Read Full Review >Ĭlaude’s reflections on the world around him are sprinkled throughout and are never heavy-handed. Gabriel Bump is doing that, has done that. I also believe we as readers have a responsibility to not only call out problematic examples, but also to honor those doing it right, those of any color who are writing about underrepresented or misrepresented communities, and doing the best of what fiction can do at the same time. I mean real, here, as something distinct from realism his characters feel true to their environment in ways only an author who has known people like this, has lived a life at least adjacent to this one, could write. Most funny things are funny because they’re real, this book included.
Despite this narrative not-so-sleight of hand, Bump’s ending still manages to be unexpected and unromantic, while containing so much love and hope. This kind of quibble is both big and small. If I had any problem with the book, it was logistical, related to certain plot points inserted seemingly for convenience, but without organic explanation, or even a simple acknowledgment from our narrator. Bump’s short chapters draw us in quickly, urgently, like: Come hear this.
Propelling the emotional intensity is the novel’s pace. Just when the prose teeters on the edge of sentimentality, though, he pulls it back with humor.
In his debut, Everywhere You Don’t Belong, Gabriel Bump pulls this off not just generously but seemingly without effort. It’s the rare book that can achieve an appropriate balance between heaviness and levity, and it’s my favorite kind of novel.
0 kommentar(er)
