10 July 2012

We're Gonna Rock Down To Telegraph Avenue: Dream of Cream

Where to even begin? This book has a LOT going on, so I'll start with the easy mark.  Did anybody read the epigraph and its attribution?  I think I actually snorted a beverage through my nose when I read it.  I wasn't expecting the book to have as much humor as it does, but it's not constant;  it kind of sneaks up on you.

Okay, a few things: I occasionally had trouble keeping up with the cast of characters, remembering which nickname or diminutive went with each formal name.  Did that hold true with any of you?

I was also struck with the desire to see if there were any blaxploitation films on Netflix livestreaming that I could check out.  I've never seen one, but I love the word blaxploitation.  I think it might be the unexpected "x," because I also love the word juxtaposition.

Did anybody else notice that the Harper logo on the spine of the book is not their usual one with the hand and the torch?  They swapped it out for the Black Power fist. Publishers usually aren't too keen with messing around with their logos, but I kinda love it when they do.  Subtle but good. (As an aside, I think my favorite was Knopf with Geek Love--they gave their usual Borzoi an extra leg in honor of that book.)

Also, and I'm not sure what to do with this, or if things will change in the next sections, but it seems to me that Chabon is using rather more racial stereotypes in his characters than I would have expected in a book that is ostensibly about the exploration of race in contemporary America.

Then again, maybe he's just playing around with things and all will be made clear by the end. After all, I, myself, missed a piece of racist invective in part of the dialogue the first time I read it.  Possibly because I didn't know what the phrase "conking your hair" meant, and at the time I had trouble remembering Gwen from Aviva; possibly because as person whose skin has privileged her, I've never had to be aware of that. 

But now I know what it means to conk your hair. And that when something is bangin' it's a good thing. Yes, that's a glimpse into my circumscribed life.

That being said, when I'm not confusing which characters are which, or wondering why it's the black guy and not the white guy who is afraid of having children and can't keep his bidness in his pants, I'm totally drawn in to this novel.  Never having visited California, the setting seems impossibly exotic to me.  And of course the underdog used record store vs. the megastore is one that hits uncomfortably close to home. (aside: I mean, really, who can take seriously something called a Dogpile Thang?) Then, too, there are some seriously beautiful, humorous, and/or insightful phrases in the book.

Here are some of my favorite lines/passages from the book:

"The baby, understanding perhaps that it was purely rhetorical, made no attempt to answer this question."

"Thirty years too old, twenty pounds too light, forty watts too dim..."

"From the lowest limb of a Meyer lemon, a wind chime searched without urgency for a melody to play."

"The fog had burned off, leaving only a softness, as tender as a memory from childhood, to blur the sunlight that warmed the sprawl of rosemary and purple salvia along the fragrant sidewalk and fell in shifting shafts through the branches of the monkey-puzzle tree."

"Most of all, he was tired of being a holdout, a sole survivor, the last coconut hanging on the last palm tree on the last atoll in the path of the great wave of late-modern capitalism, waiting to be hammered flat."  Holy shit, but does that feeling ever sound familiar!

Does book sound fabulous? If so, you can pre-order your copy here because it's being published in September from Harper

19 comments:

  1. I'm so glad to hear I'm not the only one getting confused! I like the book when I can focus on it to get into it but it does take a high level of concentration. I'm looking forward to digging into part 2 and seeing where it goes. I agree with you about the stereotypes. I almost feel like he's trying reallyreallyhard to be hip and stuff. But we'll see.

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  2. You hit on so much good stuff -- I *hadn't* noticed the logo so that's awesome! Right now, this isn't a winning read, although I'm captivated by Chabon's writing style -- really amazing. But the characters aren't clicking/sticking with me. :/

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  3. Is he using racial stereotypes? I actually found it hard to "tell" which family was black and which was white until he described their skin. I actually thought Nat Jaffe was a black man - thinking, isn't this book supposed to be about one white, one black family? - until Chabon later describes how white Julius is. Any stereotypes seemed to me to be more generation based.

    That being said - I was also sometimes confused as to who was who. I found myself going back several times to make sense of a person or situation.

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    1. Nicole, I couldn't tell who was black and who was white either. I'm still not sure about everyone.

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    2. My sense is that effect is part of the point. We have all these stereotypes in our heads, but in truth can we tell so easily when it's not made explicit?

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  4. I'm really loving this book. And uh, Nat Jaffe's totally a black name, so until I read Nicole's comment I didn't know he was white. Because I had to skim the last 50 pages or so.

    "Did anybody else notice that the Harper logo on the spine of the book is not their usual one with the hand and the torch?"

    No! But I am delighted now.

    Reeeeally liking this. Good job being awesome, Chabon.

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    1. Chabon says NOTHING about Nat, alludes to Aviva being white (so subtle that I just ignored it), and then is really blatant when he describes Julius. After he mentions Julius is white, I went back and read the first few pages, because I really thought Nat was black.

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  5. Yes,I too had trouble keeping the characters straight, and I also often felt that Chabon was stretching to fit in pop culture allusions rather than tell his story as directly as possible. A matter of taste, I suppose. Now that I'm familiar with the key characters, I'm looking forward to the next section of the novel. I hope it carries me from here in ABQ back to Seattle, as I'm just about to board the plane! I'll hop over to the rest of the blogs when I'm back on terra firma.

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    1. There was a ton of pop culture in this book which I disliked -- but I know some folks just devour the culture references -- I was reminded very much of Tarantino films, will all the nostalgic-y/vintage-y worship.

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  7. Like the others who have commented so far, I was confused for a while. But by the end of this section, I felt like I could keep them straight.

    The Dream of Cream was not at all what I expected.

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  8. I had totally missed the altered logo on the spine - that's awesome! What a clever way to give the book's content a nod. Like you (and others, it seems), I've had a hard time keeping up with the cast of characters. But when I can sort out who's who/what's what, I'm enjoying the story. So far, Gwen is my favorite.

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  9. Emily, right with you on the not keeping characters straight. I found that true with The Yiddish Policeman's Union, too. Loving some of Chabon's use of language, though.

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  10. I have to remember NOT to be imbibing anything when I read your posts. Bad for the computer!

    Love,

    S

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  11. I agree with a lot of the other commenters that it wasn't clear who was white and black until, maybe mid-way through the first section. I've also got to admit that I didn't realize that Aviva was Nat's wife until the VERY END of the reading. Oops.

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  12. I didn't even notice the logo change until you pointed it out. You have a great eye for detail!

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  13. just wanted to let you all know that I'm enjoying reading your thoughts and reactions. I'm thinking that the trouble you've pinpointed with getting the characters pinned down is probably the same reason I didn't enjoy the only book of Chabon's I've read (Gentlemen of the Road). Maybe I'm a high-maintenance reader. Anyhow, carry on. :)

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  14. A lot of people have been saying that about the stereotypes and I really don't see it. It took a while for me to distinguish the characters' race. When you made the poin about Archy being scared to have children, that kind of clicked, but honestly he doesn't seem more scared than average for that event. And even so, this may be meant to reflect some societal issues relating to black fathering, in which some pretty ridiculous societal expectations tend to undercut that experience (e.g. you can't possibly be a good father if you don't have this, this, and this quality). Okay, I'm risking getting all long-winded and social work-y with you, so I'll just say that I think Chabon is reflecting some real issues here, and to dismiss it as stereotyping might be premature. Although it is interesting that a white man is writing this, which may be putting people on the defensive.

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  15. Since I had such a hard time keeping track of all of the characters, I made myself a glossary before diving in to Part II. I posted it on my blog in case anyone else is interested in referencing... though I'm afraid I may have gotten some details wrong even in my note-taking!

    http://www.entomologyofabookworm.com/2012/07/telegraph-avenue-cast.html

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Please, sir, may I have some more? (Comments, that is!)