I must begin my response with the very first thing that I had a truly personal reaction to. When I first found this text in my school’s media center, I flipped through several pages throughout the book and read paragraphs at random to get a taste of the author’s style. Though I did not notice the shift in syntax (from the first part to the last) while superficially perusing the book, I did notice the stream of consciousness style of narration.
This brought me back to one of the single most frustrating experiences I had with another title a few years ago: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. This book was recommended to me by a friend after I read and loved 1984 by George Orwell. I was studying abroad in Spain at the time, and my reading time was one of the only times I had to think/immerse myself in the English language. Partly because of this, I looked forward to reading every day – I read novels on the bus to school, in plaza cafés with a coffee, at a bar with a drink while waiting for friends… you name it. The Handmaid’s Tale was one title that I simply could not get through. I got roughly 80 pages into the text before putting it down for another title. I ended up trying The Handmaid’s Tale two more times before giving up for good. It was the stream of consciousness that did it. I have a very difficult time keeping focused, and in the case of Atwood’s novel, the writing style just bothered me.
Now, a few years later and a few years older, I find myself taking a different approach to literature. While I still do not prefer the style, I found this time around that it was not nearly the stumbling block that it had been in the past. I found myself able to focus on and appreciate the aspects of the book that I did understand and enjoy. What I may have most enjoyed about this book is the authenticity of Daisy’s character. I felt that she was an honest and very real girl. She is complex – what she does not say is sometimes as important as the things she says. For instance, when she describes the train station bombing, she describes the casualties as “seven or seventy thousand people got killed.” Her seeming ignorance (or is it apathy) of the war going on around her speaks volumes, I think, about her character. I then found myself wondering if the vagueness of the war was due to Daisy’s narration (the girl will focus on what is important to her, and in the beginning of the novel, what is important to her is frolicking in the countryside with her dapper cousins).
On the other hand, I thought at times that the lack of specific detail about the war may have been Meg Rosoff choosing to stick to what she knows well, and can write well… the author has done a great job of capturing the world and innocence of a young girl, and explored the complex feelings of love for her cousin very effectively. Could it be that she is not as comfortable writing about war as she is about love and (loss of) innocence? I read some Dan Brown on a car trip a long while back, and wondered to myself all the way through why he even bothered to include a love story at all – his was putrid, and he would have been better off avoiding that which he does not write well, I think.
I prefer to believe that the former is true – that Meg Rosoff constructed a character whose world is the here and now, and whose narration reflects that world. On that same note, I came to be at peace with Daisy’s stream of consciousness – though it is not my preferred style to read, it is crucial for constructing Daisy’s character. Later in the novel, as her character changes and adapts to loss, toughens up, and needs to become more independent, her narration style changes and adapts, too. I really liked that the author did this, because it serves to allow us to see the change happening in Daisy both internally and externally – rather than just be told about what change is occurring.
As much as I did appreciate Daisy’s character, I felt the other characters – the cousins especially – fell a bit flat. I do not entirely understand the author’s choice of purposefully constructing an incestual relationship. The only thing I can think of is that it helps to establish an unsettling world and atmosphere in the text for most readers… and the world that Daisy lives in is unsettling, to say the least – so why not create feelings in the reader that are similar to what is being felt by the narrator? Additionally, I do not generally enjoy the hopeless romantic’s perspective in literature. I’m simply not that interested in Daisy’s attraction to her cousin, just as I don’t have any interest in reading titles like Twilight (since I have not read it, this may be a poor comparison – but from what I’ve been told, it seems to strike a similar chord).
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
The Absolutely True Diary... Response #1
The Absolutely True Confessions of a Part-Time Indian
Reflections and reactions
I read this book after discussing it for over an hour with classmates – that is to say, I did not finish my homework on time. Coming to this text with so much knowledge ahead of time no doubt colored my response to the piece, but many of the pieces that had an impact on me were not discussed at length in class.
I found myself often engaging with the characters’ relationships with others. We talked in class about trusting the narrator out of the gates when he talked about being such a huge loser on the rez, by being liked by so few people and picked on by so many. In class, while listening to others speak, I was quick to assume that Junior was putting us on a little – either exaggerating for effect, or remembering things inaccurately. In reading, however, I did not have a hard time believing these details. In recollecting the beating he took from the triplets, the detail seemed very authentic to me – their being thirty years old, and Rowdy’s retribution. Then, later in the book, I found a detail which helped me to better understand how/why Junior had such a tremendously difficult time on the rez with others, and why he was more able to successfully find friends at Rearden.
On page 133, Gordy tells Junior about how anybody who is considered “weird” gets cast aside and trampled by the society that they do not fit in with. This phenomenon is not specific to Junior’s experience, but transcends time and culture. I think this helps Junior understand himself a bit better as he struggles with his own identity, and the inner conflict of “becoming white.” This kind of revelation helped me to understand why Junior was able to make friends outside of the rez at his new school. All the same, it helped to create a new kind of tension and conflict for the protagonist, insomuch as his alienation from Rowdy became highlighted, and his basketball win over his peers from the rez seemed to act as a kind of climactic point which provided very interesting contrast to the walk-out scene in class.
Because of this, I had no trouble accepting Junior’s account of being picked on and bullied (black eye of the month club, etc) as being accurate. As a matter of fact, I took this detail as being crucial for setting the tone with Rowdy. In Rowdy, we have a fiercely loyal and protective friend who cares so deeply for Junior that it scares him, and makes him feel weak and vulnerable. His being protective helps to set the tone for their relationship, and his nearly kicking Junior before trashing the minivan (near the opening of the book) helps to establish the weakness/vulnerability of his character. These are necessary details, I think, in establishing what becomes one of the book’s central relationships.
I have had relationships that included elements of Rowdy’s and Junior’s. Not to the extreme level that it is presented in the text, but relationships where loyalty and abandonment lived in the same place. When I read the final recapturing that Junior tells about playing basketball one-on-one, I liked that he respected the reader enough to know how hugely important a game of basketball was at that moment without knocking us over the head with it. The game was bigger than itself, and it fit well. The conversation that they had did stray from what we could expect from Rowdy, but it was not too much of a stretch for me. Actually, it kind of reminded me of the ending to Good Will Hunting.
Reflections and reactions
I read this book after discussing it for over an hour with classmates – that is to say, I did not finish my homework on time. Coming to this text with so much knowledge ahead of time no doubt colored my response to the piece, but many of the pieces that had an impact on me were not discussed at length in class.
I found myself often engaging with the characters’ relationships with others. We talked in class about trusting the narrator out of the gates when he talked about being such a huge loser on the rez, by being liked by so few people and picked on by so many. In class, while listening to others speak, I was quick to assume that Junior was putting us on a little – either exaggerating for effect, or remembering things inaccurately. In reading, however, I did not have a hard time believing these details. In recollecting the beating he took from the triplets, the detail seemed very authentic to me – their being thirty years old, and Rowdy’s retribution. Then, later in the book, I found a detail which helped me to better understand how/why Junior had such a tremendously difficult time on the rez with others, and why he was more able to successfully find friends at Rearden.
On page 133, Gordy tells Junior about how anybody who is considered “weird” gets cast aside and trampled by the society that they do not fit in with. This phenomenon is not specific to Junior’s experience, but transcends time and culture. I think this helps Junior understand himself a bit better as he struggles with his own identity, and the inner conflict of “becoming white.” This kind of revelation helped me to understand why Junior was able to make friends outside of the rez at his new school. All the same, it helped to create a new kind of tension and conflict for the protagonist, insomuch as his alienation from Rowdy became highlighted, and his basketball win over his peers from the rez seemed to act as a kind of climactic point which provided very interesting contrast to the walk-out scene in class.
Because of this, I had no trouble accepting Junior’s account of being picked on and bullied (black eye of the month club, etc) as being accurate. As a matter of fact, I took this detail as being crucial for setting the tone with Rowdy. In Rowdy, we have a fiercely loyal and protective friend who cares so deeply for Junior that it scares him, and makes him feel weak and vulnerable. His being protective helps to set the tone for their relationship, and his nearly kicking Junior before trashing the minivan (near the opening of the book) helps to establish the weakness/vulnerability of his character. These are necessary details, I think, in establishing what becomes one of the book’s central relationships.
I have had relationships that included elements of Rowdy’s and Junior’s. Not to the extreme level that it is presented in the text, but relationships where loyalty and abandonment lived in the same place. When I read the final recapturing that Junior tells about playing basketball one-on-one, I liked that he respected the reader enough to know how hugely important a game of basketball was at that moment without knocking us over the head with it. The game was bigger than itself, and it fit well. The conversation that they had did stray from what we could expect from Rowdy, but it was not too much of a stretch for me. Actually, it kind of reminded me of the ending to Good Will Hunting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)