Obviously, it is extraordinary that a person in her early 20s produced this book, but it would be a disservice, a slight, to the author to abstain from full throated criticism on that account. At times, this does feel sophomoric. People are too much types. Magical deaf-mutes. The camaraderie of outcasts. On the other hand, it is nice for once to read a book interested in empathizing with its characters rather than dragging them through all manner of hell.
Beginning this book: huh, wonder why schools assign To Kill a Mockingbird instead of this. Midway, reading a lengthy disquisition on black identity and Marxism: oh, I see.
Depiction of childhood feels very real and accurate. So do the sudden, inexplicable reversals of fate or bursts of violence, the deep unnameable wounds that transform characters forever in a flash and that they never mention. All very On Brand for the south. This was probably Julia Pearce, whose name I forgot.
Description of Dr. Copeland's awakening through education reminded me of Stoner by John Williams, which contained the best description of the transformative power of education I have read.
Definitely grown-up Harper Lee. Sad as shit.
I take back the bit in the first paragraph about magical deaf-mutes. McCullers makes clear that Singer's magicalness is projected onto him by lonely, needy people. Also, there's no real camaraderie of outcasts. Instead, very realistically, they misunderstand one another and clash all the more. You spend the whole novel hoping that Copeland and Blount will find each other, and then they do, and then they loathe each other. Very accurate depiction of left factionalism, white obliviousness, and the need for identity politics.
NB I listened to this. The sin. But it lent itself very well to narration. Same with Kafka - the conversational prose, only Kafka plods while this skips charmingly with a Southern vernacular. Same was true for short story collections from Saunders or Johnson, which I have always struggled with in print - something about having to absorb a new cast of characters and background for each story. In fact, I am worried the internet has permanently broken my brain, making it harder to process written text. Get the fuck off reddit.
