This novel seems inspired by novelist Joyce Maynard’s relationship with J.D. Salinger. Seeing the May/December romance through the filter of the #metoo movement is an ingenious way to explore the characters, both in their past and in their present. It is also reminiscent of Philip Roth’s THE HUMAN STAIN. It is, of course, crafted to be current and controversial, but mostly it’s a little creepy. (In the 2000 sections where Vanessa is 15, it is genuinely disturbing seeing the way Strane “grooms” her. No wonder her mother reacts the way she does. The writer also brings in Monica Lewinsky and her infamous relationship with President Clinton. “She seems nice,” Vanessa says when she and her mother watch Lewinsky’s interview with Barbara Walters. Her mother, seeing the situation from a 20th century perspective, is not convinced.
As an adult, it’s extremely easy to see Strane’s “pose” for what it is. He’s the kind of guy who swears in front of his students, who wears a tailored blazer with scuffed up hiking boots. And of course, he thinks he’s a literary genius, and there are plenty of adoring students who’ll agree and prop up his ego. This is also a boarding school story, so it’s already kind of a hot house. Strane is a very specific kind of predator and as he compliments Vanessa, he simultaneously pretends that he gives AF about whether it’s appropriate or not. “Is that all right,” he asks her faux anxiously. “I wouldn’t want to overstep.” The scene where he feels her up during a seminar, shielding his actions with his desk while all the other students work on their Whitman paper thesis statements, is anxiety provoking.
It’s an impressive debut. It’s not QUITE as good as it wants to be—there are elements that feel a little too familiar—but it’s a book that captures the zeitgeist and I think it’s going to be HUGE.
Check out an interview with the author here.
No comments:
Post a Comment