torn between two worlds, I am at home in neither...
--mgg
12/13 |
I hate him.
--DL
11/29 |
There are well-adjusted rich people, too. Perhaps madame would not project onto us too much? (What is rich? $1400 on a pen? $10,543 on a watch? Guilty.)
--fgr
11/29 |
fucking brilliant
--
11/26 |
I love the odd character sketch here & many of the lines such as "I imagined how his accuracy would manifest in more intimate settings. " Patch things up so you can write more!
--mj
11/19 |
Sigh. I have yet to see this story written from the other perspective.
--dd
11/18 |
Wow. Great essay.
--FC
11/18 |
This is vintage Carver, and i am speaking of course of Lisa not Raymond. You have a distinctive way of stumbling on insights -- at first they sound almost accidental, like the apparent profundity of a charming foreigner who says things differently, but then they keep coming it becomes clear that you know what you are doing. This does read like something of a hyperbolized account of the uber-rich -- if they were all like this it would make it easier to accept not being so fortunate -- but at the same time there is truth in the exaggeration. There is a dual fear present in the extremely rich, which is (a) that they are loved for the wrong reasons, and (b) that they will lose it all (this seems to be so even for those who clearly will not lose it all). The second fear seems to be the larger one ;)
--ted
11/17 |
loved this story. you are such a great writer--I'm jealous.
--
11/15 |
That was funny and engaging, but most importantly it descirbed my experiences with love in such vivid detail and simplicity that I can't believe no one has said it to me before: all of a sudden it ends and you find yourself neither what you were before or during the relationship. Well put.
--hlj
11/15 |
That was funny and engaging, but most importantly it descirbed my experiences with love in such vivid detail and simplicity that I can't believe no one has said it to me before: all of a sudden it ends and you find yourself neither what you were before or during the relationship. Well put.
--
11/15 |
I always love Lisa's writing, and I liked the piece a lot, but, uh, having myself dated super-rich people, and nannied for super-rich people, and even being related to super-rich people (which is how I hooked up with the ones I dated and nannied for), I have to say this guy's issues went WAAAY beyond just being rich. I mean, I'm all for the Revolution (being a college professor myself), and dislike the rich as much as the next person, but this guy was a sociopath, and plenty of people can be rich and not sociopaths.
--EBW
11/14 |
Wow. I am stunned at how talented a writer you are. Kinda jealous too. What an amazing glimpse into a world I will never know. Despite being poor (ok, middle class, which is almost the same thing these days compared to the super rich) the lesson I apparently am continuing to learn, again and again, is that when we open ourselves up to love, inevitably we open ourselves up to pain. Hopefully the love out distances the pain but it's never guaranteed. And once it ends--and it always does (death or that bastard time), you find yourself changed. Indeed, you can't go back, it's like looking at pictures from the past. You remember vaguely what it was like, but you can't get there from here.
--cb
11/14 |
Lisa, I love reading the articles you write about your life and your relationships, and your perspective on both. I really hope some porn producer with an actual budget reads this and latches on to the idea of using the same woman for multiple parts with different makeup, because that would be interesting. (The girl-on-girl part would be especially challenging to film.) However, I won't be changing my clothes for dinner regularly. I think the rich still do that only because they don't have to do their own laundry. Anyway, congratulations on your experience and your escape, but considering the references to the sub-prime mess, this can't have been too far in the past, so I wouldn't bet the story is completely over yet. Good luck!
--JCF
11/14 |
you seem so removed from it all. i wonder how long it took you... i've ended a relationship with a poor sociopath 4 months ago. but don't get me wrong, i enjoyed your coolness. and your reflections, very clear and aware. thanks.
--ml
11/14 |
Nice. I think this was the best thing I've read of yours.
--KsZ
11/13 |
One good thing I liked was that the story ended mercilessly (without the happy ever after). However, when one reads certain things, one knows that not everyone will grow up to be awriter - this was one of those offerings. Thanks, though - I'm sure it was cathartic.
--JH
11/13 |
cw, did you miss the part where he got weirdo/paranoid and thought that she was every actress on screen in the porno they were watching? as far as i'm concerned that's 2 or 3 steps shy of revving up the chainsaw.
--mrme
11/13 |
Never mind the stuff about his money. To me, this sounded like real love. I think the narrator should rethink her decision to leave. Sometimes the right thing to do is very un P.C ...
--cw
11/13 |
that was pretty fascinating Lisa. it reminds me somehow of 'american psycho', and it fits my imagination about what the lives of the very wealthy and powerful are like. there's an underlying paranoia to their existence, which i am not judging, so much as i am thankful that it is not mine. i have my own paranoias, but on a much smaller scale and affecting a much smaller world. the one thing that you did not seem to consider at any point, and which i would give as some kind of not entirely welcome advice, is that this man probably had the means, resources, and detachment to kill you if he really felt unconsolably betrayed by you. there is great danger in being someone who comes from nothing and plays in the world of the rich. it doesn't take them long to figure out how little you are worth (on their terms) and how little power you have should they wish to steal it. much like the police at their worst. or George Bush.
--mrme
11/13 |
great piece, but shallow reflections. has it ever occurred to you that guys like that are so ordinary they are the cliche? - cowboys are everywhere - and if you think only the rich and powerful walk the razor's edge, well, you haven't been around nearly as much as you let on.
--fmb
11/13 |
Wow, I'm going to send that on to some friends. I really like how it's not solid--like, there's no definitive moral, yet it just makes you ponder. But not ponder THIS, or THAT. Just think, try to look at the shape of the whole thing. Kind of like visual art--does that painting SAY something? No, but it just pushes you to feel in a certain direction, or to consider in a certain way. Enjoyed it, and thanks!
--ZZ
11/13 |
great story
--jl
11/13 |
Another great piece, Lisa. really rugged stuff - always on that edge. god, I miss getting to read about your life every week.
--adg
11/13 |
powerful stuff...especially at four in the morning...excellent writing...
--alex
11/13 |
OK, read lots of your stuff...never moved to comment before although I liked it all...but this kicked it up a notch, this was truly moving and perceptive and taught me things, some that I knew and didn't realize and some that were the opposite of what I knew...very fine work.
--jd
11/13 |
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