ninety-first (2024-01-24)
“deviant men have been constructed as criminal, while deviant women have been constructed as insane" ― angela y. davis, are prisons obsolete?
photo by steph byce of me on NYE at eye eaters studios
consistency queen! getting back in the habit of every week or every other week posts, you’re welcome
books
the fabulist: the lying, hustling, grifting, stealing, and very american legend of george santos by mark chiusano, 2023
okay, how bananas is it that this was published so quickly? one point to capitalism for rising and grinding to make this so timely. if you’ve been following the santos saga, there isn’t a ton new here besides the investigation into defrauding veterans with PTSD and their sick dogs (truly unconscionable) and tales of santos hustling from birth. if you’re in the mood for a really long vanity fair article, this is solid.
salvage the bones by jesmyn ward, 2011
i’ve started a few books by ward and haven’t finished them due to her meticulous detail of the environment surrounding her characters - it’s felt so complete, so whole, that i’ve felt paradoxically claustrophobic. i’m glad i got over myself because this was lovely. it centers on esch, a young Black girl in new orleans just before katrina, in a close, working-class family grieving the loss of their mother. ward said faulkner was an inspiration and that resonates throughout the tragedy and timelessness of disaster.
drinking in america: our secret history by susan cheever, 2015
steph loaned this to me and it was mind-blowing. not only were the pilgrims drunk off the gourds, kids were given whiskey and juice (flip) to start their days and a gallon of 5-6% beer every day was the minimum adult consumption. cheever traces through our alcohol habits since the country’s inception; she does play a little fast and loose with the details, but the colonial days and nixon getting turnt on two drinks are standout sections.
the brief wondrous life of oscar wao by junot díaz, 2007
i’m having a hard time writing about this book with the knowledge that it won virtually every award in 2007. is my lack of agreement my own contrarian nature, or internalized bias, something else entirely? i did like the book, but was not astounded by it, so perhaps the critical perception is causing some self-doubt. anyways, this is a richly written magical realism narrative of a family set within the history of the dominican republic, and a treatise on survival, oppression, and the (freudian) life forces of sex and identity. i was gripped throughout (and very grateful for my mediocre spanish reading skills).
a field guide to getting lost by rebecca solnit, 2005
my feelings about this changed constantly while reading. this review sums up my thoughts perfectly: “Ms. Solnit’s writing, at its worst, can be dithering and self-serious, Joan Didion without the concision and laser-guided wit. At her best, however (…) she has a rare gift: the ability to turn the act of cognition, of arriving at a coherent point of view, into compelling moral drama.” certain sections were so compelling, scrupulous, and captivating while others felt like a textbook written in purple prose. but overall i’m intrigued to read more of solnit (somehow this was my first) because when she hits, she hits.
in the realm of hungry ghosts: close encounters with addiction by gabor maté, 2007
maté has come under fire recently for some bad takes/actions (and overstatements on the links between trauma and addiction) but i appreciate the compassion and introspection with which he approaches this subject. i’ve walked through vancouver’s downtown eastside, where maté worked as a doctor, and was struck by both the chaos and order of the encampments; startled by the openness of many who were clearly battling addiction in the open, which is privatized and harshly penalized in the US. maté discusses the human nature of addiction, using his own obsession with classical music CDs (not kidding) as an example of how universal such tendencies are. where he really shines is in advocating for the end of criminalization and advancement of harm-reduction strategies to better support those in need.
the hundred years' war on palestine: a history of settler colonialism and resistance, 1917-2017 by rashid khalidi, 2020
since october 7th, i’ve been trying to remedy my appalling ignorance of the history of israel and palestine and this was incredibly helpful. deeply researched yet personal to his family, khalidi traces the various factions entangled in the ancient conflict and how various governments sought to advance their interests at the profound expense of palestine and the palestinian people. there is no possible way to sum this up other than to say it was intensely worth the read.
chain-gang all-stars by nana kwame adjei-brenyah, 2023
this was wild! adjei-brenyah named george saunders as a mentor in the acknowledgements and his influence is clear in the world-building, gameified, dystopian setting of the book. the book centers on prisoners who “choose” to battle to the death against other prisoners in a reality-tv show. adjei-brenyah trickles statistics and narratives of real-world prisoners in footnotes throughout, offering multiple perspectives on the after-effects of crime, solitary confinement, police brutality, prison abolition, and the utter inadequacies of our judicial system. i really want to read this again - it’s so thick with metaphor that i think some comprehension was lost as i adjusted to the world-building, but it’s ambitious and agitating at every step.
film
saltburn, written and directed by emerald fennell
first - how good is the name emerald fennell? second, this was a trip! it felt somewhat internet-ified, with moments designed to go viral and engender debate, but not without all merit. it was shot and held beautifully, though i wish it stayed with the sinister, haunting nature of deception and veered less towards the entertaining (similar to but not as egregious as 2022’s the menu).
thanks for reading - more to come -
bria