Unsatisfactory resolution but not surprising. As a literary work, this is painful. It has punch.
As to the question of whether farming is a good life, I suspect it is better suited to lower-iq but industrious types. It's somewhat skilled work with a bit to know but it's also repetitive, tiresome and demanding of patience. Travis Corcoran enjoys it but he's autistic.
I doubt anyone would enjoy either city or country life *alone.* The city has more amusements but they wear off when you get into your 30s.
Please allow me to criticize on technical grounds:
"Another wet and rainy morning in the pasture had Patrick gritting his teeth, cursing under his breath, though there was no one else around and he could yell as loud as he wanted about his shitty life choices, but that would disturb the goats, so he kept to cursing under his breath as another large raindrop found the just large enough hole in his poncho that dripped onto the nape of his neck and sent a shiver coursing through his body."
Would flow much more smoothly as:
"Another wet and rainy morning had Patrick gritting his teeth in the pasture, cursing under his breath. There was no one else around and he could yell as loudly as he wanted about his shitty life choices, but that would disturb the goats, so cursed under his breath as another large raindrop found the hole in his poncho, dripped onto the nape of his neck, and sent a shiver coursing through his body."
Likewise, these clauses clumsily threaded together:
"He designed simulated models for the batteries in Tesla's and a knock-off company in China that Elon Musk knew about but could do nothing to stop except maybe tweet about it."
More like this, though it's not entirely satisfactory either. Might be best to leave off the "tweet" clause entirely:
"He designed simulated models for Tesla batteries for a knock-off company in China that Elon Musk knew about but could do nothing to stop, though he still tweeted about it."
And other such examples.
Will add that the sequence wherein Pat fantasizes about stripping Beth evokes a vivid mirror-feeling of horror. We see from one perspective, which is then flipped, and then we realize the entire process is inside his head.
Unsatisfactory resolution but not surprising. As a literary work, this is painful. It has punch.
As to the question of whether farming is a good life, I suspect it is better suited to lower-iq but industrious types. It's somewhat skilled work with a bit to know but it's also repetitive, tiresome and demanding of patience. Travis Corcoran enjoys it but he's autistic.
I doubt anyone would enjoy either city or country life *alone.* The city has more amusements but they wear off when you get into your 30s.
Please allow me to criticize on technical grounds:
"Another wet and rainy morning in the pasture had Patrick gritting his teeth, cursing under his breath, though there was no one else around and he could yell as loud as he wanted about his shitty life choices, but that would disturb the goats, so he kept to cursing under his breath as another large raindrop found the just large enough hole in his poncho that dripped onto the nape of his neck and sent a shiver coursing through his body."
Would flow much more smoothly as:
"Another wet and rainy morning had Patrick gritting his teeth in the pasture, cursing under his breath. There was no one else around and he could yell as loudly as he wanted about his shitty life choices, but that would disturb the goats, so cursed under his breath as another large raindrop found the hole in his poncho, dripped onto the nape of his neck, and sent a shiver coursing through his body."
Likewise, these clauses clumsily threaded together:
"He designed simulated models for the batteries in Tesla's and a knock-off company in China that Elon Musk knew about but could do nothing to stop except maybe tweet about it."
More like this, though it's not entirely satisfactory either. Might be best to leave off the "tweet" clause entirely:
"He designed simulated models for Tesla batteries for a knock-off company in China that Elon Musk knew about but could do nothing to stop, though he still tweeted about it."
And other such examples.
Will add that the sequence wherein Pat fantasizes about stripping Beth evokes a vivid mirror-feeling of horror. We see from one perspective, which is then flipped, and then we realize the entire process is inside his head.