The confessed minimalist's new book proves that the much-reviled genre can still break your heart. And not only was less less, the latter charged, minimalism was dehumanizing, they claimed, and amoral, and trivial, and linguistically soulless. And on some counts, this reviewer must weigh in, the detractors were right. See Jane frown. See Dick eat baked chicken.
Nothing happens and nobody cares.
Just like old times. Barthelme's characters were conditioned to expect more of life. The answer is lamb chops. Lamb chops, and suddenly the world is new, a place of mystery and possibility. The only epiphany, then, is that there are no epiphanies.