after reading love, dishonor, marry, die, cherish, perish, i decided to read the rest of rakoff's work and started with his collection of stories, fraud.
i will have to say that right off the back, i fell in love with him and his allusions and imagery. see: "i tear my medicine cabinet a part like billie holiday and still only uncover one xanax." and this was in the second paragraph, i knew i would have some fun! and i did! for the most part. i have to admit that there were times that i got a little bored and rakoff got a little too debbie downer and snarky for me.
but lets share what i loved!
i loved the story of him at the kibbutz. and i am glad he stuck up for himself at the chicken farm. my ex-stepdad's uncle used to have chicken farm for eggs and the smell was disgusting!!! rakoff was right! but that wasn't the point of his story. i gave him an applause when after hearing the workers refer to him as she in hebrew, rakoff told them back in hebrew, "you're right . . . she doesn't like the chickens." a great little classy middle finger!
also appreciated his little line, "i'm crazy about the food chain and love being on top of it."
i found the story, "hidden people" about the hidden people of iceland really interesting. primarily, because i now believe that björk, jonsi, so of course sigur rós, and of monsters and men are not icelandic people but rather hidden people! i have seen björk and jónsi in concert and they are like little woodland fairies on stage. it's almost like they reveal their hidden people selves up on stage. their music is enchanting and sounds otherworldly. and check out their costumes:
i know hidden people dress like regular people only dated but still i think this is how they actually dress. and i love all of the music but their something magical about them that i can never describe properly which i guess just adds to this theory. it makes more sense that they are hidden people but their music is definitely out of this world.
i enjoyed his story, "extrordinary alien", because i do love canadians. my favorite canadians include michael cera, alanis morissette, and robin scherbasky (though she isn't real). and i just learned on wikipedia that kim cattrall, frank gehry (!!!), and ellen page are canadian! way to go canada!
i absolutely loved "christmas freud"!!! what a clever idea for a barney's window. a little odd but clever! i also loved how they turned into actual sessions. i wish christmas freud became a thing because let's face it, therapy sessions would be helpful during the drain of holiday season. also i googled for an image of rakoff in his window but unfortunately didn't come across anything.
i really enjoyed the article about the teachers for austria, "we call it australia". it made me consider going to another country to teach english, we'll see. his story about tokyo also gave me an itch to travel.
the last story, "i used to bank here, but that was long, long ago" almost brought me to tears. (i would have cried but i was on a greyhound from vegas, i was too tired to be that emotional). it was a sad story considering rakoff's fate. the story centers around him finding sperm he had stored because he was starting treatment for hodgkin's. this hit close to home for me because as i get older and have yet to find someone to reproduce with, i might have to freeze my eggs and i never considered how expensive it will be. hopefully it will not come to that.
rakoff also discussed his treatment and the memories he had of his treatment. he discussed how he glossed over the pain he felt which resulted his in his memories being eschewed. i thought about that in terms of my grandma, i have been in denial about her being gone and i wonder what my memories will be of this time in the future. everything now feels so far away but it has been two months since she first went into the hospital. i worry one day that everything i have hidden away during this time will all come flooding out. its okay if it does, because it needs to be realized but i am just not ready yet.
i hate to end on such a solemn note but its mirrors fraud so i guess its okay that it does. but an enjoyable read, not something to digest all at once but to leave near a bed to occasionally pick up.
No comments:
Post a Comment