My initial reaction to reading the first nine chapters of Mumbo Jumbo was the realization that I had processed none of it and had no idea what was going on. My next thought was "oh shit, I have to give a panel presentation on this." Reed is so elusive with what he's talking about like how he refers to Jes Grew as an epidemic and then alludes to music. Maybe my vocabulary isn't advanced enough to comprehend what he's saying. I had tried to start reading Mumbo Jumbo in the locker room before basketball, but was getting nowhere, so I gave up and decided to read it later at home. I wasn't sure what Jes Grew was for at least four chapters. I got a pretty good idea of what Jes Grew was eventually, but it was frustrating not getting what was going on for so long. Some sort of hook to get the reader interested is important, but this was ridiculous. Compounding my frustrations was the fact that Reed kept using numerals instead of spelling the word out, and for no purpose. If he was trying to make a subtle point or the numerals somehow related to the title or the plot that would be one thing, but I just found it annoying.
When we talked about the book in class and read through the first chapter and I heard what other people had to say about the book, my frustrations were lessened and I went from "I hate this book" to "I guess it's not so bad." Hopefully, the plot will become more clear as the book goes on and I will to hate the book less and less.
1 comment:
I definitely recommend reading Reed in a context where it's possible to concentrate fully. Go slowly, take notes if it helps. You'll develop an ear for the rhythms of his prose--it's not typical, perhaps, and as you note, he's not working as hard in the direction of writing an accessible, "bestseller"-type novel. The reader has to *work*. But in my view, the work is worth it--and it's also pretty fun. Be open to the often silly, satirical, comic-book-style humor in this novel. It's clear that the author is having fun writing it; we should try to join him.
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