OK

[Paul Mackin]

From: 	Ted Samsel[SMTP:tejas at infi.net]

_V_ difficult? Weird....
But since I first read it over 30 years ago, I don't remember..

>>>>Reread it about a year ago. Don't know if 'difficult'  is the word. =
Just too overdetermined to make a clear narrative out of. A path you =
might want to consider will invariably be blocked by some revelation. =
This is just an impression. I have never read it very studiously or =
taken notes.

Enjoy a lot of the writing and general spookiness of it once you get =
outside New York and Norfolk. Thought the boy/girl stuff and the whole =
sick crew a triffle on the juvenile side. The Navy bit rang true (had =
experience of my own to relate it to). The aligator story was good and =
so was the nose job.

One slightly startling aspect of the rereading after more than 30 years =
was that so many of the incidents had not really been lost from =
memory--only their link to this particular book. Had the same kind of =
reaction in a recent rereading of Moby Dick after an even longer period. =
So V. is in good  company I guess.

				P.