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tomaxhull's review
funny
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"And somewhere in my spontaneous lecture, I feared there was something truly wrong with me, an irreparable flaw, a gap in my thinking and being; I feared they all had access to some pure and morally correct knowledge that I did not."
A book I liked more and more the further into it I got, always a pleasant surprise. Ogene's Frank Jasper is an excellent protagonist who's sometimes hard to stick with, but worth the journey - characterised by inaction, often making such notable toe-curling blunders that I'd have to close the book and close my eyes, and wonderfully human.
It takes a while to get where it's going, and the pace is somewhat slow at the start, although you're settled into it as a reader by the end. Described on its back cover as a satire of academia and what it is to 'represent' a culture, which I didn't find entirely accurate. While Seesaw does achieve its satirical aims with aplomb, I found it much more interesting when the story drifted further from this fish-out-of-water world and more into Frank's aimless journey across America after he fails out of his fellowship - a journey filled with little lies and human mundanity, written with effortless poetry.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Sexual assault
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