Some thoughts on the books

Some of the books we have read in this class are a little less than classic literature (I am thinking of Admission here), but I think that they have all given us some insight into the college experience that we might not have had otherwise as well as serving to facilitate discussion about our own experiences. Initially, I was a little disappointed that only one or two of the books focused on college through the perspective of the student, but I think I wouldn't have gotten as much out of this class if they had. I think that reading about professors has made them more approachable for me and reading Admission (soap opera that it was) gave us a chance to talk about the process of choosing a college, and how we all wound up here. I think that it was OK not to read about other students, but I would have liked to have at least one contemporary experience to compare mine to more directly.

I thought that the books were all readable and I didn't have trouble understanding them. My favorite book was The Professor's House. This book probably had the least to do with the actual college experience, but it was really easy to read and thought provoking which made it entertaining for me. I tend to enjoy books that focus on characters, which is probably another reason why The Professor's House appeals to me.

I also really liked Wonder Boys. The whole book is just so fast-paced and Chabon dedicated a lot of effort to documenting the change in Grady's life. The book made me think about what it means to be a writer and what it means to work in college education. I think the view that we get of Grady also helped me think about professors as people outside of their work and their lecture halls. I still don't think that my professors go out and smoke pot, but I wouldn't be totally shocked if they had. On Beauty sort of reinforces that idea when we have this picture of the professors both cheating on their spouses and squabbling over intellectual issues and university politics. I guess I sort of had this idea, kind of like Zora did, that professors are sort of this weird intellectual breed of people that read books all the time and always thought high spotless thoughts that they passed along to their students, or helped students figure out for themselves. It's a more common delusion that people have about teachers than you might think.

Apart from challenging my conceptions about professors I think I got a more round view of what it means to be a Carnegie Mellon student by being in this class. We are all running in sort of different circles and It is nice to see those come together in a way that reflects the different experiences individual students are having, and how really very similar they are, and how our different backgrounds have shaped our experiences.

Character Likability in On Beauty

I'm really facinated by the debate over whether or not we ought to like the characters to read about in fiction and how likability functions as a device. If anyone's seen South Pacific they'll know what I mean (Since Nellie Forbush is so gosh-darn cheery and lovable, we do a double-take when she turns out to be uber racist and absurdly ignorant...if she had been nasty, we would have just written her off as a bad guy). So who in On Beauty do we like and how does that effect how we read the book? Who do we dislike and what effect does that have? And not to suggest for a second that there aren't shade of gray, and different kinds of liking. I love reading about Levi, in some ways he reminds me of my kid brother (I'm with Lisa on the this-book-makes-me-a-wee-bit-sibling-missing thing) and I think some of his dialogue is hilarious. But I think if we really met, we wouldn't have much to talk about. Opposite with Kiki, who after a while is kind of just singing the same old song, but seems like the kind of person you'd love to have in your life. Zora annoys me, but I see a little bit of myself there, too (ugh, hopefully not too much), and must have some sympathy for her because I hate Vee right along side her. In fact, all the Kippses get on my nerves, although I have to point out Smith is a master at painting the pitch perfect annoying family. I like Jerome, he's like that little puppy in the corner, how can you not like him. Claire, again, and example of pitch perfect annoying (obviously a different kind of annoying) and yet, there are moments you genuinely pity her (or at least, I do). And then there's Howard. I don't even know what to do with Howard.

On Family.

I spend most of the time reading this book wishing that Howard wasn't so stupid, and wishing that Kiki could realize the best path she should take in terms of getting over the pain of what her husband has done, whether this be leaving him or forgiving him. In fact, a good portion of the book chooses to focus on marital relationships, successful and not, and lust and love and the kinds of relationships that can be fleeting, to some extent; as binding as relationships and marriage are, they can still fizzle; even the 30 years that Howard and Kiki spent building a particularly strong and happy life together came crumbling due to mistakes that one of them made. In this way, there is no absolute permanence that romantic love can promise, as love is funny and cruel sometimes, I guess, in that way.


But what Zadie Smith seems to be subtly stressing is the importance of your own family, the idea that blood is thicker than water. Although the Belsey siblings are not at all alike or even that close, they seem to have an unspoken love and dependence on each other. Reading this makes me miss my brother, despite the fact that we are not always that close or similar; we still have the bond of the experience of growing up in the same exact home and this produces a certain closeness that will exist, whether I like it or not. Smith really captures this in the scene in the coffee shop where they are happen to meet up with each other and exemplifies the permanence of the sibling relationship that cannot be broken. She explains that they were so comfortable with each other, despite their differences, since, to each other, “They were just love: they were the first evidence he ever had of love, and they would be the last confirmation of love when everything else fell away”. I guess it’s weird to admit, but my brother is probably the closest and longest relationship I’ll ever have. But it’s nice, at the same time, because you never know what will happen in terms of who my friends will be or if I will break up with the love of my life, and they say you can’t choose your family, which can be frustrating sometimes, but in the long run, I always know that he will be there.

And while Smith says that “a five-year age gap between siblings is like a garden that needs constant attention. Even three months apart allows the weeds to grow up between you”, the fact that the weeds are growing does not mean that the garden is dead. I see this in the relationship between Zora and Jerome, when they go to the party together in the end of the novel. Although they do not have much to say to each other, the things they choose to say are exactly what they each need to hear; they are both hurting but at least they can lean on each other to bear it. When siblings aren’t being the source of your pain, the undeniable love between them can be just what you need to alleviate it.

Overweight

I have been unconsciously thinking about KiKi's weight throughout the novel. While for Kiki to be so overweight and to be three hundred pounds might be a shock to some of the readers, it did not come as big of a shock to me. When I first starting reading the novel, I pictured Kiki to be a slim beautiful dark skinned lady who sits with her back straight and her hand neatly above her knees. But as I read on, I found out that I was wrong. Well, then what gave me the impression that she is beautiful and slim? Might it be that because I am prejudice? Might it be that I have always expected female fictional character to be slim and picture perfect? I do not know, and this got me thinking. I think for many authors, this might be the case. Having beautiful female protagonist with a nice body might be the case. However, this is not the case for Zadie Smith. As a reader who likes to analysis everything, I naturally think that for Zadie Smith have portrayed Kiki to be this overweight there has to be a reason. I think the reason might be that Kiki's weight represents the weight that she is carrying on her shoulder. She has to carry the weight of being a African American wife with a white husband living in a white college town. She has to carry the weight of being less intellectual as her husband and his friends. She has to carry the weight of her husband cheating on her. Kiki is a strong woman. Regardless of all the weight that she is carrying with her, she manages to holdup a whole entire family. She manages to keep the family together and raise three strong children. She manages to stay-up while the world tries to pull her down.

I think with the title On Beauty, it fits perfectly with Kiki. Kiki might not be beautiful, but her action, her heart, her passion is very beautiful. Kiki is not as pretty or as slim as Claire, but to me, Kiki is much mre beautiful than Claire. Kiki manages to forget while Claire is still bitter and jealous. Claire gives me the impression of someone who is intellectual, but yet conceded. (Maybe conceded is too strong of a adjective). But, Kiki is the true beauty.

Wonder Boys FIlm

After seeing the first half of Wonder Boys, I was interested in the actors that were chosen to play the parts in the movie, and the setting chosen for the film. First of all, it was really cool to see our Carnegie Mellon campus in a movie. Its strange seeing streets I travel every day on the big screen. I was really interested to see who was playing James Leer, and Grady Tripp. While reading the book, I did the picture Grady trip as Michael Douglas, but now I can’t imagine any other actor playing him. His way of taking funny situations and making witty comments fits his acting style. The character I am more skeptical of is Tobey Maguire as James Leer. I can’t seem to get past the fact that whenever I picture James Leer, I now picture Spider-man. It was sort of annoying as the character of James Leer is a very interesting character and picturing him as Spider-man took away from the experience of seeing James Leer for the character he is, a loner student who caught the eye of his drugged up English professor. Seeing Carnegie Mellon from this point of view is very strange as I cannot imagine a University with professors like Grady Tripp. If a professor like Grady Tripp did exist at Carnegie Mellon, I would definitely take his/her class, as the lectures have got to be entertaining!

character growth

So. On Beauty. I guess I kind of thought that the Kipps' would turn out to be OK people and that they would sort of stand apart as a moral standard. I guess that didn't pan out. I think that the fact that Monty could not hold up hid moral standards makes us feel kind of jaded. It certainly made me feel jaded. I think we got the first sense of this immoral pervasiveness when the Kipps family holds back Kiki's inheritance. I think that Kiki getting the painting could be construed as the passing on of the factors that make an woman a strong woman. Carlene was a really strong woman; I mean, she hid the fact that she had cancer from her family while always putting them first. When Kiki gets the painting she gains the courage to find herself outside of her failed marriage.

I think that the way the book ends implies that there is no family that can go totally unaffected by the bad judgment of one of it's members. We see this in the beginning of the book when the teenagers hookup. I think that Levi is coming into his own at the end. He has see-sawed between extremes, and so now is finding a balancing point. He was a kind of “hipster” “street” black pretender at the beginning and then tries to authenticate himself by fighting for the Haitians in less than legal ways.

I think that Zora has also really come into her own. She has stopped sort of idealizing the professors in general and her father especially. I think the episode might be Zora's last foray into campus politics. At least, I hope that this has opened her eyes to what a screwed up process that this can be.

I'm With Cavya on This One...and other thoughts on the film version of The Wonder Boys

Overall, I think the movie (or the bit we've seen so far) is pretty good. As with any film adaption, its a little difficult to get over the images that were in my head while I was reading. For example, even knowing that the film was made at CMU, I can't get over seeing the campus all over the place. Why is the Wordfest lecture in CFA? Where exactly is he driving the whole time and how do they manage to never show Donner in all its strange blue-ness?

The character's don't look like I expected either, and though I can't say a single performance isn't spot on, some of them just don't look right. I picture Sarah bigger, rounder fatter. This Sarah is no stick, but it changes my idea of her character. The same goes for Grady, who is described if I am remembering correctly as much bigger. I think I pictured him a bit younger looking too; a little less salt and pepper, a little more broad shoulders. Not a stud, but this Grady, who just looks so damn typical. He is a living cliche for free spirit-y English professor types, at least to me. Crabtree and Antonia, however, are right on the money. The movie version of James Leer is okay too, not exatly what I had in mind, but not conflicting with my vision that I'm aware of it as I'm watching.

Now for the big agreement. Why isn't Emily Asian? It takes so much absurdity out of Passover scene, though who knows if that will survive to the film adaption...we'll just have to see.

Overall, so far I like the movie. It's just that it's going to take some getting used to.