Jet Fuel

I finished two books yesterday: Michael Ondaatje's Divisadero and Spent by Joe Matt.  Divisadero is unlikely to unseat The English Patient as Ondaatje's best-known novel, but it might be his most Ondaatje-esque work.  There are reminders of his earlier books throughout, and he satisfies the scar/river/dog requirement by page 17.  At one point I seriously expected Caravaggio to step into the action.  The structure feels especially diffuse, but there's a lot of doubling going on, and one character's dilemma will get picked up by another character in another time or place (or book).  Spent also sits in the middle of a group of other books, in this case graphic novels in which Matt, Seth and Chester Brown draw themselves hanging around together in Toronto.  Some day there will be a show about it at the AGO.  Matt is an R. Crumb devotee in style and content.  By coincidence both Matt and Ondaatje mention a Toronto coffee house, Jet Fuel.  Douglas