The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell - review

The Interrogative Mood by Padgett Powell

I know exactly the market for this mildly irritating, rather precious book. "Would you rather be bitten by an alligator or a large cat? How many diapers whould you say you have changed in your life?"

It's all questions, leading me to ask a few of my own. What species of human spends upwards of 50% of its time questioning things? What age group considers self-examination as necessary as texting?

Teenagers. In case the "texting" clue didn't tip you off. Only reservation I would have about handing this to a whole squad of teenagers is the slightly hyper-Anglo countrified nostalgia that shows up from time to time. "When was the last time you gapped a spark plug yourself?" "Are you as fond as I of cobalt glass?"

In fact, the whole thing could easily be a 164-page entry in McSweeney's Internet Tendency. With a side of Stuff White People Like. On the other hand, I do feel affection for it. Like Padgett Powell, and the swanky authors who endorse him on the back cover (Safran Foer! Amy Hempel! Luc Sante, now that's hard core!), I like words. And I like that this book contains these words and phrases:

• hernia
• pine cone
• amateur
• filament
• hoeing
• banana-seated stingray bike
• crotch bark
• booze
• harbormaster

Comments

[Annette]

Too bad. I loved Edisto (and my blue banana-seat bike).