All New People by Anne Lamott
1999
Weight: 8 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away After Disinfecting
I do not know how it is possible, but this book felt like growing up even though I did not grow up in the 60's. There was nothing shocking or life changing that happened in the book, but I loved it in a calm, collected way. It kind of felt like going home but to a home I have not seen in a long time and that I was not feeling nostalgic for. I possibly even forgot it existed until I read this or, maybe I did not forget, but I had not thought about it in a long time. Anne Lamott knows how to write about real people, particularly working or middle class white people. She writes about them with respect and honesty. Anne Lamott has a real talent, and I always seem to enjoy her books as a whole.
When the title presented itself in the text I felt like my mind was blown, and I was so excited. It was one of those moments. I will not ruin it for those of you who might read it though.
The black characters from the church in this book were peripheral but did not feel at all the same way as the other characters. They seemed more like props. I know they were being described from a child's point of view, but the descriptions of them really took me out of the book and out of the moment. They are defined Black upon introduction and the other characters are not defined by their race upon introduction. This is common, particularly in books from 1989 but, reading it in 2020, it was discouraging and disappointing. Nonetheless, they were liked and appreciated by the other characters in the story. It just made me wonder why. Why represent them the way they were? I think it was to say something about the mom in the book--but what does that really say? Is it what was intended? It did not feel good or right, despite being such a small part of the overall novel.
1999
Weight: 8 oz
Method of Disposal: Giving Away After Disinfecting
I do not know how it is possible, but this book felt like growing up even though I did not grow up in the 60's. There was nothing shocking or life changing that happened in the book, but I loved it in a calm, collected way. It kind of felt like going home but to a home I have not seen in a long time and that I was not feeling nostalgic for. I possibly even forgot it existed until I read this or, maybe I did not forget, but I had not thought about it in a long time. Anne Lamott knows how to write about real people, particularly working or middle class white people. She writes about them with respect and honesty. Anne Lamott has a real talent, and I always seem to enjoy her books as a whole.
When the title presented itself in the text I felt like my mind was blown, and I was so excited. It was one of those moments. I will not ruin it for those of you who might read it though.
The black characters from the church in this book were peripheral but did not feel at all the same way as the other characters. They seemed more like props. I know they were being described from a child's point of view, but the descriptions of them really took me out of the book and out of the moment. They are defined Black upon introduction and the other characters are not defined by their race upon introduction. This is common, particularly in books from 1989 but, reading it in 2020, it was discouraging and disappointing. Nonetheless, they were liked and appreciated by the other characters in the story. It just made me wonder why. Why represent them the way they were? I think it was to say something about the mom in the book--but what does that really say? Is it what was intended? It did not feel good or right, despite being such a small part of the overall novel.
