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What I've been reading: Books No. 35-36
Sep. 16th, 2021 03:21 pmBook No. 35 was "Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey Through Autism" by Dawn Prince-Hughes. In this memoir, Dawn Prince-Hughes tells how she grew up an odd child that didn't get diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum until well into adulthood. She felt like she couldn't relate to people but enjoyed observing and interacting with animals at the zoo. Through a series of lucky breaks, she finds people who understand her and support her in her goal to do research with gorillas and pursue a higher degree in anthropology. It's her work with gorillas that helps her figure out a few things about interacting more positively with other humans.
The book is funny in some places, and heart-breaking in others, as she describes the fate of the great apes. She refers to gorillas as "a gorilla man/gorilla woman," highlighting her belief that great apes have the hallmarks of "personhood" and deserve rights in some form. I really enjoyed this, both as a memoir of what it was like to grow up not knowing she was autistic and for her insight into apes and other animals. Highly recommended.
Book No. 36 was "Such a Fun Age" by Kiley Reid. About 50 pages into this novel, I though, "I hate nearly every character in this book. Why should I keep reading about them?" But, I got sucked in and finished it pretty quickly. It tells the story of Alix Chamberlain, a white, upper-class media "influencer" and her black babysitter, Emira. One day, Emira goes to the grocery story with her 3-year-old charge late at night and is confronted by security and accused of kidnapping the child. Everything else that goes on in the novel flows from that moment, but it also digs up events from Alix's past.
I pretty much hated every white character in this book with the exception of the toddler. Sympathy for Emira and a sort of voyeuristic feeling looking so closely into the Chamberlains' life kept me reading. I did feel that, while Alix was fairly well-rounded, she also came off as stereotypical in some ways. On the positive side, the author does a nice, subtle job of examining the complicated role of caregiver and how that's complicated further by race. This was more of a 4-out-of-5 star book for me, but I think Kiley Reid is going to be a literary force to reckon with if she's this good in her first novel. Recommended.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
The book is funny in some places, and heart-breaking in others, as she describes the fate of the great apes. She refers to gorillas as "a gorilla man/gorilla woman," highlighting her belief that great apes have the hallmarks of "personhood" and deserve rights in some form. I really enjoyed this, both as a memoir of what it was like to grow up not knowing she was autistic and for her insight into apes and other animals. Highly recommended.
Book No. 36 was "Such a Fun Age" by Kiley Reid. About 50 pages into this novel, I though, "I hate nearly every character in this book. Why should I keep reading about them?" But, I got sucked in and finished it pretty quickly. It tells the story of Alix Chamberlain, a white, upper-class media "influencer" and her black babysitter, Emira. One day, Emira goes to the grocery story with her 3-year-old charge late at night and is confronted by security and accused of kidnapping the child. Everything else that goes on in the novel flows from that moment, but it also digs up events from Alix's past.
I pretty much hated every white character in this book with the exception of the toddler. Sympathy for Emira and a sort of voyeuristic feeling looking so closely into the Chamberlains' life kept me reading. I did feel that, while Alix was fairly well-rounded, she also came off as stereotypical in some ways. On the positive side, the author does a nice, subtle job of examining the complicated role of caregiver and how that's complicated further by race. This was more of a 4-out-of-5 star book for me, but I think Kiley Reid is going to be a literary force to reckon with if she's this good in her first novel. Recommended.
( The other books I've read so far this year: )
