![]() ![]() The central figure of the novel is Bit, who we first meet as a small child as his parents, the architect Abe and his wife Hannah, and the rest of the Arcadia clan first come upon the land. Her hippies discover the abandoned acres and crumbling mansions and see a dream community, yet like a good horror story, Groff has planted seeds of discord. What makes discussing Arcadia difficult is that even as she luxuriates in detailing the founding of Arcadia, a commune built up by hippies in the 1970s, she also creates unavoidable pitfalls that ensure that this commune and utopian ideal cannot succeed. Having established herself with her debut, The Monsters of Templeton, as someone who could weave a plot with shimmering language, Groff has turned her focus from the mysteries of genealogy to the conundrum of building a home in the natural world. Such beauty is even harder to pin down when discussing the qualities of Arcadia, the second novel by the brilliant young writer Lauren Groff. Even if you manage to cup a butterfly between your palms, you can only peek between your fingers to watch its wings open for a brief moment. ![]() Rather, the problem arises from finding ways to pin the beauty down. It’s not about a lack of material, specific details, or turns of phrase that sing out long after you close the pages. It’s hard to write about beautiful books. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |