Running for Your Life: A “Most Perfect Things” Summer

In a “Manner” of speaking, this post qualifies as a sleeper. As in, a cultural enterprise (movie, book, play) that is fantastic but will very likely escape your notice.

The kind of prose you find in “Most Perfect Things About People,” a novel by Mark Jordan Manner, is as far away from what will put you to sleep as, well, “Dracula” by Bram Stoker. Actually, I read Knausgaard at night before bed, and Manner during my subway rides. Problem is, reading prose like I've posted below and you’re likely to get so engrossed you’ll miss your stop. Here’s a sample, from a mother artist to her baby:

“An uneasy feeling lifted inside my chest. My breasts felt sick and strange. The moon kept approaching, got closer and closer. It blocked the sky. I hung up the phone, walked over to you and smelled your hair. Your daddy used to complain working at the warehouse made his hair dry and his mouth parched. All the fucking cardboard, he used to say. It’s funny, because that’s how I imagined him. I pictured him in a cell with his hair like hay and a plain, thirsty tongue. It dangled from his mouth, gray and empty, until I pressed your tiny hands into my palette and together we colored the whole thing in.”

 Next: Running for Your Life: Heel, Runner


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