A Book Report & Something about a Cary Grant life & Things
A picture of 3 buddies on a Saturday in Nob Hill (the boxes will not unpack themselves).
I finished a book and had two more things to say.
The Book:
In Orbit by Wright Morris
The Takeaway:
The sepia grained image of freeway clovers and big block white letters led me to believe that if the pages did not practically turn themselves at least it could sit and look pretty on my desk. While it took me an embarrassingly long time to read this book (one month, I was busy!) it was something thoroughly enjoyable. Although the plot of a high school drop out that in one way or another steals a motorcycle and rapes and pillages a town sounds brutal, the words on the pages were not. They were perfect and simple and it is the kind of writing that surprises me, because I wish I thought of saying “it” like that first.
A few standout quotes:
“Long stories sometimes take very little time.”
I think the reason why long stories get long is because we get sad and feelings get hurt, and it is more about what did not happen in between the conflict and resolution (maybe nothing even got resolved).
“But knowing who he really was was not the same as recognizing himself”
Getting dressed and looking in a mirror is not the same thing as conceptualizing what we think of the person next to us on the bus and how they make you/us feel. It is a question of How do you describe/understand yourself versus Who is looking back at you after you spit out your toothpaste?
“Charlotte is beautiful as well as peculiar, and both are something of a strain for a man like Alan, but a greater strain would be life without her. He knew that. She knew that… Knowing people is not at all important if you’re in love with them.”
My cousin who got out of a relationship somewhat near my exit from one as well, left me with these genius painful words, ‘I was in love with a version of him that does not exist.’ Any person that carries a title specifying any kind of relationship you have with them is a reflection of yourself. You are what you eat. You sometimes eat your words and your surrounding people are a better mirror than a full length one.
“Is it her fault he looks so old because he looks so far ahead?”
No notes.
“Charlotte likes some of France, most of Europe, and nearly all of Italy very much, but she is also reasonably happy to live with Alan in a place like Pickett. Nor does she want to be more than reasonably happy. It would be too much.”
Too much of a good thing is a bad thing and I just told Chloe about my pipe dream of flocking East in two years so I would fall into a life in Europe after the fact. But it feels too selfish (translation it would be too much and I would be spoiled if that is the case. Here is just at good).
“In California, where they met and married, there was always the beach to go to on Sundays, although as a matter of fact, they seldom went. Just knowing it was there seemed to be enough.”
No notes.
“Alan is masculine but gentle. He is reasonable but incomprehensible. All of which hardly matters since what she likes is the way he looks.”
No notes.
“The simplest situations are often the hardest to explain”
Re: “Long stories sometimes take very little time.” The stripped down mono version of anything leaves room for the profound. How do you explain sunsets or blossoms on trees?
“It is the music that sort of carries, and a little bit of it goes a long way.”
No notes.
“It hardly matters if you believe it or not: the times have changed.”
No notes.
“Charlotte’s naivete is attractive, four out of five times, but the fifth time it is often exasperating. Take her interest in strangers. Her belief that strangers must be interesting.”
This feels personal.
“Charlotte herself is alive in a way electricity is, and it makes her unruly. On certain days, like this one, she seems charged with it. Alan is both pleased and disturbed by the sight of it. After all, it is why he loved her, and he would rather live with it than do without it. But it is not easy. She is alive in a way that most people are not.”
I hope to be alive in a way most people are not.
Concluding thoughts:
I think what I liked best about this book was how it described people and how I felt connected to this Charlotte character. It is in a vain way of feeling unique as compared to others and I am starting to think that it is symptomatic of being a 20 something single female (like why do I use symptomatic regularly in my writing?).
The title In Orbit was perfectly populated throughout the pages. The essence of flux and motion blur feels all too real. You should read this.
5/5.
Other notes unrelated to the book report:
A Monday of biblical Garfield proportions came and went and as rudely as it showed up in the first place, the cure seemed to be some red wine, a good dinner, and Cary Grant in Europe on the TV. Oh how nice it would be to have Cary Grant take me to dinner and walk me to my suite and the next day we would swim in the Mediterranean and drive in a convertible (I would wear driving gloves). Instead, I go to bed alone in my tiny San Franciscan room hoping I do not forget to mail the postcards on my walk to the bus Tuesday morning. (I did not forget to mail the postcards and the sun was out and warm and waking up tangled in my own down comforter is the coziest place).
On Sunday Chloe and I wandered around the Alameda flea looking at things that have lived and seen more than we ever will (at least as of right now). On Monday Lulu called me to tell me a few things. One of which was about this rocking chair we found on a sidewalk in San Francisco. She took it with her to her new place in Los Angeles. However, on Monday she found a better chair on a Los Angeles sidewalk so she traded the San Franciscan rocking chair for a Los Angeles leather one. It is funny how things get traded and passed around and how do I have wear wool sweaters that are closer to being a century old than I am to 30 years old? I feel like I should start writing a will soon.
