Two things. First, there’s the style, which is impeccable and consistent throughout the book — the observer, who I suppose is tacitly identified with the third-person main character here (and who narrates his observations in a similar clinical deadpan), provides a clear physical description, delivered in short factual sentences, generally without even so much as the interruption or complexity of a subordinate clause or a comma. It’s a very effective stylistic choice, given the genre and subject. Second, though — this description is of a bit of I-95 in North Carolina, not precisely a stretch of road I know intimately, but have driven, along with much of the Eastern Seaboard; the service plaza described is far more common on toll roads, down to the gas station provided, which would be (is?) anomalous on non-toll 95. But beyond that quibble — I’ve never seen a rest stop where people cluster near the entrance. Rather, as Americans, we get as close as possible with our cars before trusting our legs. All of this is minor, of course — but sets up a weird dissonance where the voice is entirely trustworthy but the information delivered is just a bit off.
July 15, 2010, 3:49pm Comments
