Now, girls, at this point in time, I am well past the point where I never doubt the infallibility of the New York Times!!!! Still, when, in December, they come out with their "Ten Best Books Of the Year List", I always peruse it carefully, especially the Fiction, to see how many, if any, titles on it I had read, or need or might want to read. So, when I saw that Eleanor Henderson's "Ten Thousand Saints" had made the list, I first said, "What the Hell is this?" I had never heard of this book, or she, throughout all of 2011, and you know I follow the literary scene, darlings!!!!!! And to think this obscure thing beat out something that was truly deserving--namely Jeffrey Eugenides' "The Marriage Plot."
So, when it finally came out in paperback, I said, "Ah! I'd better read it, and see what all the fuss was about!" Well, lambs, I have now read it--and I still don't see what all the fuss was about.
Not that Eleanor Henderson cannot write; she can. "Ten Thousand Saints" has a nice, lyrical prose style; one's eyes glide across the page as smoothly as a knife through butter. The problem is her subject--the New York East Village scene in the late 1980s, which I was not really a part of, but certainly do remember, darlings--I mean, I was in and out of there during that time. It was just not one of my favorite places to hang out. I was more the West Village, as you might expect!!!!--is not really that engaging or interesting, because there is less emphasis on mood and atmosphere, and more on this disparate group of characters--a group of young slacker wannabes-- I had neither the time nor patience for!
It is basically the same old corn that has been written about for years-- a group of young people are SO put upon and misunderstood by their parents, so they flee form suburban Vermont (for which they cannot be blamed) to the teeming streets of the East Village, unaware, since this generation has no sense of historicity, that their parents, clearly the "HAIR" generation, had done the same thing twenty years before!!!! And, like all young folk, they feel the discoveries and experiences they are making have never been experienced before by anyone, save them! Hey, I can understand that: I remember when I felt that way!!!!
The catalyst for all this is the drug overdose death of one of their own, Teddy, the character I wish had most stuck around, because, even in death, he comes across as more interesting than the rest. And while Henderson mentions key things like St. Marks Place, the Hotel, Dojo, and CB GB, she fails to create a real period atmosphere. Readers who don't know this place, or never have, will not get an understanding here of what has made this particularly isolated section of Manhattan--from St Marks Place, all the way over to Alphabet City--an artistic and cultural mecca for generations!!!! Which was one thing I had hoped to get out of Henderson's book!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And THIS makes the Ten Best List??????? The next question to ask is, who determines that list, and how do I get on that panel???? I never would have allowed this on it. Maybe Most Notable Books, although for me this book does not even rate that. I had been actually looking forward to reading this, and, while I finished it, it was SO disappointing.
I cannot really recommend this book to my girls, but I want to venture that, with her genuine writing talent that comes through, maybe Henderson suffers from what I call Julia Glass Syndrome. Remember what hoopla surrounded Glass' first novel, "Three Junes?" I had to read that one twice (just like I did with Zadie Smith's "White Teeth.") to convince myself something was not wrong with me, for all that everyone else was heaping praise on that book. Which did nothing for me. Then I read Glass' next novel--"The Whole World Is Watching", and, bingo!!!!!!!!! Now I never miss a Glass novel!!!!!!!!!!
So I am willing to give Eleanor Henderson a second chance! Meantime, I have saved my girls time and exasperation!!!!!
Better to shop for a pretty tea cozy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment