Everybody's a Critic

Recently I finished reading Jim Gorant's book about Wallace, who you should follow on Facebook as he fulfills his bucket list.

I have been struggling with my problems with this book.

And then it hit me. I don't like nonfictions written like fiction. Gorant takes on the omniscient third-person observer. The one who you believe knows everything there is to know about the characters. When third-person observer in fiction states, Haddie felt a deep yearning for freedom and tennis, you instinctively know that that Haddie really does have a deep yearning for the grass court. Or, clay.

In nonfiction, though, I expect the creative stating of facts and opinions. First person style. So when an author write a nonfiction as a third-person observer in fiction, it comes across weird.

That is how Gorant writes this book - as if he knows exactly how the characters (who are real, not fictional) feel and think and react. But he cannot truly know that.

I feel like I got a better understanding of Wallace, a dog who I assumed was actually quite tolerant of other dogs such that he could be off leash in the middle of a disc tournament.

Yes, do read the book. It's great there are more books putting a positive spin on Pit Bulls and, more importantly, showing that Pit Bull guardians are just normal people struggling with normal problems.

But I just didn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped.