I figured we could have a casual thread to talk about what we're reading. That's the main part of literature after all, in a way. I'll make a start in the comments; feel free to post something!
I figured we could have a casual thread to talk about what we're reading. That's the main part of literature after all, in a way. I'll make a start in the comments; feel free to post something!
I just finished reading Summer Fun by Jeanne Thornton. It's about a young trans woman obsessed with a 60s pop band and most of the book is her recounting the story of its lead singer.
So there's two stories being told at once (spoilers!): One is the life history of a pop singer, from an emotionally abusive childhood to commercial success to an attempted coming out and an experimental magic album, followed by repression and obscurity. Meanwhile, in 2009, the narrator is working a dead-end job in the middle of nowhere where she has approximately one friend, when she suddenly meets the granddaughter of the singer's wife. She wants to take her away on a road trip to uncover all sorts of family secrets; the narrator refuses and stays put where she is.
I quite liked it. I didn't really care for the 60s setting, which mostly manifested as an oppressive air of misogyny, homophobia and transphobia, but it did serve to underscore the dour tone of the book. The portrayal of social intricacies is very well done, I think. One example: The narrator is poor and working a bad job, the woman she encounters is well-off enough to travel the country without a care in the world, and when the narrator doesn't want to leave the state on a whim, she calls her "bougie". That's relatable. But what created the most distance between the book and me was the lack of deliberation. Everyone's actions seem like they come immediately from their own personal psychic damage, and never do two people just sit down and talk about it. I feel like that's common in contemporary novels and it's certainly realistic, but I don't enjoy it. Then again, it plays into the narrator's magic beliefs in that people seem to act according to something like destiny or fate, maybe, so it's not unwarranted.
All in all, the book was nice enough and certainly well-written, but I can't agree that it's a "masterpiece", like the Torrey Peters blurb on the cover says. Maybe it's just more meaningful to Americans or fans of the "Beach Boys", I guess.