So, a little factoid about my life right now. My five month old baby now has two very sharp teeth, and they hurt... me. I have nursed all of my babies and all of them at one point or another have bitten me, but either I have forgotten how much it hurts or this baby's teeth are sharper. I still love breastfeeding and will continue to do it, but right now I hurt and feel a terrible need to shout it out to the void that is the internet.
This was kind of a sad book, good, but sad. I should have guessed it when I saw the Oprah book club sticker on the cover. My dad told me about this book. He had gotten it from his library and said it was pretty good. He mentioned it was the first novel published by this author, and I was like, "That's one of my book challenge categories. I'll check it out at my library." I was surprised I hadn't heard about this author before. She apparently is on the list of best Southern Gothic authors alongside Harper Lee and William Faulkner. Just based on this book, I say she deserves that spot. The writing was raw and beautiful. The imagery was filthy, moving, and religious. It was sad, but good.
There are five main characters that the story follows. Blount is a wandering hobo communist. Dr. Copeland is an African-American medical doctor blindly fighting for the betterment of his race. Biff is the emasculated and slightly trannie owner of the local diner. Mick is a 13 year-old girl painfully trying to navigate that transition between kid and adult who loves music. Then there is Mr. Singer, the glue that holds the rest together. He is a deaf-mute. They all have great moments and developments throughout the book but the biggest character was Singer.
Singer is pretty obviously a representation of Christ. He is seen as constantly kind and patient. He is constantly giving to others and helping where he can. He even is supposed to look Jewish. In his last chapter of the book we even see a lot of reflections between him and Christ's final days. (Sorry if I'm being vague, but I don't like giving spoilers to books I enjoyed.) Even his relationship with the other four main characters is a comment on how followers project their own feelings onto the one they follow weather they are there or not.
So, Singer is supposed to be Christ, but mcCullers doesn't leave it there. She provides a Father as well in the form of Spiros Antonapoulos, Singer's best friend and former roommate. The two had lived together for 10 years when Antonapoulos' overindulgence in primal urges causes his cousin to have him committed in an asylum. The imagery all fits, though it isn't a very positive image. Singer is a very humble and giving person, but he always gives the greatest of what he has to Antonapoulos. When they are apart, all he can think about is his friend and the separation between them is intensely painful for him. What I found interesting is how Singer almost does the same thing to Antonapoulos as the others do to him. He projects his own feelings onto Antonapoulos making him into something he might not actually be. We sometimes do this with Christ, did Christ do that with The Father?
Another element she uses in this worshiper-deity relationship is lack of effective communication. Singer is a deaf-mute and relies on lipreading to understand the others. Antonapoulos is a deaf-mute as well, but understands very little sign language. The fact that the communication is hindered allows the worshiping relationship to develop. If we could communicate with God through something other than prayer would we still worship him?
This book was great. I could go on forever on the themes and motifs of this book. Actually, if anyone is looking for a good book to do a critical analysis for school or publication, this would be a great choice.
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