Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Brokeback Mountain Open Forum
Annie Proulx's memoir.
Marge_Innavera:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 18, 2011, 05:29:46 pm ---I can think of several reasons why AP might want to portray herself in a poor light in her new book Bird Cloud. For one, it makes for a better book. Think of Frances Mayes' book about the house she renovated in Tuscany: Under the Tuscan Sun. The eccentricities, culture clashes and ineptness made for a better book. Another reason is that it is awkward writing one's memoirs and AP might feel more comfortable with a self-deprecating approach. She is often like that in her interviews referring to herself as "elderly", "set in her ways", and a person who has botched the marriage and/or mothering roles. But the reason I think is most likely is that AP thinks of herself somewhat as a character in her story, and we know her characters typically have more than their share of flaws!!
--- End quote ---
You know, that brought up to the front of my mind something I hadn't thought of in years.
This was a long time ago, and it was a TV talk show interview with Kirk Douglas. Somehow the subject of John Wayne came up, and Douglas didn't say anything hostile about him, but he said essentially that JW saw pretty much whatever he wanted to see; and concluded with:
"He really believed that he was 'John Wayne.' "
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on February 18, 2011, 05:29:46 pm ---I can think of several reasons why AP might want to portray herself in a poor light in her new book Bird Cloud. For one, it makes for a better book. Think of Frances Mayes' book about the house she renovated in Tuscany: Under the Tuscan Sun. The eccentricities, culture clashes and ineptness made for a better book. Another reason is that it is awkward writing one's memoirs and AP might feel more comfortable with a self-deprecating approach. She is often like that in her interviews referring to herself as "elderly", "set in her ways", and a person who has botched the marriage and/or mothering roles. But the reason I think is most likely is that AP thinks of herself somewhat as a character in her story, and we know her characters typically have more than their share of flaws!!
--- End quote ---
Sure enough, but portraying your neighbors as ignorant hicks and rubes is not "self-deprecating." It just makes you look like a mean-spirited, horrible person.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Marge_Innavera on February 18, 2011, 11:56:40 am ---As far as shooting the messenger goes, anyone criticizing AP is justified in expecting a hostile reception. Doesn't happen consistently but the "OMG how can you say that!" reaction isn't unknown. I assume that's why an earlier poster in this thread expected brickbats.
--- End quote ---
Sure enough, but since I'm the one who called AP a bad-tempered, mean-spirited, snobbish old crank, I'm not likely to shoot you for agreeing with me! ;D
southendmd:
I finished BirdCloud and enjoyed it.
To me, it didn't resemble the review posted above. Hardly "shelter porn", the description of building the house is a recurring motif, set among fascinating and deep accounts of both her ancestors and the land itself. I kept thinking of Michener: extensive geology, geneology, surveys of flora and fauna--but with footnotes!
In fact, she reveals little of herself in any direct manner. She doesn't really discuss her writing or her living family. Rather we see her through her interactions in the building of the house, and in her attitudes toward the land, and her understanding of time slipping away. The book seems more about the land than about her. She has said that place and climate determine one's destiny. The land, like her long and curious lineage, is both eternal and ephemeral, brutal and brilliant.
One example is a tall, narrow window she built to frame the view of the tree favored by a pair of bald eagles. In a passage right out of one of her stories, the tree is soon felled by weather, and the eagle window is now useless, an excellent metaphor for her house endeavor, and the futility of trying to wrangle nature.
She does seem reluctantly reliant on her crew for survival, and they are merely two-dimensional. That she loves birds more than people is not surprising in one so reclusive.
Of course it's easy to take phrases or sentences out of context and pronounce them to be precious. However, in context, they sounded perfectly natural. In fact, I found this nonfiction to be more readable than much of her fiction prose.
Meryl:
Thanks for an excellent review, Paul. You're a real thinker there. Might have a look at Bird Cloud. :)
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