The Paste of Life

"You try to put the world in simple terms when it's complicated" (47).

Who the hell is Simons kidding?

Edisto gets all sorts of things right--things I hope we discuss--but first and foremost this book is a celebration, a luxuriation of syntax. The way syllables form words and words turn into sentences and sentences into paragraphs and paragraphs into chapters and chapters into story and story into themes. Powell practically wallows in the possibilities of the English language.

I'm not sure how discuss-able the language of Edisto is, but I am sure I want to share my favorite passages:

• "And one of the ways to prolong pleasure is to not chop up time with syllables. [Dudes at the Baby Grand] go for something larger than words, but no essays" (9).
• "...I the homunculus..." (46).
• "...that he moved like a fish in cool water because I stocked the tank" (49).
• "TV and the law are both these large things that are technical and controlled by white people, so it nerved her out" (56).
• "I'd heard enough. The good old days were on a respirator. A boarding school and landed gentry snot-nose college prep buggers for Simons Manigault" (151).