"Difficult"?

[David Dasinger]

Jeremy Osner wrote:
>And I should add, in V., I thought the parts set in modern
> America (= most of the book) fun and pleasurable and the parts set in
> pre-WWI Europe and Africa burdensome and wearying. 

And I felt exactly the opposite! I thought "She hangs on the
western wall" was one of the most brilliant passages I've read
by any author. 
I guess The modern America stuff was too close to home,
drinking, debauchery, jazz, cigarettes, etc. 
I imagine if I had read it in 1963 all of that would have seemed
more exotic. 
But moloch co-opted all that stuff years ago:}
DD