Previous Matches
Still More Quote Porn
Lamb
"Nobody's perfect. Well, there was this one guy, but we killed him."
" 'Look, Josh, there's another message from your mother.'
Josh glanced and looked away.
'That's not my mother.'
'But look, in the elephant poop, it's a woman's face.'
'I know, but it's not my mother. It's distorted because of the medium. It doesn't even look like her. Look at the eyes.'
I had to climb to the back of the elephant to get another angle on it. He was right, it wasn't his mother.
'I guess you were right. The medium obscured the message.'
'That's what I'm saying.'
"Nobody's perfect. Well, there was this one guy, but we killed him."
" 'Look, Josh, there's another message from your mother.'
Josh glanced and looked away.
'That's not my mother.'
'But look, in the elephant poop, it's a woman's face.'
'I know, but it's not my mother. It's distorted because of the medium. It doesn't even look like her. Look at the eyes.'
I had to climb to the back of the elephant to get another angle on it. He was right, it wasn't his mother.
'I guess you were right. The medium obscured the message.'
'That's what I'm saying.'
Gone Girl
"Tampon commercial, detergent commercial, maxi pad commercial, Windex commercial - you'd think all women do is clean and bleed."
“I feel myself trying to be charming, and then I realize I’m obviously trying to be charming, and then I try to be even more charming to make up for the fake charm, and then I’ve basically turned into Liza Minnelli: I’m dancing in tights and sequins, begging you to love me. There’s a bowler and jazz hands and lots of teeth.”
“I feel myself trying to be charming, and then I realize I’m obviously trying to be charming, and then I try to be even more charming to make up for the fake charm, and then I’ve basically turned into Liza Minnelli: I’m dancing in tights and sequins, begging you to love me. There’s a bowler and jazz hands and lots of teeth.”
Head-to-Head
Characters: By this point in the tournament, this is old hat: Nick and Amy Dunne suck. They're well written, but they're so ethereally frustrating that by the end of the book, it was a disappointment that they both lived.
In Lamb, Moore casts off the righteous Biblical Christ and makes him more man than myth. Moreover, I'd go for a beer with Biff.
Advantage: Lamb.
Setting: Present day America, with a Nancy Grace clone worthy of Tussaud's. BCE equatorial Indochina that reads as vivdly as Shangri-La. Both are admirably written, but Lamb's universe is a feat of imagination that excels despite its loosely-based-on-a-true-story constraint.
Advantage: Lamb.
Plot: Lamb is meandering awesome, fitting BCE religions neatly under an umbrella, and they sound sensible with their powers combined. Gone Girl, though: 3 sittings. For a 400-page plus book.
As great as Lamb was, there were brief transitional periods where reading approached chore status while I patiently waited for Jesus to find his way to another wise man and/or barrel of laughs. Gone Girl was redlined in third gear until the checkered flag.
Advantage: Gone Girl.
Ending: See the movie yet? That's how the book should've chopped to black screen, if not taking a slightly more murderous course altogether.
Am I talking about Gone Girl or The Passion of Christ? You decide, dear reader.
Advantage: Draw. I didn't like either.
Language/Writing: Moore is occasionally profound; above quote porn shows a great conversational bit that is a whole lot more subtle in context (I promise). The banter is top notch: Joshua and Biff sound like real cartoon childhood friends on a caper in Mr. Wilson's backyard. It's expertly written.
On the other hand, Flynn's writing style contributes so handily to the plot that excels so much: the back-and-forth, Nick-and-Amy sections contrast wonderfully, with Diary Amy's voice being so convincing that it dabbles in horror territory. Further, thrillers are often scant on (if not bankrupt of) real, poignant thoughts, favoring language as a tool to amp intensity rather than give thought. Gillian Flynn does both, without a seam in sight.
Advantage: Gone Girl by a nose.
Philosophy: Like many books that would qualify as classic Literature, Lamb surveys philosophy and thoughts from so many before it that were lucid to the point of perfection.
Fittingly, its opponent is quick to declare that inventiveness is so 19th century. Gone Girl, in so many passages, sincerely struggles with the thought that it's impossible for anything to be new; at best, traits of a persona can be selected from "an endless automat of characters".
Gone Girl's frank meditation on this point is almost weighty enough to tip the scales, but then Lamb gets so many bonus points for respectfully and cleverly explaining how and why its take on Christianity is that it was pilfered from dogmas before it. Originality might be dead, but creativity blazes on.
Advantage: Push.
Winner Winner Turkey Supper
Once again, Gone Girl ties a brilliantly written comedy, potentially underrating both its dramatic merits as well as the accomplished, clever humor of the comedies it faces. An insight into my internal thoughts: Lamb was unquestionably 5 stars, but I think I'd choose either of Small Gods or Hitchhiker's Guide over it in those head to head battles.
Once again, Gone Girl ties a brilliantly written comedy, and in its every match I mention its assertion that true innovation is a thing of the past.
Gone Girl ties great comedy book but wins anyway for the third straight time, bookmarking its place in the semifinals.
No comments:
Post a Comment