Good evening!
This one probs won’t be very long because I haven’t read a lot this week but I’m in a talkative mood so you’ll get what you get, who knows what that will be.
Not much to report this week, aside from how I published an article in i-D telling you what non-fiction books I recommend for 2024. You can read it, here.
If you’d like to buy me a coffee, on Ko-Fi, you can do here 🙂
My twitter/X is @jessf_white and my Instagram is @lunchpoems.
What I’ve been reading this week and what I think about it
I finished Maaza Mengiste’s The Shadow King (2019), and pretty much all of the thoughts I outlined last week still stand. The plot overwhelmed what was otherwise a very deft and well-written novel, which is a shame because the events in it were largely made up for the story, but set in a real historical period. In that regard, it didn’t really need to bring in all of the elements it did, because Mengiste almost had free reign to do what she wanted within the confines of history. A simplified narrative would have helped this a lot, I think, which definitely could have been achieved with the same themes it has in its current form.
To end on a positive note, the writing at a line level really can’t be faulted, so I would be interested in another text by Mengiste. I also liked a kind of avant-garde scene near the end, as well as highlighting the weird re branding of former colonisers as ‘expats’ if they decide to stay on in countries that they previously fought in, although this was complicated somewhat by how the character doing this was Jewish, and avoiding returning to Europe where he would most likely have been sent to a concentration camp. I think there’s a good comment in there about the complexities of race and identity outside of African countries that doesn’t translate well into African countries, especially when the ‘other’ that this character is is homogenised with whiteness. I’m sure that people who are far more intelligent than me have delved into this as a topic in various essays and books, so I’ll leave it at that. Although, this does bring to mind a video I watched this week (I’ve tried to find it but absolutely cannot) about the singer Tyla, who is South African and describes herself as ‘coloured.’ The video creator was talking about how Tyla was scolded for this because ‘coloured’ is an outdated slur for Black people in American and Europe, but explained how in South Africa this is a self-determined identity marker for mixed-race people. As the creator pointed out, it’s a good example of how language can’t be a universal marker for the racialised experience because meaning varies so much based on context. I think that’s a good example of how race and identity isn’t an easily transferable thing, and I think Mengiste nails a lot about antisemitism and racism towards Black people in her book with all of that in mind.
I’m currently reading The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley, and let me tell you, I am having a whale of a time with it. It is out in May from Hodder & Stoughton and I really encourage pre-ordering it or making a note of its release. It’s about a woman who works for a MI6 type of institution who has been assigned to look after an expat from time. The British government has worked out how to time travel, and has brought people who died during major events, like an Arctic exploration, the French Revolution, the Plague and World War I, into the future at a moment just before their death so that they don’t cause a continuum ripple. The protagonist, only referred to as ‘the bridge’ (the name given to workers who look after time expats), is assigned Graham Gore, a Navy Commander who died sailing in uncharted territory in the Arctic after his ship got stuck in the ice. The bridge has to look after Gore for a year, leading him into assimilation with modern society while under scrutiny from The Ministry in order to measure the psychological and physical effects of travelling through time.
There are so many good ideas in this book. Bradley uses migration through time as a way into discussions about migration and place, focusing in on the ways that institutions dehumanise those that come from elsewhere. What she also absolutely nails is similar to what I was talking about previously -- how language shapes our perception and understanding. Gore is from the early nineteenth century and doesn’t know the words ‘bacteria’, ‘dating’ or ‘streaming’, and so he often can’t describe what he is seeing and needs to be given the language for it in order to even begin understanding it. It’s a really fascinating concept that brings very nuanced experiences in immigration to the forefront through this charming figure from history. Because it has this fantastical, historical element, Bradley is given room to add a lot of humour in the bridge’s experience with Gore and the other time travellers. I’ve laughed out loud countless times at this, most violently when Gore describes an e-scooter as a ‘coward’s vehicle.’ This is a real gem of a novel, and I’m really glad that it will soon be sold on a market that is quite full of what my friend (who will remain anonymous) described as ‘books about people walking into rooms’. I like a lot of these novels individually, but as a literary movement it is getting a bit tiresome. I’m happy that there’s something genuinely very fresh and fun on the horizon.
Books on my radar
I came home to a small pile of mail from publishers today, including Elisa Shua Dusapin’s Vladivostok Circus (forthcoming from Daunt), Phoebe Stucke’s debut Dead Animals (forthcoming from Sceptre) and About Uncle by Rebecca Gisler, translated by Jordan Stump (forthcoming from Peirene).
I read it too long ago and my memory is too hazy to have much to say about your thoughts on The Shadow King other than that I appreciated reading them! Would be interested to hear your thoughts on Beneath the Lion’s Gaze too if you ever decide to read it. Also very exciting that you’ve got Elisa Shua Dusapin’s latest- it’s firmly on my radar and it sounds very promising!