Orange Laughter

by Leone Ross

Tony Pellar, a man living on the verge of madness in the subway tunnels of New York City, recalls his life during the 1960s Civil Rights movement in North Carolina in an effort to recreate his painful past.

Genres: Fiction, Book Club

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2000

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars
Leone Ross was born in England and brought up in Jamaica and this is her second novel. The into from Ross’s website is a good summation;
“tells the story of Tony Pellar, a man of fading fortunes and beauty, who finds himself in the subway tunnels of New York in 1995. Tony is battling insanity, as he is pursued by the spectre of Agatha, a woman who took care of him during his childhood in North Carolina.
Increasingly violent and confused, Tony writes to his childhood friend, Mikey, begging him to tell him the story of their childhood, details that he has forgotten but must use as the laughter of the woman he calls the Soul Snatcher follows him through the gloom.
The novel returns to the South during the civil rights movement as Tony and Mikey share the secrets of lost innocence, murder and twisted love in a desperate chance to save themselves and create a future.”
The narrative, flits between New York in the 1990s and North Carolina in the 1960s. In places it is very powerful and moving, the first paragraph is an example;

“I stooped over the child and looked at him for a long time but I felt nothing I wondered if he was garbage I hunkered down a foot away and stared at his body at first he looked like a sack then a mattress torn apart I stretched and I could see his arm and the tilt of his pelvis I stared hard WAS it a child you know the darkness plays with all our minds down here I didn't want to touch I tried to decide not to know but I'm not an animal baby so I reached out for the pathetic coat he wore I couldn't see its colour and I wondered where the sound was coming from a raw sorrow song I wondered who was crying over his crumpled face dang I saw the tears falling onto his little arm I watched them fall and I was thinking there are so many leaks down here then I realised the leak was me
it was me”.

Tony lives in the subway system of New York, on the edge of society and battling with mental illness. This Tony is not a sympathetic figure: violent towards women and self-absorbed. As the narrative moves backwards and forwards the reader begins to piece together the story and understand his history. Tony is introduced as a child who does not talk and who is living with Agatha following his mother’s death. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with Mikey, a white boy who is similarly isolated because of his weight. The narrative lays out the complex interrelationships and Ross builds the suspense well towards a powerful scene at the end of the novel. The reader will have seen some of the ending coming but there are some significant twists which are unexpected. Ross explores racism, loss and betrayal and at times there is a Faulkneresque feel to it all, although the descriptive power is sharper with people then place. There is also a good deal about relationships between the genders. Ross is on record as saying that Tony is an amalgam of three of her previous boyfriends; he is a haunting character, although the compassion the reader feels for Tony the child is not transferred to Tony the adult. Agatha, however is different and for me she held the whole together.
It took me a while to get into this, but as the pieces fell into place I became clear that this was a powerful, challenging and not very comfortable to read novel.

[Rider Babbit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cover of book is very misleading, main character is a man first of all. Well written story of South in 60's, like the way it showed the ordinary lives in a time where we so often only get newsreels. Reminiscent of Ellison's Invisible Man, interesting narrative of relationships and history. Wonder how an English author became so interested in US history, I commend her for doing this, many US authors seem afraid of such subjects.

[Ramya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love love LOVE Leone Ross' This One Sky Day (published as Popisho in the USA) so I was really excited to read Orange Laughter now that it's being republished by Faber. When I read This One Sky Day, I wanted to gorge myself on it and read it all greedily in one sitting. With Orange Laughter, I needed to read it slowly, nibbling at it, putting my knife and fork down, giving myself time to digest. It's most likely due to the subject matter - the novel follows Tony in the 1990s, living in the subway tunnels, going mad as the trauma of his past haunts him. He cannot remember it precisely, which is why he suffers so horrifically. Lost in feeling and fear but not knowledge, he is a selfish, violent lost man. Alongside his narrative, we see 1960s North Carolina, Klan country, and we follow Tony's childhood alongside his white friend Mikey, and Agatha, the woman who raises Tony. It's a book about the power of telling your story, how when stories are not told they fester and how the telling of tales that are grotesque and vile will nevertheless heal or at least comfort.

The structure of the novel is so well done - we see what Tony has become and we wonder what has happened to him to make him like this, and that story slowly unfolds in this dual narrative. Tony's voice is so striking, so real and intense but also purposefully difficult to read; no punctuation is used for his narrative which means we are washed away in the tide of his horror, his feelings, his panic, his madness. It actually becomes exhausting reading his part, just how he is exhausted living in his mind.
Agatha, Mickey and young Tony are characters we want to follow anywhere and Ross paints their psychology so deftly and convincingly. The subway tunnels and 1960s North Carolina are brought to life by the little details and the dialogue sparks on the page, almost audible. For the last 10% percent of the novel, I couldn't put the book down. There is no question that this book is well written.

However, I don't think this book is going to be everyone's cup of tea and that's okay. If you like novels that really invest in the psychology of characters, if you want to be taken deep into 1960s North Carolina and the lives of people there, if you like books that create suspense through the revealing of past secrets and histories, if you're a fan of distinctive voice, I think you'll enjoy this book. Just know that the book looks unflinchingly at racism, at fatphobia, domestic abuse, violence and death - but it also shines a light on love, found family and childhood.


Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC- the book will be published Feb 12th

[Chris L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Women’s Prize for Fiction longlisted author Leone Ross’s novel, ‘Orange Laughter’ is an examination of how generational trauma is inflicted upon the body and psyche of her protagonist, Tony. Tony lives underground in the subway system, and he is slowly trying to piece together his past. He has segments of his memory that he has lost due to mental illness. Ross illustrates Tony’s condition through the prose style: lack of punctuation, a panicked breathlessness that indicates distress. Tony wants to make sense of his past and his present.

Ross intercuts Tony’s present with scenes of the past that include the characters of Mike and Agatha and how their lives in the racist South of the past influences Tony’s current condition. Racism and the use of the “n” word are prevalent in these sections to highlight the bigotry and destructiveness of hate.

Leone Ross is a gorgeous writer and her prose is just lush and inviting even when the subject matter is deep and disturbing. We should be disturbed by racism and its impact on generations though, and ‘Orange Laughter’ is another first rate novel from this phenomenal writer.

[Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the nicest of main characters, it's hard to feel for him, but definitely an interesting one.
It wasn't an enjoyable read, but it was one that touched on many subjects, and I think did them well.
I'm not sure who I'd recommend this to, but it was different.


Thanks to netgalley for the free digital copy.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prose style was really unusual and engrossing so I had a great time reading this even though I wasn’t always sure what was happening.

It’s told with a dual timeline, with the narrator being in the 90’s and living in New York’s subways and telling the story of what happened to him in the 60s in the American south.

Like her debut this covers some dark material but you can see the lightness that covers it that she will develop further with one sky day.

Thanks to NetGalley and Faber and Faber for the arc

[Stephen Mc · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is not the easiest book to read but i stuck with it file under hep cat reads man .
I think the writer may have been in an altered state when writing some of this stuff but it is what it is.

[2TReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ross kept me hooked, guessing and wondering where she was taking her characters and readers.

[Theresa Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this out-of-print novel for book club- go me! And I liked it- a good look at what mental illness functions like on a daily basis. And a neat story of the Civil Rights era in the south. But it got a little convoluted and I'm not sure I liked the ending as much as I wanted to. But overall- good!

[nw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left a real impression on me--rivaled my love for To Kill a Mockingbird.

[Debdanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautifully done- riveting window into the life of one of New York's mole people and the events that drove him there.