Roger Chen Chen itibaren Provincia de Carlos Fermín Fitzcarrald
Great non-linear, fiction narrative. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be one of the best contemporary novels I've read. Read it if you love complex characters and rich imagery. Compelling, poignant, and gutwrenching. It left me hysterically sobbing, which even "real" events often fail to do.
I decided to read this book after hanging out with a group a people who were having a discussion about it. Having not read it, I was lost, and felt ignorant, so I decided to read it so I could never feel that way about this topic again. I have to say...I hated it!!!! As I was forcing myself to keep reading for the sole reason that I don't like to start something and not finish it, I kept asking myself, who the hell likes this book???? From an entertainment value, it was boring as hell. Nothing really happened, just these self-centered, irresponsible jackasses roaming around the country, ducking any sense of responsibility and acting like they owned the world. There is no structure or plot. It is simply a bunch of ramblings. Over time, I grew resentful of them. Because, who the hell has 7 years to just roam the world, mooching off those who love you. I thought if their journey could be accomplished in today's world without a trust fund, and realized it couldn't. I was offended by their view of African-Americans and Mexicans. To them poverty was something cool, hip, freeing different from their white-washed world. Something exotic and fun. A cute little world they could dip into, listen to some jazz, smoke some reefer, and disappear. In reality, life for blacks and Mexicans in the forties was miserabl3. Segregation, poverty, lynchings, intimidation, hopelessness, and self-hatred. They way there rolled into Mexico and exploited it for it's women and drugs is shameful. If anything, this book can serve as an example of how not to be. They treated their friends like shit. Used people and disposed of them once they sucked them dry. The fact that there a people who view this book as inspirational, disturbs me. This is not a tale of a group of guys freeing themselves from the constraints of society and living life on their terms, this is a tale of a group of ignorant, self-centered, egotistical, imperialist, white males and their exploitation of this great nation. In the end, they learned nothing about the many different people that make up this country. Furthermore, this book tells you nothing about the many things that make America so special and different from other nations...diversity, work ethic, patriotism, ambition.
I bought this book when I went to the Lincoln Museum and home in Springfield, IL. I picked it up because - as you might be able to tell - I'm very interested in women's side of history. This was written by Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave and the dressmaker and confidante of Mary Todd Lincoln. It is part slave narrative, and partly a history of the Lincoln family. Keckley's stories of her time in slavery are upsetting, and there is a great deal she left out which I'm sure were important in her history. She had a husband she never writes about, and has a son by a white man which she plainly says she won't write about. She was an extremely skilled dressmaker, and this helped her work her way out of slavery. One of her customers who appreciates her loans her money to buy herself and her son. She repays the loan in full. She also writes lovingly of her former slave masters, which isn't what one expects when reading a slave narrative. She even visits them years later while she is free, and writes of how well they treat her as a guest. Her motive for writing this book was in part, clearly monetary, which might account for the many unflattering things she writes about Mary Todd. She knows it will cause a stir. I feel for Mary Todd in this matter, because someone she considered a friend published her letters which she wanted kept confidential. At the same time, Keckley puts a great deal of effort into helping Mary Todd after her husband dies by helping her sell her fine dresses. The venture was a failure, and Keckley lost a portion of her income by doing Mary this favor. I'm glad I found this book. I wish the book had more about Keckley herself and less about the Lincolns, but Keckley clearly didn't want certain things going down in history. I'd reccomend this to anyone interested in African American Lit, Lincoln, or women's history.