baby swiss
great dialogue is back but so is jax taylor. we'll call it a wash
reads
Tar Baby is my new favorite Toni Morrison novel. This was a surprise because I knew absolutely nothing about the plot, and had only ever heard the title in passing (if ever), so I didn’t necessarily expect it to blow me away in the same fashion as her more popular works. But wow. Wow wow wow was I wrong!!!
Tar Baby is both a love story and a deeply symbolic exploration of race, class, and gender. It starts with the Streets, a white couple in retirement on a Caribbean Island (that they own). They are joined in the house by Sydney, their lifelong butler, his wife, Odine, their cook, and Sydney and Odine’s niece Jadine, all of whom are Black. Valerian and Margaret Street are Jadine’s patrons, having paid for her education in Paris. There’s a lot of tension on the island already that is only exacerbated when a random fugitive is caught taking shelter in their house, and that’s where the love affair begins.
My brothers in Christ, if you or someone you love is writing a book, a film, or anything that involves characters talking to each other, I beseech you to read Tar Baby. This is some of the finest, most spellbinding dialogue I have ever had the honor of reading. There are pages of dialogue between two characters of various pairings with no breaks and while that can get tedious in other works, it really entranced me here. Just a bit here:
“Make it in New York. Make it in New York. I’m tired of hearing that shit. What the fuck is it? If I make it in New York, then that’s all I do: ‘Make it in New York.’ That’s not life; that’s making it. I don’t want to make it; I want to be it. New York ain’t hard, baby. Not really hard. It’s just sad, and what you need to make it here is the easy stuff I got rid of a long time ago.”
The characters are sketched out caricatures, which I normally present as an insult when reviewing a book, but, here, it’s quite brilliantly done. Each character represents a different social type and makes a point of rubbing up against the others. This is most notable in the love story: Jadine is a Black woman enmeshed in high-profile, lucrative “white society,” living in Paris and New York, while her new paramour Son comes from the belief that they should eschew white people altogether to avoid their subjugation. Then there are the power structures at play; we see Sydney and Odine look down at the other Black workers, not even dignifying them with names, despite being Black and coming from impoverished backgrounds themselves. There are layers on layers on layers and I’ll stop with the juvenile literary analysis for now but it’s really quite something to behold. I believe it explores concept of race and identity better than many contemporary books I’ve read.
I soooooo badly want to give a 4.7 stars, which is the readwithmith equivalent to five stars on goodreads, but I have to knock some points off for a few meandering transitions and the weakness of the love story relative to the island mansion story. But, truly, if you’re looking for a Morrison novel to read that you haven’t explored before, I could not recommend this highly enough. 4.6/5
Big Swiss (literally just typed that out as “Swiss Baby”) is one of these books that has me conflicted in ways hard to articulate. Bare bones: it follows Greta, a transcriber for a sex therapist, who becomes enamored with the voice and story one of the anonymous people he sees (she labels her “Big Swiss”). And THEN they meet IRL. oop!
The positives of this novel are plenty. It’s quite funny, for one; I started this on audiobook and transitioned to paperback after a couple of chapters because I thought it would translate a bit better (it did — I have a hard time evaluating audiobooks), but both forms had me audibly chuckling at points. It’s absurd in the most enjoyable way. Greta’s run-ins with people in town who don’t know she’s heard and transcribed their therapy sessions are prime fodder for comedy. The dialogue is really fantastic, especially as it’s explored both in the recorded therapy sessions and in real life. There were so many points that I absolutely adored and felt a real emotional connection to.
Unfortunately, the structure did not totally work for me, which is no good because the structure is quite important to the story being told. The novel oscillates between Greta’s listening to sessions and the story at hand, which is interesting, but, I don’t know, I think there’s a way the plot could have built up in a more subtle and exciting way. Instead, everything is very plainly left on the table because we’re hearing literally everything in these sessions. Does that make sense? We know from the jump that Greta is obsessed and then you pretty much figure out what’s going to happen from there. The novel feels at its best and most captivating when the recordings and the present-day narrative weave into each other more seamlessly, because it gives us a better picture of how Greta interacts with the characters within them and the world around her. Does THAT make sense???????
Also, the whole thing is all over the fucking place. I won’t get into detail, but there’s just too much random shit going on in the plot that feel, at best, misplaced, and at worst, distracting from the truly fascinating parts of the narrative. It takes away from our understanding of the relationships at hand and leads to some threads being ignored that I think could have been much better explored and deepened. I ultimately felt like I really didn’t even know the main characters very well!
Anyways, this is a very funny book with a lot of raw potential and a story that I think could have been fucking phenomenal. As it stands, it is a bit of a hot mess with some bright, gleaming moments of joy and deep human feeling along the way, but it just never quite figures out what it wants to be. Maybe a reread will change my mind or make it up further, but until then, a still-passing but disappointing 3.7/5 shall be awarded.
on the docket
I am finally, finally ready to get hurt again (I checked this out from the library last year and didn’t have the fortitude to embark on another Ferrante journey at that time post-Neapolitan novels. I was looking through my bookshelf and I have an overwhelming number of things to read, but I’m prioritizing this since it’s a borrowed copy and I need to stop being a big wimp and read it because it will probably send me into a spiral of epic proportions and I need to feel that again.
Also, Funny Story, the new Emily Henry, is finally out and I can’t wait to check it out. I’m anticipating enjoying this more than Happy Place because this one seems to be a trope that I find more interesting (exes of people who are dating each other meet) than friends to lovers to enemies to lovers to, like, ranch hands? How the fuck did that one end?
And, of course, the #toni2024 challenge continues with, at long last, Beloved. I cannot wait. I’ve had a copy burning a hole through my poorly constructed bookshelf for about two years. And I gotta get Song of Solomon in at some point. It’s hard being this BOOKED and busy. ha ha ah aha a haqodwnqdw Q
other media
bravo reality tv corner
I want to swear to everyone that I have stayed true on my promise to quit Vanderpump Rules. I have abstained entirely for several months now. However, quitting any new VPR spinoffs was not a part of the deal, so now I’m deeply enmeshed in The Valley.
This one follows Jax and Kristen, their partners, and their other married friends with kids in a different, more mature phase of their lives, which, apparently, means moving to the Valley. Quite frankly, I was prepared for this to be an incredibly stupid and boring show. Unfortunately, it’s the best reality TV I’ve watched in months. They may comprise the worst neighborhood in human history. I love how as these people age, they become more and more of a parody of themselves. This is the natural successor to VPR (which, as far as I could tell, was sort of a flop with its whole Sandoval redemption arc this year) and I want 15-37 more seasons tomorrow.
A few highlights that I think explain perfectly the thesis of the show:
Jax has had three or four nose jobs (they lost track) and all of his teeth are fake and he looks like a hyena. Brittany got surgery on her “turkey gobbler.” He clearly hates her and their nonverbal child. I wish I could feel bad for Brittany, but, like, girl, you’ve had enough time to get out of there. They’re separated now.
One couple, Jesse and Michelle, are on the brink of divorce to a level where Michelle is openly talking about how she always knew he wasn’t the one for her, but found him really attractive, so now, after marriage and a child, she’s in the middle of “the world’s longest booty call.” She literally abhors him (though he may be more of a fuckass than Jax, so I don’t feel particularly sad for him). At one point, Kristen spreads a rumor that Jesse said he’s going to divorce Michelle in two months. When confronted with this rumor, Jesse declares, “if anyone’s divorcing anyone, it’s MICHELLE who’s divorcing ME.” He says this with such pride and conviction. Michelle and everyone at the table heartily agree. Anyways, they’re divorced now.
Kristen Doute is back on Bravo. I know my joy about this is problematic since she initially got kicked off VPR for being a racist, but, dear god, she was put on this earth to debase herself for our entertainment and for that I am grateful. In fact, her current drama on the show is she said that Zach said that Jasmine said that Janet said that MICHELLE is a racist republican. To be fair to Kristen, Michelle did say that “Don’t Say Gay” laws “protect the children”, so that’s not a terribly far leap in logic to make and we should PROBABLY be asking Michelle about this instead of, like, being upset that it was BROUGHT UP. Now everyone’s mad at Kristen and, in a blowup moment, Jesse brings up HER racism scandal. She’s beyond pissed and she’s talking openly in her ITMs about how her racism scandal was traumatic and the worst thing you could ever call a person is a racist. Impeccable and delusional as always. Never change, Kristen (well, don’t do actively harmful things to people of color. I hope you have changed that).
Zach, the token gay male of the show, wears a wig. There’s nothing wrong with wearing a wig. I think it’s great. It’s just that he keeps denying that he wears a wig and this wig is so obvious and bad and if it is his real hair (which, to his credit, he’s gone on video proving, but I still don’t believe him), that’s absolutely on him for styling it in such a way, and that makes it so, so fucking funny.
netflix reality tv corner
I watch a lot of really bad reality tv starring a lot of really bad people and the group of agents on Selling the OC comprise one of the most vapid and despicable reality tv crews I’ve ever had the privilege of watching. There is not one single person to root for. I have never seen Alex Hall close on a house and she’s also mean as hell. Alexandra Rose used to date the guy who ran Project Veritas. Alex Jarvis supports #stopthesteal and I would not be surprised to learn of a cross-country tip taken on January 6, 2021. Gio lives with his head up his ass (also in his mom’s house). Polly is one of the most unbearable British people I’ve ever seen on television, and considering the amount of Love Island I’ve watched, that’s a high, HIGH bar to leap over. Tyler is a real estate nepo baby and cheated on Brittany Snow. Austin hates his family. At at least three different points in the first two seasons, castmates suggest an intervention for Kayla’s behavior. Brandi is my loose favorite and even she is a nonsensical girlboss most of the time. The third season dropped last week, and while I am really struggling through it because of everything I just told you about these people, rumor has it there’s some bisexual chaos coming up, so I will forge on.
Please contribute to campus bail funds to support the brave students and faculty who put their bodies, schooling, and careers on the line to protest our pro-genocide state. PLEASE keep all eyes on Rafah. Israel is striking and killing civilians in real time and Palestinians have nowhere else to go. Here’s a GoFundMe I found for one family desperate to escape, They’re injured and starving and so, so many have lost entire families. I hope that President “Genocide” Joe Biden can’t sleep at night because every time he closes his eyes, he sees blood and corpses and the souls of the innocents he has murdered. Free Palestine.