Oof, thank you for so deftly articulating the complicated feelings I had about this book, too. It feels like it was written specifically for me: a white millennial yuppie lady prone to her own bouts of self-pity, which, I guess, has its own oblique merits... But, I think you hit the nail on the head with this: "Sometimes I wonder if books by extremely successful writers get rushed along because the book’s value as a commercial asset is complete before the story has finished happening inside the writer." I expected Rooney to make me shake my fist at capitalism, of course - but was disappointed that it was for this^ reason.
Thank you! So well said! It's an interesting thing how that happens. I wonder about it because I don't think that books might get rushed along out of bad faith or cynicism, but maybe from some urge to be timely. Which I get! I was totally thinking that two months post release date might be too late to write about BW,WAY? ... which is totally bizarre! It's just two months! And yet, it was also a pre-Bad Art Friend era, and that somehow feels fucking ancient. I wonder if books that reference the pandemic feel somehow especially necessary to put out quickly. And I mainly wonder that because I feel like we've seen an awful lot of them considering how recent (and current!) the pandemic is. Who has had time to metabolize it, really? Anyway. Yes! We could all probably stand to chill out even more than our chillest outest self would allow. And let the books grow. <3
Oof, thank you for so deftly articulating the complicated feelings I had about this book, too. It feels like it was written specifically for me: a white millennial yuppie lady prone to her own bouts of self-pity, which, I guess, has its own oblique merits... But, I think you hit the nail on the head with this: "Sometimes I wonder if books by extremely successful writers get rushed along because the book’s value as a commercial asset is complete before the story has finished happening inside the writer." I expected Rooney to make me shake my fist at capitalism, of course - but was disappointed that it was for this^ reason.
Thank you! So well said! It's an interesting thing how that happens. I wonder about it because I don't think that books might get rushed along out of bad faith or cynicism, but maybe from some urge to be timely. Which I get! I was totally thinking that two months post release date might be too late to write about BW,WAY? ... which is totally bizarre! It's just two months! And yet, it was also a pre-Bad Art Friend era, and that somehow feels fucking ancient. I wonder if books that reference the pandemic feel somehow especially necessary to put out quickly. And I mainly wonder that because I feel like we've seen an awful lot of them considering how recent (and current!) the pandemic is. Who has had time to metabolize it, really? Anyway. Yes! We could all probably stand to chill out even more than our chillest outest self would allow. And let the books grow. <3