APS TOGETHER
Day 8
Pages 105-119 (through "An unfair sample.")
July 30, 2020 by Elizabeth McCracken
Is there a more chilling detail of a loving marriage than one spouse annotating the other’s letters? No offense to those of you posed with your beloveds in your avatars, but: brrrrr. —Elizabeth
Dillard’s ability to describe Lou’s paintings is painterly itself, built up with in brushstrokes—both word choice & image—& color that shouldn’t work but does. —Elizabeth
“Scumble” is a fantastic word. I always associate it with the splendid Antoine Wilson. —Elizabeth
The description of all the Petes seated at the table is strange & beautiful. When I first read The Maytrees, my son Gus, now 13, was an infant, & I imagined I might feel like this. (I don’t.) —Elizabeth
“That is who she missed, those boys now overwritten.”
Deary arrives in this book as a hoyden in the dunes; we learn that she has a distinguished education; she becomes a Maytree & a lady & a working architect & a clothes horse. Dillard knows that human beings are complicated stories. —Elizabeth
