#the funeral thematically is what grounds the book into modern discourse about beauty and life

[barnbridges]

on my first read of tsh, my favorite sections were the dreams because... dreams, but on my like 8th (idk on how many i am now) its the funeral because god-fucking-damn it is it cool to see these fucks suffer.

#like i think the funeral is what boosts tsh from pastiche of classicism to a modern novel #about actual life #because you knows the characters are at their most terrible. all of them. #the main cast and the ensemble as well. are just an echo of how fucking empty and ugly and useless the world is. #and it's not really because of guilt or death. in actuality it feels quite contradictory #that after a section complaining about how ugly the life of shady brook ct is richard questions why he killed bunny out of it #like a classical hero would see that as a positive frankly #but not richard because tsh to its core is not classical #it's both a religious novel and a modern novel #the funeral thematically is what grounds the book into modern discourse about beauty and life #and that's why i think it's really fucking funny that richard hooked up with bunny's ex crush at the funeral amen