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Bullet In The Brain (2000)

by Tobias Wolff(Favorite Author)

4.43 of 5 Votes: 5

languge

English

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review 1: I feel like I'm probably missing the real point here, or at least, not catching all of the meaning, but what I got from this was the critic's lack of interest in things he once enjoyed, causing him to see cliche in everything- and that's what kills him. I'm not even sure if I can explain what I mean well. I was just taken by the idea that he hates all of these things because they are tired and typical and predictable, but it's when the bank robbers are spitting out horribly cliche phrases that he's able to "enjoy" it again. He laughs, and that's what gets him killed. And even as he's dying, he's not remembering the things people normally "remember", he fixes on a time when someone's speech went off the track and surprised him. I don't know, I really think I'm probably miss... moreing a bigger meaning here, but even with what I'm taking away from this short story, I give it four stars. I think it was well written, and it certainly makes you think, as there's not a clear meaning the first time reading it (at least not to me).
review 2: This is the best short story ever written. It may be that I've been biased by both a TC Boyle reading (on a New Yorker podcast some 10 years back, or so it seems) and a dramatic presentation by Tom Noonan that has haunted me for nearly as long. Even so, the story stands repeated readings and assorted interpretations while losing none of its power and poetry. It is, in fact, a flawless example of the art of the short story. less

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