A Pulitzer Prize Finalist

In addition to the post title, Karen Russell's debut novel Swamplandia! is:

Rolling Stone:
Beautiful, dark and funny.

The Seattle Times:
...imaginative.

The Boston Globe:
Dazzlingly original...

The New York Times:
One of the 10 BEST BOOKS OF 2010!!!!!

The Unbearable Banishment:
So fucking boring I don't know how I'm ever going to finish this thing. I'm on page 278 of 397 and each turn of the leaf is like a slog through a vat of waist-high gelatin. I'm not invested in any of the characters. They could have all been eaten by alligators by page 50 for all I care. I don't mind heavy drama, but the novel's unrelenting dreariness is wearing me down. What, in God's name, are all these reviewers and the Pulitzer committee talking about?! I am completely out of synch with the litterari. If I ever get through this, I'm going to reread A Clockwork Orange to restore my faith in the novel as an art form.

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Daughter the Second. Six years old. I predict she will annihilate the hearts of many men without regret, starting with mine. I hope you're looking at this on a high resolution screen. As with most of my good shots, this was completely accidental. I snapped this in a booth at a diner. The light source on the left is a window. I didn't do any retouching in Photoshop. That's the raw shot.

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We walked the boardwalk in Asbury Park yesterday afternoon. This kid is out there drumming every weekend. I say "kid" because I chatted him up once and he's only 20. He's got this shitty little drum kit but, boy, he knows how to beat the hell out of it. Aside from his extraordinary rhythmic skills, he's a kick to watch. A ballet. He told me he likes to concentrate on visuals, which isn't something you hear drummers say very often. Watch how he handles those sicks. Tosses it up with his right hand, changes the stick in his left hand over to his right, and catches it with is now empty left hand. All in a split second. Twirl, twirl, twirl.

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A pretty, young Chinese girl walks onto the downtown R train with her gigantic Plaster of Paris rat. The reaction from the other passengers? Compete and utter indifference. Of course!

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If I were a wizard for one day, I would conjure an irrevocable metaphysical law whereby if you dialed a number on your mobile phone while behind the wheel, it would instantaneously superheat to the temperature of molten lava. If you tapped out a text message while driving, the phone would detonate, taking your hand with it.

Ooh! That was a little dark, wasn't it? But it's an epidemic out here in Stupidville, U.S.A. Another wreck this past weekend. Is it as big a problem in other countries?

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Self Portrait #3

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EDIT via Savanna: Apparently, my self portrait reminds her of this guy:

Nice. So much for my ability to express myself artistically.