sal
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Post by sal on May 15, 2022 21:23:55 GMT -5
Posting this tonight in case I oversleep and have to race right to the gym in the morning. Or if anyone just wants to get a jump on things.
Day 1. General thoughts. Did you like the general style of the book or did you find it distracting? I feel like there is probably going to be very little in between on this one. Do you think the blurred reality helped Jason Mott get his point/s across?
One of the Goodreads reviews I read says that "this is not a book that works if you read it strictly literally, I think". Do you agree with that statement?
I'll be back tomorrow with my thoughts on the above.
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Post by moosishun on May 16, 2022 6:07:24 GMT -5
Question 1 - Perhaps, but I couldn't get through all of it and skipped to the end because the blurred reality was just too abstract to me. I have discovered that I like some linear paths in fiction and this guessing as to what is true and what is fictitious IN FICTION really messed me up.
Question 2: YES. I mentioned in another thread that this reminded me of abstract art.
This book made my head hurt.
Was this running around naked in the beginning TRUTH or FICTION??? This makes me crazy because I think I just have to have some truth in fiction, of all things, and why should I demand that? I just thought the majority of his adventures were made up. I believe if he had showed up at the hotel lobby nekkid as a jay bird, there would have been far more of a thing going on than that hotel employee who had other thoughts about him.
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Post by bumblebuzz21 on May 16, 2022 6:53:22 GMT -5
I really like the way the book was written. At first I was trying to figure things out a bit more literally and then I was just able to go with the flow. I found this book to be super easy to read re: the style. I think I read this book in 3 sessions and the first day I got to 40%. I did not find the storyline to detract from the themes of the story. I was pretty heartbroken for the entire book.
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Post by ccToast on May 16, 2022 7:19:52 GMT -5
I didn't find the style distracting. I listened to this as an audiobook, which had two different but similar sounding narrators, so maybe that made my experience different. It seems like I often read/listen to books with unreliable narrators, so once the author character began talking about his imagination and his own inability to differentiate between reality and imagination, I saw everything through a dream lens.
When I was in college (30 years ago), I read Ralph Ellison's The Invisible Man, which is a book whose story felt very dreamlike to me and whose intricacies I couldn't fully grasp. Hell of a Book reminded me of my experience with The Invisible Man. It really wasn't until I was most of the way through Hell of a Book that I made a connection between The Invisible Man and the invisibility of the characters in Hell of a Book. I should go back to re-read The Invisible Man and read the book version of Hell of a Book to get a more thorough understanding.
I am looking forward to this week's discussion to help me get a deeper understanding of Hell of a Book.
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Post by bernelli on May 16, 2022 7:42:41 GMT -5
I'm sad that I haven't been able to get this one read. My son is graduating HS this coming weekend, and we've had family in town for the party this weekend with the other side of the family arriving for the ceremony. All the prep for this has me not being able to read much. I AM reading it though, and am less than 10% in...but I'll come back after and learn your all's thoughts! Enjoy, everyone!
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Post by peacemama on May 16, 2022 8:32:15 GMT -5
After I was aware of the "possible imaginary child" and the eclectic mix of recollections, my thoughts immediately jumped to... Was he the one shot? What's the common thread?
It's not an easy read, but I appreciated the writer's craft and the power/impact created by the style of the novel.
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sal
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Post by sal on May 16, 2022 10:19:11 GMT -5
I loved the style of this, and felt like the dreamlike unreliable narrator aspect added to the anxiety of it all. You all know from Elinor Oliphant (ugh) that I normally HATE books that make me anxious, but this one made me believe it's really only books that make me anxious in the way sitcoms do (what unbelievable stupid fix is our hero going to get themselves into now?!). For something like this, I *should* be anxious. People should not have to go through their lives having "the talk" or worrying about how fast they can put their hands up, yet here we are. Finishing my reread while listening to all of the news from Buffalo made me so unbelievably angry. And sad. ccToast, at least one of the reviews I saw on Goodreads mentioned the Invisible Man as well. Definitely a lot of comparisons to be made.
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Post by ccToast on May 16, 2022 10:35:50 GMT -5
felt like the dreamlike unreliable narrator aspect added to the anxiety of it all. My reaction to the dreamlike aspect was almost the opposite: not anxiety, but more like lulled into a sense of this isn't real, like a numbness to horror after horror after horror.
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Post by juliajones54 on May 16, 2022 13:50:45 GMT -5
I just now finished the book so haven't had time to process it really. I think the blurred reality was extremely effective.
In all of my years of crying while reading books, seeing reports on the news, crying through televised eulogies and funerals, discussing, discussing, discussing, and hearing from Black friends and family (one of my daughters in law is Black) about the horror and trauma of discrimination it is still difficult for me as a white person to truly comprehend the WHY of this evil. I mean I know why in my head but my heart just cannot accept such hate. I've felt so much anger and helplessness and hopelessness, it does feel like a horribly evil universe that we just cannot get out of.
The reality is even worse than the imagined but maybe the imagined helps us have hope for change because in our reality in the U.S. right now, we're not marching forward. I don't know, I do feel pretty depressed right now but I think this is an important book and speaks in a new way that kept my total attention.
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sal
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Post by sal on May 16, 2022 20:21:42 GMT -5
Early posting Day 2:
Adapted this one a bit from one of the book group question lists I saw. What was your opinion of the agent and media trainer? Was their advice good (or what parts of it were particularly bad or stupid)? How did Renny's advice compare to theirs?
How do you think being Black changes the way The Author experiences publishing his book?
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Post by peacemama on May 16, 2022 22:17:36 GMT -5
The Day 2 question reminded me of Mott mentioning in an interview that he was an extreme introvert and was fine being the author but would prefer someone else be the author on the book tour. This Pacific Northwest Writers Association interview with Mott is also worth a watch. #1 I'm impressed by his amazing bookcase. #2 He explains the origin of the book title.
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Post by bumblebuzz21 on May 17, 2022 6:43:40 GMT -5
I am torn on the PR lady. She seemed to be almost a caricature of what you would expect her role to be, but then was really upset by the shootings and pushed the main character to be involved.
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sal
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Post by sal on May 17, 2022 6:46:50 GMT -5
I found the agent and even moreso the trainer both hilarious and enraging. So much bad advice. Though the sport coat bit made me laugh.
I did find this quote from Jack interesting, though: “You’ve written a good book.” “Thank you,” I say. “Don’t thank me,” Jack says. “I’m just glad that you’ve done it. Most people that come in here have written terrible books. And there’s nothing wrong with writing a terrible book. Fact of the matter is, most books are pretty terrible when you get right down to it. Just like how most people are terrible.” “That’s cynical.” “You’re changing the subject.”
Sharon's obsession first with telling him NOT to make everything about being Black, and then forcing him back to his hometown and into the Denver interview with the mom pretty much summed up what I would guess the life of a new (at least, and probably well beyond new) Black author to be. Catch-22. Don't say it, but why aren't you saying it? Ugh. I would guess other non-white cis male authors get this, too, but probably not to as great an extent.
I loved Renny; he was occasionally harsh, but in a far more useful way than Sharon or Jack. And he really seemed to care about The Author. Case in point: taking him home with him to meet his wife. I loved this, though: “You know, you seem pretty odd, even for a fiction author.” Renny carves the car through the highway traffic like a hot knife. “Most of the fiction authors I meet are fairly ridiculous. Pure weirdos. But you’re on a different level. Where did you go to school?”
He also definitely got into the Writing While Black conversation, but at least picked a side and stayed there: "What if my being Black is something that means I’m supposed to do everything differently? “You’re not supposed to just stand there,” Renny barks, shaking a fist. “You’re supposed to say something. You’re supposed to speak about the Black condition! You’re supposed to be a voice!” “A voice? What voice? The voice of my people? Always? Every second of every day of my life? That’s what Black people are always supposed to be? And the Black condition? What kind of condition is that? You mean as in an existing state of being? Or a condition as in a state of health—like an illness?”
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Post by moosishun on May 17, 2022 7:29:34 GMT -5
I thought of this in alternate realities which makes this book a little more palatable to me. Could be this, could be that, all of it can be truth in some shape or form.
I found the entire conversation of "What's the big deal if I am black or not?" translated to me as "Can't I be just who I am?" And there-in is the chief and uttermost tragedy of this whole book for me. I never have worried about who I was expected to be and those that have those expectations can kiss my ass. I don't think that a person of color can just as easily do this because there are SO MANY people from all sides that cut to the ethnicity from the get-go. Instead of being surrounded by a sense of "You can be just exactly who you want to be", his parents just wanted him to be invisible. And I know that this is apart from the agent, but I am going with this stream of consciousness and riding it.
I thought that the majority of professional people dealing with the author were outlandish caricatures but there is a slice of truth in it. I know that the "total package" is so important to people who are the promoters and not the talent themselves and to be strong enough to say "You can kiss my ass" when they are holding what could be a big fat paycheck is paralyzing, especially to a newbie.
I just heard an Anita Baker album yesterday and her story with some professional idiots is very similar - got tangled up in so much garbage because the powers-that-be didn't think she could head up a band and really, to see the struggles and lawsuits she had to muddle through, it is tragic that she had to eat up so much of her professional life in that shit. And also, Ann Wilson (of Heart) or even Judy Garland, who had to deal with idiots that controlled the $$ that said "JUST BE SKINNY, DAMN IT." Such a toll this mess takes on a person.
To be free to be you. To be free to walk wherever you want to. To be embraced for who you are and not necessarily as who you ought to represent.
There always seems to be some kind of constraint to mold yourself into something you are not - and that is how I see Sharon and Jack - stifling, really.
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Post by moosishun on May 17, 2022 7:48:27 GMT -5
There is also the terrible truth that evil people will kill you because you are black and had the audacity to walk at night or go to the supermarket or go to church to a prayer meeting or just attempt to be you. Some of those evil people wear badges.
This world has so much evil.
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Post by juliajones54 on May 17, 2022 16:42:04 GMT -5
How much of Hell of a Book is autobiographical - Mott says parts, especially some of the experiences of Soot and the 'handling' of an author promoting his book. So, I think Renny is the impetus for showing the reader the truth of what being Black in America is like, and having the courage to speak it. He is the conscience of the book, the voice that won't be quiet.
When Renny is driving the author around and he's in his stupor, Renny jerks the wheel of the car and author bangs his head, jerking him awake. He begins reciting the memorized interview answers when he starts to feel sick and his stomach gurgles like a beast. He ultimately throws up as if trying to dispel the BS he has been forced to recite. Renny is also the chapter where the wall of kids with posters of murdered Blacks march by. That whole chapter is so powerful, I had to go back and read it again. Renny was my favorite character telling us to wake up and see what is going on around us!
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Post by suby on May 17, 2022 20:30:58 GMT -5
I'm enjoying this book, but I'm way behind.
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sal
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Post by sal on May 17, 2022 20:50:27 GMT -5
Day 3 early posting:
What was up with the Nic Cage cameo? What purpose do you think he served, other than the fact that Jason Mott is just a really big fan?
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Post by peacemama on May 17, 2022 21:44:52 GMT -5
I enjoyed that scene with Cage on the plane. It was surreal. I loved how he referred to him by his movie roles.
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Post by sal on May 18, 2022 5:28:08 GMT -5
Other than the obvious Mott being a big fan thing, I felt like Cage was supposed to be one of the voices of reason. And I kept thinking while reading that chapter (especially this second time through) that it was kind of an upending of that whole Magical Negro trope. In case you are thinking WTH is that? From Wikipedia: The Magical Negro stereotype serves as a plot device to help the white protagonist get out of trouble, typically through helping the white character recognize his own faults and overcome them[6] and teaching him to be a better person.[15] Although the character may have magical powers, the "magic is ostensibly directed toward helping and enlightening a white male character" Given how problematic that whole trope is (think Green Mile and Legend of Bagger Vance; see the Wikipedia article for fuller explanation: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_Negro) I kind of want that to be the case, and for it to have been very intentional. But it probably is just me making shit up.
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Post by ccToast on May 18, 2022 8:47:44 GMT -5
I did not know what to make of Nic Cage in the story, and I appreciate this question so that I can consider and learn from all of your perspectives.
I missed yesterday's question about Sharon and the media consultant. Their conflicting/changing advice suggested to me white-dominated society's demands on Black people: "Don't be too Black!" but at the same time "You speak for all Black people and must lead on this issue!" and "Tell us white people what we should do!"
I also wondered if I'm like Sharon when she was in Bolton: moved by the injustice of the murder of Black men and boys but ineffective, inconsistent, and inappropriate when I do show up.
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Post by juliajones54 on May 18, 2022 12:01:58 GMT -5
Nicholas Cage's roles range from half deranged to more serious, funny, endearing, outlandish, unpredictable...I like him a lot too! It was a fun surprise to see him pop up and I think he adds to the what is myth, what is real, what is sarcastic, is this all a dream, tone of the book. The perfect comic relief.
We could talk a lot about how Black writers, comedians, movie directors, talk about their personal stories through the use of humor. And why they use humor to get their message across. President Obama was masterful with humor too!
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sal
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Post by sal on May 18, 2022 22:23:40 GMT -5
Day 4:
(stealing this question verbatim from a book group question list)
Early on in the book, we’re told that "Hell of a Book" is a love story. Do you agree? Was it the kind of love story you expected?
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Post by peacemama on May 19, 2022 3:48:37 GMT -5
I puzzled on that description for a bit and then searched YouTube to see what Mott had to say about it. Here's a link to an interview (6 minutes) with Mott. I'll throw his answer into a spoiler. InterviewIn the Today interview, Mott explains that the book is a love story to his younger self.
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sal
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Post by sal on May 19, 2022 6:13:01 GMT -5
That makes sense, peacemama. I feel like there is also a lot of parental love showing up (Soot's parents desire to keep him safe, without having any idea of how to accomplish that). And it certainly telegraphs the need for a whole lot more societal love than we've currently got, or will likely ever have. It's certainly not the typical romance love story, what with the starting The Author scene (that sure wasn't love) and the never ending string of Kelly/Keli/Kellies. What's the consensus on the most recent Kelly?
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