Hell of a Book

What unlocked this for me is that it's 2021's National Book Award for Fiction, following last year's win of Interior Chinatown by Charles Yu. And to me they feel like the same book, different race. And yes, here is where I emphasize I'm not conflating the minimization of Asian representation on screen to the dangers of being Black in America.

They're both pieces of metafiction that speak to their marginalized experience with humor and surreal flourishes. And maybe I just need to engage with them both more deeply to get beyond my basic interpretation and the feel that they're both just hammering you over the head with their points. The same straight shot of injustices with a bit of Hollywood tinged, imaginative English on the literary ball.

Hell of A Book is about the trauma of being black. Police shootings are just background noise in American life. By not naming the boy that's been shot and on everyone's lips here in the story, it makes it clear this could be anytime - 20 years ago or tomorrow. There's always a dead Black boy on the news that's got everyone buzzing and wringing their hands - and yet nothing has changed. The author who is faced with that reality vs his media handlers who want stories of love with Disney endings retreats into booze, random assignations, imaginary friends and noir movie dialogue as one does.

Mott's got a lot of ideas on the go here and maybe it's both a sharp indictment and canny commentary that this thought provoking examination of Black life in America enrages and elicits knowing nods as I'm reading but fails to really stick with me past the last page.