Guest Blog: Andrew Getman on Sherman Alexie @ the Warehouse Theater June 6th
For those of you not in the book world, starting on May 31 and going through June 1st is a little thing we like to call Book Expo America.
I, along with a good portion of the Olsson's staff, will be hanging out in New York for the best part of this week.
That does not mean that I am going to leave you hanging out there with no one to tell you what is going on. In fact, I am taking this chance to tell you about the handsome young man that manages our airport store, Andrew Getman!
Andrew has been nice enough to donate his time to writing a little bit about an upcoming event we are holding at the Warehouse Theater. It is going... why am I telling you about it? That is why we have Andrew.
Folks, Andrew Getman:
Sherman Alexie, "Flight"
Occasionally we come across books that remind us that we as Americans are no longer who we once were. Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" makes explicit reference to this change in our worldview, allows us to step momentarily out of our absorption with the current wartime preoccupations and reflect on the shock that set this all in motion. Sherman Alexie's Flight is another in this vein, and is worthy of consideration for another reason - it reminds us that there are teenagers growing up today who barely remember an era before 9/11, Columbine, the Unibomber, Waco, Virginia Tech, or Oklahoma City. These terrorist acts and the current war on terror are in the process of defining a generation, and Sherman Alexie brings this reality home.
Meet Zits, a more typical teenager than many of us imagine, an urban kid who has bounced from foster home to juvenile detainment center most of his youth. But while his circumstances are more rare, his alienation, frustrations, and preoccupations with violence and rebellion give voice to what many experience. He meets a mentor who seems to care, and then channels his disappointments into an act of aggression. Sound familiar?
The difference is that Zits suddenly finds himself inhabiting the bodies of people who lived through historical moments of great violence - Red River, Custer's Last Stand, an airplane about to be seized by a hijacker. As if this were a novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Alexie's character is trapped bouncing through time, forced to again and again commit violent acts or bear witness to them.
This is a simply told, but powerfully evocative book. It demands to be put on high school reading lists and be selected by book groups. Teenagers need to be exposed to these ideas, because they are living them, and adults need to be paying attention.
Join us when we hear Sherman Alexie speak, read the book for yourself, and pass it on to people young and old whom you care about.
-Andrew Getman, former teacher and store manager, Olsson's - National Airport
I, along with a good portion of the Olsson's staff, will be hanging out in New York for the best part of this week.
That does not mean that I am going to leave you hanging out there with no one to tell you what is going on. In fact, I am taking this chance to tell you about the handsome young man that manages our airport store, Andrew Getman!
Andrew has been nice enough to donate his time to writing a little bit about an upcoming event we are holding at the Warehouse Theater. It is going... why am I telling you about it? That is why we have Andrew.Folks, Andrew Getman:
Sherman Alexie, "Flight"
Occasionally we come across books that remind us that we as Americans are no longer who we once were. Don DeLillo's "Falling Man" makes explicit reference to this change in our worldview, allows us to step momentarily out of our absorption with the current wartime preoccupations and reflect on the shock that set this all in motion. Sherman Alexie's Flight is another in this vein, and is worthy of consideration for another reason - it reminds us that there are teenagers growing up today who barely remember an era before 9/11, Columbine, the Unibomber, Waco, Virginia Tech, or Oklahoma City. These terrorist acts and the current war on terror are in the process of defining a generation, and Sherman Alexie brings this reality home.Meet Zits, a more typical teenager than many of us imagine, an urban kid who has bounced from foster home to juvenile detainment center most of his youth. But while his circumstances are more rare, his alienation, frustrations, and preoccupations with violence and rebellion give voice to what many experience. He meets a mentor who seems to care, and then channels his disappointments into an act of aggression. Sound familiar?
The difference is that Zits suddenly finds himself inhabiting the bodies of people who lived through historical moments of great violence - Red River, Custer's Last Stand, an airplane about to be seized by a hijacker. As if this were a novel by Kurt Vonnegut, Alexie's character is trapped bouncing through time, forced to again and again commit violent acts or bear witness to them.
This is a simply told, but powerfully evocative book. It demands to be put on high school reading lists and be selected by book groups. Teenagers need to be exposed to these ideas, because they are living them, and adults need to be paying attention.
Join us when we hear Sherman Alexie speak, read the book for yourself, and pass it on to people young and old whom you care about.
-Andrew Getman, former teacher and store manager, Olsson's - National Airport
0 Comments:
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home