Thursday, April 21, 2011

Mudbound's dirt

This month at our Kansas City Central Library's "downtowners" book club, we gathered to discuss Hillary Jordan's novel Mudbound. It was a real page turner for me mainly because it was so one-dimensional and I wanted to get it over with and continue reading The Sheltering Sky, a 1949 novel by Paul Bowles. She didn't transport me anywhere. It's pleasant politically-correct stuff for an Oprah-produced film and is certainly in some producers paws. A recurring image is dirt...and mud...land which men, mainly, think important. The women are pretty cool and from them we get an appreciation of the importance of relationships. But all in all, save yourself and read some William Faulkner instead...you'll be transported. Mudbound is pablum, in this readers opinion...or read Zora Hurston's Their Eyes Were Watching God. Visit our library :-)

No comments:

Post a Comment