Richard McGuire In The New York Times Book Review, Paul Rudnick reviews “Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish,†the final book by David Rakoff, who died of cancer last year at the age of 47. Mr. Rudnick said he was prepared to hate the book, “and not just because it's so awful to contemplate a world without any more David Rakoff books, or any more David Rakoff.†He writes:
No, I should hate this book because it's written entirely in verse, and I am a committed poetryphobe. I am a crass and ignorant person who considers all poetry, from Shakespeare on down, to be a complete hoax. Like a bore at a cocktail party, most poems discuss only the weather, their feelings and that little gray bird they saw on their way to work. As with yogurt and math, I'm convinced that anyone who claims to enjoy poetry is lying.
But here's the miracle of “Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish†(which I will henceforth, and justifiably, refer to as “Loveâ€): It's an extraordinary and deliriously entertaining work. It didn't make me love poetry, but it certainly affirmed my love for David Rakoff.
On this week's podcast, Mr. Rudnick talks about Mr. Rakoff's book; Julie Bosman has notes from the field; Juan Gabriel Vásquez discusses his new novel, “The Sound of Things Fallingâ€; and Gregory Cowles has best-seller news. Pamela Paul is the host.
