Apparently
I was not as charmed by the first couple of chapters of "The White Boy
Shuffle" as the majority of the class. While I did enjoy its drastic shift
in style from "Beloved", or "Their Eyes Were Watching God",
I didn't seem to find it as funny or engaging as everyone else, all of whom seemed
to like it because of its snarky writing and rowdy language. But as far as the
style went, I didn’t really see a difference between it and “Invisible Man” apart
from its liberal sprinkling of swear words.
I didn’t
find the plot especially interesting, either. I felt like a solid third of the
book was devoted exclusively to exposition, which I understand is important,
but I just wasn’t feeling all the childhood stories, I think because they didn’t
have a clear sense of direction, so my subconscious was worried that the entire
book was going to be a collection of weird anecdotes. I only really started
checking in when he started playing basketball, which is where I personally
felt like the plot started rolling.
All of
that being said, once things did start happening, I became very invested in the
characters and the story, so I have come around since when we first started
reading the novel. And despite what it may seem like, I did always find the
book’s casualness and boldness quite amusing, I just didn’t seem to find it as
amusing as my peers. But I now agree with many of my classmates that this is
one of my favorite (definitely top five!) books we’ve read this semester.
*also a disclaimer: this post was conceived and written before I had finished reading the book so my opinions are not updated!!
Top five :) good one! I don't entirely agree with you, but I can see where your coming from. I personally liked the strange introduction to the characters and believe the telling of the Kaufman family lineage to be key to the plot of the story. However, the start can be extremely disorientating as the dates and facts aren't exactly realistic. I think that this allows Beatty to make a broader point instead of having his readers focus on specific details in the novel.
ReplyDeleteBeattys style isn't as mainstream as other books we've read. I certainly enjoyed the book, but I agree that it wasn't the beginning that pulled me in, rather when he moved to LA. However I appreciated that Beatty put out some explanations and background on Gunnar before we just see him growing up in the LA ghettos, because Santa Monica had an effect on him and made him different than the others when he came to LA. Nice post!
ReplyDeleteI think that the way Beatty uses language is much different than the way Ellison does. I often felt that Ellison wrote in a "professional" manner while I felt that Beatty was telling me a story in a happy-go-lucky way that made me much more interested in the novel. This made me much more engaged in the book.
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