When you read the sentences of a writer like Colum McCann, you can’t help but wonder: How does he do it? Does he get into some kind of trance-like state to conjure such sustained, such devastating beauty? You wonder: What does it take to be able to achieve that? How does one apprentice his/her way to this level of clarity and vision and generosity?
(I’m currently reading McCann’s novel This Side of Brightness.)