Now that we’ve examined the front and back covers of Dispatches from Pluto by Richard Grant and formulated questions, it’s time to see what we can glean from material that precedes and follows the main text.
In the paperback, we find the title page, copyright page, dedication, epigraph, contents, eighteen chapters, acknowledgments, index, and about the author.
An index? Have you ever seen an index in a memoir before? Very interesting.
How can we use this pre- and post-story information to inform our reading of Dispatches from Pluto?
I’m looking forward to two things: The Fooses. That name just represents my stereotype of the deep south. The racial aspect of the story. Since my childhood, I’ve always been “racially aware.” But in a northern, more subtle way. There was no KKK in Brooklyn. But I observed allotta racism in my childhood. One thing comes to mind: Blacks would not be refused service in bars. But when they finished, the bartender would break the glass. Not my parents, but my society encouraged me not to shake hands with blacks, because the black would rub off on my hand. What… Read more »
Oh, that paragraph at the bottom of page 6! Some might call it fluff but those are tantalizing ingredients, luscious words to be tasted again and again.
“The sky yawned open and the horizons leapt out”.
The sentences are very cared-for. Not just “horizon” singular, but “horizons” plural…just as would be glimpsed while driving, as he was in this scene.
I’ll never approach a new book in the same way again — much to be learned before reading the first chapter. Patricia’s enthusiasm for the South is contagious and Grant’s style of immersion writing intrigues me.