Some quick thought’s on William Gass’ The Pedersen Kid
This is a novella I was turned on to while reading John
Gardner’s The Art of Fiction. Gardner praised it as basically the
quintessential template for a novella. It was an intense read, full of the kind
of suspense and action that had me thinking constantly that a screenplay could
be written and a movie made. Perhaps some backstory could be thrown in but with
artistic license I truly wonder if a full length movie could be made of this.
To me, Gass is incredible at
rounding out these characters with so few words. One gets an image and a sense
of these people over very few paragraphs, which of course leads me to believe
that these are drawn from actual persons close to Gass. The character with the least
amount of description is the mother but you know immediately she is a brow
beaten wife who at one point is described as “mixing biscuits with a shaky
spoon.” How awesome is that?
And it is a frightening read set
in a blizzard backdrop with a near frozen boy, yellow gloves, brutal light, with
abuse and courage rounding out the tale.
I think any reader will be easily
transported to a horse drawn middle America in a frozen winter where an abused
boy will face down both family and foe to find himself through a maze of hidden
whiskey, snow drifts, and musty cellars.
Read it!
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