Wordie [wûrd • ē]
Like Flickr, but without the photos.
heart wrenching was added by osillygirl and has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
thought-provoking was added by reesetee and has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
lapidary was added by yarb and has been listed 43 times with 5 comments
fascinating,spicy,learned tale was added by oroboros and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
elegant and scrupulous was added by oroboros and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
a classic in its field was added by oroboros and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
insightful was added by reesetee and has been listed 8 times with 0 comments
a triumph was added by reesetee and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
boldly inventive was added by reesetee and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
rollicking was added by reesetee and has been listed 10 times with 0 comments
tour-de-force was added by reesetee and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
has a keen eye was added by reesetee and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
elegant was added by reesetee and has been listed 38 times with 0 comments
witty was added by reesetee and has been listed 15 times with 0 comments
smart was added by reesetee and has been listed 22 times with 1 comment
spellbinding was added by bilby and has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
enduring was added by Treeseed and has been listed 4 times with 1 comment
evocative was added by Treeseed and has been listed 35 times with 0 comments
unique brand of prose was added by Treeseed and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
brio was added by sionnach and has been listed 31 times with 0 comments
zeitgeist was added by sionnach and has been listed 212 times with 9 comments
jejune was added by sionnach and has been listed 172 times with 25 comments
deft was added by sionnach and has been listed 38 times with 0 comments
as if was added by sionnach and has been listed 4 times with 5 comments
meets was added by sionnach and has been listed 1 time with 1 comment
gripping was added by sionnach and has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
weaves a rich tapestry was added by sionnach and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
darkly comic was added by sionnach and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
riveting was added by sionnach and has been listed 11 times with 0 comments
deceptively simple was added by sionnach and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
at the top of his game was added by sionnach and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
transcends the genre was added by sionnach and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
fully imagined was added by sionnach and has been listed 1 time with 0 comments
arguably was added by sionnach and has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
luminous was added by sionnach and has been listed 85 times with 6 comments
tumultuous was added by sionnach and has been listed 42 times with 2 comments
lofty was added by sionnach and has been listed 16 times with 1 comment
epic was added by sionnach and has been listed 44 times with 1 comment
daring was added by sionnach and has been listed 11 times with 0 comments
bold was added by sionnach and has been listed 17 times with 0 comments
startling was added by sionnach and has been listed 5 times with 3 comments
engaging was added by sionnach and has been listed 3 times with 0 comments
trenchant was added by sionnach and has been listed 75 times with 4 comments
magisterial was added by sionnach and has been listed 9 times with 0 comments
masterful was added by sionnach and has been listed 2 times with 0 comments
subtle was added by sionnach and has been listed 46 times with 2 comments
majestic was added by sionnach and has been listed 26 times with 0 comments
contrived was added by sionnach and has been listed 14 times with 1 comment
nuanced was added by sionnach and has been listed 5 times with 0 comments
craft was added by sionnach and has been listed 15 times with 0 comments
limn was added by sionnach and has been listed 88 times with 3 comments
eschew was added by sionnach and has been listed 139 times with 4 comments
spare was added by sionnach and has been listed 11 times with 1 comment
lyrical was added by sionnach and has been listed 22 times with 1 comment
taut was added by sionnach and has been listed 32 times with 1 comment
compelling was added by sionnach and has been listed 14 times with 0 comments
poignant was added by sionnach and has been listed 58 times with 3 comments
That is a frighteningly perfect addition to this numinous (or was that luminous?) list.
Have you considered sending Mr. Forshaw a haunting link to this spare, compelling page of brio?
We review the review:
In three taut, elegant paragraphs, Forshaw leaves the reader breathless, stunned by the vacuous pomposity of his unusually moribund parade of bloviated buzzwords. Never one to eschew the sesquipedalian latinate impenetrability, Forshaw deploys them throughout his review with laserlike precision and beautifully textured transparency. Meaningless adjectives are scattered throughout the review to delight the reader, much like the partially gnawed limbs of the Donner Party. This review will make you pee your pants, it's such a fracking fully realised tour de force.
The review:
Incandescent prose. Beautifully textured characterisation. Transparent narratives. The adjectives to describe the writing of John Banville are all affirmative, and The Sea is a ringing affirmation of all his best qualities. His publishers are claiming that this novel by the Booker-shortlisted author is his finest yet, and while that claim may have an element of hyperbole, there is no denying that this perfectly balanced book is among the writer's most accomplished work.
Max Morden has reached a crossroads in his life, and is trying hard to deal with several disturbing things. A recent loss is still taking its toll on him, and a trauma in his past is similarly proving hard to deal with. He decides that he will return to a town on the coast at which he spent a memorable holiday when a boy. His memory of that time devolves on the charismatic Grace family, particularly the seductive twins Myles and Chloe. In a very short time, Max found himself drawn into a strange relationship with them, and pursuant events left their mark on him for the rest of his life. But will he be able to exorcise those memories of the past?
The fashion in which John Banville draws the reader into this hypnotic and disturbing world is non pareil, and the very complex relationships between his brilliantly delineated cast of characters are orchestrated with a master's skill. As in such books as Shroud and The Book of Evidence, the author eschews the obvious at all times, and the narrative is delivered with subtlety and understatement. The genuine moments of drama, when they do occur, are commensurately more powerful. --Barry Forshaw
In this taut, compelling, magisterial work, we see an insightful and gripping author at the top of his game, weaving a rich, lustrous, tapestry that transcends the genre. Elegant and scrupulous, intermittently poignant and subtle, Orwell eschews the jejune and the obvious, yet manages to limn a hauntingly evocative miniature of the Zeitgeist in this daring, nuanced, compelling account of a night spent in an air-raid shelter. In luminous, lapidary prose, with his customary brio, he has penned a spellbinding, fully imagined, piercingly scintillating* tour-de-force, which is surely destined to be a classic in years to come
*: or scintillatingly piercing, if you prefer; other permissible substitutions include 'numinous' for 'luminous', and 'elan' for 'brio' :-)
ha! not five sentences into this article and all i could think of was this list (er, article).
The actor who plays the Joker in a blockbuster 2008 movie is gone. The cartoonist who created the Joker in 1939 is still around. He's Jerry Robinson, and he thinks the late Heath Ledger's acting turn in "The Dark Knight" is "a tour de force."
"A brilliant performance," said Robinson, 86, when E&P reached him by phone at the currently running Comic-Con in San Diego. "Very nuanced."
Sionnach, your masterful reply denotes a Wordie member at the top of his game. In a deceptively simple paragraph, you have taken the reader on a rollicking yet darkly comic journey through the contrived nuances of list reviews. A fully imagined and tumultuous read.
Oh--and taut, too.
Reesetee: your spare, haunting prose heralds the arrival of a bold new talent. With a deft, engaging touch you have limned an understated prose poem almost Nabokovian in its precisely honed legerdemain. A trompe l'oeil romp that will delight both discerning readers of klassy literary fiction and drooling Tom Klancy fans alike.
Sionnach, this list weaves a rich tapestry of poignant and compelling words. Its highly engaging prose transcends the genre of Wordie lists.
*choke*
Sorry. I knew I couldn't pull that off with a straight face.