It's amazing how having a more modern and relatable book can make it that much easier to read. I had actually foregone most of my possible plans in order to stay home cuddled with the book this weekend. And while I did thoroughly enjoy Jesmyn Ward's Salvage the Bones, and it was a quick read, I don't know if I would necessarily say it was up there at the top of list of favorites.
The story is about a poor family in rural Mississippi in the days leading up to (and including) Hurricane Katrina. It is told through the eyes of Esch, a 15-year old girl with 3 brothers, Randall, Skeetah, and Junior, and a largely absent, hard-drinking father; their mother died in childbirth with Junior. Their father knows that a hurricane is coming - he can feel it in his bones - and is making preparations and while the kids somewhat help prepare, they are also dealing with their own issues. Skeetah is taking care of his pit bull and her new litter of puppies and Esch finds out early on in the book that she is pregnant.
The pacing of the book was very expertly executed. There are mini-climaxes or intense scenes in almost every chapter making it that much easier to want to continue on to the next chapter (side note: I feel as though this is a key strategy used in a lot of modern fiction that I've read recently. I could rattle off multiple books that do this...maybe it's a good thing to keep the reader that engaged, but when I read the same technique so often, maybe it feels a little formulaic?). And while the writing was clever and well-done, sometimes the text and descriptions felt a little simile/metaphor heavy (title quote of this post as one of MANY examples).
There are a lot of things about this book that made me uncomfortable reading. Foremost, Skeetah fights his pit bull and there is a fairly graphic scene describing multiple dog fights in explicit detail. So while Skeetah cares for his dog to an almost fanatical degree, in a very maternal, loving way, I found it hard to reconcile him then being ok with her being torn to shreds by other dogs. But the author does a good job of putting this in the context of his love for the dog being primarily so she can fight, so she can win, and so it can be an ego/pride thing amongst his peers and others who fight dogs. Similarly, 15-year old Esch talks about in detail, the many different boys she has sex with and how she knows that it's the one thing that she's good at, which is a bit hard to read from a 15-year old character.
I totally get that both of these elements of the story show the realities of these characters and their lives (and similarly, the realities of many poor, rural families in the South). And I completely appreciate the author's willingness to go there and include these things that will make the reader uncomfortable, and her honesty about these characters' lives doesn't need to be all non-offensive and vanilla. However, I found it a lot harder to sympathize with the characters, particularly Skeetah and Esch. There's one moment towards the end of the book when Esch is confronting her baby's father and he mentions that her brothers know she's a slut. He uses the word to intentionally hurt her and it does feel harsh in that moment of the book. But instead of feeling that it was inappropriate, I kind of found myself thinking, "Well, yeah, she kind of is." Same with how the book ends in regards to the dogs; I won't give this part away, but again, I had a hard time feeling all that bad for Skeetah. And maybe this is the author's intent. And maybe this is a result of my own life and upbringing being so vastly different than the characters affecting how I view their choices.
What I did love most about the book, however, was the dynamic between all of the family members. That even though each of them had difficult challenges going on, they all showed so much love for each other. In spite of their circumstances, they took care of each other, looked out for each other, and defended each other. In a multitude of little ways, the relationship between these 5 characters was very real and very loving.
I couldn't help remembering those days before Katrina hit too. I was visiting my parents in Florida at the time, and I remember that overnight, the hurricane just exploded into this monster in the gulf and then watching all the horrors that happened afterwards, hardly believing that this was happening in my own country. The book ends the day after the hurricane rather than telling the story of what happens in the days and weeks afterward. And while it doesn't necessarily end happily ever after, we're-all-gonna-get-through-this-just-fine, knowing what came in the weeks after makes me wonder how these characters and this community really would have fared. Oddly enough, 10 years ago today would have been one of the chapters in the book.
On I move to Sophie's Choice by William Styron. I have not ever seen the movie. I always get Sophie's Choice and Norma Rae mixed up (something about them being female names?), so all along, I've been thinking that this book was something about unions and envisioning Sally Field as the main character, when in fact it's about a Polish immigrant played by Meryl Streep. And I honestly don't know much about the story at all, but I have a feeling I'm not going to like what Sophie's choice actually ends up being. But here goes nothin'...let's just wrench my heart out.
Happy Sunday!
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