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June 15, 2001
A Few Corrections
I just finished reading A Few Corrections by Brad Leithauser. It's a mystery of sorts, I guess. It starts with an obituary that describes the life of a man in three paragraphs, and ends with an obituary for the same man that spans four pages.
In the remaining parts of the book we have a protagonist who is searching for information. Describing the details would give away a large portion of the plot. But the format is interesting. With each revelation, the next chapter begins with a hand-annotated version of the obituary. All the corrections, additions, deletions are presented for the reader as they continue through the narrative.
It works as a mystery, but in a away it's like watching a painter start from a sketch and fill in the details. It's a nice character study, one that takes it's time to fill in details. The approach the author takes is to use the space of the novel to fill in the details of the deceased character, while using more conventional means to fill in the supporting characters, including the narrator. The story is layered, compelling and makes a good summer read.
Posted by tdotjay at June 15, 2001 08:24 AM
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