to serve his purpose. What is writing, after all, other than manipulation? Manipulation of circumstance, and manipulation of words. Martin says that’s the problem with America’s writing, that it’s all about character. What about the way the words make you feel? His reading was entirely poetic, which shows how the book is supposed to be read. The story skips around from past to present, leaving the reader under uncertain terms with the storyline and character, but not with the underlying emotion. Even the cover is about lack of image, but no image leaves you without emotion. Martin’s novel is proof that as writers we can do interesting things with stories, not just with poetry. Martin is currently working on a re-write of another novel. That's a fabulous idea…we have re-makes of movies, so why not? Blur the lines a little. Spice up a traditional novel and prove that writing is not about connecting the dots and following the rules. It’s a great example for the rest of the world proving that a novel can be beautiful, too. Then you also get writers like Priscilla Lee who shows you that stories can come out of beautiful poetry as well. All these titles and divisions seem to keep getting in the way, don’t they?...
