Tuesday's Literary Briefing

Maybe It's Not That Hard

It’s got to be difficult being a parent. Of course there are the obvious responsibilities that caring for a human being entail. But what about the emotional challenge? My brother and I used to tease our mother about her antiquated mispronunciation of brand names; e.g., Coke-Cola and U-Haul-It. In retrospect, she was the correct one: Coke did have coke in it and one does haul “it” (and other things). Lately, we’ve had a good yet wincing laugh at the constant misinterpretation of The Great Gatsby, as exhibited by these costumes. Maybe misunderstanding is why novelists don’t like interviews. How do they feel about reviews? Here are two: journeying the Nile, which is not quite Conrad’s Congo, and Three Stations, which is not quite Gorky. Looks like nothing is quite as it seems, or sounds. — Andrew Geer