Discussion 4/05: BLACKBOX by Nick Walker *SPOILERS*

happy april, OCBC members! laissez les bons temps rouler!

[QUOTE=moe.ron]-This is a novel that makes the reader work quite hard to get through it and to keep the pieces of the narrative straight. With this in mind: was the novel overall enjoyable as a read, or as a challenge, or both? Neither?[/QUOTE]

I think this book was initially hard to get into. There were so many people, so many stories, it was a bit hard to see how they connected, and if there was going to be a payoff. Ontop of that, the author cheats in her narrative. The narrator is a character, yet somehow she has this omnipresence?

However, I was able to get past that. I think what really got my interest was Unfunny John's comedy routine. When I read that, I thought, "This is sick and great," and I was hooked for the rest. We dive deeper into everything, and it starts to make sense, why all these stories are being told, who they are, their connections.

(I don't have the book with me, so I can't remember the name) The Asian mother, the one who ends up smuggling herself on a plane. That story elevated the book to greatness for me. She is the 'glue' that binds this book together, because then we see why things are happening, why these stories are significant, why the heavy travel theme is there.

By the end, everything is just tied together so nicely that the 'cheat' the author uses is more than forgiveable, and I didn't even notice it at that point.

Thoughts?

[QUOTE=moe.ron]-Blackbox has what seems to be a very original and strange format with things like the colossal chapter count and a cast list at the beginning. Did the short chapters and counting down work for you? Did it add something significant to the story? Would the story have been as effective without the format, or possibly more effective? How does this compare (un/favorably) to other books you've read that have made similar choices?[/quote] The big chapter count slowed the story down. In reality you would think that it would speed it up, but everytime I got to a new "chapter" I had to think about who the chapter was about and who they were. Half the time I had to go and look back at the list of characters - so in that way the list was good. But I thought there was too much going on with this. I understood what the author was trying to do and I really think it was a good effort, but it just didn't work for me.

[QUOTE=moe.ron]-Did the ending work for you? Was it an interesting commentary on travel and the size of the world, or was it a little too six degrees?[/quote]I have to admit - even though I didn't like the book as a whole - I thought the end was worthwhile. Everything sort of came together at the perfect moment.

[QUOTE=moe.ron]-This is a novel that makes the reader work quite hard to get through it and to keep the pieces of the narrative straight. With this in mind: was the novel overall enjoyable as a read, or as a challenge, or both? Neither?[/quote]I didn't enjoy reading this book. In fact this was the closest I've come in a long time to putting a book down (besides Gordon Lish's What I Know So Far, which I did put down twice before finishing). I probably wouldn't have finished this book if it weren't for the book club. And it pains me to say that because I pride myself on finishing every book that I start no matter how bad it may be. (I'm not saying that this book was bad so don't jump on me. I'm saying that I just didn't enjoy reading it like I would have liked.)

Wow, this thing has really died a little. And so have I. Inside. After looking at the discussion on Final Solution it's clear that this book isn't generating the discussion that one is. So I guess the question is: Why? Is the book forgettable? Was there more flash than substance? What was missing from this book that people liked in other books? Maybe a big question is whether a book that is enjoyable but forgettable is worth reading.
Or maybe people liked the book. Does anyone have favorite scenes or favorite characters? Favorite lines? Did this book make you feel SOMEthing at SOME point?
Further, was the difficulty in reading the book a weakness, or is it a weakness as a reader to dread the amount of work it's going to take to put everything together?

[QUOTE=tomstrong83]... After looking at the discussion on Final Solution it's clear that this book isn't generating the discussion that one is...[/QUOTE]
and isn't it funny how most of discussion about the final solution is how much we didn't like the book?

[QUOTE=tomstrong83]Is the book forgettable? Was there more flash than substance? What was missing from this book that people liked in other books? Maybe a big question is whether a book that is enjoyable but forgettable is worth reading.
Or maybe people liked the book. Does anyone have favorite scenes or favorite characters? Favorite lines? Did this book make you feel SOMEthing at SOME point?
Further, was the difficulty in reading the book a weakness, or is it a weakness as a reader to dread the amount of work it's going to take to put everything together?[/QUOTE]

I actually really enjoyed this book. It was initially hard for me to even want to read as I don't think the back of the book's description, or the one on Amazon really do it any good. The actual story in the book is much different than that. THEN, it's just a difficult one to get into because there's so many characters, and I don't think their stories really started to make sense until about the halfway point. Plus, there's a different style to get used to here, so maybe some poeple are just put off by it.

I think my favorite story line in this book is the main narrator's. How she helps to smuggle the girl onto the plane who eventually dies, and she has that guilt haunting her. That's where it got going for me.

I thought this book was a bit like the movie, "Magnolia" in the way it was set up. So many characters who don't necessarily cross paths, but their actions are all traced back to one place, one person. It's a highly complex plot because there's so many plots and sub plots, you really have to pay attention to what's going on with everyone, but if you do, there's a big payoff for you.

This definately wasn't a light read, it took me a little longer than I expected to read this book, but I was floored by it.

[QUOTE=moe.ron]and isn't it funny how most of discussion about the final solution is how much we didn't like the book?[/QUOTE]
I guess everyone's a critic. Or a bastard.

[QUOTE=rico wonderboy]I think my favorite story line in this book is the main narrator's. How she helps to smuggle the girl onto the plane who eventually dies, and she has that guilt haunting her. That's where it got going for me.[/QUOTE]
Although it's not really a story line exactly, I think that Unfunny John's act was what hooked me early on in the book. It was a nice sort of hook and I think it kindled the hope that the book was going to be worth the effort. Plus, there's nothing better than -cide humor. Homicide, suicide, genocide, whatever.

[QUOTE=tomstrong83]Although it's not really a story line exactly, I think that Unfunny John's act was what hooked me early on in the book. It was a nice sort of hook and I think it kindled the hope that the book was going to be worth the effort. Plus, there's nothing better than -cide humor. Homicide, suicide, genocide, whatever.[/QUOTE]

I totally agree. The fact it was that messed up, I had to read more. That grounded the story home for me, and his story was the first one I really got into. THEN he goes to the airport and gets busted for his gun? Awesome.

I read this a month and a half back finally. (yeah I know should have posted earlier) But my overall opinion of the entire book.....a inbetween of good and average. Toughest part was the beginning with the format throwing me off by the brief chapters and not remembering who is who and where in a timeline they were. A quarter of the way through though I pretty much recollect whom everyone is and the format becomes easy to engage yourself in.

The Unfunny Comic John and the actresses asian mother were by far my favorite characters within the entire story they really pulled me into a book that was beginning to put me off and ended up finishing it up within a day. As you gradually read through the book the pieces slowly start to flow better and better with each other. Some of my favorite parts of Walker's writings were of the Dr. Frankburg when he just finished having the fight with Dan Bronski and he is lying in the mess that is his office and the sound guy comes back and finds everything in the ass end of the spectrum with only minutes passing. Frankburg is just flipping through files spewed all over the floor and makes paper airplanes and the sound guy just sits down alongside with him and they see who makes the better plane. Something about Frankburg feeling so useless and him telling the FX guy the story of a client that had a phobia of buses. The client witnessed someone die of a heart attack on a bus then years later his father died of one as well in a bus now the client always fainted everytime he entered one, and the Fx Guy just mentions to Frankburg "Why didn't he just drive everywhere?" and the paper plane soars through the window.

Anyhow I forgot where I was going with this but overall I find the book enjoyable and most likely I'll enjoy it more a second reading eventually knowing who is who at the beginning.

I was scanning through the library and I vaguely recognised this book, so I got it out and posted about it in the "what are you reading" thread for this month and then got bullied into joining the OCBC. Here's what I said-

[QUOTE=ME!]Blackbox...what a piece of shit! There is absolutely nothing to it, it's entirely based around a gimmick which seems cool at first but if you've ever tried to write anything like that you'll know that it's the easiest thing in the world. He doesn't bother with writing style, character development, realism or logic and the snippets of real world knowledge are so well known you wonder why he even bothered including them.

One of the central themes is that each person is supposed to be "on the edge" but his approximation of this is so weak that you can't help but feel like the guy has never experienced any sort of turmoil in his entire life. Something about the author just reeks of a teenage goth wishing he was more troubled than he actually is, cursing his parents for still being happily married. I could have written this book after studying psychology at A-level for two years and reading that issue of bizaar magazine with the photo of the frozen corpse of a stowaway that was dropped out of a plane. The only thing is, I have self respect.

I am so dissappointed that this is recommended by the cult.[/QUOTE]

bump

I'm reading it at the moment and finding it great fun, I've sort of stopped because No Country For Old Men has attacked me and is, as they say, fiending on my soul. But you know, actually, really enjoying it.

i can't believe i missed this...where the hell have i been?

i'll have to dig it out and give another twirl.

plus: his 2nd book, helloland, was pretty damn good too.

I read the book on a recommendation from this place and although it was very hard to really get into at the start, with the structure and the masses of characters, I thought it paid off in the end. There were a few bits 3/4 through that I could have skipped if I was the editor, but on the whole I really enjoyed the style of it and the way everything pulls together in the end around the story of the immigrant stowaway.
I love how everything is so interlinked in the most complex, random of ways. It perfectly illustrates, for me, the complex nature of our interlocking lives and how someone you walk past in the street might end up being more important to your life than your closest friends, how random the twists and turns can be, and how things can turn out. If you changed one tiny element of your day, how it might impact on others, or vice versa.
I admit I didn't fully understand the timeline until about halfway through but once I'd got my head around it, I found it fascinating. I didn't rally understand the countdown though - what the numbers represented, other than chapter breaks and a general counting down towards a conclusion.
I think it has the potential to be a great film, if the right director took it up.