Anamaria Vere
This book broke my heart repeatedly and then left me full of despair because no one is going to stop buying their phones or other battery-powered devices just because people in DRC are enslaved and dying so that those batteries can be produced.
“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” —Mahatma Gandhi
This is far from being the worst book I've ever read, but Mr. Ronson's artistic genius clearly is not crafting great literature. The high points of this book are the moments when he is able to convey the joy he feels for his true love: using music to “crack the room open - to give people a reason to be alive.” I wish there had been more of those moments and fewer instances of name-dropping that read like a guest list of people partying at places that were once the place to be.
This novel is at least three books in one. On the surface, it is a sharp, darkly humorous satire blended with a hard-boiled detective mystery. A little below the surface, it is a book that reveals to us our own prejudices and stereotypical beliefs, and asks us to think about where we draw the line between fairness and morality, between justice and revenge. At its heart, it is a tragic history about lynching and racial violence in America; a dark chapter that the nation has not been able to move past because it is still living it. “The past is never dead. It's not even past.” Or as Everett says in this book: “History is a motherf***er.”
This book also recalls the importance of bearing witness and preserving history. One of the most powerful chapters is a pages-long list of the names of victims of lynching. The most heart-wrenching are those recorded only as “unknown male”, “unknown female”.
Like any great master of satire, Everett gets past our cynicism and detachment using humor. Once he's got you comfortably settled though, he starts in on the true work of the novel and by then, you're too far in to turn back. So enjoy the ride. It's a great one.
“Their meeting was fortunate, for it let them use each other to grow on. Daughters of distant mothers and incomprehensible fathers..., they found in each other's eyes the intimacy they were looking for. ... In the safe harbor of each other's company they could afford to abandon the ways of other people and concentrate on their own perceptions of things.”
