Even though I was a Literature major, I am a literary wimp. That wasn't always the case, of course. I used to read anything, no matter how tough the themes might be. Life changed that, as I found some authors getting too close to painful truths I have learned through personal experience for me to abide. (Loss, for instance, is an interesting abstraction for a teenager who has never truly known loss; not necessarily so for me anymore.). I don't like admitting this, of course, because I believe that literature can bring understanding and illumination to even the most difficult-to-examine aspects of life. Nevertheless, there it is.
Because I am a literary wimp, I have been staring for months at my copy of Chang Rae Lee's "The Surrendered.". I could tell from the reviews and the dust jacket that this book would grapple with some tough stuff. Death, fortitude, redemption, cruelty, selfishness, human and moral frailty - just to name a few. So, on my shelf it sat.
Until this week.
I read The Surrendered with an ever quickening pace as I was drawn to the books denouement. This was not a page-turner in the traditional sense. Impelled by the majesty of the prose, though, I could not stop myself from wondering what would happen next (or what had already happened), and why. Would the characters, who feigned brutal honesty, allow each other to cling to the fictions that sustained them? These questions drove me on.
I won't try to review The Surrendered, as many other people better skilled at doing so have already done that. I will say that this was a powerful and moving book. It was worth delving into these tough issues, through the lives of these difficult-to-love characters, and I highly recommend this book to our class.
One last note: if you've read the book, too, please let me know. I would love to discuss it with someone.
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