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akujunkanLet's try that again. I've got roughly 14 pages of single-spaced size-ten font book reviews chewing up space on my hard drive. So here's my review of the book I read during the week of November 9-15 2009.
1) Outcasts United - Warren St. John
You can't help but feel like a party pooper, writing a critical review of a "story of hope, conflict, and transformation on the playing fields of an American town," but write it I will. Outcasts United is the story of the troubled players on three youth soccer teams in Clarkston, Georgia--a smalltown Everywhere, USA...at least until its designation as a refugee resettlement center upset the longstanding social order. In the refugees who must adapt to their new lives in America and the Clarkston residents who must adapt to their new lives alongside the refugees, St. John had all the makings of a compelling narrative.
And yet, reading Outcasts United is like getting a bag of potato chips when you were expecting a full meal. St. John may excel in his work as a reporter for the New York Times, but in his inability to develop any of the personalities or situations that populate the narrative beyond the length of a feature article, he lacks the chops necessary to write a book-length work. He excels at descriptive passages (to the point of repeating many of them three or four times), but after 200 pages readers have no more insight into the personalities of the African, Balkan, and Middle Eastern refugee children on the Outcast teams or their headstrong Jordanian coach than they did after the first fifty.
St. John appears to write without paying much heed to the words he's setting to paper. For instance, an individual who failed to make the cut for the first- and second-ranked teams at his high school is inexplicably described as having a "promising career in soccer." Worse still, St. John's narrative is disappointingly superficial given all the latent potential in the Outcasts' story for him to explore issues of nationality, class, belonging, and culture. Take for instance the episode where Outcast coach Luma Mufleh is inexplicably pulled over and arrested while accompanying her team to an important match. The arresting officer won't explain why there's a warrant out for Mufleh: is it because her taillight is out? Or because her middle name is Hassan? St. John alludes to previous instances of police harassment of refugees and anti-Muslim sentiment in Clarkston as Mufleh is handcuffed in front of her players and carted off to jail.
And then the issue is dropped. Not only does St. John not see fit to ask her thoughts on the arrest, or those of her players, he doesn't even see fit to explain why she was arrested at all. This is not the only instance where St. John inexplicably declines to explore the deeper repercussions of the issues he himself raises, and it's deeply unsatisfying whenever it occurs. And ultimately, it's what keeps Outcasts from reaching its potential as a full course meal.
One down. A small mountain more to go.
That will be all.
1) Outcasts United - Warren St. John
You can't help but feel like a party pooper, writing a critical review of a "story of hope, conflict, and transformation on the playing fields of an American town," but write it I will. Outcasts United is the story of the troubled players on three youth soccer teams in Clarkston, Georgia--a smalltown Everywhere, USA...at least until its designation as a refugee resettlement center upset the longstanding social order. In the refugees who must adapt to their new lives in America and the Clarkston residents who must adapt to their new lives alongside the refugees, St. John had all the makings of a compelling narrative.
And yet, reading Outcasts United is like getting a bag of potato chips when you were expecting a full meal. St. John may excel in his work as a reporter for the New York Times, but in his inability to develop any of the personalities or situations that populate the narrative beyond the length of a feature article, he lacks the chops necessary to write a book-length work. He excels at descriptive passages (to the point of repeating many of them three or four times), but after 200 pages readers have no more insight into the personalities of the African, Balkan, and Middle Eastern refugee children on the Outcast teams or their headstrong Jordanian coach than they did after the first fifty.
St. John appears to write without paying much heed to the words he's setting to paper. For instance, an individual who failed to make the cut for the first- and second-ranked teams at his high school is inexplicably described as having a "promising career in soccer." Worse still, St. John's narrative is disappointingly superficial given all the latent potential in the Outcasts' story for him to explore issues of nationality, class, belonging, and culture. Take for instance the episode where Outcast coach Luma Mufleh is inexplicably pulled over and arrested while accompanying her team to an important match. The arresting officer won't explain why there's a warrant out for Mufleh: is it because her taillight is out? Or because her middle name is Hassan? St. John alludes to previous instances of police harassment of refugees and anti-Muslim sentiment in Clarkston as Mufleh is handcuffed in front of her players and carted off to jail.
And then the issue is dropped. Not only does St. John not see fit to ask her thoughts on the arrest, or those of her players, he doesn't even see fit to explain why she was arrested at all. This is not the only instance where St. John inexplicably declines to explore the deeper repercussions of the issues he himself raises, and it's deeply unsatisfying whenever it occurs. And ultimately, it's what keeps Outcasts from reaching its potential as a full course meal.
One down. A small mountain more to go.
That will be all.
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on 2010-04-13 02:33 am (UTC)Anyway, off of that point, this is fiction, or non-fiction? I can certainly understand why Mufleh was arrested, as driving while black seems to be a punishable offense in Smalltown, GA. Interestingly enough, there is actually a refugee center about three miles from Clarkston...
But before I start making statements and judgments based on the Clarkston I know, I'll wait and let you tell me if I'm way off kilter or not.
Aaand here we go, with correct tagging this time.
on 2010-04-13 02:58 am (UTC)This is non-fiction; from what I understand, it grew out of a series of articles in the NYT.
I can certainly understand why Mufleh was arrested, as driving while black seems to be a punishable offense in Smalltown, GA.
What really irked me about the book, though, is that St. John didn't have the balls to come out and say that this is why the arrest happened. (Or, if Mufleh was actually arrested for a legitimate reason, he didn't have the balls to come out and explain what that was.) So he essentially had this book where he could have tackled a bunch of the big issues that are confronting America right now, and he kind of toyed with it and then backed off. I get the feeling he wanted to write a "feel good" book, which is fine. I just wish it had been a bit more substantive.
Anyway, since I doubt you're off kilter at all, statement away!
Re: Aaand here we go, with correct tagging this time.
on 2010-04-13 03:15 am (UTC)The area of Clarkston semi-connected to mine, in the way that most areas in the suburbs kinda blend. The middle school is literally about four traffic lights from my house.
It's a really interesting dynamic out there in Clarkston. For one thing, the surrounding area is predominately black, save for one high-end place that closed itself off with special "city" status (that's where my college was). The refugee center I mentioned is indeed close to Clarkston, and I'm sure they have relocated a number of their clients to the Clarkston area.
This book would probably be interesting to me, since this is my part of town (sorta). I'd probably get angry at it though, since I know how stuff works over here. Where was Mufleh going when she was arrested? It's harder for me to go for the "driving while black" angle if she was still over here, since then the police would be arresting everybody. It's still a rampant problem, but you can't target black neighborhoods, just black people in the "wrong" neighborhood.
We've got issues over here, that's for sure, , but I don't know if I want to read a book that skims over them. Just the large number of refugee centers we have in this part of town signifies something.
Re: Aaand here we go, with correct tagging this time.
on 2010-04-13 05:43 am (UTC):sighs: What year is it again?
Re: Aaand here we go, with correct tagging this time.
on 2010-04-13 06:14 pm (UTC)Mufleh was going to a soccer match...somewhere else. I think it was a city or neighborhood about 30 minutes away from Clarkston, although I again I don't remember the exact location. She was following the team van in her personal vehicle, so it's highly possible that she was pulled over for driving while existing.
Incidentally, do you know why Clarkston was chosen as a refugee resettlement area? Again, St. John doesn't really say, and the logic behind it is one of the things that's always intrigued me. I live near a Burmese resettlement community--the largest population of Burmese outside of Burma--and I've always wondered whose brilliant idea it was to plop a bunch of Theravada Buddhists down in one of the most religiously conservative areas in the country.
Re: Aaand here we go, with correct tagging this time.
on 2010-04-13 06:26 pm (UTC)Yeah, while Atlanta police don't often pull over folks for driving while black (at least, in comparison to the surrounding areas), it does happen. I wouldn't be surprised if that's why she was pulled over. Sad case, because like a lot of big cities, the city itself is full of black folks, while the surrounding suburbs are white. Atlanta is more integrated than a lot of other southern cities, but you still know when you're in the black part of town or the white part. It is quite clear.
I'll see if I can find the book in my library. I figure it'll be there since it's about the area. As for why they choose Clarkston, I don't know. It all started happening before I was really able to think about stuff like that, in the 90s (and since I was not even a decade old for most of the 90s, I can't remember at all). Wiki says it's because the real estate market was good for that area, which makes sense. Back then, our part of town wasn't as developed. Heck, there used to be a cow farm back where the middle school is when I was a kid! Best milk I ever had...So yeah, it wasn't prime property, which made it easy to obtain and keep. Plus, public transport there is as good as Atlanta gets. There's a lot of stuff over there now, but you never really hear about it. They aren't really in the news or anything, not like some of the other suburban spots in Atlanta.