Assumption is a strange little book, too, in its shifts: there are three parts, with no real clear through-line to them; three mysteries that do not get entirely, satisfactorily resolved. Threads dangle. And time passes, winter to summer to spring. But the tone also shifts, abruptly — from the mild bemusement of the first act, to the full-on deadpan quirk of the second act. The third act is more complex, and I’m pretty sure that the lefthand turn at the end of it didn’t work for me — but oh, when Everett’s on, Assumption is great. And the second act is just simply a great short story.
October 30, 2011, 11:03am Comments
