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atticusbinch's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Another Country is very much a novel about everyday people and their ever changing relationships with each other, with nyc as the background of their problems. This book feels like an investigation or case study of human nature and how no one person stays the same their entire life, and a singular shared death of a friend can have an enormous impact on someone. It shows the human capacity of malice and disgust towards one another, but also, ownership, greed, and twisted versions of love. No one in this book is a saint, which makes this novel grounded in reality, and ultimately creates unlikability towards the characters. However, while reading, one develops their own complicated relationship to the characters, maybe simply bc the audience knows their ugly darkest secrets, and not the superficial facade that an acquaintance or stranger may see. The audience has an intimate knowledge of everything these characters go through, so it is a constant battle between viewing them as “bad” bc of their actions, but also knowing the humanity behind it. Some components of Another Country are excellent, for example, the hesitant yet strangely casual conversations between the male characters about sexuality. The questioning of one of the main characters saying to another ‘you ever wish you were queer?’ feels jarring yet honest, and adds another layer or intimacy and vulnerability that ones does not typically see male characters portray. However, there are faults as well. Particularly the treatment of the women in this books. It feels like they all have suffered the most, aside from the first main character of the story, and at the hands of their male counterparts. They are not given much dimension or a story line outside of the male characters, their whole lives seem to revolve around men, which is disappointing, because there are only three (or four) women featured in the whole book. And we only gain insight into one of the women, even though she’s not terribly interesting. Another component that was lack luster is the discussion of racial dynamics, whether it’s about interracial relationships, mixed friendships, or fetishization of black peoples. It feels like one character in particular was almost punished, for bringing it up even though it’s her lived experience and she’s trying to bring people into the light rather than keep them in the dark. Seeing a darkskin black woman be treated in this way, and worst off than any of the other characters, felt very sad and disappointing. Also, the narrative did not feel skewed in her favor, as she is the only remaining black person in the story (everyone else is white) and the audience doesn’t even get to see things from her perspective. It felt like the story wanted to make her the villain when actuality she was more of a victim than anyone else. Though I am still processing the intricacies of the novel, I do think it’s something that I’ll think of for a long while afterwards.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racial slurs
Minor: Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, and Homophobia
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