There is beautiful, sophisticated Marina Thwaite--an "It" girl finishing her first book; the daughter of Murray Thwaite, celebrated intellectual and journalist--and her two closest friends from Brown, Danielle, a quietly appealing television producer, and Julius, a cash-strapped freelance critic.
The delicious complications that arise among them become dangerous when Murray's nephew, Frederick "Bootie" Tubb, an idealistic college dropout determined to make his mark, comes to town. As the skies darken, it is Bootie's unexpected decisions--and their stunning, heartbreaking outcome--that will change each of their lives forever.
A richly drawn, brilliantly observed novel of fate and fortune--of innocence and experience, seduction and self-invention; of ambition, including literary ambition; of glamour, disaster, and promise -- The Emperor's Children is a tour de force that brings to life a city, a generation, and the way we live in this moment.
Comment: Another book someone I know tends to let me borrow and always by her own recommendation. This means I don't always know which books she will lent me and there's a certain kind of curiosity in what might appear. Sometimes the choices resonate and I like them, other times it does make me think why I bother.
So, this book.
This is the story of three Brown graduates who are, at the beginning of the novel, in their early 30s. The possibilities for them were immense, not only because they studied at a prestigious university but because they are part of a generation that had everything to be successful.
Marina, Julius and Danielle became friends and still talk and share their life moments but it seems they are all in a negative point in their lives: Marina can't seem to have ideas to finish her book, Julius can't seem to gain a name as a freelancer and Danielle had a disappointment,ent at work which she also saw as a personal failure.
The lives of these three become even more complicated when marina's cousin Bootie comes along to live in her house, to have a sort of internship with her famous father. From here on, secrets are unveiled and also the fact nothing is only what it might seem to others. With 9/11 approaching, will these people's lives ever be the same?
I suppose reading my little summary would sound appealing enough for someone who likes fiction, wouldn't you say? It's too bad the inside of a book doesn't always match a cover or, as in here, the blurb or the promise suggested in it.
I read this book in a Portuguese edition and in the cover it mentioned "...generation post 9/11.." which led me to believe the plot would be centered on how people lived right after the impact of such a cultural/social event. However, to let it out right away, the 9/11 part only occurs around 85% of the book, thus I don't think the blurb is really correct. Only serves to prove how often we might be mislead by wrong or deceiving publicity...
Anyway, these little things aside, there's still the story and the way the author chose to write it.
In relation to the latter, I have to say this was my first book by this author and I had not heard of her before. I had no idea whatsoever about what kind of books she wrote and I managed to stay away from reviews so I was ready to be surprised.
I was, indeed, but not as positively as I would want because the writing isn't anything special (to the way this was told) nor are the characters so well done that other things could be overlooked.
I ended up being interested in how on earth this could go on, I admit, but the plot and characters weren't a success, in my opinion.
I'd say my biggest disappointment is how the characters' behavior and personality were developed, even if one can say they were realistically addressed.
All the three main characters act as if they're entitled to what life has to offer (I've read other reviews where readers stress this was a goal) and they don't really feel they have to make an effort, because they studied in a good university and they should have things happen easily to them. Since this doesn't happen, they excuse themselves with secondary things. Julius can't commit to a relationship and feels he shouldn't, Marina doesn't want to work and only feels her fate is to follow her famous father's steps in a writing career and Danielle can't understand why her career isn't better when she doesn't make the attempt to make her own way and when she makes romantic choices which, to me, turned her from tolerable to someone really weak and morally dubious.
These things can all be understandable based on society standards, geography and the way a generation made it look as if their children had to have all they couldn't/all they could give them. This idea is well expressed in the book, that's true.
The problem for me is that none of them grew up or learned anything from their experiences. Throughout the book things happen but the character's choices only reflect their lack of interest in
 |
| Portuguese cover |
something more than appearances and what they believe should be easily theirs.
As for Bootie, his character is definitely more complex, I rooted for him from a certain point, even despite the somewhat boring narrative.
Everything started to feel pointless, though when the 9/11 event happened and how each character responded to it. It was certainly not cathartic how all of them were impacted and, like I said, there was no real learning nor development for them.
The plot was moving towards some sort of peak or climax until that point but it never had a consequence because the 9/11 elements worked as a tool to disguise any real development the characters' actions could have had in their choices and life.
All in all, I think the idea for this book was fine and there are some passages I liked reading and which were rather on point to how we might imagine privileged people who believe the world owns them something.
However, the fact all characters, at some point, were simply unappealing and not people I'd want to know or be friends with made reading about them an experience often irritating.
Grade: 5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment