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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
An experimental novel with a mixture of conversations at a deathbed, erasure poetry, and photographs. The middle kind of lulled for me a bit, but overall I thought it was an interesting read.
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
deliciously undefinable and interdisciplinary. would shelve this one next to Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, but also Maurice by E. M. Forster. as much sprawling, feral gay confession as didactic literary (+ sociological) criticism. beautiful!
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Blackouts is so many things and, through it, Justin Torres gives us a ride of a lifetime.
Tender is the first word that came to mind in thinking about how this book made me feel. The relationship between 'nene and Juan is one of such immense love that floods the pages especially as we reach his end; through it we are shown the range and potential of intermale experience - father-son, teacher-student, potential (and teasing, even past) lovers, friends, brothers, soldiers.
A beautiful retelling of gay history aside, Blackouts offers a philosophical alternative to the blackout as erasure or violence and instead as an ever present, pervasive occurrence - voluntary and involuntary. In living, we make choices on what to remember, what to forget or redact, what to document, and what to leave behind; sometimes these acts are not choices. In living, we understand we may and will never understand the entirety of existence or achieve "truth", but we learn to pick up the pieces, read between (and maybe beneath) the lines (or ignore them altogether), and make beauty of what we have and what's left to be had.
I loved Blackouts. What a novel of beauty.
Separately though, justice for Liam. T_T
Further Reading:
Tender is the first word that came to mind in thinking about how this book made me feel. The relationship between 'nene and Juan is one of such immense love that floods the pages especially as we reach his end; through it we are shown the range and potential of intermale experience - father-son, teacher-student, potential (and teasing, even past) lovers, friends, brothers, soldiers.
A beautiful retelling of gay history aside, Blackouts offers a philosophical alternative to the blackout as erasure or violence and instead as an ever present, pervasive occurrence - voluntary and involuntary. In living, we make choices on what to remember, what to forget or redact, what to document, and what to leave behind; sometimes these acts are not choices. In living, we understand we may and will never understand the entirety of existence or achieve "truth", but we learn to pick up the pieces, read between (and maybe beneath) the lines (or ignore them altogether), and make beauty of what we have and what's left to be had.
I loved Blackouts. What a novel of beauty.
Separately though, justice for Liam. T_T
Further Reading:
- Autobiography of X, Catherine Lacey
- Tripmaster Monkey, Maxine Hong Kingston (not necessarily a recommendation)
- M Train, Patti Smith
