. A few pages here, a few pages there, like a coffee break from my own keyboard.

My taste has evolved from Vonnegut to Doug Adams to Chris Moore...which goes to show I'm not much into literary evolution (and I mean that in the kindest way). But John Irving stories have been the heart and soul of my reading world.

Recently, I made my way through two very different books, Shames' Mangrove Squeeze and Martel's Life of Pi. Okay, fine. One's a fun little story, while the other is LITERARY DAMMIT.

And then a book arrived in the mail. It struck me so hard that I felt compelled to say something about it before I've finished. After reading two dizzying works at the opposite ends of writing, Belle Falls is sad and perfect. I want to read it as slowly as possible. The writing is like a book dropped off the edge of a table, slapping a hard floor. But as the harsh words leave, there is left a quiet note of music.

I know Ms. Vanderveen is an AWer...so I figured I'd use this bit of space to thank her for sharing such a beautiful story.