Ajani John-Charle
Professor Rau
ENG 101 M
November 3, 2014
The book contains its own type of
dialogue. The term “popped” caught people’s attention. While attending a
reading for Dan Josefson’s that’s Not a
Feeling, Josefson described the meaning of the word and the word means that
something is forbidden or taken away. The book is about a sixteen - year old
boy named Benjamin that attempted to commit suicide twice and failed. This
caused his parents to bring and abandon him at a therapeutic boarding school in
upstate New York. The overview of the novel is enough to draw an
avid reader in.
During the reading, Josefson read a
section from the book. In that section, a couple of characters were introduced.
Pudding is one of the characters that I only remember from that section.
Pudding’s caricature gave the novel a refreshing comedic relief. Hiding delicious pancakes in his pants,
Pudding was tormented and abused by the other kids. I also picked up a sense of
common sense from Pudding. After him getting smacked by a shovel, Pudding, kid
w/ a shovel, and a higher-upper had an argument. Pudding was angry about the fact that
everybody was questioning the pancakes in his pants and neglecting that some
boy hit him across the head with a shovel. This part of the novel enticed my
thoughts.
In an excerpt on a Tumblr page from
Josefson’s book, I pointed out certain moments of crude and vulgar type humor.
A character named Dedrick said - “But try to make them look as retarded as you
possibly can,” he said. “Misspell things, write with your left hand if you need
to. Pudding, you just write the way you always do” (Josefson). This type of
humor will hook onto the reader’s attention and subconsciously persuade the
reader to keep on reading.
The
setting and tone of the reading was refreshing and positive. People who were
present at the reading, including me, was enjoying following section of the
novel. Josefson’s dry sense of humor and nonchalant attitude allowed us to lean
in and closely pay attention to him. After Josefson finished reading, he
accepted questions from students and professors. He enjoyed our questions and
said they were very good.
The
reading overall was virtuous. Josefson is a respectful man and a remarkable
author. He was a little timid and hesitant at first, but towards the end his
body language showed that he was relaxed. Even though I haven’t read the book
completely, I would definitely recommend it to someone. Josefson’s novel put me
in the same giddy feeling when I first read a novel by James Peterson.
