Property

Marcia Sweet is head of the Information/Reference Unit, Douglas Library,
Queen’s University.

This book is preposterous! And wonderful. It is a tour de force of
expression. Diamond treats the English language and its sound things to
be turned and savored, fondled and adored. He uses language in unique,
ironic, original, and sometimes beautiful ways. He uses unusual words
with abandon and precision. He repeats phrases over and over again, with
only slight variations, but he never overdoes the ploy. He plays on all
the meanings of the word “property” so subtly one is hardly aware of
it.

The book is “about” serious and important things: about mother,
kinship, desperation, sadness, manipulation, actions and their effects.
It accurately describes how it feels to deal with the mentally ill, the
mean, the petty, realtors, and robbers. In dealing with the mundane but
emotion-laden process of disposing of a parent’s property, the author
dissects the meaning of home, place, and family: “what a heinous
enterprise a family is.” This is a thoroughly modern book of 152 pages
and one paragraph. It takes place within two hours, but covers a
lifetime. It is a book about control (though it never mentions the word)
and about the absurd, painful, and ordinary events that touch us
all—events that it treats in a fresh, iconoclastic, and liberating
way. Unconventional, serious, self-consciously clever—but not trivial
or juvenile—this book is preposterous. Read it!