I'm lucky that I'd brought home from work a donated copy of the novel Remarkably Bright Creatures on Saturday (on someone's recommendation--whose? was it yours?) because I came down with a cold on Sunday, and it was the ideal thing to read when sick. I read the whole thing in one sitting, from noon till bedtime, and enjoyed it.
Bright Creatures was published in 2022, but it felt old-fashioned, like it could've been set in the 1990s. Reading it was so... emotionally easy, so . . . undisturbing.
The only disease going around is chlamydia.
A lot of the story takes place in a seaside aquarium in the Pacific Northwest, but no one mentions climate change or how it's affecting ocean life. (A Giant Pacific Octopus is a central character.)
No one even mentions odor, though one character spends his work days chopping up fish for aquarium feed.
And the major trauma that sends an absent character into a life of addiction is a BOATING ACCIDENT.
What are we, Ordinary People? (That was 1980.)
The pre–9/11 vibe of Bright Creatures reminded me of the comic novel Less, which I'd read a few months ago. I enjoyed Less a lot--it made me laugh out loud, and it's far better written than Bright (which is full of holes), but I totally do not understand why Less won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It reads as if it's possible for things like age-related hair loss to be someone's biggest concern.
Of course it's possible, but is it Pulitzer Prize–worthy possible? The Pulitzer Prize that says, "Our mission is to champion the power of stories to make complex issues relevant and inspire action"?
Maybe they only apply those standards to journalism, not fiction?
Okay--digging deeper . . . the fiction Pulitzer is awarded for "distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life."
Here's a list from Powell's of winners of the Pulitzer for fiction. Not generally lightweight...
Less was published in 2017, so it's pre-pandmic, but not pre-Trump, and at that time it seemed like everyone else was writing premonitory novels about Bad Stuff Coming Our Way, whether a virus or white supremacy.
For the character Arthur Less, the approaching bad stuff is his fiftieth birthday and an ex-lover's marriage to someone else. He's gay, but in a way that also feels old-fashioned--he's just plain old gay, not worried about it and neither is anybody else (like remember when Obama became president and people were saying America was post-racial?). Less is a writer in San Francisco, white, healthy, with good looks, has lots of casual sex.... Not that there's anything wrong with that.
In fact, both books were really nice to read. Restful. It reminds me that last summer when I had a cold I re-read the last three volumes of Harry Potter and also found that restful---to enter into a story world that ties things off with an uncomplicated happy ending. But Harry Potter is for children.
Still, happy endings are nice for grown-ups too! Especially if your head hurts. I'd especially recommend Less if you're looking for a fun, smart break. (Bright Creatures is fine, but a little more Hallmark channel. And the fact-checker in me dislikes anthropomorphizing the octopus.)
A break from Bad Stuff is nice, but it does make me wonder where they stashed it.
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