July 10th & 17th, 2023 - The Kitchen God

Dear TNY,

The last of the three is “The Kitchen God”.

I have no fucking idea what to make of this.  No skimming here, so that’s positive.  The stucco, the three faces, the weird trampling of Mr. Sanobe, the weasel, the shoplifting.  Whew.  This story has some quirk alright.  I don’t know if I understood the point of it?  It was interesting to look at.  Maybe that’s the point? Maybe it’s symbolic? Allegorical? Metaphorical? Maybe it’s got a Coover or Barthelme or Faulkner quality? I don’t know.

I don’t have much else to say about it.  It’s so far outside what you normally publish (as in, it doesn’t seem to have a narrative arc and it’s bizzarro world), it’s hard to define.  So is it right or wrong?  I don’t fucking know.  I’m not an expert.

Did I “like” it?  Maybe? 

Is “maybe” a good answer?  Maybe? 

I’m glad it wasn’t “P’s Parties”.  Let’s just say that. 

Speaking of “did I like it” I want to take a minute to talk about the show The Bear.  Which I loved.  I think the writing is top notch.  The character development, especially in season two, is next level.  And the acting is unreal.  Super long takes with an ensemble cast, all of whom are talking at the same time, and none of them aren’t dialed the fuck up.  It’s just brilliant top to bottom.  I was discussing with The Wizard last week about what I’m really writing about here on FTNY (as in, it’s not about the desert landscape or the mating habits of cuttlefish) and he said I’m writing about the human heart at conflict with itself (which he said Faulkner would say is the only thing worth writing about).  And maybe that’s right.  Maybe it’s not.  I don’t know.  I’m just trying to, as “Colorín Colorado” said, pause the train so I can be seen and understood (pointlessly, I know).  In The Bear, each character develops their own conflict with their heart.  Each is fully realized and different.  Each conflict is rich and painful and hard to watch and fucking savage.  I’m saying slap your fucking peepers on it as soon as you can.  Or as they say out here, sample it.  Yeah, you’ll see the character arcs.  You’ll feel the tension (boy howdy, the family dinner!).  But take the time to watch how long the shots are and how complicated the blocking is.  Exceptional.  And man, when Carmy’s mom is smoking the cigarette and she says, “I don’t deserve to be in that room,”…GODDAMN.  That’s parenting.  I mean, she’s insane.  But also just a person, trying to be understood like anyone else.  But she knew.  Fuck, they all fucking know man.  The show is a fucking triumph.

Anyway, just needed to say that. 

Another fiction issue in the books.  Next week is off, which I will be happy about.  And we don’t have to do this shit until next year.

Later, you bean-flicking little perverts.  Because we are ALL bean-flicking little perverts.

Nick