The Terrible Twos by Ishmael Reed is a book I purchased at a library sale probably close to 20 years ago. It has languished on my shelves having suffered from disorganized reorganizing and it was not until it popped to the top of my reading list that I realized for how long I had owned this book. There was a time when I was interested in anything that looked at Santa Claus in a new way. I have a feeling that I was also trying to understand racism, so the tag line from the New York Review of Books on the back cover likely also caught my eye, "...and few have been so stinging about the absurdity of American racism."
Started: July 19, 2018
Completed: September 3, 2018
Recommendation: Not Recommended
Recommended by: Nobody
Review:
Satire. This book has some comedic elements, but it is mostly satire. The satire, however, swings around, literally, an orange headed president who is out of his depth and oblivious to the harm he is enabling. Sound familiar? At least somewhat familiar? Because of this, the satire in the book started to feel more like prophecy. A prophetic and absurd vision that we are actually living about 40 years removed from the writing of the book.
Allegory. This book has a fair amount of allegorical content, but it is a little difficult for me to pick up. The racism I saw was blatant. There was a fair amount of history of the various forms of Santa Claus packed in and surely there is allegory buried there that was below (above?) my field of view.
Racism. The racism I saw in this book was brutal, forthright and honest. The best part of the book, in my opinion, however, was the Spruce tree that took issue with being cut down for a Christmas tree and how it sought its revenge. Built into the whole story of the Spruce is a little less overt racism and a little more clever description of how the underpinnings of racism and brutality can be undercut.
The story line seemed obtuse to me. I never really got into the book. I found no character sympathetic and it vaguely reminded me of reading Pilgrim's Progress. It felt to me that the story line was meaningless, the characters were truly shallow and mono-dimensional caricatures. I could not glean from the book what others who really enjoyed it did. Given the reviews, it felt like it was over my head and that makes me sad, but I cannot really recommend it to anyone.
Satire. This book has some comedic elements, but it is mostly satire. The satire, however, swings around, literally, an orange headed president who is out of his depth and oblivious to the harm he is enabling. Sound familiar? At least somewhat familiar? Because of this, the satire in the book started to feel more like prophecy. A prophetic and absurd vision that we are actually living about 40 years removed from the writing of the book.
Allegory. This book has a fair amount of allegorical content, but it is a little difficult for me to pick up. The racism I saw was blatant. There was a fair amount of history of the various forms of Santa Claus packed in and surely there is allegory buried there that was below (above?) my field of view.
Racism. The racism I saw in this book was brutal, forthright and honest. The best part of the book, in my opinion, however, was the Spruce tree that took issue with being cut down for a Christmas tree and how it sought its revenge. Built into the whole story of the Spruce is a little less overt racism and a little more clever description of how the underpinnings of racism and brutality can be undercut.
The story line seemed obtuse to me. I never really got into the book. I found no character sympathetic and it vaguely reminded me of reading Pilgrim's Progress. It felt to me that the story line was meaningless, the characters were truly shallow and mono-dimensional caricatures. I could not glean from the book what others who really enjoyed it did. Given the reviews, it felt like it was over my head and that makes me sad, but I cannot really recommend it to anyone.
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