Books

I have read two more books since my last post: "Mort," one of the Discworld books by Terry Pratchett, and "The Water Dancer," by Ta Nehisi-Coates. 

It being the only Discworld book that I've read, I can only say that this one did not stand the test of time. I feel like the "clever English guy" style has had its day. Or perhaps, Douglas Adams did it so well that I am spoiled for anything else. Maybe the Hitchhiker's Guide series wouldn't hold up, either. In any event, it felt a bit forced and trite, with an oddly unsatisfying plot. Sorry to speak ill of the dead, but this genre of sf fantasy has much better writers. Get yourself some Octavia Butler if you really want to dive deep into another world. 

My friend Linda just returned a book we lent her, that I had forgotten I read within the Pandemic Time. So it hasn't been three years since I read a book. It just felt like it. This one was Ace of Spades, by Faridah Abike-Iyimide (sorry I don't know how to add all the accents). Henry got this one for me for Christmas, and it was a delight. a YA whodunit with some spot-on social commentary on race. Highly recommend for a summer read.

"The Water Dancer" is well-reviewed, so you probably don't need much of my opinion on this. I was drawn in immediately, which is important for me. I don't like to wait for things to get interesting when I'm deciding whether to finish a book. I had to do that with "Mort" and I only finished because that is part of my personal goal. Fortunately, TWD was not such a book. This was an advance copy, and the book has been out since 2019, so that's how long it took me to get to it, ugh. The prose is very beautiful, and feels a bit old-fashioned. I felt oddly comforted by it, which was a little unsettling, as it's a book about slavery. I don't know what the author's intent, but it seemed likely he was both creating a setting and highlighting that disconnect between white comfort and the enslavement of Blacks.

The violence in the book is largely implied or brief. Another choice that seems to provide comfort while pointing to the atrocities committed. It could also be that the choice was made to avoid trauma for the reader. It's not like we have a shortage of ongoing violence. And maybe the author was just staying true to the magic realism genre? I don't know enough about it to say.

I'm still digesting this book, so I may have more insights later. I did feel toward the end that there were definitely voices in the book that were not directed at me, as a white reader. For me there some new and subtle perspectives on freedom and what it means. In particular, Corrine's camp vs Hiram's were instructive. I may want to read this book again. There is a lot to unpack.