So I finished Empire Falls this morning. Still don’t like the book, still felt it was in dire need of a good editor, but found that I had to at least give it a C+, rather than the C- I was originally contemplating. The upgrade is due to the well-crafted moments of truth a few of the characters reflect upon; my favorite of these comes from the character “Tick” the protagonist’s teenage daughter, who can’t decide whether life comes speeding at you or moves slowly along. She reflects that though some moments in life seem to come so fast that they take you by surprise, in reality, these events occur very gradually, over such an extended length of time, that we convince ourselves we have plenty of time to change things, to alter our course – to prevent what we see coming – but are lured into a false sense of security – and that is what allows us to be surprised.
Makes you think, huh?
Melonie Johnson 