Re: BANANAFISH digest 193

Elizabeth J Respess (ejrespess@juno.com)
Tue, 30 Dec 1997 03:46:47 -0500 (EST)

something i loved about jds's stories when i first started to read them
was the feeling of being dropped into a room full of people, or into a
conversation, or whatever the setting happened to be, without having a
clue of what was going on or what people were talking about.  gradually
little tidbits of background were dropped (that i gobbled up like a pet
fish) so that i could piece together who was talking and their
relationship to each other, but i always felt clueless at first.  i loved
it.  so rich and enticing.  i knew nothing about his work before i
started reading his stories, and you can imagine my thrill at realizing
that characters in different stories were related to each other!  it took
forever before i had a handle on the glass family tree.  

one thing i will be forever thankful for though, is that at the beginning
of any story that includes mention of seymour his premature death is
explained.  i don't think i could've taken growing attached to him as a
live character and then losing him.  to me, the warning was a mercy.  it
also introduced me to him with a sense of curiosity.  before knowing
anything about him, before falling completely head over heels in love
with him, i was curious - what was so bad?  it began a feeling of empathy
with the character before i had any sensible reason to be attached to
him.  

so although no particular sentences or phrases come to mind, those are
some of the qualities of his writing that stood to out me initially.