Wednesday 15 November 2006

Crouching Towards Bethlehem

So I'm not quite sure how this online bookclub doo is supposed to operate (awesome idea btw), so i shall use me creativity (or perhaps complete lackthereof) and post a review of a book. I assume that is how these things go.

Joan Didion - Crouching Towards Bethlehem. (anthology of short stories).

Read it people. I'll admit it, technically the aforementioned (crouching towards bethlehem) is 'postmodern' which may initially turn off a few people (or all but me, seeing as some people actually have a taste in literature). But i must say, this is one postmodern book that isnt. It actually makes some attempt at a storyline (though, not not much of one, but there are actual characters that have semi-defined personalities, which is very rare in the world of the PM); its language is not just stream of conciousness (beleive it or not, there is actual dialogue, and lots of it); and it is one of the most impacting books I have ever read. The actual genre of the book is officially 'creative non-fiction journalism', which is where the author tells completely true events that she witnessed and does not alter any fact or occurence in any way, but of course can (and does) add hyperbolic authorial opinion through the positioning of facts (rather than through self-conciousness or other devices that people would think of as typically postmodern).

The anthology is about the protagonists trip throughout the USA in the 1970s', as she witnesses the drug and sex revolution that hit most of the first world around this time. Perhaps the most impacting scene is where she writes of a five year old on acid. There is no sensationalism, no overly flowery bullshitting - only the postioning of a culmination of really sad scenarios to make for an overwhelmingly depressing, yet simultaneosuly page-turning book.

As was the common 1970's attitude, just do it: read to your hearts content :)

18 comments:

George said...

thanks love :)
the review reminded me of one of my all time favourites - the drifters by James A Michener. It's very hippie, very seventies, very 6 young people and their relationships, but it's also a really really really good book. Get into it!
xxxx

els said...

thanks sal, great review, that's exactly the kind of thing we need to get started. sounds really interesting, i'll have to have a read when i finish the epic read i'm ploughing through now!

cate_p said...

Hi Sally "Fucker" Richards
That book, although postmodern (and you know my opinion on that!)sounds really interesting..and you know i am up for opening my mind to the ideas put forward in pomo lit..also i used to think stream of consciousness was typically postmodern but it was actually pioneered by the modernists e.g. Woolf and Joyce..so turns out i actually have them to blame!! if you have the book i'll definitely borrow off you - swap for one tree hill?
xox

sal said...

hey cath, i appreciate your clarification! you are very right, the modernists were the authentic pinoneers of stream of conciousness - i guess the tendancy for this style to be labelled as PM is just one of many examples of the misconceptions surrounding postmodernism (sorry, wont get started, but if there is actually any genuine interest for me to post a blog on PM in general - maybe using a couple of texts as a springboard for discussion - then i would absolutely love to. Postmodernism is a very misunderstood literary movement, i would love to demistify it a little). Also, on the topic of stream of conciousness, i have even read some pre-modernist books that use this style, so its definitely not uniquely PM.

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