Reed's writing style compared with Jes Grew
I didn't particularly enjoy the writing style of Mumbo Jumbo, but I can certainly appreciate Reed's intentional stylistic choices throughout the book. As we mentioned many times in class, his choices (while hard to decpiher) were certainly intentional to some degree. Putting two chapters numbered 52, not using quotation marks for dialogue, making chapters arbitrary(?) lengths, and placing the first chapter before the publishing pages are all examples of writing choices we wouldn't expect in a traditional novel. As we worked through the book, we also talked about why Jes Grew is such an effective "plague". In my opinion, Jes Grew's key quality is its unpredictability. Like Papa LaBas said in his speech, you never know where and how Jes Grew will spring up again. I see a lot of similarities between Reed's depiction of Jes Grew and his writing style. The unpredictability and strangness is what makes it stick in people's minds (or bodies in the case of J...