P.11: What I eventually came to understand about San Francisco was that I was immersed in beauty and barred from seeing it.
P. 140: . . . he rea[image]
P.11: What I eventually came to understand about San Francisco was that I was immersed in beauty and barred from seeing it.
P. 140: . . . he realized quiet people can control you as effectively as loved ones. They do it differently is all.
P. 262: The word violence was depleted and generic from overuse and yet it still had power, still meant something, but multiple things. There were stark acts of it: beating a person to death. And there were more abstract forms, depriving people of jobs, safe housing, adequate schools.
Eternally grim and grimy, the San Francisco portrayed in “The Mars Room,” is much like its protagonist, Romy Hall. This ambitious work by Rachel Kushner, takes a look at how the downtrodden lives. Those whose lives are in the margins of society and who lack the stability that most of us take for granted. Those who continue to struggle with no safety net; financially or socially. It is this class of people that Kushner is interested in exploring, but at times it feels like she branches and veers off into unsound directions. While I enjoy the creativity, she exhibits in reciting the manifesto of the Unabomber and of works by Thoreau and their parallels, these asides felt like an unnecessary distraction.
First and foremost, this book does a tremendous job demonstrating how those who begin life in the doldrums are often damned to stay there through various forces. Romy, who had to scramble and hustle just to provide sustenance for herself came from a home with a neglectful mother who was too busy living her own life to provide much in the way of support let alone structure. Romy’s influences and those she emulated were other hardscrabble cases who were living lives where future considerations did not come into play. She and her friends were on a path that led to either death or jail and there were no guardians which could have possibly changed this future. Far from a Horatio Alger story, in this case the bootstraps were frayed and even if one could pull themselves up high enough, someone would knock them down into the class into which they were born.
Despite her ignominious upbringing, Romy is able to improve her situation. She does this by selling a fantasy as an exotic dancer. There is perhaps no better way to see hustle and drive from a fetching and enterprising young lady than to see her manipulate and coerce clientele into spending money on her. The ability to read and understand people is important in any field and adult entertainment is no exception. In addition to steady income, she had a new man and most importantly a child, Jackson who provided two things sorely lacking throughout her life: love and hope.
Unfortunately, for Romy her halcyon days were short-lived. Met with a stalker from work, she did the responsible thing and moved to greener pastures. While, for many the first thing to do when met with a stalker would be to report said stalker to the authorities, this never entered into Romy’s mind. Having lived a life in which there were so few lifelines and so little support, she was understandably leery of those in power, let alone the police who can be quite capricious, especially in her line of work. Needless to say, Romy acted on impulse.
After yet more systematic failures in ways of an overworked and distracted attorney, Romy found herself in confinement and set to serve multiple life sentences. Though these failures do not exonerate Romy. The reader gets a lesson in the hierarchy and structure of a women’s prison as we are introduced to a diverse population. Also, we see a system that is underfunded and mismanaged, with few programs that engage the prisoners and those that are successful like woodshop, constantly under pressure through budgetary cuts. We also get a glimpse into the ingenuity of the prisoners who show a remarkable ability to make chicken salad out of chickenshit. It is not that far of a leap to make that the cunning and creativity shown by the prisoners would be welcomed and admired in boardrooms across the world.
Even though this is a far from perfect book, it made for a great book club discussion. There was much engagement on the book’s merits and even more on the failure of society to ameliorate many of the wrongs presented in the book. I made a faux pas about how Ted Kaczynski could be considered the modern-day Henry David Thoreau and received push back. I learned one of the members had a transgendered granddaughter – in the book there was a character who was transgender that was going to be introduced to the prisoner population and that one of the members acts as a mentor for a program involving juvenile delinquents. While the book itself is more of a 3.5, the enlightening conversations which it inspired were so worthwhile, that it is well deserving of being elevated into a 4. ...more
[image] 18. There are no spoilers in life. If you are observant and pragmatic, the endings of all things are easily predictable. In the most basic term[image] 18. There are no spoilers in life. If you are observant and pragmatic, the endings of all things are easily predictable. In the most basic terms, human life is always punctuated with death. It does not cheapen the buildup to know it. There are many winding paths to an inevitable end, and there is so much pain and beauty in the watching. 36. But what Tallulah and this city had taught me, what perhaps had always been inside, was a deep and ever-growing appreciation for pretense. For the lacquered kitsch of our town and the hidden proclivities it brings out and encourages in its visitors and denizens. To witness people giving themselves over fully to fantasy, to participate in it.
Maeve Fly, the protagonist has many things going for her; young, talented and beautiful; she is the granddaughter of Hollywood royalty, Tallulah. She shares many physical traits with her grandmother, namely her Nordic looks, notably her flaxen hair and piercing blue eyes. Alas, she also shares her grandmother’s sociopathic tendencies and disdain for normative behavior. While, plenty of people have thrived, in spite of themselves finding success in a multitude of ways, Maeve may not be equipped to deal with her proclivities in a fruitful manner. Can Maeve keep it together or will her inner wolf take over?
When first we meet Maeve, she is a wayward soul. Estranged from her parents, she is living with her grandmother, an iconoclast in a touristy part of Hollywood. For most of her life, she has felt separate from most of society, but her grandmother’s ferocity and assuredness has given her hope that she has found someone similar to her. This kinship though is not one of fluffy bears and gumdrops. It is similar in vein to how predators view each other. Secretive and protective of their true instincts, these two lone wolfs are in different stages of their life, but realize they share more than just DNA.
Maeve makes her living playing an ice princess at the “happiest place on earth.” Her costar and fellow Nordic royalty is her best friend/only friend, Kate Green. Though they have been “princesses”, for only a short duration, their mutual disdain for their fellow coworkers and their macabre tastes have bonded them. Another way in which they are similar is how they both relish their roles in the park. For Kate, she wishes to use the role as a stepping stone for more lucrative offers as an actress and as for Maeve, she enjoys plunging headlong into the role, into the artifice which it engenders. Maeve is able to play the role with such aplomb, because deep down she feels much like her princess doppelganger, suppressing her true destructive nature behind the façade of beauty.
Unfortunately for Maeve, the cocoon in which she has tried to wrap herself in is rapidly changing. The two most important people in her life, Tallulah and Kate, are undergoing metamorphosis. Tallulah is on death’s door, hooked up to machines that are keeping her alive. It is only a matter of time before the inevitable occurs and Maeve is trying to prolong it as long as possible. While, Tallulah is on the downslope of life, Kate is on the come up. With much persistence and deviance, Kate is starting to see her hard work, result in more acting opportunities. Kate is “seeing” a bigwig who is set to direct a blockbuster, in which she is angling for a role. In addition to her rising status, Kate’s brother Gideon, a NHL player has been traded to the LA Kings. How will Maeve react to the many disturbances to her routine?
Protective of her relationship and status with Kate, Maeve is not enthused about Gideon. Though clearly handsome and in great physical condition, she takes him for a typical jock. In spite of herself, she begins to feel an attraction to him. They have a wild and salacious lovemaking session, filled with various accoutrements including an egg-soft boiled. Their animalistic magnetism is through the roof and during one vigorous scene a random bartender is put through the paces, basically tortured. The line between the erotic and the sadistic is personal and it appears that Maeve and Gideon are not wired to either tell the difference or care.
With so much instability, even her favorite dive bar has undergone acrimony; Maeve is thrusted into greater self-destruction. Her animal impulses, which for the most part have been tamped down, besides the BDSM and viewing of carnal videos, is starting to intrude on her. Her true nature is bound to rear its head, and there is a good chance that it will not be as pretty as its exterior. Is the internal battle she is having with herself, inevitably a lost one? Perhaps more importantly, does she care to control her temptations and impulses anymore, or does she no longer care to control them with her anchors fading away? Is Maeve going to succumb to her greater demons?
There is plenty to like from first time novelist, CJ Leede. Maeve is certainly memorable and the depictions of a Disneyland-like park are entertaining. Leede is adept at painting a very vivid picture and even the grotesqueries are infused with enough absurdity to feel schlocky instead of sinister. I thoroughly enjoyed the word choice and the pacing was even. While, Maeve is memorable and no doubt an anti-heroine, ultimately she is difficult to connect with. Leede goes out of her way to prove a point that a woman should be able to be a sociopath just as easily as a man, because that is her nature, but fails to make you feel much of a way about Maeve. Without context or much of a backstory, we are led to believe that she is who she is without any hope of reformation. Another thing that chaffed me was when Maeve made some pseudo-intellectual critique about Halloween being a time when people are free to reveal their true self. This hogwash line of thinking did not impress me in college when the fake goth used a similar line to attempt to be deep to the cute brunette girl sitting next to him, ten minutes after boasting of his parents’ mansion and all the great parties he throws there. Clearly, Leede is a talented writer and I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next, but this slots in at 3 stars. ...more
"Because no matter what Mrs. Bunny said, or much money she gave Ximena, she could always call ICE if she wanted to. Ximena never forgot that."
“Mecca "Because no matter what Mrs. Bunny said, or much money she gave Ximena, she could always call ICE if she wanted to. Ximena never forgot that."
“Mecca”, written by Susan Straight is a book that highlights the lives of those who are often forgotten about. It is a book full of contradictions and paradoxes. A book full of intersecting lives in Southern California that is devoid of glitz and glamour. A setting that is noteworthy for its foreboding and capricious weather patterns, whether it be scorching hot days, wildfires or earthquakes. Even, the title is full of incongruity, how could a veritable hellscape be a Mecca? The opening of the novel begins with Johnny Frias, a CHIPS patrolman who despite his heritage is not like Ponch. He is a 39 year old man with a few regrets whose life has devolved into traffic stops and settling petty disputes. He grieves for a mother who has passed on due to pneumonia and a life that has passed him by. He is like the novel as a whole, a man of anomalies. His greatest attribute is his steadfastness and patience which for most lifestyles and professions is a plus but in dealing with split second decisions as an officer can be a negative. He is a family man, kind to his ailing father and gentle with his friends who has never married or had kids. Even his origins are of a contradictory nature. Despite his proud ancestry, his mother is able to trace their heritage before the founding of the United States, due to his complexion he is told to, “Go back where you came from.” In a world that is full of unforgiving people who try to exert their power and dominance over others, Johnny is the rare bird who shows mercy. We are next introduced to Ximena, an illegal immigrant who is from the state of Oaxaca in Mexico. She is in the ultimate no win situation, being forced into servitude as an orphan with only an Uncle to watch out for her and a slew of concerns. Chief among these is the fact at any time she can be denounced and forced to return to Mexico. Another issue is she lacks the language skills to communicate in her new surroundings. In spite of that she is a fervent learner who relishes the opportunity to study with her brainy cousin. She attempts to make sense of English-which confounds me even as a native speaker, by incorporating words she knows in Spanish and Mixtec. She also has had two great tragedies foisted on her during the perilous journey up North. One resulting in death, the other in life. There are other threads in this tapestry, this mélange of cultures and heritages. The author, Susan Straight did many admirable things with this work but her ambition in creating so many parallel lives towards the midpoint felt ponderous. There were forays into various lives that while interesting and important stopped momentum. I did enjoy that the characters were never pigeonholed, they were fully realized. Whether it was the nurse, Merry who underwent a senseless tragedy or Matelassé a florist whose husband, Reynaldo has abandoned her and her children to live as a Brazilian martial artist, we are shown a vivid portrait of them. One thing that stuck with me was the exchanges that Merry had with trolls and media after she was met with scrutiny during her most trying hour. Merry, a woman of indomitable strength was most peeved that one of the sports journalists did not even know who Ralph Sampson is, let alone that he liked to sew. Grief is one of those things that can manifest in inexplicable ways and someone getting pissed due to someone’s ignorance or perceived ignorance about something they should know about was an interesting take. But that is the thing with trying to make sense from something that is senseless, you oftentimes focus on something irrelevant because what else can you do? There is also a COVID storyline involving Dante, who is forced to live a life of seclusion when his mother and subsequently his father get the vexing virus. Like I said, at some point Ms. Straight was oversaturating us with characters and perspectives, and they felt blended together instead of being separate and unique. The final scene ends in a cliffhanger with a standoff between ICE and multiple members of families of indigenous blood and some migrants on tribal land. While, there is not a clear cut conclusion the arid land that has provided for centuries will continue to harbor sun scorched inhabitants. Perhaps the biggest contradiction that this novel highlights is the discrepancy between the reality and the perception of the immigrant issue. People, who pick our fruit, wipe our asses when we are too frail as infants or in our dotage and in general take care of us by doing many thankless jobs are treated as pariahs or scourges. Many of them have roots much deeper in American land than those who deride themselves as foreigners. People who have cultivated families and friendships that would be the envy of any red-blooded “patriotic” American who aspire to live in a Rockwellian utopia. No doubt, the issue of immigration both legal and illegal is complex; so I novel like this one written with much compassion is an important one to demonstrate that in spite of differences we all as humans strive for the same thing. ...more
This is a dark and dreary read about two people, Alexander Cutter IV and Richard Bone who have suffered injuries, physical, mental and psychological. This is a dark and dreary read about two people, Alexander Cutter IV and Richard Bone who have suffered injuries, physical, mental and psychological. One is a wounded war veteran and the other is a second rate gigolo. While, the book jacket presents a tale about a witnessed murder, that is going to be solved, it acts as merely a vehicle for the grandeur of Cutter. Alexander Cutter IV, referred to as Cutter is a man who is quick to incite, poke and prod that if he wasn’t so damn charismatic would be easy to hate. He has the gravity of a black hole that sucks in everything and everyone to its orbit. Into this orbit are his wife, Mo and a well-off friend, who acquiesces to any of his demands, whether borrowing money or a car. While, his physical injuries that he received in Vietnam are noticeable, his mental ones are even greater. Cutter is one of those people who can justify any of their actions and are talented and adroit enough to get away with it. When in doubt, he can always pull out the mangled veteran card. As opposed to Cutter, is Bone. Bone, was living the quintessential, upper bourgeois life. He had a marriage, two daughters and a well-paying career. He was one of the many middle manager types who just live their lives without stopping to think about it. Until one day he no longer does. His decision to abandon his family in the upper Midwest and relocate to California is not based on a Eureka moment but on one of existential dread. He just no longer could handle what his life had become. It felt placid and fake. So he became a second rate gigolo on the other side of the country. How these two became friends is not established but Bone is living in the same apartment as Cutter and his wife, Mo and their small child when Bone witnesses a body being thrown in a dumpster. This sets off the plot for this work, which is proclaimed as a murder mystery but is something quite different. While, Bone is uncertain about the murderer, Cutter is convinced it is the mogul, JJ Wolfe who has dealings in a plethora of operations. Cutter attempts to hoodwink a number of associates including the victims’ sister into blackmailing Wolfe as a form of revenge. The doggedness that Cutter shows in pursuit of this goal is an inverse to his general lackadaisical approach. Cutter is a neglectful husband, provider and is the definition of uncouth. His life is in constant disarray and he spends most of his time drinking and pontificating. Bone on the other hand is barely making ends meet by prostituting himself. He tries to exploit desperate women but has not been very good at it. A few tragic things happen and Cutter and Bone along with a tagalong travel to Arkansas to confront Wolfe about his complicity in the murder. While, the vast majority of books I have read are plot driven this one is not. The California, portrayed is not one of beaches and sunshine or of rain soaked noir styled blackness but something altogether different. It is like Cutter and Bone trying to figure out what to do now that the idealism of the 1960s has been shattered and the carnage of the Vietnam War and a consumer culture has begun to emerge. Despite his bravado, does Cutter have the will power to tangle with the great industrialist, Wolfe or has this been one big façade? The author of this work, Newton Thornburg is a master of portraying the dirt and grime of everyday life. I was on the verge of giving it 5 stars as it is so vivid and the characters unforgettable but the big reveal moment in the middle of the book did not strike me with much force. At that moment the ability of Cutter to attract people, use them and discard them like refuse, while important to demonstrate his personality, for me clouded my judgement and prevented me from enjoying at a 5 star level.
Notable quotes: P117. Life was brutal and ugly and one endured it alone and any love or beauty he found along the way was purely accidental and usually short-lived. Nothing in and of itself had value. There was no gold standard in life. The currency was paper, a constantly devaluing paper. Of course. And what else was new? P270. Because nothing he did here and now would matter. It never had and never would. One could spend all his life climbing onto crosses to save people from themselves, and nothing would change. For human beings finally were each as alone, as dead stars and no amount of toil or love or litany could alter by a centimeter the terrible precision of their journeys.
P285. At the same time, Bone had never seen so many bullet-riddled street signs before, not even in a ghetto. But then he reflected that there was nothing anomalous in this: if piety and patriotism ever had a bedfellow, it was violence. ...more
Feces, dung, poop, excrement, egesta, shit, no matter how it is stated, the courteous thing to do is to pick up the doo-doo. At the Regal-Hi, located Feces, dung, poop, excrement, egesta, shit, no matter how it is stated, the courteous thing to do is to pick up the doo-doo. At the Regal-Hi, located in a project of Oakland this common courtesy is not extended. Thus, this novel the debut from Leila Mottley lets you know from the start that this is not going to be a Cinderella story. The world in which the characters inhabit this story is a cold one, filled with woe and pain. The glimmers of hope are few and far between found in places like a funeral, in which the protagonist, Kiara and her friend Ale go to get their grub on or the basketball court where Trevor hustles a few dollars off of kids. Almost everyone in this world is trying to exploit their neighbor and more often than not, Kiara is the one whose pound of flesh they are taking. With a jailed mother, a deceased father and a delusional brother, Kiara has been on the precipice for a while. Too young to be an exotic dancer and not interested in earning nickels on the dollar as a petty drug dealer or fast food worker, her options are limited. School, never much an option for furthering her plans is completely off the table as she has dropped out. She is faced with all of this turmoil and to top it off rent is about to double due to gentrification. With dwindling funds, she decides the only acceptable solution is to ply her trade in the oldest profession. While plying her trade, Kiara is befriended by a transgender prostitute by the name of Camila. Camila acts as a bit of an older sister to Kiara, giving her tips on how to dress, present herself and where best to make her living. Alas, Camila is not just doing this out of the kindness of her heart. By acting as a conduit, she is trying to persuade Kiara to join with her pimp. After a raucous party, Kiara is forced into the arms of an adversary much more vicious than any pimp: the Oakland Police Department. Under the guise of protection and having limited recourse, Kiara is forced; essentially being a sex slave to a number of Oakland’s finest. Not only do they have her profession to blackmail her but her brother, Marcus has been picked up for intent to distribute drugs on a trumped up charge. On the throes of degradation she is passed along like the proverbial dobbie where she encounters one particular harrowing scene, in which a cop is brandishing his firearm in a pseudo-sexual manner. She is so used to the dehumanizing behavior that when a cop gives her the girlfriend treatment she is more taken aback than the pump and dumps. During a police function, a detective described as wearing a “purple suit” tries to get some information from Kiara about the rumors of a police sex ring. Not trusting her, she is reluctant to part any information to the lady in the purple suit, Sandra. Sandra gives her card and tells her to call if she can be of assistance. Leveraging the situation with Marcus’s impending incarceration, Sandra coaxes Kiara by giving her the number of a good attorney, Marsha. Marsha takes the case pro-bono and seems to be the legal eagle that Kiara needs. She is meticulous in appearance and craft. She has a fearlessness that gives hope to Kiara. Despite her best efforts in coaching Kiara and doggedly going through the proper channels an indictment never came. Kiara is left further broken. Risking life and limb, a pariah as a snitch, she has been exploited further. Her shitty situation has somehow even gotten worse. Even with all of this turbulence, Kiara has somehow still found perspective. No doubt life is hard, hers especially so but she has continued to survive. She has formed a tightknit community with her best friend Alejandra who has become her partner and her next door neighbor Tyler whose home situation is even more fraught than her own. With a past that she would like to forget and a future that is at best cloudy, she must live in the present. This means she has to savor what she can and hang on to the ones she loves and those that reciprocate back. As a debut novel at the young age of 17, Leila Mottley has written a novel with a strong protagonist and weaker secondary characters. The laser focus on Kiara for the part is necessary, as it shows the exploitation and negligence of those surrounding her. Not only has the system failed her but the apparatus in place is used by the authorities to gain clout while pushing her down. Whether it is the detective using Kiara to advance her career in the police department, her lawyer gaining publicity for her firm during the trial or the police blackmailing her, no one in positions of power comes out looking good. This is a dog-eat-dog world in which Kiara is merely a pawn....more
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