21st Century Literature discussion

For this month, celebrating women in translation, our selection is Suite for Barbara Loden (Dorothy Project, USA; Les Fugitives, UK) by Nathalie Léger. After reading this book, I have to say that I am absolutely thrilled that it won our poll among the three moderator picks. Very much look forward to our discussion!

This is a no-spoiler discussion thread to share any general comments, links, thoughts either about the book or the film Wanda, if you have a chance to see it. In a couple of days I’ll create a separate thread for our discussion about the entire book, spoilers included.

To start it off, I will give the links to a few reviews but would also highly recommend Nathalie Léger’s conversation with Amanda DeMarco in The Bomb. Do note that there are some spoilers so it’s probably best to read it after completing the book.

Amanda DeMarco also reviewed Suite in The Rumpus. A few more reviews:
- Harper’s Magazine
- The White Review
- Los Angeles Review of Books
- The New Yorker

It was treated as a part of Léger's ‘trilogy’ (Suite for Barbara Loden), Exposition, The White Dress) in:
- The New York Review of Books
- Bookforum
- The New Yorker

As Léger mentioned in her interview, these were not initially intended to be a ‘triptych’ though there is a common theme and narrative. Each can easily stand on its own and, as I also read Exposition, I completely concur as a reader.

I watched Loden's Wanda first (loved it!) and then read Léger's Suite for Barbara Loden (ditto!). In hindsight, I think it’s probably the best approach, but I also read superlative GR reviews by those who didn’t watch the film, so not seeing it should also work for many.

Please share your reactions, thoughts, any further links or recommendations. Who is joining us?

There is a great review in Music and Literature

A couple of Easter-egg type appearances elsewhere. If anyone has read Lost Children Archive by Valeria Luiselli, a pre-publication galley of the book appears in the story:

I find a small white book—the galleys of a novel by Nathalie Léger called Untitled for Barbara Loden. It looks a little out of place there , squeezed and silent, so I take it out and head back to the room.
..
I turn on my bedside lamp and stay up late, reading the novel by Nathalie Léger, underlining parts of sentences:
“violence, yes, but the acceptable face of violence, the kind of banal cruelty enacted within the family
"the hum of ordinary life”
“the story of a woman who has lost something important but does not know exactly what”
“a woman on the run or in hiding, concealing her pain and her refusal, putting on an act in order to break free”

I’m reading the same book in bed when the boy wakes up before sunrise the next morning. His sister and father are still asleep. I have hardly slept all night. He makes an effort to seem like he’s been awake for a long time, or like he’d never fallen asleep and we’d been having an intermittent conversation all the while. Wrenching himself up, in a loud, clear voice, he asks what I’m reading.
A French book, I whisper.
What’s it about?
Nothing, really. It’s about a woman who’s looking for something.
Looking for what?
I don’t know yet; she doesn’t know yet.

And it also appeared in the Netflix series Russian Dolls:

And the real-life story behind the film behind the book:

https://www.topic.com/the-true-crime-...

I have a copy, and will read it later in the week after my last (for now) Booker longlist book. I enjoyed The White Dress last year.

One of my favorite pastimes, made possible by content streaming, is to make immediate comparisons of source material and film adaptation. While this is not a direct adaptation like Polanski's Tess based on Hardy's novel, I think the comparison can be equally interesting. Here are some links to film criticism.


https://www.criterion.com/current/pos...

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/ric...

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067961/...

I had not seen the film upon my first reading of this book (and loved the book). Decided to watch the film before re-reading the book. Watched Wanda last night. And now I can't find my copy of the book (which has been staring at me all week). I might have accidentally put it in with my library returns yesterday! Planning to reread as soon as I find it.

I read this after it won the moderator's poll and loved it. It has been on my TBR shelf since GR friends raved about it. Glad it got the win, which caused me to hunt it down and read it.

I want to watch the movie, but may not get to it before we start discussing.

I found my copy!!!!
(Our house is a mess right now because we're having our 60 yr old bathrooms gutted and remodeled.)

I watched the film first and started the book right after. I think this was a good strategy as the film was fresh in my mind and I could remember each scene as described in the book. I can say that I enjoyed the film more because of the book and enjoyed the book more because of the film.

Nice to see you all are interested. I'll open the spoiler thread tomorrow.

Paul, thanks for the reminder about Luiselli's Lost Children Archive. Now I finally remember where I first encountered a reference to this book. The 'boxes' in Luiselli's novel were full of intriguing literary discoveries and re-discoveries for me. And your link to the 'real Wanda' story leads to an interesting essay not only about Alma Malone (it's chilling to learn that nothing is known about her final whereabouts) but also about Loden, the film, and Léger's novel. Quite a treat.

The book is definitely not an adaptation of the film, as you say Sam, more like a reconstruction of Loden's life by reconstructing her film and its heroine. Just yesterday I re-watched the film, her character doesn't leave you that easily as it didn't for Léger either...

I loved this book! And I haven't seen the film, and its definitely not needed to read this. The passages describing film scenes are beautifully rendered, and infused with Léger's interpretation of and reaction to the visuals and events, supporting Léger's goal of thinking about story-telling and the relationship between characters and authors, doubled between herself and Loden and Loden and Wanda, how to achieve the goal, stated early so not a spoiler, of how to tell a simple story.

Léger refers to this episode of the Mike Douglas show in the book. I loved watching it for the chance to see Barbara Loden, a bit shy and timid, although quite comfortable having a discussion with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It is worth watching just to have a laugh at how different life was in the 1970s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxh5f...

Yonit wrote: "Léger refers to this episode of the Mike Douglas show in the book. I loved watching it for the chance to see Barbara Loden, a bit shy and timid, although quite comfortable having a discussion with ..."

Thank you for the link to the MD show! Haven't thought about this type of TV in quite a long time. I appreciated this book but am still trying to process the many levels on which it affected me. My personal lens includes 70s memories of film/tv/magazines, female heroes, women's rights activism (ok, albeit elementary school), and coming-of-age in small town Pennsylvania. Yoko summed up the main theme pretty well for me - "The agony of women". Life was different in the 70s and also the same.

I'm in! Got the book, and Maud is coming tomorrow from Netflix.

Movie first, then book?

Mark

Mark wrote: "I'm in! Got the book, and Maud is coming tomorrow from Netflix.
Movie first, then book?
Mark"

Great, Mark. I'm glad you will be joining us.

After reading the first paragraph in Suite, describing the opening scene in the film Wanda, I decided to stop, watch the film first, and then get back to the book, and it worked for me magically. That said, there are others like Jenna in her comment here who enjoyed Léger's reconstruction of the film without the need to watch it. But, if you are already getting a video copy, then I would recommend the film first, the book next.

I'm also movie first then book. Reading the comments, I wish I could somehow try it the other way for comparison.

I appreciated seeing the movie first since it gave me an added appreciation for Loden's book as excellent film commentary in addition to its discussion of social and personal issues in and surrounding the film. This is an excerpt I used in my review of the book. The film did a great job of showing the shabby misery of the described scene, Loden's description is an insightful (and poetic) explanation of why the scene was effective.

"Wanda walks into a bar and sits down at a red Formica table in the window. We don’t know the city but as soon as we see the window, the Formica table in the corner, the curtains with thick folds that smell of beer and cigarettes, we know that this bar in Pennsylvania stands on the steep slope of misery. Not the kind of misery that is filled with drama, not grandiose misery pinned on History’s lapel, just the kind of dull misery that smells of checkered fabric hanging in the windows of a provincial bar."

If you are a fan of films and film history, I definitely suggest the film first. Wanda is an example of a film that has gained critical popularity over time through reappraisal. Reviews at the time were mixed with well respected critics panning the picture. The film won acclaim as an example of independent cinema which would florish in later years. The film was also celebrated by women as an example of a film project made by a woman and for the sympathetic portrait of the title character.

It's quite interesting having read this once a while back without having seen the film and knowing nothing about Barbara Loden, and having just watched the film and just re-read the book. I loved the book both times. The first time, I was relying on Léger's descriptions of the film entirely, but I was also more keenly aware of the Léger's writing and how closely she seemed to be identifying with Loden/Wanda on some level (or simply by way of obsessive research). My second reading had the film's visuals and portrayal so fresh in my mind that it was virtually replaying as I read along. While Léger's text does a wonderful job of capturing certain moments and/or explaining them, nothing replaces seeing Loden perform (it is painfully eerie how she inhabits the role of Wanda).