A novel weaving facts and fictions about the real-life 1931 case of nine young black men accused of raping two white women, Scottsboro reawakens the intense racial tensions of America and the very different worlds inhabited by people of different races and classes at the time.
The novel starts in the build up to the accusation and the reader is given the facts of the case from the outset. Victoria Price and Ruby Bates are young prostitutes plying their trade travelling on a freight train. Nine young black men are also travelling on the train. When the train is invaded by a group of white men baying for blood, they ask Victoria and Ruby if they were attacked by the black men. Surrounded, Victoria tells them they had been raped. From there, the novel unfolds the devastating ripples of consequences of the girls' lie.
The main narrator in the novel is Alice Whittier, a fictional journalist who is reporting on the case. Alice is modern, rich and out to carve her career. But when she meets Ruby, she cannot help but get pulled into Ruby's world. A desperately poor mill worker and prostitute, Ruby is trapped by her lie and Alice is determined to tell Ruby's side of the story. From there, the women strike up an unlikely and, from Alice's perspective, unprofessional friendship as Ruby plucks up the courage to tell the truth.
Ruby is the other narrator in the novel, speaking in her colloquial, Southern style. Vain but endearing, sometimes worldly beyond her years, sometimes naive, Ruby's unprivileged and unhappy life is a world away from Alice's media parties and casual sexual relationships.
Based on a nutorious miscarriage of justice, Scottsboro could have been a book centring upon the most obvious and burning issue: race. Instead, it is a novel that goes way beyond, delving into the issues of class, gender, sexual attitudes and anti-Semitism as it covers the differing views on the case. From Victoria and Ruby, who don't want to tell the truth as it will stop the flow of dresses and make up they have received since the 'rape' to Alice who finds herself checking her belongings to see if Ruby has taken anything when she stays with her, Scottsboro unearths the most unsettling, deep-seated views of 1930s America.
No character is perfect - we discover even Alice's seemingly saintly father has an illegitimate child - and everyone has an agenda. Alice is always getting a new line for a story; Ruby is always craving material things to outshine Victoria; Abel speaks to the boys and Ruby and then twists their stories to suit the plot of his play. Feldmen's writing flows beautifully, perfectly capturing Ruby's plight and Alice's mixed motives as a journalist and a woman emotionally involved in the case.
Fascinating, intelligent and impeccably written and research, Scottsboro is an insightful read showing prejudices at their worst and capturing the climate of a case which put America's differing racial attitudes on trial.
My next read: Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys.
Saturday, 27 June 2009
Monday, 15 June 2009
The Little Stranger - Sarah Waters
A brooding, moody, and ambiguous read, The Little Stranger captures the uncertainty surrounding class, gender and society as Britain recovered from the ravages of World War Two.
With painstaking detail and characters drawn full of flaws and contradictions, Waters describes the doomed lives of the Ayres family and their home, Hundreds Hall. Rapidly losing their money, social status and land, the novel sees the family slowly chipped away as they are befriended by their local GP, Dr Faraday.
Widow Mrs Ayres is a shadow of her former self, dreamy, fragile and out of touch, trying to remember times long past with dinner parties and dresses; her son Roderick, scarred by a wartime accident while in the RAF, struggles to keep the family afloat as the new master of the house; 'spinster' Caroline is intelligent, forthright and masculine, dressed in mismatched and oversized clothes with unshaven legs.
As the narrative progresses, Hundreds Hall and its inhabitants seem to be slowly terrorised by an unwanted presence, a little stranger. While one by one the family begin to believe in the presence, stoic and patriarchal Dr Faraday explains the incidents away using his logic and apparent fascination with psychology. With every page, the family rely more and more upon his advice and with every page, they lose control of themselves, their loved ones and their home.
Like all of Waters's writing, The Little Stranger is a perfect snapshot of history, exposing society's foibles, flaws and contradictions. Dr Faraday is a self-obsessed control freak, determined to control the Ayreses and Hundreds Hall despite his belief that he has the best of intentions. As his control slips away, he becomes manic, trying every method to win it back, believing others to be deranged or tired when they refuse to obey him.
With his facial scars as a permanent reminder of his time in the RAF, Roderick encapsulates everything that is left behind by the war and how it destroyed the lives of all the men involved in fighting it. Mrs Ayres is an anachronism, physically clinging on to every remnant of the past from photographs to records to dresses. Caroline is an anachronism of her own, an independent and intelligent woman who, until Roderick's departure, has no voice or power in her family's affairs. Defined as a spinster and a squire's daughter, she, like the rest of her family, lives on the fringe of her village and society, not quite sure of where she fits in.
A complex and intriguing read, the novel, sadly, does not live up to Waters's masterful Fingersmith and The Night Watch. Those expecting her expert plot twists and turns will be disappointed; this is an altogether deeper read. Still it is atmospheric, unsettling and uncomfortable, never fully giving definite answers and conclusions. Disturbing and disquieting, The Little Stranger marks a shift in Waters's writing towards less plot trickery and a more understated, though still unsettling, read.
My next read: Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman.
With painstaking detail and characters drawn full of flaws and contradictions, Waters describes the doomed lives of the Ayres family and their home, Hundreds Hall. Rapidly losing their money, social status and land, the novel sees the family slowly chipped away as they are befriended by their local GP, Dr Faraday.
Widow Mrs Ayres is a shadow of her former self, dreamy, fragile and out of touch, trying to remember times long past with dinner parties and dresses; her son Roderick, scarred by a wartime accident while in the RAF, struggles to keep the family afloat as the new master of the house; 'spinster' Caroline is intelligent, forthright and masculine, dressed in mismatched and oversized clothes with unshaven legs.
As the narrative progresses, Hundreds Hall and its inhabitants seem to be slowly terrorised by an unwanted presence, a little stranger. While one by one the family begin to believe in the presence, stoic and patriarchal Dr Faraday explains the incidents away using his logic and apparent fascination with psychology. With every page, the family rely more and more upon his advice and with every page, they lose control of themselves, their loved ones and their home.
Like all of Waters's writing, The Little Stranger is a perfect snapshot of history, exposing society's foibles, flaws and contradictions. Dr Faraday is a self-obsessed control freak, determined to control the Ayreses and Hundreds Hall despite his belief that he has the best of intentions. As his control slips away, he becomes manic, trying every method to win it back, believing others to be deranged or tired when they refuse to obey him.
With his facial scars as a permanent reminder of his time in the RAF, Roderick encapsulates everything that is left behind by the war and how it destroyed the lives of all the men involved in fighting it. Mrs Ayres is an anachronism, physically clinging on to every remnant of the past from photographs to records to dresses. Caroline is an anachronism of her own, an independent and intelligent woman who, until Roderick's departure, has no voice or power in her family's affairs. Defined as a spinster and a squire's daughter, she, like the rest of her family, lives on the fringe of her village and society, not quite sure of where she fits in.
A complex and intriguing read, the novel, sadly, does not live up to Waters's masterful Fingersmith and The Night Watch. Those expecting her expert plot twists and turns will be disappointed; this is an altogether deeper read. Still it is atmospheric, unsettling and uncomfortable, never fully giving definite answers and conclusions. Disturbing and disquieting, The Little Stranger marks a shift in Waters's writing towards less plot trickery and a more understated, though still unsettling, read.
My next read: Scottsboro by Ellen Feldman.
Tuesday, 2 June 2009
The Cellist of Sarajevo - Steven Galloway
A lyrical, understated and moving novel detailing the lives of three people who struggle to deal with life during the seige of Sarajevo in the early 1990s.
Galloway writes beautifully and simply, describing the lives of Kenan, a man dicing with death trying to get his family a supply of water, Dragan, a man attempting to cross the streets under the gaze of snipers and Arrow, a female counter sniper who struggles with her unwanted talent of killing the enemy. All three characters are united by one man, The Cellist, who plays music at the same time every day in memory of 22 people killed in the street while queueing for bread.
By writing about the horrors Kenan and Dragan witness trying to do simple day-to-day tasks, Galloway has created detailed scenes of war, harrowing in their apparent normality and the characters' often muted responses. Kenan and Dragan are emotionally shut off, terrified and fighting against their consciences as they realise they prize their survival above helping others. Both silently rage against the injustices and indignities of war.
Arrow starts out as a confident counter sniper, working to her own agenda and moral code. But as the conflict deepens, she finds her control slipping away and she is faced with choices she never believed she would face.
As it slowly reveals the harsh lives of civilians caught up in war, The Cellist of Sarajevo plays with gender roles, showing just how skewed their lives have become. Kenan is a petrified father, emasculated and fearful for his wife and his children. Parted from his wife and son, Dragan struggles with selfishness and cowardice as he leaves a friend lying bleeding in the path of a sniper. Repressed and numb, Arrow is the only main character to fight in the novel. She distances herself from her femininity and emotions, even adopting a new name in order to feel able to kill her male enemies.
Thought-provoking, illuminating and haunting, The Cellist of Sarajevo is a stunning novel which investigates the sickening depths and the comforting highs of humanity during war.
My next read: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.
Galloway writes beautifully and simply, describing the lives of Kenan, a man dicing with death trying to get his family a supply of water, Dragan, a man attempting to cross the streets under the gaze of snipers and Arrow, a female counter sniper who struggles with her unwanted talent of killing the enemy. All three characters are united by one man, The Cellist, who plays music at the same time every day in memory of 22 people killed in the street while queueing for bread.
By writing about the horrors Kenan and Dragan witness trying to do simple day-to-day tasks, Galloway has created detailed scenes of war, harrowing in their apparent normality and the characters' often muted responses. Kenan and Dragan are emotionally shut off, terrified and fighting against their consciences as they realise they prize their survival above helping others. Both silently rage against the injustices and indignities of war.
Arrow starts out as a confident counter sniper, working to her own agenda and moral code. But as the conflict deepens, she finds her control slipping away and she is faced with choices she never believed she would face.
As it slowly reveals the harsh lives of civilians caught up in war, The Cellist of Sarajevo plays with gender roles, showing just how skewed their lives have become. Kenan is a petrified father, emasculated and fearful for his wife and his children. Parted from his wife and son, Dragan struggles with selfishness and cowardice as he leaves a friend lying bleeding in the path of a sniper. Repressed and numb, Arrow is the only main character to fight in the novel. She distances herself from her femininity and emotions, even adopting a new name in order to feel able to kill her male enemies.
Thought-provoking, illuminating and haunting, The Cellist of Sarajevo is a stunning novel which investigates the sickening depths and the comforting highs of humanity during war.
My next read: The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters.
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