![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
I read a book!
Posted on 2009.07.10 at 17:20
I recently finished reading The Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Thanks to a $15 gift certificate to Borders I got as part of a weird gift-swap thing (that belonged in an episode of The Office). It was amazing (the book, not the gift-swap thing). This book affected me on a more emotional level than a work of fiction has in a long time. Each of the main characters was believable and sympathetic and it increased my desire to know more about comic books ten-fold.
A word or two about Sam Clay and homosexuality in popular culture. First off, I liked Sam more than Joe, right from the beginning I did--I'm not sure why. But the fact that the book seemed to be much more about Joe than Sam is one of the few issues I have with it.
Now, because I am the person I am, the moment Sam and Joe met, the moment they shared a bed due to their circumstances, I shipped them just a little. I forgot the thought pretty quickly--bowled over as I was by the intensity and awesomeness of the story. But still, I wondered briefly about Sam and that meant that chapters and chapters later when Rosa asked if he was a "fairy" I got excited. Then I felt terrible about this. But I realized that I didn't get excited only because Sam was gay (and I can't help finding gay characters more interesting) but because I had briefly already imagined him that way. I felt vindicated in my annoying desire to turn everyone queer. Sometimes it pans out and the characters are actually gay--rare as this is.
On a similar note; I think that the reason the Sam/Tracy dynamic interested me more than the Joe/Rosa one (as much as I loved Rosa, and I'm so glad I loved Rosa, that she existed on her own as a believable character) is because we don't see enough homosexual relationships in popular culture for them to feel rote yet. As soon as Rosa and Joe met for the second time one is sure they'll end up together, all the intrigue and excitement is gone. We don't get that sort of script for homosexual relationships though, so everything Joe and Tracy did was new and interesting. I could not imagine how they their relationship was going to evolve. There aren't a million romantic comedies that have taught me all the clues already. Even Chabon seemed to know this, I feel like he explained their relationship much more carefully than he did Rosa and Joe's, because, since that one was straight, the reader was assumed to automatically accept and understand it.
For those and other reasons--having nothing to do with his sexuality--Sam Clay was the more appealing character to me. The subtle way in which he was broken and the way he stepped in for Joe and the his relationship with Tommy all made me feel.
A word or two about Sam Clay and homosexuality in popular culture. First off, I liked Sam more than Joe, right from the beginning I did--I'm not sure why. But the fact that the book seemed to be much more about Joe than Sam is one of the few issues I have with it.
Now, because I am the person I am, the moment Sam and Joe met, the moment they shared a bed due to their circumstances, I shipped them just a little. I forgot the thought pretty quickly--bowled over as I was by the intensity and awesomeness of the story. But still, I wondered briefly about Sam and that meant that chapters and chapters later when Rosa asked if he was a "fairy" I got excited. Then I felt terrible about this. But I realized that I didn't get excited only because Sam was gay (and I can't help finding gay characters more interesting) but because I had briefly already imagined him that way. I felt vindicated in my annoying desire to turn everyone queer. Sometimes it pans out and the characters are actually gay--rare as this is.
On a similar note; I think that the reason the Sam/Tracy dynamic interested me more than the Joe/Rosa one (as much as I loved Rosa, and I'm so glad I loved Rosa, that she existed on her own as a believable character) is because we don't see enough homosexual relationships in popular culture for them to feel rote yet. As soon as Rosa and Joe met for the second time one is sure they'll end up together, all the intrigue and excitement is gone. We don't get that sort of script for homosexual relationships though, so everything Joe and Tracy did was new and interesting. I could not imagine how they their relationship was going to evolve. There aren't a million romantic comedies that have taught me all the clues already. Even Chabon seemed to know this, I feel like he explained their relationship much more carefully than he did Rosa and Joe's, because, since that one was straight, the reader was assumed to automatically accept and understand it.
For those and other reasons--having nothing to do with his sexuality--Sam Clay was the more appealing character to me. The subtle way in which he was broken and the way he stepped in for Joe and the his relationship with Tommy all made me feel.