TC Boyle Week #4–Boyle, meet Picoult, the Simile Queen!

Yesterday’s simile work with T. C. Boyle reminded me of someone he should meet (if he hasn’t already): Jodi Picoult, the Simile Queen! What I mean by that is in My Sister’s Keeper, a 411-page novel, she uses at least 41 similes! That means, by my account, that about 10% of her pages in that book contain one. Here are a Baker’s Dozen examples to show you what I mean:

“Normal, in our house, is like a blanket too short for a bed—sometimes it covers you just fine, and other times it leaves you cold and shaking; and, worst of all, you never know which of the two it’s going to be.” (p. 11)

“The room is a sea of dirty clothes and magazines and leftover Chinese take-out cartons; it smells like the sweaty tongue of a hockey skate.” (p. 14)

“My throat closes like the shutter of a camera, so that any air or excuses must move through a tunnel as thin as a pin.” (p. 54)

“Her mind is running in circles, like a gerbil on a wheel, the same way mine is.” (p. 56)

“There’s nothing worse than silence, strung like heavy beads on too delicate a conversation.” (p. 61)

“He is talking about my little girl as if she were some kind of machine: a car with a faulty carburetor, a plane whose landing gear is stuck.” (p. 66)

“There is a new bailiff at the entrance, a man with a neck as thick as a redwood and most likely the brainpower to match.” (p. 81)

“I take a right and drive past a cemetery, headstones canted forward and back like a set of yellowed teeth.” (p. 101)

“The veins on Kate’s neck and chest are a road map, highways that don’t go anywhere. I trick myself into believing that I can see those rogue leukemia cells moving like a rumor through her system.” (p. 138)

“Laughter rises like steam, swims through the windows.” (p. 175)

“In my mind, I can still see those lights—red and blue and yellow, blinking over and over on a tree as overdressed as an Eskimo in Bali.” (p. 192)

“The thing about flame is that it’s insidious—it sneaks, it licks, it looks over its shoulder and laughs…. It’s beautiful. Like a sunset eating everything in its path.” (p. 246)

“…I even have my lie, quivering like the snake it is, caught between my teeth.” (p. 378)

Try this:

Inspired? Why not introduce yourself to Boyle and Picoult–touch gloves–and come up with a half-dozen great similes of your own. Your boss is like…. Your favourite song on the radio is like…. Pizza is like….

Coming tomorrow: One way Boyle solves the dialogue tags problem…and you can too!