Ordinary Human Language

by Brian Crane

The Sisters Brothers

-Book Cover

Oddly light book. Reads fast and is fun enough.

What interests me is this: the book reads like something written by someone who has watched a lot of television. This is not a vague impression. The middle scenes in the hotel, for example, are close to a riff on the series Deadwood. Now, all generic fiction is going to be a riff on something. Absent other direct references to TV, what concretely makes me see television rather than fiction as its generic context?

Favourite moment: Eli feeling embarrassed by the intimacy of holding Charlie’s hand after it’s been amputated.

Posted August 15, 2012