Untwine
How is inspiration a function of the entire body?
Melody
In contrast to our prompt, I did not feel like Untwine was an example of writing the body, nor did I find much inspiration in its pages. I dreaded beginning this book, imagining that it would turn me into an emotional wreck as did When Breath Becomes Air, another medical narrative about loss. Often, when watching movies about illness and grief, all of the emotions that I push down at work bubble up, leaving me crying ten times as much as my viewing companions. I also imagined that Untwine would help me better understand and empathize with my grandmother, who suffered the loss of two of her children -- that reading this novel would serve as a personal trigger of sorts.
Instead, I didn't feel much of anything. I thought that the book was written too much from the head, and not from the body. This is especially true in the first half of the book, when Giselle is in a coma, and all we are reading is her internal dialogue. I don't feel the loss of her other half. I don't feel her go through the five stages of grief. I feel like we are kept at the surface, even though she tries to explain it to us, because she is explaining it from the cerebral realm.
I also don't feel a deep connection to the other characters -- they all seem relatively superficial. I don't understand why she and Tina are suddenly fighting, or how they even know they are fighting (p. 228), as all Giselle did was leave her art class. I don't see any depth to Giselle's relationship with Jean Michael. She has a crush, then she thinks he and Tina are an item, then she blesses them, then she finds out they aren't, and then she is extremely hopeful when he sends her a gift (p298). I guess this bipolar, emotional lability is typical of teenage flames, but I'm not buying it. Similarly, I don't get why her parents are fighting. We are just told that they are.
Nonetheless, there are few places where Danticat's writing does come from the body, and I do feel an emotional connection to the characters. Namely, when we learn that Giselle felt her sister's cardiac arrest (p. 216), when Giselle realizes that Ron Johnson loved Isabelle (237), and when Giselle reads the letter from the woman who received Isabelle's heart (p. 279). But however touching these moments may be, they do not reach the level of "inspiration." I was not rooted in the grief, and thus I could not attain the rebirth and hope that the finale of the novel attempted to inspire.
In Untwine, Danticat graces with us the story of a cosmopolitan, loving family from a beautiful perspective, and writes about a difficult subject in a way that will likely help lots of teenagers who experience loss all-too-soon. However, I wish she had gone deeper. I wish she had written from the body.
Melody
In contrast to our prompt, I did not feel like Untwine was an example of writing the body, nor did I find much inspiration in its pages. I dreaded beginning this book, imagining that it would turn me into an emotional wreck as did When Breath Becomes Air, another medical narrative about loss. Often, when watching movies about illness and grief, all of the emotions that I push down at work bubble up, leaving me crying ten times as much as my viewing companions. I also imagined that Untwine would help me better understand and empathize with my grandmother, who suffered the loss of two of her children -- that reading this novel would serve as a personal trigger of sorts.
Instead, I didn't feel much of anything. I thought that the book was written too much from the head, and not from the body. This is especially true in the first half of the book, when Giselle is in a coma, and all we are reading is her internal dialogue. I don't feel the loss of her other half. I don't feel her go through the five stages of grief. I feel like we are kept at the surface, even though she tries to explain it to us, because she is explaining it from the cerebral realm.
I also don't feel a deep connection to the other characters -- they all seem relatively superficial. I don't understand why she and Tina are suddenly fighting, or how they even know they are fighting (p. 228), as all Giselle did was leave her art class. I don't see any depth to Giselle's relationship with Jean Michael. She has a crush, then she thinks he and Tina are an item, then she blesses them, then she finds out they aren't, and then she is extremely hopeful when he sends her a gift (p298). I guess this bipolar, emotional lability is typical of teenage flames, but I'm not buying it. Similarly, I don't get why her parents are fighting. We are just told that they are.
Nonetheless, there are few places where Danticat's writing does come from the body, and I do feel an emotional connection to the characters. Namely, when we learn that Giselle felt her sister's cardiac arrest (p. 216), when Giselle realizes that Ron Johnson loved Isabelle (237), and when Giselle reads the letter from the woman who received Isabelle's heart (p. 279). But however touching these moments may be, they do not reach the level of "inspiration." I was not rooted in the grief, and thus I could not attain the rebirth and hope that the finale of the novel attempted to inspire.
In Untwine, Danticat graces with us the story of a cosmopolitan, loving family from a beautiful perspective, and writes about a difficult subject in a way that will likely help lots of teenagers who experience loss all-too-soon. However, I wish she had gone deeper. I wish she had written from the body.
Hi Melody. I really appreciated your comments. I experienced similar frustrations while reading this book. The coma sequence, in particular, was presented in such a matter-of-fact way, as if Giselle's cognitive functioning was perfectly intact - she just happened to be in a coma and unable to move. I found myself craving fragmentation, fracture, and disorientation to capture her trauma and the non-sensemaking state of being in a coma. Though I imagine Danticat didn't choose to play with form in this way because it's a YA novel and wanted it to be accessible to young readers, I felt disappointed by how trauma was misrepresented on the page. Like you, I didn't feel moved by any of the characters or believe the tension narrated on the page. It was only after putting the book aside for a day and letting myself reflect on it for a while that I began to think about how Untwine grapples with larger themes about the body: origins, embodied love, separation as part of growing up. It feels to me like the novel is more about the body thematically, than it is on a craft/language level. The book raises some important questions about presenting trauma and writing from the body in YA novels.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting . I think about the moment of holding the hand at the beginning of one of the moments. but if it falls flat for you, interesting.
ReplyDeleteHey Melody. I appreciate your post. Like you, I was surprised by how unmoved this book left me. There were moments when it almost brought me to tears but it never actually did, and for the most part I just wasn't completely invested in the story. As Arya points out, I'm curious if it being a YA book had something to do with my failure to fully feel the trauma being presented. I'd like to discuss this in class. I have never studied YA novels before and the last time I read one was probably over ten years ago. I'm curious how my perception of them has changed.
ReplyDeleteYou mention that some of the characters and their relationships feel artificial. I feel like this is intentional on Danticat's part. Giselle has just lost the person she is closest too. It makes sense that her other relationships, as well as those she witnesses between other people, now feel flat. For me, Giselle the narrator's depiction of these relationships helps me to better understand her trauma.