I’ve noticed this too about David Lynch. McCarthy and Lynch write about very different topics and for different mediums but both writer’s works resonate with me in similar ways.
Diners to me feel like Toll Houses or waystations between worlds or along passages between worlds. There is something that feels pivotal about them even though they are like stasis chambers of archived milieus.
I have thought this about Lynch and Haruki Murakami as well. At their best they are able to create very simple worlds without any excess or meaningless details that somehow still feel real. Like characters obsessing about pie in Twin Peaks or Murakami narrators describing eating a sandwich and beer. Its somehow relaxing because you get a break from having to filter out extraneous details.
Very much so. The character of Agent Cooper is interesting in this regard because his core nature imbues a cozy appreciation of these simple pleasures even though he is journeying through dark experiences.
Diners to me feel like Toll Houses or waystations between worlds or along passages between worlds. There is something that feels pivotal about them even though they are like stasis chambers of archived milieus.