light house – william monahan – 5 stars

a dear and darling friend of mine remarked to me the other day something about how i seemed to be awfully handy and playful with words. i can’t recall the exact phrase, but it was definitely complimentary. then she asked if i was aware of this or if it was just the way i am.

i went on to describe to her how she had actually struck the very center of a lot of my passions. how i absolutely adored and devoured words, delighted in their usages and variety; and how that drove my constant reading, as well as my desire to write this webpage. to be the verbal ninja i aspire to be, i must constantly seek out new weapons and practice my skills. which is also why i think i love the coens’ movies so much, because they seem to be high masters of wielding all forms of vernacular.

so it is too with this book, and why i loved it from start to finish. monahan swings and swishes his finely sharpened word choice through the air with the deft skill of a literary samurai. his arsenal of vocabulary is so varied and extensive that it isn’t just about choosing a suitable method of attack, but pinpointing the most stylish and exciting ways to come at each bit of dialogue or exposition, adding flourishes of language and literary reference whenever possible to make for the absolute most entertaining execution.

as only a novice myself, i will fully admit to reaching for the dictionary a number of times, and having a sense that many of the same sort of intricacies that delighted me when i did catch them were probably over my head as well — but such is the path of learning. we train with the masters that are obviously much more skilled than we are in the hopes that some day we will rise to meet them; and this was not only an adept master but a hysterical one as well, so i can’t recommend him enough. i plan to return to this one myself someday in the hopes that i come even closer to meeting its challenge, and you’d be doing yourself a very large favor to join me.