Is this a misprint? “I tried the snowsuit out on a stuffed bear the brown of the bark of a sugar maple.” It’s from Jill Lepore’s absorbing personal history piece “The Deadline,” in this week’s issue. Should it read, “I tried the snowsuit out on a stuffed bear brown as the bark of a sugar maple”? Maybe that’s too square. Maybe Lepore is trying for something more spontaneous and concise. Her style is compressed, like Muriel Spark’s. But there’s something jarring about that “the” between “bear” and “brown.” I compared the print version with the online version; they’re the same. So it’s either a typo or a stylistic quirk. I can’t decide.
Another line in Lepore’s piece that puzzled me is “Most of my ideas about parenting came from Marge [Simpson], fretting beneath her blue beehive.” Come on! There’s no way that’s true. Lepore is angling for a laugh; in so doing, she undermines her credibility.
But “The Deadline” also contains a sentence so beautiful it took my breath away: “Upstairs, one of the skylights blew open and the rain came pouring in, onto the wedding dress I’d sewn from a bargain bolt, brocade.”
Other inspired sentences in this week’s issue:
Boyle, especially in the early scenes, provides acceleration; at the exact moment when Jack, standing at a bus stop, properly understands what the future holds, the camera hurries toward him like an excited kid. – Anthony Lane, “What If?”
Other inspired sentences in this week’s issue:
If the crunch of the artery pleases you, move on to the pork kidney, which is cut into flowery shapes that vaguely resemble miniature porcupines and lands on the tongue with an umami-forward bounce. – Jiayang Fan, “Tables For Two: Da Long Yi Hot Pot”
Basquiat’s is no genre of art but art, period. – Peter Schjeldahl, “Could Have Been Me”
He was a genial American eccentric, cultivating his own slant. – Dan Chiasson, “The Sense of an Ending”
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