Outside of a Dog: Barnes, Jonathan: Somnambulist, The

Michael I

Michael I wrote on January 19, 2008 at 7:00 AM:

"bored now" before violence

The thought that immediately comes to mind (at least to me) is that this is a bit of a inside-joke-type reference to the TV show "Buffy".

(That particular combination of events happens in two scenes that would generally be well-known to fans of that show.)

In other words, you're probably right about the author "being cute" there.

Kate

Kate wrote on January 19, 2008 at 8:39 AM:

Michael: right, that's what I had in mind (despite not seeing more than the first two episodes of the show, I'm familiar with the phrase), and it was very jarring.

Michael I

Michael I wrote on January 20, 2008 at 5:27 PM:

So what is the "Mister ___, he dead" bit from?

(If I had to guess I'd probably say Pulp Fiction or some other Tarantino movie.)

Kate

Kate wrote on January 20, 2008 at 5:43 PM:

It's from _Heart of Darkness_ ("Mistah Kurtz, he dead"), which Wikipedia states was serialized in 1899 before it was published in 1902, hence my comment about being not quite anachronistic).

Jeane

Jeane wrote on January 20, 2008 at 10:17 PM:

You have been so exceedingly thorough in proving how bad this book is that I am convinced I will never have the least interest in reading it! Ha. Seriously, it doesn't sound like much, but I enjoyed reading your reasons why.

Kate

Kate wrote on January 21, 2008 at 9:12 AM:

Jeane--glad to be both useful *and* entertaining!