Texts I Have Encountered Today: A Literary Review
1. A terrible documentary about global sex trafficking. Oh, man, was it bad. Unrealized metaphors. Choppy narratives. Told by a female voiceover who also seemed to be a robot... for no reason. It's not easy to create an hour-long account of the geopolitical causes and horrifying effects of coercing young women into prostitution that DOESN'T make me cry, but "Remote Sensing" passed that test with flying colors. Dude, I thought to myself after the screening in my ten a.m. Gender Studies class, am I seriously NOT upset about global sex trafficking right now? No? Chill, guess I'll heat up some macaroni.
2. Tom Cat in Love by Tim O'Brien. Also unsatisfying; giving up on it. Mr. O'Brien's prose, as per always, is effortless. But as per unlike most of his gems- Going after Cacciato- July, July- The Things They Carried- I'm just not reading much truth in it. Unless the truth is that being married makes you crazy, vengeful, and completely unsympathetic as a subject. If this is the case, I would beg my married readership not to tell me yet. Please?
3. Cosmopolitan May 2010- Red Hot Read- "Sky High Seduction" by Susan Lyons. Mostly discusses the logistical difficulties of hooking up in an airplane. Dialogue, therefore, more instructional than affectionate. And I hate texts (literature and film) in which characters are about to be caught in a place they don't belong. Like the beach house scene in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". Hate it. If I had been Jim Carrey, I would have left Kate Winslet in that house and not felt a pinch of guilt about it. Being that I am not, it is all I can do to rate this Red Hot Read a One on the widely accepted Fist of Five scale.
4. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neal Hurston. ...Okay, this one is actually pretty good.
I love your blog so much.
ReplyDeleteI also gave up on Tom Cat in Love for the same reasons you describe, and even though TO'B is one of my favorite writers. Marriage has not had those effects on me, btw. I'm happy to be married to Pronto, the funniest guy in the world. :)
I also like Their Eyes, but I'm sorry to report, I taught it this year and I felt it lost a little magic on the second read. But, I still like it.
KC
I commented on your blog and your picture? Guess what? My comment never appeared.
ReplyDeleteI loved Their Eyes Were Watching God. I am trying to get through Salmon Rushdie's "Midnight's Children", though, and I have to say I am only finishing it at this point so I can say I finished the damned book. Time spent reading it is time that I want back at the end of my life. Great to discover your blog!
ReplyDeletethat is "julie" as in Julie T. in case you didn't recognize me. But maybe you can detect "motherishness" a mile off ;)
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