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Friday, January 24, 2025

Abc?

I love the way text structures are evolving and new genres are emerging in the book world. 

Thanks to NGS, I read Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti (c) 2024, a great example of this evolution. 

In alphabetical order, each chapter features highlights from the author's journal curated into a narrative both disassembled and threaded in curious ways. With all due respect, it's a bit ADHD yet (surprisingly) each sentence, like jigsaw puzzle pieces, eventually connects elsewhere, establishing character, plot, and themes I think many women would relate to. It's also a narrative about being a writer and that's the aspect I most connected with. 

Inspired, I searched my 2024 iPhone journal and chose these entries from A to Zed. 

Is it too random, or can you infer connections?

Almost 9 and everyone's still sleeping except us. Babies have surgery. Cried through the last chapter. Dreamed I was in a drawing class with Lynn who died in 2020. Edmonton Oilers kicking ass. Funeral today and I will always regret not being there. Grandkids arrive tomorrow! Happy New Day. I have the Lego bride and groom ready! Jesus, where is my passport? Keep imagining Sisyphus happy. Love my daughter's haircut; hate her boss. Maybe don't listen to your unreliable inner narrator? Not impressed with the Connections puzzle today. Our tongues are not normal, son. Pita Pizzas, yum. Quiet, soft, floating snow. Ready for this day with you. She told me she's afraid of the 'Backson' from Winnie the Pooh. Trying to draw different types of owls and texting grandturkey pics with my childhood friend: priceless. Unscrupulous people gonna unscrup-you/us. Very uncomfortable watching these election results. World is so fucked up, but I bet if someone started playing, "you are my sunshine" on a subway, everyone would sing along. X-ray results good! You must not forget that time a random baby waved at you in the grocery store. Zone of Interest (and its compelling use of sound) gripped me and begged me not to deaden myself to the world. 

7 comments:

Kathy G said...

You're right; it's pretty ADHD, but in a good way.

Anvilcloud said...

It's winter in Canada. I guess that explains it. lol

Debra She Who Seeks said...

I don't know if my organizational format of choice would be alphabetical. The results in my opinion, are too disjointed. I'd be more inclined to organize by overarching theme. As in: put all the random sentences together that mention or concern babies, children or grandchildren. The end result will still be disjointed but not as severely, it seems to me.

CheerfulMonk said...

It's an interesting experiment, but I don't think I will try it myself.

Anonymous said...

Codex: It can be inferred but is awkward. They are just sentences. Years ago, while channel surfing, I wrote down words as I flipped through channels. Random collection of amusement. Now; it no longer is random, but runs through AI with would you like more of this?
Don't know feels gimmicky.

Margaret (Peggy or Peg too) said...

Hmm, I find this very interesting but also feel that I would get frustrated reading it, or maybe not.
But that's just me. I am also not a writer of any sort so perhaps that fact would hurt me.

DB Stewart said...

Based on your comments, by attempting this style, perhaps I did the author an injustice? The book is much better than my attempt. In the novel, each chapter features a letter and each sentence begins with an a, the next chapter each sentence begins with a b, and so on. It's intriguing, and yes, at times difficult. However, the more I think about it, the more I appreciate it: we never have the full story of a person's life, even our own. Dear friends, please don't let my example deter you from the book.

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