Literary Fiction by People of Color discussion

This thread is for the discussion of In Our Mad and Furious City by Guy Gunaratne

Carol -

How should we read/discuss this book?

I have looked through the book to see how it is divided?

The seems to be main sections that have subsections:

Introduction/Prologue (not named) p. 1 -5

I - Mongrel
Estate p. 9 - 37
Square p. 39 - 80
Ends p. 81 - 115

II - Brother
Fanatic p.119 - 150
Shame p. 151 - 186
Defilement p. 187 - 220

III - Blood
Freedom p. 223 - 251
Faces p. 253 - 266
Fury p. 267 - 274
Echoes p. 275 - 283

Ending - p. 285 - 288

@Beverly, Why don't we plan to read it at a rate of approximately 80 pages per week, and if we both find it goes faster and we're wanting to speed things up, we will?

So tentatively, our schedule would look like this:

Week of 10/7: read and discuss through Square, p 80
Week of 10/14: through Fanatic, p 150
week of 10/21 through Freedom, p 251
week of 10/28: whole book

Is that just right or too slow, or are their modifications you want to make up front?

Carol wrote: "@Beverly, Why don't we plan to read it at a rate of approximately 80 pages per week, and if we both find it goes faster and we're wanting to speed things up, we will?

So tentatively, our schedule ..."

Yes, that sounds about right as "life" does happen and as you say we can adjust as necessary.

I do know this book has a good amount of dialect/slang.

Beverly wrote: "Carol wrote: "@Beverly, Why don't we plan to read it at a rate of approximately 80 pages per week, and if we both find it goes faster and we're wanting to speed things up, we will?

So tentatively,..."

That intrigues me, and I learn from it, but I do read novels with dialect or colloquialisms or slang far more slowly. Thanks for the heads-up.

Hi Beverly and Carol:
I just started this book and would love to read along with you both.

June wrote: "Hi Beverly and Carol:
I just started this book and would love to read along with you both."

Welcome June!!!

So glad you can join us.

Please do, June!

So glad I found your buddy read! I'm about 20 pages in, and there is some dialect/slang, but I'm finding it manageable so far.

I'm in the US, but my father was from East London. Although this novel is set in North London, I'm hoping some of the cockney slang he occasionally used will come back to me when reading!

Here is a link to Guy Gunaratne website.
There are links to interviews, podcasts, reviews & other information on the site.
https://guygunaratne.com/

Here is a link to the Man Booker 2018 Readers Guide for In OUr Mad and Furious City:

https://themanbookerprize.com/sites/m...

I’m maybe 25 or so pages in. I’m enjoying the phrasing and cadence and waiting for a plot to emerge, not that I’m complaining. I thought the first 2-3 paragraphs were stunning and worth rereading several times.

Carol wrote: "I’m maybe 25 or so pages in. I’m enjoying the phrasing and cadence and waiting for a plot to emerge, not that I’m complaining. I thought the first 2-3 paragraphs were stunning and worth rereading s..."

Apologies - it has been a much busier week than normal for me.

I was able to read the first couple of pages (p.20)

I was taken by the first couple of pages - I guess the prologue or into chapter. It reminded me of the prologue of There There. It certainly made me intrigued to read this book.

I also felt the language was stunning - starting with the first sentence where the narrator states that while fury may only touch you for a short time but follows for much longer.

And then ends that chapter with “Each of us were caught in the small swirl, all held together with our own small furies in this single mad, monstrous and lunatic city.”

This first section is called Mongrel.

Which is often used as an offensive term to mean a person of mixed descent

It also means a dog of no definable type of breed

I was wondering how the author means it after reading the introductory chapter.

It seems that we will meet various characters of different ethnicities that have come this estate/community for different reasons but all are changes/touched by their lives there.

In the subsection Estate we meet the narrators.

Selvon - gives us a overview of the physical layout of the estate as he is a runner who lives outside of the estate proper but also has friends here - though he lives in a house, his family has its issues

Caroline - an older resident who gives a more closeup look at the living conditions - has a son - comes across as a bitter woman.

Thanks for your comments, Beverly. Much to consider here.

A couple of these characters don’t seem to squarely fit the Estate or “mongrel” label. I’m at a conference so don’t have the book in-hand, so please excuse if my memory is incorrect. We meet Caroline, who I thought I recalled is from Ireland and not of Pakistani or other Asian heritage. One of our male characters mentions several times that he lives off-Estate. I’m admittedly a little ahead of our schedule and around mid-95 or so, so the football-playing off-Estate guy may be introduced at the end of Mongrel.

I’m enjoying it but the characters’ impressions seem to be circular, so that I feel like I’m standing in one place listening to a conference call attended by a couple of dozen participants. I’m an observer. But I’m not particularly engaged with the action. Yet.

Carol wrote: "Thanks for your comments, Beverly. Much to consider here.

A couple of these characters don’t seem to squarely fit the Estate or “mongrel” label. I’m at a conference so don’t have the book in-hand..."

I hope you conference is going well.

I was able to get through Part I yesterday - so also a little head of schedule.

So from the book blurb it says the book covers a 48 hour time period so I am like you I am enjoying the storyline and “hearing” each of the characters thoughts.

Good comparison to a conference call - all on are the call for a specific objective but each participant has their own agenda.

I think the writing for the younger character is very good, it feels crisper than the writing for the older characters - Caroline and Nelson.

I am also liking how the author is using the structure and layout of the Estate to also set the mood.

How the towers enclose the Square where the football game is taking place - so it feels like a contained space.

Often when reading, my mind drifts back to Brother, especially when thinking of terms of what is community and how those living in the community support each other.

Comments about anything through Page 150
Of course, if you want to comment about anything in the book after that page, use spoiler tags for now.

Beverly wrote: "Carol wrote: "Thanks for your comments, Beverly. Much to consider here.

A couple of these characters don’t seem to squarely fit the Estate or “mongrel” label. I’m at a conference so don’t have th..."

@Beverly, this comment you made:

"I think the writing for the younger character is very good, it feels crisper than the writing for the older characters - Caroline and Nelson."

rings particularly true for me. The author seems to get those characters a bit more, and they come across more authentic and three-dimensional as a result.

One thought that crossed my mind while reading about the football game and the neighbor boys get together - how often sports bring people together and those who normally would not speak to each other can play together.

And then I think about our current President and how he has used pro football to divide people in a pastime that often was a common thread between people with different outlooks/opinions.

Not really related to the book but it struck with me.

Selvon lives in a house not in the estate proper and often he reminds himself that he is glad that he does not live in the estate proper but at the same time he seems like he is "outrunning" himself to not give in to his demons.

Then we find out that Nelson is Selvon's father.

Hello Beverly and Carol - Sorry I've been MIA. I'm only at page 80, but work is easing up, so will try to catch up! Regarding the younger voices feeling fresh, I agree, they feel very vital. I think Gunaratne has a wonderful ear for language.

But I'm also enjoying the second generation voices -- particularly Nelson. I was struck by his reminisces of his early days in London. How innocent it felt (until the Keep Britain White incident) compared to the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the present-day.

I am finding this storyline to be a straight-forward and we are seeing similar events in the character's day-to-day life from each of their povs.
We know storyline is building to an event that will affect a number of the characters we are not sure what it is - but reader can make some assumptions on what it might be but we do not know how it will affect each of the characters.

The two "older" voices - Nelson and Caroline are each "survivors" of a past "crisis" that has left a mark on each of them.

Not sure what message this sends - but do know the "younger" characters have their own burdens/crisis that is bubbling to a critical point.

I am more familiar with Nelson's experiences than Caroline's.

I know about "The Troubles" but only around the edges.

I am finding Caroline's voice a good introduction for me before I read Milkman by Anna Burns which won the Man Booker Award this year.

Here is a link to the article by Anna Burns where she talks about growing up during the Troubles:
https://www.theguardian.com/books/201...

I’m finding Caroline’s voice to be the weakest / most straight forward in this, perhaps because I recently read Milkman, and that narrator has a very rich inner life and idiosyncratic voice.

A couple of thoughts of my reading of In Our Mad and Furious City

- I really enjoyed this book and I think if you enjoyed Brother, you will like this story.
- I enjoyed how the author built the tension into the storyline and it kept building until it could not be contained.
- There are a couple of twists in the stories but they are well timed and definitely helped to add to the understanding of the characters
- the tone of the characters and location descriptions makes sure that the reader can visualize the community and understand the how the community is encircles itself.
- While at the beginning I was not sure about the two older narrators as the storyline develops shows the continuity of the issues and how some of the issues changes over time.
- the three younger characters are plagued by the limited opportunities for their to escape their conditions and each found ways to control this frustration.
- while the action takes place over 48 hrs, the characters are so well developed and you come to understand their most intimate feelings
- I would definitely read more by this author.

Beverly wrote: "A couple of thoughts of my reading of In Our Mad and Furious City

- I really enjoyed this book and I think if you enjoyed Brother, you will like this story.
- I enj..."

I had a bad reading week last week - both in terms of distractions and limited reading time - and am really wanting to get back to this one. I'm glad your take is uniformly positive, and I will come back here when I can respond in more detail to the substance of your comments, @Beverly.

Carol wrote: "Beverly wrote: "A couple of thoughts of my reading of In Our Mad and Furious City

- I really enjoyed this book and I think if you enjoyed Brother, you will like thi..."

Carol

No problems.
I understand