Can't argue with that
Nice, Donna. I've been pretty negative about the book throughout the discussions but I did admit right up front that I blazed through it with great gusto. I'd never put this in the same league as Geek Love, Blood Meridian, or Little, Big but I think you may have captured what it was that I *did*…

While it was fun to read pulp/crime/noir I do wish we had done something with a little more substance. I agree with Clueless that Leonard or Chandler might have been more fun. In an earlier discussion someone pointed out Ignatius J. Reilly as an example of a flawed and arrogant protagonist who was still interesting…

unlikely artist
There's no way that the Richard we got to know in this book would/should compromise - that would be entirely antithetical to his incredibly self-important and solipsistic worldview. If his point in making the movie was to make money and/or succeed in the film business then yes, he should have…

Sure, but there are plenty of real-world artists who are sweethearts, too. I don't think that being an ill-tempered sociopath is any help (or hindrance) to one's artistic vision. At the same time I can't deny that it comes through and influences the art. That is, after all, the point of art (in my estimation) - a…

Hudson has got to be the most sanctimonious, self-absorbed twat I've ever encountered in print. That said, I was more upset at his admiration for his mother's tits.

If the typos were intentional then I'm even more pissed off than I was when I thought they were simply shoddy publishing. I had the hardcopy (Black Mask; bought new from Amazon).

Still waiting…

Maybe, but don't feel bad about it. I always get Tennessee Williams and Tennessee Ernie Ford confused.

Thanks Chubby Chasee - I think you've nailed it!

Uncomfortable as it was, I thought that was a very powerful scene. Oly finally has an act of her own, where all eyes are on her. She and her siblings were bred to be on display; no wonder she revels in it. Yet she turns down the opportunity to make it a regular thing. I thought that was interesting.

Powerful writing
One of the things I most enjoyed were the occasional flashes of brilliant prose. A favorite:

Let's not confuse freaks with geeks (apologies to Judd Apatow).

I agree with that. Arty is the only person who seems to pay any attention at all to Oly. When they're young kids he's her adored big brother while the twins have each other. When they're older and Arty has become a bonafide celebrity complete with security, etc., he (mostly) still allows her inside and trusts her…

I like the cover of my 1990 edition - depicting a crowd of (seeming) automatons marching in lockstep into the light cast by the open flaps of the big tent labeled "Arturo the Aqua-Boy".

Obvious Question
OK, so the title. We hear how Crystal Lil was a working geek in the early days. But the more central reference seems to be the eponymous drawing of Miranda's that Oly sees in her apt (p29 in my edition).

Right. Within all the weirdness there is a core of sweetness and pure love that made the reading experience positive for me. The way the family kept Grandpa with them, in his shining urn, and the co-mingling of the ashes at the end was a huge emotional moment for me. The loving care with which the family tended "The…