ralentina reviewed The mare by Mary Gaitskill
Problematic with good reasons?
4 stars
The premise of the book: the life of a white middle-class, childless, borderline depressed lady becomes entangled with the ones of a disadvantaged inner-city kid, and her abusive Domenican mother. Also, horses, and the kid's love for them, features heavily. If your mind works like mine, this screams "boring", and "problematic". Somehow it wasn't. I couldn't put down the book. I even enjoyed the horse-related description and metaphors - who would have said? Also from the 'problematic' front, the book is more complex than it could at first seem. I would not as far as to say that the book is not problematic at all - being partially written from the perspective of a kid of colour and illiterate mother. Yet, in my view, it has good reasons for being problematic, putting the white reader in discomfort. It delves into white guilt, and the self-censured racism that comes out when …
The premise of the book: the life of a white middle-class, childless, borderline depressed lady becomes entangled with the ones of a disadvantaged inner-city kid, and her abusive Domenican mother. Also, horses, and the kid's love for them, features heavily. If your mind works like mine, this screams "boring", and "problematic". Somehow it wasn't. I couldn't put down the book. I even enjoyed the horse-related description and metaphors - who would have said? Also from the 'problematic' front, the book is more complex than it could at first seem. I would not as far as to say that the book is not problematic at all - being partially written from the perspective of a kid of colour and illiterate mother. Yet, in my view, it has good reasons for being problematic, putting the white reader in discomfort. It delves into white guilt, and the self-censured racism that comes out when we are hurt, frustrated, angry, helpless, etc. It seems a useful thing for white people interested in overcoming white supremacy to talk honestly to each other about these feelings.