Talk Back

[ADORKABLE GRRL]

BLUE ANGEL BY FRANCINE PROSE

This is one of those books where I'm amazed that it has received the critical success that it has. It triumphantly states on the cover of the book that it is a "National Book Award Finalist" and on the back that it has been named a "New York Times Notable Book."

I don't know what crack the people who reviewed this novel were on when they came to the conclusion that it worthy of such notation and honor. Maybe it's because the theme of the novel deals with a distasteful subject (sexual harassment of female students by their professors in academia) or because it was written from the perspective of the harasser (a male creative writing professor at a small New England university) and the author is a woman... but, the honors were obviously not bestowed upon this book because it had a good plot or character development.

Let's suffice it to say that I could tell how the book would end by the conclusion of the first chapter. The plot is very translucent and gives no room for the imagination to ponder alternate conclusions:

Middle aged, discontented, failing novelist turned academic, Swenson is asked to read chapters from a novel by his student, Angela Argo. The topic of Angela's novel is that of an illicit romance between a student and a teacher. Via reading this book (which according to the main character, Swenson, is "brilliant") he begins to develop a crush on the author. The author senses this and uses her sexuality to get Swenson to help her get the novel published. Swenson, who is teaching amongst the "politically correct" climate of the late 1990's, has successfully avoided the slightest tinge of improper behavior in the previous 20 years of his teaching career whilst his colleagues have been cavorting with every undergraduate who came their way. But, of course, his decision to chuck it all to hell and sleep with a student (who is described as "rat like" at one point of the book) happens to coincide with the public trial of another professor at another university who has been brought up on charges of sexual harassment for muttering the word "yum" when viewing a slide of the Venus di Milo in an undergraduate art history seminar.

And, of course, the student turns on the professor in the end and rats him out to the administration - upon which the events which you've watched unfold from Swenson's perspective are retold in a different manner in order to portray him as a creep who victimized an innocent student.

Of course, it is a half-assed replay of Lolita. Of course, it mentions (in the title and elsewhere) the 1930's Garbo classic "The Blue Angel"... of course, there is the obligatory vague theme of revenge (the antagonist, Angela Argo is dating a man who used to date Swenson's daughter - Ruby - and, whom the professor threatened within an inch of his life to keep him from seeing his daughter.) And, of course, while exactly what is going to transpire in the end (he's caught & fired from his job) is blatantly obvious to those reading the book, the protagonist is absolutely clueless about what the outcome is to be.

Of course it happens that way.

Then, of course, you must add in the fact Professor Swenson witnessed his father commit suicide on television as a teenager, and the ex-boyfriend's contention that Swenson sexually abused his daughter, and the fact that Swenson has writers block after having written two very successful novels and is married to a sainted, patient, beautiful woman.

And, there you have... did you say a paltry version of "Wonder Boys" with the distasteful addition of sex with students? If you did say that, it's correct -- but, actually you've just read "Blue Angel."

Terrible book. Annoying because I wasted two days reading it. Even more annoying because it is written in a way which bounces between the third person narrative and the first person narrative.

Annoying all around.

C-

Next: 08. "Ballad of the Whiskey Robber - a True Story of Bank Heists, Ice Hockey, Transylvanian Pelt Smuggling, Moonlighting Detectives and Broken Hearts" by Julian Rubinstein

With a title of such an amusing and fantastical nature, how can it not be awesome?
_________________
HER ROYAL KATENESS, QUEEN OF ALL SHE SURVEYS