false 52663 0525934251 9780525934257 433 50 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/52663.Bastard_Out_of_Carolina 5599 Dorothy Allison 10929 964 0 2008-10-29T06:20:28-07:00 58409 220 2008-10-29T06:20:28-07:00 0 2008-10-27T14:04:10-07:00 54193 130 2008-10-27T14:04:10-07:00 2 2 false Thu Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Oct 27 14:04:02 -0700 2008 Mon Nov 24 11:37:35 -0800 2008
Another problem I had with the book was its point of view. I don't remember what the problem was, exactly, just that a problem was had. I think it had something to do with the fact that for much of the book Ruth Anne doesn't do anything but watch her colorful family members yell and lie at one another. And then this combined with the book's insistence that we never question Ruth Anne's perspective on herself and the events of her narrative. It's like this depressing by-product of the Victim Narrative That Resists At All Costs Being Labeled A Victim Narrative. I fully submit that this is a matter of personal taste, not one of literary ideals or whatever.

Like, I like my first-person narrated novels to be a bit more aware of the inherent unreliability of every first-person narrator ever. Bad memoirs are completely ignorant of this. "I" am witness, they say. "I" will tell you what you need to know. Novels, though, usually know better. Or, at least, they should.]]>