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
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