I'm in overall agreement on your points, MA. I know Grennan is a good writer, but there is something hammy in his presentation of perception that stops me from liking his writing more. Perhaps it's the fact that he writes too much about nature for my tastes--I'm decidely an urban dude, uncomfortable with the lack of gas fumes and screaming neighbors--but also that he's the only one who might have
witnessed the small wonders of the natural world. Here, I find him especially uninspired, boring in fact, and the worst of it is that he sounds bored himself.