Though this entry is a bit late, I hadn't yet created the blog. So, I figure I'll begin with the the first book of the quarter.
U.S.! was a really intriguing read for me. I have no background experience with Upton Sinclair, his life or his works, so reading a book loosely based in his ideas but not quite about him was only one aspect of understanding this novel. Another was the authors unusual way of representing different perspectives and feelings towards Sinclair, and what he stood for. Never could quite tell what the author himself thought of the guy he was writing about.
I did enjoy the different forms of writing he employed, from mock interviews to poems to songs, usually encompassing some aspect of a parody. It threw me off, at first, but later I found them better expressions of opinion that simple prose could express.
One of the most interesting things about this was the idea of the assassins. An assassin, viewed as a criminal and shunned by society, generally does not hold the position of national celebrity. However, they achieved the level of idol and hero, though they still had to go to jail. They were worshiped and canonized as great people. I wonder, how many times can the same man be killed and the man who kills him becomes famous? The repetition of the event, throughout a number of decades, communicates the lasting rejection of socialism in society. But it also seems that it ridicules the U.S., because they praise people for killing this little old man who continues returning for his cause, and they value the work of criminals (unlike the stated ideals of the United States, which allows the freedom of speech, values honesty and integrity, and where the adulation of assassins would be considered insane and un-American).
The portrayal of Upton Sinclair was interesting. His child-like behavior in regard to sweets and having his way seems to detract from how seriously one could take his message. His persistence in writing books with the same endings, same messages over and over with little to no return is confusing. And what finally deflates him, stops him in his tracks, is the death of his son whom he always brushes off.
We never seem to know who brings him back to life, time after time; he doesn't keep his secretaries long enough for them to seem significant, yet the fact that they are so disposable means something about Sinclair and his position. He has an underground following, with reading rooms and secret passwords, and he means enough to those who hate him that he's worth hating, and those who agree with him are worth detesting as well.
Another moment I enjoyed was his finally meeting Huntley, his most famous killer. The fact that they never met before, they just played a game of cat and mouse, indicates somewhat of a distance between the actual man and what the man stands for. At the same time, that Huntley lets him go at the end, shows a bit of humanity in the ultimate killer.
The conversion of Stephen, the young boy in charge of his town's book burning, was an interesting scene. Though I feel the novel would not have been quite complete without some sort of personal story of someone agreeing with and being affected by Upton Sinclair, that they chose a young boy to make a significant transformation overnight right before the book burning (which everyone doubted he could perform) was somewhat predictable, but more than that, affirming. Could the author write an entire novel where the only people who agreed with the main character were hippies and his son?
Stephen and his conversion at an early age (13?) after being raised as an extreme conservative was performed in an interesting manner. Going through his realizations, his coming to understand that not everyone lives and believes as he does, is refreshing to read. It's not as if he was informed enough to have an opinion, it's that he's had no other option. But he grows a little, becomes a little less naive, when he forms his own opinion through being exposed to something new. I think that's an important aspect of the novel, in contrast to the constant opposition by the rest of the U.S.
All in all, I enjoyed U.S! and think that it would be worth re-reading every once in a while, just to see what I noticed each time, and what I can draw from it after a few more weeks, months, years of experience.
