I've just finished three books (three of many books I'd had on the go)- Mary McCarthy's 'The Group', Jesse Armstrong's Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals and Gary Shteyngart's 'Super Sad True Love Story.'
'The Group' is a social satire following the lives of eight Vassar graduates in 30's New York that left me hugely impressed. McCarthy writes with such a keen eye for the lives of women. I almost never read novels where the female characters are so finely drawn: their neuroses, fears, ambitions, prejudices are all laid bare and their narratives are interwoven with those of the other characters.
I also found it surprisingly modern: it touches on the pressure for women to breastfeed, the etiquette of contraception, pursuing a career in a vaguely artsy field, opening up about being gay, dealing with being in an abusive relationship. There is a lot that modern women will be able to relate to and it's all told in an intelligent and really engaging way.
'Love, Sex and Other Foreign Policy Goals' left me a little more disappointed: it's about an idealistic but clueless young man who, in 1994, wants to win the heart of his posh love interest. What better way to do it than join a drama troupe on their way to Bosnia to show everybody what a bad idea war is?
The characters were mostly unlikable (I also think there were too many of them) and the comedy sometimes fell flat (like for example: the major will-they-won't-they dilemma is answered early on and never really goes anywhere from there). The dramatic arc struggled to keep me interested throughout and it often felt like the book was chronicling an endless series of checkpoints with the reader unsure of where it's all headed. That said, for what it is, I think it's an interesting, fictional perspective of a dark period of recent history.
I'd been looking forward to reading 'Super Sad True Love Story' for quite a while and it didn't let me down: it was darkly comic and frightening and moving. The basic premise is this: in the very near future, America is on the brink of collapse but the people are so hooked on social media that they don't care. In the middle of this superficial and depressing world, a trans-generational and trans-cultural love story develops, destined- like the US- only for tragedy and destruction.
This is the kind of book that makes you think about the very real, sad possibility that society is becoming more fragmented and dependent on technology to the detriment of other human beings. I can see it in the way our language is becoming more diluted with phrases like "I can't even" and "Yassss" replacing real sentences and the prevailing belief that nothing really exists unless it's documented on social media. Above all it made me reflect on the value of vulnerability, love and human connection.
I hope you've enjoyed my reviews/summaries. My next post will be about my current/upcoming reads.
