Sometimes I seem to read in tangents. I read Ann Patchett's State of Wonder, and then I wanted to read her book on writing. Then it seemed right to read a novel by a writer that she named as a great friend in her writing book, the person who, in the recent interview on KQED's Forum, she said that she read the draft of State of Wonder aloud while they both sprawled out on couches over a two-day period. I just had to read a McCracken novel next.
Niagra Falls All Over Again is a story about the last days of vaudeville and the coming of age of radio and television. The story focuses on the long-term friendship of a comedy team, our narrator, Mose, the straight man, and Rocky, the more established comic. It's a book that reflects on the nature of being a straight man. It's about what it's like to establish and set the patter and the routine of a comedy act. What are you like offstage? Does the act get to evolve? Where does one person begin and the other end?
McCracken writes beautifully. She has a deceptive fairytale cadence to her prose, where you think it's just going to be a lovely story, but then there are scenes that break it open, moments of emotion that you would think would disrupt the tone, but they only serve to deepen it. It's kind of amazing. Her images feel exact. Each word feels destined for its particular sentence. This would be a book that would be fun to hear, because she undestands rhythm and language so well. It was a joy to read.
