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A review by criticalgayze
The Sleeping Car Porter by Suzette Mayr
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Largely, The Sleeping Car Porter is incredibly affecting. The claustrophobia and deprivation seeps out of the page and leaves its reader both uneasy and compelled. The book was full of sly references and powerful imagery and metaphor that made clear the reason why it won last year's Scotiabank Giller Prize.
The first third of the book was the most powerful to me in these areas. The book almost feels like a thriller in the way that you tear through those opening pages because you want to get through to allow yourself a hopeful reprieve from the tension Baxter is experiencing.
I did find that the book begins to lose this tension as the devices become repetitive. I know this is likely the point as it highlights the drudgery and constant low-simmering danger a Queer person and a person of color would face in the work place, especially in the incredibly specific close quarters service industry that is train work; however, when the novel starts on such a strong note of disquiet and worry, it feels like a loss of the earily successful storytelling.
Without giving things away, the novel renewed my engagement by the end, and I found Baxter to be a really indelible main character in the vein of so many of the main characters in the canon of classic gay fiction.
The first third of the book was the most powerful to me in these areas. The book almost feels like a thriller in the way that you tear through those opening pages because you want to get through to allow yourself a hopeful reprieve from the tension Baxter is experiencing.
I did find that the book begins to lose this tension as the devices become repetitive. I know this is likely the point as it highlights the drudgery and constant low-simmering danger a Queer person and a person of color would face in the work place, especially in the incredibly specific close quarters service industry that is train work; however, when the novel starts on such a strong note of disquiet and worry, it feels like a loss of the earily successful storytelling.
Without giving things away, the novel renewed my engagement by the end, and I found Baxter to be a really indelible main character in the vein of so many of the main characters in the canon of classic gay fiction.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
Moderate: Classism, Sexual content, Outing, and Homophobia
Minor: Vomit