Melanie Helgerson
“You Don’t Love Me Yet”
Jonathan Lethem
Thus far I have enjoyed Jonathan Lethem’s novel, “You Don’t Love Me Yet,” for its unique context and its wacky characters. All along though, I am reminded that I am reading a piece of fiction. There are certain parts in the context of his writing that definitely give this away, first being the situations that the main characters get themselves into. The part that stands out the most is when Matthew steals the kangaroo, Shelf, from the zoo and keeps it in his bathtub. First of all, one could never keep an animal that big and powerful in an apartment, let alone a bathtub. Secondly, Harvey’s concept of his “aparty” stood out as unusual to me. Not to say that no one would ever attempt a party such as this, but it definitely is unlikely. The band has to play in an almost inaudible tone, the guests have to make their own mixed tapes and listen and dance to their own music the whole time on personal tape players, and there is food, but no one can eat it. It just sounds so ridiculous. I know that it is typical of a contemporary novel to have atypical characters and situations, and for that matter this book definitely fits into that category, but as far as the metafiction we have been talking about in class, this book fits under that category as well because the reader is being subtly but constantly reminded that they are reading a fiction novel. Nonetheless, I enjoy it and it is a quick and easy read. I’d be interested to see what a film version of this story would be like, and see if it is portrayed just as I imagine it.
“You Don’t Love Me Yet”
Jonathan Lethem
Thus far I have enjoyed Jonathan Lethem’s novel, “You Don’t Love Me Yet,” for its unique context and its wacky characters. All along though, I am reminded that I am reading a piece of fiction. There are certain parts in the context of his writing that definitely give this away, first being the situations that the main characters get themselves into. The part that stands out the most is when Matthew steals the kangaroo, Shelf, from the zoo and keeps it in his bathtub. First of all, one could never keep an animal that big and powerful in an apartment, let alone a bathtub. Secondly, Harvey’s concept of his “aparty” stood out as unusual to me. Not to say that no one would ever attempt a party such as this, but it definitely is unlikely. The band has to play in an almost inaudible tone, the guests have to make their own mixed tapes and listen and dance to their own music the whole time on personal tape players, and there is food, but no one can eat it. It just sounds so ridiculous. I know that it is typical of a contemporary novel to have atypical characters and situations, and for that matter this book definitely fits into that category, but as far as the metafiction we have been talking about in class, this book fits under that category as well because the reader is being subtly but constantly reminded that they are reading a fiction novel. Nonetheless, I enjoy it and it is a quick and easy read. I’d be interested to see what a film version of this story would be like, and see if it is portrayed just as I imagine it.
1 comment:
An interesting post, Melanie. Are there other places in the text that demonstrate metafiction?
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