Sunday, February 21, 2010

T.C. Boyle

I read and loved Boyle’s book “Tortilla Curtain.” I would recommend it to anyone. This short story didn’t disappoint me either. So, I’m ready to read more by Boyle. I found an interview w/ Boyle (and also he reads some of his other stories aloud) online. Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLnthcN7jmU&feature=related At some point in the clip he says: “A great work of art, can appeal to everybody.” He believes that literature should have the ability to be readable to people from all walks of life.


In “Chicxulub” Boyle relates the disaster of losing a child to a natural disaster, that of a meteor hitting the earth. The impact the loss of a child has on a person hits them like the impact of the meteor. It could leave a massive crater in a parent’s heart. He mixes the 2 storylines back and forth so well, they tie together easily. “…the chances that a disaster of this magnitude will occur during any individual’s lifetime at roughly one in ten thousand, the same odds as dying in an auto accident in the next six months…” He notes how death is the thing that makes us equal. “…we, and all our works and worries and attachments, are so utterly inconsequential. Death cancels our individuality….” And, later he reflects on how powerless we are as humans to stop the meteor (or death of a loved one). In the end, the couple realizes it’s not their daughter after all. They are relieved, but the narrator realizes “…The rock is coming”…and sympathizes “For the Cherwins, it’s already here.”

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