The Double Take

Well, I actually read a book NOT by Elizabeth Berg in the last couple of days. Aren't you so proud? (No worries, I still have 7 of hers to go; I'll be back on the subject soon.)

I finished The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian in the very wee hours of this morning. I was like a little kid, huddled under a baby quilt with my flashlight so I wouldn't wake up Todd, who likes to sleep at night for some reason.

This was a crrrrrrazy book! It's about a social worker employed by a homeless shelter. A client of the shelter dies, and it turns out he's a formerly famous photographer, who by means of his mental illness, ended up homeless. The photographer's character was loosely based on a true story, and the real photos are interspersed throughout the book.

This book has the most twistiest, unexpected ending ever. You might read it and call me stupid for missing it, but I don't think so. There are vague clues, and I knew something was up, but I am quite sure my eyes were as large as the proverbial saucers when I was wolfing down the last couple of pages. Dude!

At first, I was a little taken aback. Lots of the writing instruction I've seen says you can't trick the reader TOO much, or they feel ... um ... tricked. I almost felt that way when I finished, but then I began to go backwards a bit, and saw that if I had been super diligent, I might have figured it out.

Quite different from Midwives, a little more like Before You Know Kindness. Bohjalian is still on my amazing writers list.

In writing news, I've finished the first draft of a new short story, and after some feedback, I've got a few revisions to make, but I'm quite pleased with it. I've decided to work on as many short stories or other short pieces as I can while I'm doing my contract work blitz. A month down, three weeks or so to go, then I can get back on my WIP. I'm also considering doing NaNoWriMo, though, with a new story idea just to see where it might go. I'm still trying to "find myself" as a writer, and I think doing that might be a good exercise.