strange experience with novel and dog (vanishingly small TRP relevance)

[Bill Millard]

Ahoy, Pynsters:

Forgive me, first, if I'm asking about a book that's already been 
discussed here; if it has, I missed it.  

I stopped by a bookstore's sidewalk displays on the way back from 
lunch this afternoon, spent a couple of minutes browsing the $1.99 
clearance shelves, and happened across a semi-eye-catching title: 
_Disobedience_ by one Michael Drinkard.  Disobedience being a concept 
I'm generally in favor of, I figure this title may deserve some 
looking-into.  Back-cover blurbs mention TRP and DeLillo, though this 
is probably routine publisher hype.  One puff is by Bret Easton 
Ellis, which I don't exactly take as a strong recommendation, but I 
decide to try the Random Page Selection Technique for a hunch on 
whether it's worth a two-buck gamble.  On the page it opens to, 
someone is slitting the throat of a dog.  I don't reflexively object 
to bad, bad behavior rendered explicitly on the page, natch -- 
couldn't make it through much of P's stuff with that sort of hink, of 
course -- but at this particular moment I'm not particularly 
interested in this character's motivations.  I like dogs.  I put the 
book back.  

Half a minute later, as I'm scanning other shelves, an enormous white 
Great Dane with bright green-blue eyes appears out of nowhere, 
tugging an indulgent owner, and gives me an enthusiastic hand-lick.  
(Dogs do this sometimes; perhaps the dog I lived with for eleven 
years left a permanent pheromonal marker on me, somehow: "Canophile.  
Approach freely.  Doesn't mind the odd lick.")  I don't really 
ascribe this to anything nonrandom, but I'm interested in 
corroborating what appears at first glance to be an act of 
spontaneous literary criticism on the part of this Learned American 
Dog: is anybody here familiar with Drinkard and/or _Disobedience_?  
Any thoughts on whether leaving this 'sucker in the remainder bin was 
a good move or an opportunity blown?  Does Brat Ellis have any 
justification for speaking the name of DeLillo in relation to this 
guy?

Curious, and slightly bedrool'd,
Bill




Bill Millard, Ph.D., Senior Editor, Strategic Communications Group
Office of Strategic Initiatives, Columbia University
wbm1 at columbia.edu * 212/854-9474 * fax 854-9476
Vocals, bass, songs, Shanghai Love Motel: shanghailovemotel.com
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