i am in the midst of reading Blue Angel. it’s actually a pleasant surprise. i wasn’t too sure i’d be digging this. reading the book jacket it was much too similar to roth’s the human stain (which i didn’t finish because i was getting a bit bored and frustrated with it).

you know, they’re both about professors and PC-type stuff at small schools in the east. i was having a hard time with roth’s main character, whose name escapes me at this point. he was just pissing me off with all his grudges, anger and rage. now, prose’s professor swenson, is much more likeable. he’s kind of a blathering fool, but you like him. it’s like he’s in the midst of a mid-life crisis and you can just see that he’s going to be his own undoing, you just keep reading merrily along waiting to see how he finally blows up his own world.