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zkhesbak 's review for:
The Tortilla Curtain
by T.C. Boyle
A preposterous book. It lay on my shelf at home for years, party to some uncompleted summer reading requirement with a topic irrelevant to my thirteen year-0ld self, now intriguing in our current political context and my presumed maturity.
Well. Half the book is an appreciable depiction of LA racism, stereotypes the root of confirmation bias and irrational responses dreamed up to punish people that the book goes to lengths to depict as helpless if not intermittently criminal. Yes, it is very profound to demonstrate that not all people of a race are the same, but another entirely to subject the reader to the sadist voyerism of a man losing everything he has over and over again and still, because he is mysteriously noble, able to demonstrate kindness to those who have pressed their boot heels to his face over and over again. This behavior seems to ignore any trace of actual human nature and, barring that, all previous experience of this specific character and indeed the entire contents of the book are thrown out because golly gee ain't people good inside.
The main character, a stand-in for the author, demonstrates some kind of forced, non-sequitur insight amidst acting like another cog in his racist machine, but for some reason spins completely out of control at the same time that he continuously admits how wrong he is and how irrationally everyone else is acting. I'm not sure that level of cognitive dissonance is supported by any human psychology. Some might say that's the point.
Altogether, though, the biases inherent in the book skew heavily white privileged and seem to neglect any quality of justice in lieu of the idea that the perpetrators of suffering are excused and deserving of forgiveness because they're white and too narcissistic to emotionally manage the truth of other people's lives.
There is some reflection of reality in that, and there is not always justice in the world, but my general sense after reading this book is that it was designed to re-assure a privileged class that no matter how much they hurt others and how much others suffer, everything will be okay for them. And I'm not sure that sort of postulate should be conveyed to teenagers.
Well. Half the book is an appreciable depiction of LA racism, stereotypes the root of confirmation bias and irrational responses dreamed up to punish people that the book goes to lengths to depict as helpless if not intermittently criminal. Yes, it is very profound to demonstrate that not all people of a race are the same, but another entirely to subject the reader to the sadist voyerism of a man losing everything he has over and over again and still, because he is mysteriously noble, able to demonstrate kindness to those who have pressed their boot heels to his face over and over again. This behavior seems to ignore any trace of actual human nature and, barring that, all previous experience of this specific character and indeed the entire contents of the book are thrown out because golly gee ain't people good inside.
The main character, a stand-in for the author, demonstrates some kind of forced, non-sequitur insight amidst acting like another cog in his racist machine, but for some reason spins completely out of control at the same time that he continuously admits how wrong he is and how irrationally everyone else is acting. I'm not sure that level of cognitive dissonance is supported by any human psychology. Some might say that's the point.
Altogether, though, the biases inherent in the book skew heavily white privileged and seem to neglect any quality of justice in lieu of the idea that the perpetrators of suffering are excused and deserving of forgiveness because they're white and too narcissistic to emotionally manage the truth of other people's lives.
There is some reflection of reality in that, and there is not always justice in the world, but my general sense after reading this book is that it was designed to re-assure a privileged class that no matter how much they hurt others and how much others suffer, everything will be okay for them. And I'm not sure that sort of postulate should be conveyed to teenagers.