From drugs to racism in six steps
It’s time for another Six Degrees of Separation hosted by Kate of Books Are My Favourite and Best where we start with one book and link to six other books to form a chain. My rule is to link only to books that I’ve read, even if it was decades ago.
This month, once again, we are starting with a book that I’ve never read and, I will admit, not even heard of until now: Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis. The blurb description says:
Set in Los Angeles in the early 1980’s, this coolly mesmerizing novel is a raw, powerful portrait of a lost generation who have experienced sex, drugs, and disaffection at too early an age, in a world shaped by casual nihilism, passivity, and too much money– a place devoid of feeling or hope.
Apparently Less than Zero was published as his debut novel in 1985 when he was just 21 years old, and rapidly gained attention for its portrayal of a hedonistic lifestyle. It became a cult novel.
The drug culture also figures large in another novel that came out in 1966 and was also set partially in Los Angeles. My first link is to Valley of the Dolls by the American writer Jacqueline Susann. Its more low brow than Ellis’ novel; Time magazine called it the “Dirty Book of the Month” ; but it became the biggest selling novel of its year. It relates the troubled lives of three young women who become fast friends in the turbulent post-war worlds of Broadway and Hollywood and grow increasingly dependent on “dolls” (amphetamines and barbiturates). They help take the edge off their anxieties for a time but the women become increasingly dependent. Over the course of 20 years, each woman strives to achieve her dreams only to find herself back in the valley of the dolls. I’m embarrassed now to think that I ever read this book but it was ‘required’ reading for teenagers who craved excitement even if it was only vicariously.
Dolls of a different kind provide the theme for my second link. In A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen, the playwright uses the idea of a doll to symbolise the predicament of married women in Denmark in the late nineteenth century. The doll in this play is Nora Helmer, a mother of three who seemingly lives an ideal existence as the wife of a bank manager. But she feels trapped and frustrated b y the lack of opportunities for self-fulfillment in a male dominated world. The ending of the play Nora Helmer – wife of Torvald, mother of three, is living out the ideal of the 19th-century wife aroused a great sensation and outrage when the play was first performed.
The Awakening by Kate Chopin similarly provoked a strong reaction when it was first published in 1899 because it featured a woman who sets herself at odds with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. Set in New Orleans and on the Louisiana Gulf coast it shows Edna Pontellier, a wife and mother, who, just like Nora in Ibsen’s play, develops unorthodox views on femininity and motherhood with the prevailing social attitudes of the turn-of-the-century American South. Critics found the behaviour of Edna Pontelier so‘ sickening’ and ‘selfish’ that one reviewer said it ‘should be labelled poison’ but over the century, Chopin’s novella has come to be viewed as a landmark work of early feminism and thus a feature of many university literature modules.
Oppression and freedom from patriarchal control provide my fourth link in the form of The Colour Purple by Alice Walker. This is an epistolary novel, set mainly in rural Georgia, that reflects on lives of African-American women in the southern United States in the 1930s, addressing numerous issues including their exceedingly low position in American social culture. The protagonist is Celie is a poor, uneducated, 14-year-old girl who writes letters to God because her father, Alphonso, beats her harshly and rapes her continuously. The novel won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the National Book Award for Fiction yet has been the frequent target of censors. It appears on the American Library Association list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2000–2009 because of it sometimes explicit content.
Four my fifth link I’m staying in the US with another book that has been frequently challenged and banned in some school districts because of its unflinching depiction of childhood rape and racism. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is the first part of a seven-volume series that shows how she rose from a poor and troubled childhood to become a world renowned author and poet, overcoming racism and hostility through strength of character and a love of literature.
Racism and strength of character take me to another coming of age novel for my sixth and final link. Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor is set in southern Mississippi during the years of the Great Depression. Its narrator is nine-year-old Cassie Logan, a strong-willed girl with a fiery temper whose family fights to hold onto the land that rightfully belongs to them. Once again this is a novel whose content has generated concerns – it was one of the most frequently challenged books of 2002 on the basis that it contained offensive language and portrayed racism.
And with that we are at the end of the chain having stayed mainly in USA but with a little side trip to Norway. One of the things I enjoy about the Six Degrees meme is that it takes you into unexpected places. If you’re wondering about connections other bloggers made, check out the links at Kate’s blog.
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I’ve read your middle four books, but not the first or last 😀 Might have to check them out.
Petals of Blood would be the one I recommend more than Room
I remember getting my hands on Valley of the Dolls in high school! What I can’t remember is anything much about it – did I love it? Was I bored by it? Almost tempted to do a reread!
I read it quickly but don’t think I was that impressed. Certainly not planning to re-read just to find out 🙂
This is a pretty high brow list all around, Valley of the Dolls excepted. Most of the books I read in high school or college courses. Strong thematic connections.
I brought the tone down with Valley of the Dolls for sure
Woo hoo, I’ve actually read the Chopin, Walker and Angelou. I did laugh at your link on Dolls. As always, enjoyed your post. (And BTW love your new bright fresh blog look.)
My new look?? I haven’t changed anything for more than a year!
Ah, maybe it was the mobile version, and I mostly look at your blog on desktop. It just looked different, and I have visited you in the last year I know!!
I should take a look on my mobile !
Haha Karen, yes, do. And then you can see how out of it I probably am. It’s been a demanding couple of years here.
I’ve read all of these except Roll of Thunder and Valley of the Dolls. They are on my long TBR list though. Nice idea!
Fun connections! I did read Less Than Zero way back when. I was a teen at the time and I don;t remember much about it, only that it was dark and gritty and all the cool kids were reading it and I desperately wanted to be cool 🙂
I’m really happy to say that I’ve read all of these books except the Mildred Walker. This is not always the case with these mememes Good choices. And Valley of the Dolls really is entertaining and fun. I read it for the first time a few years ago after I learned it was reissued by Virago. Absolutely gripping, and realistic characters!
I can recommend Walker’s novel. Even though targetted at adolescent readers it didn’t feel simplistic at all
I love this meme! Your choices are excellent. I think Valley of the Dolls was a gateway drug for me into the trashy fiction I read for years.
I suspect we can all point to times when we read things that we probably wouldnt even think about now
Well done, Karen, this month’s book defeated me, I just couldn’t get started with it…
I struggled to get the first link. After that it wasn’t too hard. I think next month will be one I have to pass on though
Ha! I love the idea of linking Jacqueline Susann to Ibsen – I bet that’s the first time that’s happened to either of them! You have a couple I haven’t yet read but that are languishing in my TBR – The Color Purple and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – I will get to them someday. Love the way all the chains head off in such different directions… 😀
I love all your links this month!
I like the links between these books. I read Valley of the Dolls, saw the movie, and enjoyed it, despite its “low brow” feeling.
Less Than Zero was a movie I saw later.
Of course I read The Color Purple…and saw the movie.
The Awakening is one I missed, but I’m checking it out now. Thanks for sharing.
The Awakening is a wonderful novel Laurel
I still need to try this exercise! Any suggestion how to begin, which book you could see me starting from?
I have read The Awakening and The Color Purple, but I would never have connected them together
There is a new starting book each week – you don’t need to create your own, just go to Kate’s website and the starting point for the months are listed. Hope you enjoy doing it….
oh, I finally got it!! So I have one ready for Dec 2, quirky of course, lol. Fun! Thanks for enticing me in 😉
Welcome to the Six Degrees gang. I’l look forward to seeing your first chain
I’m a big fan of Less Than Zero – I love where your choices went!
I thought you said you couldn’t get started! We both managed to work in feminist classics, I notice.
I did find it difficult!!
And next month we’re starting off with Stephen King…
I am dreading that because I’ve never read him and I dont care for horror stories at all
Me, neither but I’m sure there’s a way out of it, or It!
I’ve done it! I’ll be on holiday when the next round comes so decided to do in advance
Congratulations! I’m going to have to do a bit of lateral thinking later in the month…
I shall await eagerly …
Well, I hope that you’ll be having such a great time on your holiday you won’t have time to think about it!