Tree Of Smoke

Last week or so, I mentioned in the Junot Diaz post that Denis Johnson's Tree Of Smoke was a runner-up for the Pulitzer. However, I neglected to say that in November it won the National Book Award.

Uh: "The winners receive a $10,000 cash prize and a crystal sculpture." Okay, hold on, I have to find a picture of this sculpture.

[Fifteen minutes pass.]

Huh, I actually can't find a picture of it. So here's the first result from a Google Image Search for "crystal sculpture." Let's just say this is it:

http://www.crystal-fox.com/index.cfm/Dragon_small_Mats_Jonasson_Crystal_Sculpture_592.htm

It's weird that the winner of the freakin' National Book Award only gets ten large. The swag bags had better be SICK.

*

Oh wait, I was talking about Tree Of Smoke. Here's an excerpt from The New Yorker, which reads like Johnson's take on The Outsiders.

http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2007/06/11/070611fi_fiction_johnson

(I don't necessarily mean that in a bad way.)