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3.36 AVERAGE
3.36 AVERAGE
Original, funny, with an absolutely maddening narrator! I really enjoyed this, the first novel by a writer I am happy to be acquainted with (at least virtually!), Sara Levine. I also really admired her book of short stories, Short Dark Oracles. Congrats, Sara!
I read this book immediately after The Marriage Plot as a bit of a palate cleanser, a job it did very well. Funny, quirky, light and very entertaining.
It's a book about someone reading another book, which rarely works, but here it was a fun twist. It's been a long time since I've read Treasure Island (and I think I've seen the Muppets Treasure Island more recently), so I can't really talk to any meta-structure it may have taken from the book.
I read this for the always-amazing Rumpus Book Club
It's a book about someone reading another book, which rarely works, but here it was a fun twist. It's been a long time since I've read Treasure Island (and I think I've seen the Muppets Treasure Island more recently), so I can't really talk to any meta-structure it may have taken from the book.
I read this for the always-amazing Rumpus Book Club
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is a strange book, and it evoked a strange response for me. First of all, I'm not sure whether or not I liked the book. The first chapters did not impress me and in fact I did not think that my review would be more than two stars. However, as I read the book grew on me.
I began the story, of course, finding our narrator to be a self-absorbed, vain idiot. And moreover, I didn't find her likeable as a protagonist, I wasn't rooting for her. I was hoping that something really terrible would happen to her...not so that she would realize how wonderful her life was and the people who she was taking for granted, but only for my own gratification. It seems I have something in common with her after all.
As that would indicate soon I was reading with a smile, wondering what mishap could possibly happen next.
I think that Levine had an interesting idea and she wrote a good and very rich story out of it. Taking a classic work and using it as the trigger for this dysfunctional family drama created this hilarious and black book. And using this book obsession, in the end, made me sympathize with this utterly crazy narrator.
Our unnamed narrator wants to embody these themes from Treasure Island, to be Bold, Resolute, Independent and a horn-blower. Whatever she tries always turns out terribly though. Partly because she is a vain, self-absorbed idiot. But the ways in which she fails are so interesting and funny. And the results of her actions create this environment where the other bizarre characters of this novel flourish.
I found that many other reviewers couldn't enjoy (or even read it seems) the book because of it's first person POV with such an unlikable narrator. At first I was of that opinion also, but as I read I stopped being bothered by the tinted view of the world through our narrator and realized that there is so much more going on. The story is rich with detail and all of these really funny situations, if only the reader pull out a little to see the wider picture.
From the beginning I realized that our narrator was more John Silver than Jim. Like Silver she is constantly changing her colors to best fit her present needs. She is obsessed with something, and will do anything to achieve success. She is prone to violent outbursts, yet she has a charisma that draws people to her (even when she has hurt or betrayed them).
Poor Little Richard, I thought, was like Mr. Arrow. Although everyone on the crew liked him, he didn't fit into the role Silver needed so one night he mysteriously disappears. Unlike Treasure Island though Levine leaves nothing to suspect.
Besides having our narrator quote and refer back to Treasure Island and having these parallels between the two works she creates this world where a young boy inspires a 20-something woman, but no one sees that as a good thing at all. Everyone encouraged Jim when he left home, his mother, at 10 years old for a sea adventure. Our narrator has tried independence, but failed and returns around 20 to her mother's house. Truly a book for our current world. Like John Silver we come back from Skeleton Island (college) with not much to show for it, and our colleges are glad just how cheaply they rid themselves of us.
In the end I was sympathetic to the narrator. I couldn't help it, hasn't everyone had the experience where a book (or etc.) has really touched them, yet when they try to spread that inspiration, that touching moment with someone else no one understands or cares. What had such an impact to them barely registers to anyone else. Going on about it, trying to make the person understand only brings further annoyance for both parties. Levine uses this alienating experience to really bring out the worst (and the best) of all her characters and for that I give this book four well earned stars.
I began the story, of course, finding our narrator to be a self-absorbed, vain idiot. And moreover, I didn't find her likeable as a protagonist, I wasn't rooting for her. I was hoping that something really terrible would happen to her...not so that she would realize how wonderful her life was and the people who she was taking for granted, but only for my own gratification. It seems I have something in common with her after all.
As that would indicate soon I was reading with a smile, wondering what mishap could possibly happen next.
I think that Levine had an interesting idea and she wrote a good and very rich story out of it. Taking a classic work and using it as the trigger for this dysfunctional family drama created this hilarious and black book. And using this book obsession, in the end, made me sympathize with this utterly crazy narrator.
Our unnamed narrator wants to embody these themes from Treasure Island, to be Bold, Resolute, Independent and a horn-blower. Whatever she tries always turns out terribly though. Partly because she is a vain, self-absorbed idiot. But the ways in which she fails are so interesting and funny. And the results of her actions create this environment where the other bizarre characters of this novel flourish.
I found that many other reviewers couldn't enjoy (or even read it seems) the book because of it's first person POV with such an unlikable narrator. At first I was of that opinion also, but as I read I stopped being bothered by the tinted view of the world through our narrator and realized that there is so much more going on. The story is rich with detail and all of these really funny situations, if only the reader pull out a little to see the wider picture.
From the beginning I realized that our narrator was more John Silver than Jim. Like Silver she is constantly changing her colors to best fit her present needs. She is obsessed with something, and will do anything to achieve success. She is prone to violent outbursts, yet she has a charisma that draws people to her (even when she has hurt or betrayed them).
Poor Little Richard, I thought, was like Mr. Arrow. Although everyone on the crew liked him, he didn't fit into the role Silver needed so one night he mysteriously disappears. Unlike Treasure Island though Levine leaves nothing to suspect.
Besides having our narrator quote and refer back to Treasure Island and having these parallels between the two works she creates this world where a young boy inspires a 20-something woman, but no one sees that as a good thing at all. Everyone encouraged Jim when he left home, his mother, at 10 years old for a sea adventure. Our narrator has tried independence, but failed and returns around 20 to her mother's house. Truly a book for our current world. Like John Silver we come back from Skeleton Island (college) with not much to show for it, and our colleges are glad just how cheaply they rid themselves of us.
In the end I was sympathetic to the narrator. I couldn't help it, hasn't everyone had the experience where a book (or etc.) has really touched them, yet when they try to spread that inspiration, that touching moment with someone else no one understands or cares. What had such an impact to them barely registers to anyone else. Going on about it, trying to make the person understand only brings further annoyance for both parties. Levine uses this alienating experience to really bring out the worst (and the best) of all her characters and for that I give this book four well earned stars.
I am a fan of unlikeable characters, especially women. This fact, coupled with excellent pacing and a brisk humour, made this an enjoyable read.
The thing is, it's billed as comic and indeed the first chapter is delightfully so, just that increasingly you come to realise how self-centred and narcissistic the narrator is, and what a massively fragile person she is. If anything the book is proof that tragedy is indeed a subset of comedy, as the actions of the protagonist become more and more desperate and depressing, as a window, perhaps, into the kind of world we live in. Still, it's wonderfully written.
Loved this book.
This is a short book that will start long conversations. Rather than seeking to answer questions for the reader, Sara Levine has chosen to offer readers a dynamic, robust main character who is flawed in a great many ways to serve as an amazing unreliable narrator through a journey of discovery. More than just self-discovery, "Treasure Island!!!" brings up questions of family, friends, relationships, and how a single unmoored person can reveal so much in so many people.
Because the novel has a very small cast of characters, the reader gets to spend a fair amount of time witnessing how each one interacts with the narrator, and how she interacts with them through her skewed narrative. The information that the narrator chooses to share is as important as the information withheld from the reader, but revealed through descriptions and the way other characters interact with her.
I definitely laughed more at the beginning than I did at the end of the book, but the humor is present the whole way through. It punctuates the narrative with releases of laughter that are at the same time insightful windows into the narrator, who has a very dry sense of humor but also a skewed perception of reality. As the narrative progressed, I began to see the humorous moments not as only joking, but also as indicators of the problems the narrator was facing and how humor was used as a defense against self-realization. By the end of the novel, I still saw the jokes and found them darkly amusing, but I'd become so attached to the main character that I no longer could separate the funny quips in the narrative from the emotional sympathy I felt for her.
Where I think the novel makes its strongest move is in its arguable lack of resolution or redemption. This is what I meant when I stated at the beginning that rather than offer answers, the novel asks questions. The main character does, in some way, have several moments of redemption. However, none are truly seen through to the end. In the same way, the other players in the story are also given moments to redeem themselves, and only see their own redemption through halfway. By denying the reader a clear-cut path to redemption for any of the characters, the narrative asks the reader to engage in the question of "Why?" Why deny the characters that act of absolution? What have they done to earn it? What have they yet to learn? These are the questions that will nag most readers who try to figure out the ending in great depth. Additionally, by not really resolving the ending, the narrative makes the reader wonder what happens next. Where do the characters go from here?
It's an ending full of possibilities and full of potential, all of which is left wide open for reader interpretation.
Structurally, I also greatly enjoyed the way the novel made use of foreshadow, and how each move in the story seemed necessary to get the characters into the next positions, but didn't seem forced. No character suffered from a Deus ex Machina, they were all moving organically, each according to his or her own flaws and shortcomings, as well as strengths.
In short, I recommend this book. If you can shed yourself of expectations and allow the novel to surprise you in how you define crazy, what you mean by "protagonist," and what you expect from a resolution, you can be delighted by the wonderfully insane story of "Treasure Island!!!"
This is a short book that will start long conversations. Rather than seeking to answer questions for the reader, Sara Levine has chosen to offer readers a dynamic, robust main character who is flawed in a great many ways to serve as an amazing unreliable narrator through a journey of discovery. More than just self-discovery, "Treasure Island!!!" brings up questions of family, friends, relationships, and how a single unmoored person can reveal so much in so many people.
Because the novel has a very small cast of characters, the reader gets to spend a fair amount of time witnessing how each one interacts with the narrator, and how she interacts with them through her skewed narrative. The information that the narrator chooses to share is as important as the information withheld from the reader, but revealed through descriptions and the way other characters interact with her.
I definitely laughed more at the beginning than I did at the end of the book, but the humor is present the whole way through. It punctuates the narrative with releases of laughter that are at the same time insightful windows into the narrator, who has a very dry sense of humor but also a skewed perception of reality. As the narrative progressed, I began to see the humorous moments not as only joking, but also as indicators of the problems the narrator was facing and how humor was used as a defense against self-realization. By the end of the novel, I still saw the jokes and found them darkly amusing, but I'd become so attached to the main character that I no longer could separate the funny quips in the narrative from the emotional sympathy I felt for her.
Where I think the novel makes its strongest move is in its arguable lack of resolution or redemption. This is what I meant when I stated at the beginning that rather than offer answers, the novel asks questions. The main character does, in some way, have several moments of redemption. However, none are truly seen through to the end. In the same way, the other players in the story are also given moments to redeem themselves, and only see their own redemption through halfway. By denying the reader a clear-cut path to redemption for any of the characters, the narrative asks the reader to engage in the question of "Why?" Why deny the characters that act of absolution? What have they done to earn it? What have they yet to learn? These are the questions that will nag most readers who try to figure out the ending in great depth. Additionally, by not really resolving the ending, the narrative makes the reader wonder what happens next. Where do the characters go from here?
It's an ending full of possibilities and full of potential, all of which is left wide open for reader interpretation.
Structurally, I also greatly enjoyed the way the novel made use of foreshadow, and how each move in the story seemed necessary to get the characters into the next positions, but didn't seem forced. No character suffered from a Deus ex Machina, they were all moving organically, each according to his or her own flaws and shortcomings, as well as strengths.
In short, I recommend this book. If you can shed yourself of expectations and allow the novel to surprise you in how you define crazy, what you mean by "protagonist," and what you expect from a resolution, you can be delighted by the wonderfully insane story of "Treasure Island!!!"
An utterly weird book, and extremely funny. Not since Francis Plug has there been such an awful, self absorbed protagonist (and that's high praise). If you liked this, check out the Francis Plug books
I loved the beginning of this, but I think I was just expecting something different. Too much cringe and not enough forward movement for me.