21st Century Literature discussion
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Let the Great World Spin
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Let The Great World Spin - Tillie & Jazzlyn (April 2014)
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'I am a fuckup like none you've seen before.' -- this is Tillie's assessment of herself. How do you feel about this?
Tillie is one of my favorite characters so far. She seems to posess a certain amount of self-awareness, even if she does not always act on it (like when she attacks the prison matron). A Rumi-quoting streetwalker in '70s NYC may seem a stretch, but her character actually works in its tragic implications. If she had absolutely no self-awareness, her story (and that of Jazzlyn) wouldn't be as tragic.
Tillie's chapter was my favourite of the novel. The machine-gun paragraphs and explosive outburst were compelling and evocative. Reading life through her mind invested the character with so much sympathy that it quite literally hurt when the end of her story was revealed.As to Tillie's assessment of herself, it's hard to argue with her conclusion. It's spot on. She's her own worst enemy, and seems unable to escape the gravitational pull of the streets.
James E. wrote: "If she had absolutely no self-awareness, her story (and that of Jazzlyn) wouldn't be as tragic."Yes. Agreed.
Daniel wrote: "She's [Tillie] her own worst enemy,...."My apologies, Daniel -- I seem to be in a belligerent mood today. But is that true? Or any more or less true than it is of Corrigan or ... or ...?
One of the reviews comments that Corrigan appears to be a heroin addict. I know that possibility crossed my mind as I read, but I didn't go back to do enough of a close reading to convince myself one way or another. What did others here conclude?
P.S. The following part of your summary felt spot on to me. Mine is often a feeling of helplessness in the face of stories like this, whether as an individual or as a citizen. What, if anything, is it possible/reasonable to do?
Reading life through her mind invested the character with so much sympathy that it quite literally hurt when the end of her story was revealed.
Lily wrote: "...is that true? Or any more or less true than it is of Corrigan or ... or ...?"You're absolutely right. I think the statement can be equally applied to many other characters in the book as well. No apologies necessary!
No man is an island....Thx, Daniel.
On the face of it, the idea that someone drawn into prostitution can allow her daughter to share her fate is abhorrent. Does the portrayal of Tillie we see allow us to sympathise? To what extent?
From review on blog by Corey:"Two of them narrate their respective sections of the book. First, there’s Tillie, the daughter and mother of prostitutes, a heroin addict, and, thanks to an eccentric Middle-Eastern client in her early days as a high-priced uptown call girl, a reader of Rumi. Her daughter is the eighteen year old Jazzlyn, already a mother herself. Tillie narrates a long chapter from jail on Riker’s Island after Jazzlyn and Corrigan’s death. I’ve not been able to shake a certain discomfort with this section of the book. Interestingly, I had no discomfort at all with the chapter voiced by Gloria, an educated black woman from Missouri who is a neighbor of Corrigan’s and plays an important role in the second half of the novel. I was able to accept Gloria as a unique human who happened to be African-American, who was shaped, as we all are, by her experiences, and yet, like all of us, could not be reduced to her socio-ethno-economic profile. So my discomfort isn’t merely a response to a white author writing in the voice of a non-white character. After a lot of reflection, I’ve come to see my discomfort with Tillie as a sign of McCann’s uncompromising integrity. To follow McCann into Tillie’s world of sexual slavery, addiction and violence should not be comfortable. Tillie can’t forgive herself for not preventing her daughter from becoming exactly what she once was, a heroin addicted, teen-age mother who sells her body. Though McCann never lets us lose sight of Tillie’s boundless love for her daughter and granddaughters, her internalized self-hatred remains devastating. For it to be anything less, would be false and sentimental."
http://storypassage.com/2014/03/10/re...
Lily, that's an excellent viewpoint, thanks for bringing it to our attention.I feel the same. I know some people dislike something when it makes them feel uncomfortable. I'm the opposite; such strong feeling makes me feel a certain sense of awe at the writer, and while I don't 'enjoy' truly terrible things in the same the way I enjoy truly beautiful things, I feel there is more than a place for them in the literature I want to read.
I agree. I loved the mix here of beauty and decay. He doesn't flinch, which means we can. And I think that's good.
I considered the blog by Corey very thoughtful and I appreciated his exploration of his evolving reactions to the book and Corum's depiction of Tillie. I am still troubled by two reviews I refer to elsewhere. I even took a look at the book list of one of them to see if I could gain greater insight -- I'm not sure that I knew those books well enough to say that I did. Which in itself may suggest the range of knowledge and experience readers may bring to a work of art can possibly exceed that of the artist himself. Or the reader may be unable to be open to the insights of the artist.
I've just read this after commenting on the other thread about the reviews - I think the blogger has expressed it very well. The reviews Lily mentioned did make me think about my own reactions to the book and McCann's portrayal of his characters - I haven't really figured out any answers as yet but I know I personally started out not enjoying this section (possibly due to the subject matter as above) but ended up really feeling for Tillie.
Deborah wrote: "He doesn't flinch, which means we can."What a spot-on way of encapsulating it.
It's okay to post spoilers here -- don't read this unless you're happy to read spoilers.