Scan barcode
A review by jamesdanielhorn
Bullet Park by John Cheever
4.0
10/7/21 addendum:
It’s been almost a year since I read this and I think about this book a lot. There are some particularly interesting themes of belonging I keep coming back to, and while I still think this book has some flaws I think I was harsh in the review I initially posted. I’m leaving this a solid 4. May you all avoid seasonal cafard!
This books certainly has its moments. The lush prose is the only thing rounding this 3.5 up to a 4. Maybe I’m just bored with white men and their melodramatic problems. I’ve never seen it mentioned before but in my opinion Delillo’s White Noise is clearly heavily influenced by this book but in my opinion bests it. It’s hard to hate on a book with this for an opening though...
“Paint me a small railroad station then, ten minutes before dark. Beyond the platform are the waters of the Wekonsett River, reflecting a somber afterglow. The architecture of the station is oddly informal, gloomy but unserious, and mostly resembles a pergola, cottage or summer house although this is a climate of harsh winters. The lamps along the platform burn with a nearly palpable plaintiveness. The setting seems in some way to be at the heart of the matter. We travel by plane, oftener than not, and yet the spirit of our country seems to have remained a country of railroads. You wake in a pullman bedroom at three a.m. in a city the name of which you do not know and may never discover. A man stands on the platform with a child on his shoulders. They are waving goodbye to some traveler, but what is the child doing up so late and why is the man crying? On a siding beside the platform there is a lighted dining car where a waiter sits alone at a table, adding up his accounts. Beyond this is a water tower and beyond this a well-lighted and empty street. Then you think happily that this is your country - unique, mysterious and vast.”
It’s been almost a year since I read this and I think about this book a lot. There are some particularly interesting themes of belonging I keep coming back to, and while I still think this book has some flaws I think I was harsh in the review I initially posted. I’m leaving this a solid 4. May you all avoid seasonal cafard!
This books certainly has its moments. The lush prose is the only thing rounding this 3.5 up to a 4. Maybe I’m just bored with white men and their melodramatic problems. I’ve never seen it mentioned before but in my opinion Delillo’s White Noise is clearly heavily influenced by this book but in my opinion bests it. It’s hard to hate on a book with this for an opening though...
“Paint me a small railroad station then, ten minutes before dark. Beyond the platform are the waters of the Wekonsett River, reflecting a somber afterglow. The architecture of the station is oddly informal, gloomy but unserious, and mostly resembles a pergola, cottage or summer house although this is a climate of harsh winters. The lamps along the platform burn with a nearly palpable plaintiveness. The setting seems in some way to be at the heart of the matter. We travel by plane, oftener than not, and yet the spirit of our country seems to have remained a country of railroads. You wake in a pullman bedroom at three a.m. in a city the name of which you do not know and may never discover. A man stands on the platform with a child on his shoulders. They are waving goodbye to some traveler, but what is the child doing up so late and why is the man crying? On a siding beside the platform there is a lighted dining car where a waiter sits alone at a table, adding up his accounts. Beyond this is a water tower and beyond this a well-lighted and empty street. Then you think happily that this is your country - unique, mysterious and vast.”