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Article: A comic novel from the bayou country, full of mordant wit
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- July 31, 1994
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1994 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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LOUISIANA POWER & LIGHT
By John Dufresne. Norton. 306 pp. $22.
Fine comic novels rarely get the serious critical attention they
deserve, and it's easy to understand why. You finish a mordantly
funny, insistently aural novel like "Louisiana Power & Light," and
you don't want to critique it; you want to grab somebody by the
elbow, say, "Here, listen to this," and start reading great chunks of
it aloud. Probably that's what John Dufresne would like you to do,
too. How do I know? Here, listen to this:
"You should read this story with your eyes closed. You're out on
Herb and Marilea Bryant's front porch, let's say, and it's dusk. You
can just about see the blue irises in the drainage ditch ...