Telegraph Avenue

As part of Emily's pre-publication read-along, here we are, now looking at part 2 of Telegraph Avenue.

I liked the first part, but I have mixed feelings about part 2. The point at which my affection for the book started to slide came during an event where Gwen starts talking with a young black man who turns out to be a new-ish Senator from Illinois. In 2004. Work out the timeframe. Yup--none other than Barack Obama.

The scene bothered me on more than one level. First, it seemed gratuitous, and not at all necessary for the book. Second, I realize that a large part of this story is about race relations, but Obama's not even through his first term as president yet. Yes, the fact that he is president is important, but it's far too soon to predict the full effect of that on race relations going forward. The narrative started to break down for me at that point. The scene didn't feel like it was "organic" (sorry to use a buzzword), but was strong-armed into the book.

I also realized I'm far more interested in the women than the men, and this section had a lot to do with Archy Stallings, a man I'm finding less sympathetic and fascinating. I'm more intrigued with his wife, Gwen.

And I'm not at all sure what I think of a scene where a white man prepares fried chicken and collard greens for a black man, to convince the black man to attend a mostly white group that's getting riled up about the arrival of the big-box Dogpile Thang, owned by the fifth-richest black man in America. I get that that might be ironic, but not in the way that good irony makes me gleeful. It seemed strained.

Finally, Chabon is a very lush writer, and given that music (much of it jazz) is an important part of Nat and Archy's lives, it's not surprising that he's using his skills to play with rhythm and flow of language. But sometimes that started to feel off to me to, not--sorry--organic.

So. We'll see. There's still half the book left, and I do want to know what happens. Will Gwen forgive Archy? What about the babies? What about Brokeland Records? What about Julius and Titus, the latter having proven himself to not be a perfect gentleman after all?

Comments

[Laurie @ What She Read]

You make some valid critiques here, and the statement that interests me the most is one that you share with a handful of other read-alongers. I'm left wondering why you were more interested in the two main female characters. Did Chabon craft them as more sympathetic than the many male characters? Are Aviva and Gwen simply more interesting? If so, how? Are they more memorable because there are so few female characters, period?

[Lindsey]

I found the part with Nat really fascinating too. I think he has a very unique situation, since he grew up in a black community. He has an interesting line to walk as someone who understands black culture, but does not exactly belong within it.

[Amy Rea]

Laurie, I'm not sure why I find the women more interesting. Maybe its a lack of sympathy for Archy after he cheated on his wife while she's pregnant? I also find it interesting that they're home-delivery midwives and facing backlash from the medical establishment. And I'm interested in why they're married to a couple of guys who own a dying record store. :-)

Lindsey, that's a good point about Nat walking a fine line.

[Brooks]

I'll admit that the part with Obama was kind of weird, but I'm glad that Chabon used Obama rather than an Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson. I'm still working through why Chabon would use Obama's POV... it's still a bit of a mystery to me and I expect that when the book is published in September, we'll see it come up in interviews.

Archy is a complex character and at this point it's hard to reconcile what we know about him as a character with the cheating stuff. The cheating seems out of character to me.

[Amy Rea]

Brooks, the Obama POV felt like a stunt to me. As did section 3, but now I'm getting ahead of myself.