“Unputdownable.” Yes, I Said It.

Seth Fischer bio ↓ · July 19th, 2009 · filed under Other

With apologies to commenters who hated the word “unputdownable” in my post last week about the worst words ever, I will now point you in the direction of Elizabeth Bachner’s brilliant essay on that terrible phrase.

“There are … great books that are hard to read or slow-going, and also bad, waste-of-time books that are a slog. There are brilliant books that are unputdownable, but also piece-of-shit, brain-rotting books that are unputdownable. How do we tell which is which? … (H)ow do we isolate those key ingredients that enhance flavor, and find them in wholesome forms?”

Her answer is justifiably a bit messy, and I encourage you to read the whole article. But I will leave you with this:

“(Juan) Goytisolo’s novel (Juan the Landless) … demands to be read as it was written, in his unique voice. …(S)omebody — some publisher — thought that this unique voice was worth something, and understood that someday, on a beach somewhere during the summer of 2009, you or I would want to read his staccato expositions on King Kong and czarinas with sweaty necks and the architecture of God.”

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Seth Fischer's writing has appeared or is forthcoming in Swink, Pank, Guernica, Monkeybicycle, Gertrude, and elsewhere. He's working on a novel about a girl who accidentally raises an army and destroys the world, and he's founding editor of The Splinter Generation. He also teaches and tutors and administrates and does copyediting and copywriting so that he can pay bills, but that only works sometimes. If you could help him make that work all the time, he would probably give you a hug, but only if you wanted one. Reach him at seth.fischer (at) gmail.com or @sethfischer. More from this author →

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“Unputdownable.” Yes, I Said It.

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