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Childsong
Is the current generation of youngsters set for self-destruction? 'Childsong' is the tale of a group of friends hailing in a small college in the Midwestern United States where they face the terrifying truth of adulthood where they must learn to survive and cope with the most terrifying lesson they will learn of all - that the world is not all about them. 'Childsong' is a well written coming of age novel with a deft criticism of the current generation, a top pick for any community library fiction collections.
180 pages, Paperback
First published October 17, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 24, 2015
Childsong by Thor Polson **** Review by Elana Wolff
“J. D. Salinger meets early Hermann Hesse”
In Childsong, Thor Polson might be channeling The Catcher in the Rye and Hesse ‘circa’ Peter Camenzind and Demian. The back cover blurb bills Childsong as a novel of “adolescence and early adulthood” that tells the story of a group of first-year liberal arts college students in the American Midwest. (It also reveals that all but one of the students self-destructs.) Themes of teenage angst, despair, identity, belonging, and loss recall the struggles of Salinger’s Holden Caulfield. The implicit critique of an education that focuses more on technical knowledge and societal fit than personal journey and spiritual development recalls Hesse, as does the concern for com/passion and order.
In his Foreword to the novel, Polson describes Childsong as “experimental and kaleidoscopic”— probably meant to signal such textual breaks from conventional narrative as the insertion of graphic elements, script, liturgy, Latin, Old English poetry, philosophy, and song etc., interspersed with colloquial dialogue and shifting voice. Yet there is flow in the presentation and unfolding of the story. The longer first part (96 pages) and shorter middle sections (parts two and three are both 17 pages) come together thematically to a dramatic resolution in part four (25 pages). The experimental actually becomes quite neatly idealistic, if not conventional.
Protagonist Tommy Pendoro could be a stand-in for Thor Polson himself. The two share the same initials. And even if this is not quasi-autobiography, Tommy Pendoro—a reader can believe—is the mouthpiece for the author. Through Pendoro, Polson wrangles with challenges and decisive events in first-year college life. The struggles are played through a kind of ‘Greek plot’ in which the hero overcomes lures of hedonism and selfishness to find redemption through poetry. (Other characters don’t fare so well, succumbing to accidental death, suicide, the platitudinous, or dissolution.)
What makes this read appealing (to this reader) is its hopefulness, and its elevation of the arts. Childsong raises poetry to the high-ground of recovery and self-actualization: one young man comes to compassion by way of art, while the egotistical, the mean and the defeated fall away. Childsong also wants to celebrate the joyous and the exuberant—what is authentic and good in the childlike. Both Tommy Pendoro and Thor Polson, I would say, aim to preserve a youthful/ childlike goodness and authenticity while surrendering youthful egotism to a compassionate hearkening to the other.
Childsong includes a ‘mini-manifesto’ to the call of Orpheus as well—the legendary Thracian musician/poet of Greek myth who captured life in words and music. Tommy/Thor will use the deeds of his peers—“both foolish and meritorious” as “grist for his creativity.” He will drink from the “Orphic cup”; “he is an “artist,” a “Creator” with a capital “C,” and will “die content in the knowledge that he had served his calling and had not turned away.” This is the high and heady stuff of commitment to the arts, and I like it. (By way of postscript, however, the artist in this reader would have given the cover a more inviting design—for those who tend to judge a book by its cover. The plain grey does not serve to bring a reader in.)
“J. D. Salinger meets early Hermann Hesse”
In Childsong, Thor Polson might be channeling The Catcher in the Rye and Hesse ‘circa’ Peter Camenzind and Demian. The back cover blurb bills Childsong as a novel of “adolescence and early adulthood” that tells the story of a group of first-year liberal arts college students in the American Midwest. (It also reveals that all but one of the students self-destructs.) Themes of teenage angst, despair, identity, belonging, and loss recall the struggles of Salinger’s Holden Caulfield. The implicit critique of an education that focuses more on technical knowledge and societal fit than personal journey and spiritual development recalls Hesse, as does the concern for com/passion and order.
In his Foreword to the novel, Polson describes Childsong as “experimental and kaleidoscopic”— probably meant to signal such textual breaks from conventional narrative as the insertion of graphic elements, script, liturgy, Latin, Old English poetry, philosophy, and song etc., interspersed with colloquial dialogue and shifting voice. Yet there is flow in the presentation and unfolding of the story. The longer first part (96 pages) and shorter middle sections (parts two and three are both 17 pages) come together thematically to a dramatic resolution in part four (25 pages). The experimental actually becomes quite neatly idealistic, if not conventional.
Protagonist Tommy Pendoro could be a stand-in for Thor Polson himself. The two share the same initials. And even if this is not quasi-autobiography, Tommy Pendoro—a reader can believe—is the mouthpiece for the author. Through Pendoro, Polson wrangles with challenges and decisive events in first-year college life. The struggles are played through a kind of ‘Greek plot’ in which the hero overcomes lures of hedonism and selfishness to find redemption through poetry. (Other characters don’t fare so well, succumbing to accidental death, suicide, the platitudinous, or dissolution.)
What makes this read appealing (to this reader) is its hopefulness, and its elevation of the arts. Childsong raises poetry to the high-ground of recovery and self-actualization: one young man comes to compassion by way of art, while the egotistical, the mean and the defeated fall away. Childsong also wants to celebrate the joyous and the exuberant—what is authentic and good in the childlike. Both Tommy Pendoro and Thor Polson, I would say, aim to preserve a youthful/ childlike goodness and authenticity while surrendering youthful egotism to a compassionate hearkening to the other.
Childsong includes a ‘mini-manifesto’ to the call of Orpheus as well—the legendary Thracian musician/poet of Greek myth who captured life in words and music. Tommy/Thor will use the deeds of his peers—“both foolish and meritorious” as “grist for his creativity.” He will drink from the “Orphic cup”; “he is an “artist,” a “Creator” with a capital “C,” and will “die content in the knowledge that he had served his calling and had not turned away.” This is the high and heady stuff of commitment to the arts, and I like it. (By way of postscript, however, the artist in this reader would have given the cover a more inviting design—for those who tend to judge a book by its cover. The plain grey does not serve to bring a reader in.)
September 21, 2015
Childsong is a novel about a group of first-year college students at a small college in the Midwest. Anyone who has been to a residential university will recognize the environment dictated by social status, identity, and background. The characters appear at first to be entirely self centered and egotistical, displaying no true compassion or empathy for any of the others. Yet as the book goes on, each is revealed to have a complex personality that manifests itself in their actions. Each one is both recognizable and puzzling, and leave the reader hooked wanting to know their background story and what each one will do next. Though their tales are mostly dark, all of them have their own journey throughout the story balancing their selfish desires with the deeper parts of their personalities.
Reading Childsong was sometimes like reading a novel, sometimes a dialogue, and various other forms. This, along with the complex vocabulary and often poetic style, made it refreshingly different from most books. Though not always easy, I finished the book feeling like I had gained insight about my own life. It is the kind of book you could read multiple times and each time through have a deeper understanding of the characters and story and feel like you have realized something new about yourself. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a throughly interesting and deeply meaningful read.
Reading Childsong was sometimes like reading a novel, sometimes a dialogue, and various other forms. This, along with the complex vocabulary and often poetic style, made it refreshingly different from most books. Though not always easy, I finished the book feeling like I had gained insight about my own life. It is the kind of book you could read multiple times and each time through have a deeper understanding of the characters and story and feel like you have realized something new about yourself. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants a throughly interesting and deeply meaningful read.
December 24, 2015
This novel covers a group of students at a small residential college in the midwestern U.S.A. during their freshman year, perhaps sometime in the mid- or late-70s. It will bring back memories of the first year away at school for many, with its universal themes of identity, status, alienation, and development of friendships and relationships, all the while insulated from financial pressures. There is an interesting cast of self-absorbed characters who get themselves into uncomfortable situations, and a variety of unusual literary devices. I found part I erratic, but the pure-dialogue (multilogue?) part II flew by and I couldn't put it down during parts III and IV.
September 21, 2015
I really enjoyed Childsong. Thor Polson has an original voice, and the angst channeled through these characters feels very real. It's also the stuff of satire. Which is to say that this book gets at both the absurdity and earnestness of being young and impassioned.
December 25, 2015
This is a novel for those who like fiction to provide rich food for both thought and feeling. The writing is finely crafted, the narrative technique complex and experimental, and there is acute psychological exposure of the characters' vulnerabilities. I recommend it as a subtle piece of work.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews