Quixote

So when I told Thomas Fuller his book, "Monsieur Ambivalence" was a finalist in the Indie Awards for best novel of the year, he said he was reading Cervantes for the first time.

Is that all you can say? I said

I think I see what Cervantes is up to, Tom said. He goes off on a tangent and then he reigns it in by avoiding the tangent altogether and talking about something else, before referring to the tangent once again.

It's genius, Tom said of Cervantes, to have written a novel right out of the chute that can be read as if it has no beginning, middle or end.

You can only read Cervantes that way if you already know the story, I said.

Silence.

I asked Tom if he was happy that "Monsieur Ambivalence" had won an award?

I'm happy if you're happy, he said.