Ms. Smarty Pants Know It All

As I read through this book, I felt lost. Right when I finished, I still didn’t get it. I had to do a search for Blood and Guts in High School to realize that I’m supposed to take the story at face value.

It’s such a fantastically amazing set of events to happen to a lead character. I thought for sure that the entire thing was going to be one big metaphor or fantasy sequence.

Potential readers should heed the back of the book. It says:

Kathy Acker, whose work has been labeled everything from post-punk porn to post-punk feminism…

This book is not a walk in the park. If you are not willing to try a non-traditional novel, then you should stay far away from this one.

It, however, is on the 1001 Books list, and I think it is an interesting choice. This work tries to tell a story in collage form. There are poems, diary entries, play dialogue, and graphic novel-like illustrations. All these pieces tell a part of the whole. We build our sense of Janey, the main character, from them and learn of her life.

There are moments of high flight in this book. There were times when I was totally into a particular passage and felt like a greater truth or expression was just around the corner. But as a whole, I don’t think the experiment delivered.

Janey is ten when the book starts. As she ages, I didn’t feel any difference in her. Even though the book is a very short one, I got tired of the repetition and relentless pounding of Janey’s singular ideas.

It started to feel as if there wasn’t enough story or things to say to sustain this work. But I also feel as if Acker tried to achieve an Expressionism painting with Blood and Guts in High School. It isn’t exactly about the story or the character as much as it the feelings and energies coming off the page.

It was a very interesting and confounding read.

1% Well-Read Challenge status: five completed, five to go.

Tags: Books // Add Comment »