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This is one of those rare occasions when I am going to have to say that I like the movie much more than the book. For one, the movie has the absolutely adorable Dev Patel. For two, I think that it was a fantastic decision on the part of Danny Boyle et. al. to edit out the homophobic stereotyping that permeates the beginning of this book.
I’ve only read seventy five pages, so maybe it gets better. I don’t know. This sort of thing tends to bother me quite a bit and I just can’t get past it.
Let’s review specifically what has turned me away from finishing this book:
1) In the vignette for the opening question, the hero’s childhood best friend is obsessed with film star Armaan Ali, who has recently been featured in the gossip rags for a very public break up with his co-star. What’s even worse is that those slanderous writers have accused him of homosexual tendencies, which leads the best friend to buy up all the copies of said magazine that he can afford and burn them. The hero tells us that his friend “hates homosexuals” and then goes on to say:
”I, too, know of perverts and what they do to unsuspecting boys. In dark halls. In public toilets. In municipal gardens. In juvenile homes."
2) As the hero and his BFF are watching Armaan’s latest, a creepy old man sits down next to them, and then proceeds to fondle himself and molest the best friend, prompting the friend to jump up and threaten murder. In a brief moment of clarity, they realize that their attacker is none other than Armaan himself, wearing a fake beard.
3) For the very next vignette, the child hero is living in a church, as the ward of a priest. When a young priest arrives, the hero spies on him and observes homosexual pornography stuffed in his mattress, men dressed in leather and chains (and riding motorcycles!) showing up at all hours of the night, and cocaine use. The young priest cheekily flaunts his behavior and taunts the young hero.
4) About 24 hours after a 15 year old visitor arrives at the church, the hero walks in on the young priest raping him.
Now, if you can read all of that and it doesn’t bother you at all, I suggest you pick up this book. Maybe I am overreacting, but this feels too much like blatant stereotyping of homosexuals as perverted pedophiles. It’s the broadcasting of the homophobic belief that homosexual men will “go after” young boys at any opportunity. A belief that, in 1970, 70% of Americans agreed with.(1) In a 2005 survey, only 54% of Americans said that they “would allow gay people to be elementary school teachers.”(1)
So, I think that this erroneous belief is still out there, and I don’t intend to support anything that keeps it alive. Now, in fairness, Vikas Swarup has stated that he did not intend for this to be homophobic, but instead highlight the “exploitation of the weak by the strong.”(2) Honestly, I don’t buy that at all. I hope that this review can inform those that, like me, have a very low tolerance for this sort of thing.
Perfect Musical Pairing
Street Sweeper Social Club – Paper Planes
Sure, Tom Morello is a guitar-playing god, but doesn’t this second rate cover just make you want to listen to the M.I.A. version? Likewise this book just makes me long for the much more intelligent movie.
1. http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html
2. http://www.thefullwiki.org/Q_%26_A_(novel)
I’ve only read seventy five pages, so maybe it gets better. I don’t know. This sort of thing tends to bother me quite a bit and I just can’t get past it.
Let’s review specifically what has turned me away from finishing this book:
1) In the vignette for the opening question, the hero’s childhood best friend is obsessed with film star Armaan Ali, who has recently been featured in the gossip rags for a very public break up with his co-star. What’s even worse is that those slanderous writers have accused him of homosexual tendencies, which leads the best friend to buy up all the copies of said magazine that he can afford and burn them. The hero tells us that his friend “hates homosexuals” and then goes on to say:
”I, too, know of perverts and what they do to unsuspecting boys. In dark halls. In public toilets. In municipal gardens. In juvenile homes."
2) As the hero and his BFF are watching Armaan’s latest, a creepy old man sits down next to them, and then proceeds to fondle himself and molest the best friend, prompting the friend to jump up and threaten murder. In a brief moment of clarity, they realize that their attacker is none other than Armaan himself, wearing a fake beard.
3) For the very next vignette, the child hero is living in a church, as the ward of a priest. When a young priest arrives, the hero spies on him and observes homosexual pornography stuffed in his mattress, men dressed in leather and chains (and riding motorcycles!) showing up at all hours of the night, and cocaine use. The young priest cheekily flaunts his behavior and taunts the young hero.
4) About 24 hours after a 15 year old visitor arrives at the church, the hero walks in on the young priest raping him.
Now, if you can read all of that and it doesn’t bother you at all, I suggest you pick up this book. Maybe I am overreacting, but this feels too much like blatant stereotyping of homosexuals as perverted pedophiles. It’s the broadcasting of the homophobic belief that homosexual men will “go after” young boys at any opportunity. A belief that, in 1970, 70% of Americans agreed with.(1) In a 2005 survey, only 54% of Americans said that they “would allow gay people to be elementary school teachers.”(1)
So, I think that this erroneous belief is still out there, and I don’t intend to support anything that keeps it alive. Now, in fairness, Vikas Swarup has stated that he did not intend for this to be homophobic, but instead highlight the “exploitation of the weak by the strong.”(2) Honestly, I don’t buy that at all. I hope that this review can inform those that, like me, have a very low tolerance for this sort of thing.
Perfect Musical Pairing
Street Sweeper Social Club – Paper Planes
Sure, Tom Morello is a guitar-playing god, but doesn’t this second rate cover just make you want to listen to the M.I.A. version? Likewise this book just makes me long for the much more intelligent movie.
1. http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html
2. http://www.thefullwiki.org/Q_%26_A_(novel)