A Commonplace Blog

"Cameron was a counter. He vomited nineteen times to San Francisco. He liked to
count everything that he did."

I chose this quote for several reasons; the first being the style in which these sentences are written. There are many ways to say the exact same thing that was said here in one long sentence, but it instead broken up into three short, but complete, ones. Much of the book is written this way. It doesn't waste time on flowery language or pretty descriptions or lengthy phrases; it's straightforward, it's blunt, it's matter-of-fact...much like the "typical" cowboys behave: if they have something to say, they say it. Otherwise, they're silent. The language here is very reminuscent of the "strong, silent" type.

Another reason I chose this quote was because of the content--Cameron counts things. At first, I was just sort of like, uhhh, okay? But the more I thought about it, the more I really liked the fact that he did that. People with OCD or similiar things are sometimes constantly counting or doing things a certain number of times--they do this to reassure themselves, as if using something firm and familiar as an anchor to help them maintain their grip on reality. So it is with Cameron and his counting. No matter how crazy this story gets, no matter what else happens, the numbers will always be the same, in the same, old, familiar order. Cameron fixates on this and uses it to grasp onto reality in this mad, mad world. When everything else is defying all natural laws, the numbers stay the same. One, two, three, four...

I like this book so far much more than the ones we have previously been reading. It's trippy, but it holds my interest more than the others. I like the idea of combining gothic and western, and despite myself, I find myself wondering what's going to happen with all this strange nonsense going on with these people and this house.