Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Man on wire

What did you think of the narrative hook of the tightrope walker? What did it add to the stories? Was it metaphorical?
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5 comments:

kc said...

Not really sure. One thing that struck me is that it's the most singularly unbelievable thing in the entire book — yeah right, a guy tight-roped between the towers! — and yet it's the one thing that's REALLY not fiction. That actually happened.

I mean, you might be sitting there thinking, "Yeah right, that lady marries the brother of the guy she killed in her car." Or, "Yeah right, the judge sentences that hooker to prison and then his wife, coincidentally, becomes good friends with the hooker's granddaughters." It all sounds a tad far-fetched. But not as far-fetched as some guy tight-roping between the frickin' towers!

I found it interesting that the main characters, like the Irish guy and the streetwalker and the artist and the Park Avenue housewife were all kind of aware that the tight-roping was going on, but they didn't seem to be that captivated by it. It was just kind of in the background. (The judge, of course, was well aware of it and saw it as some kind of career opportunity for himself).

I guess the obvious metaphor is that the tightrope linking the towers is kind of like the threads that connect people's lives together — and also something about how fragile those connections are, how much depends on them and on our not losing our balance in life, as it were.

The tower walk was also seen as the fulfillment of that guy's destiny, and there are obviously a bunch of questions kicking around — with all the coincidences in this novel — of fate and destiny and the course the characters' lives took.

7:53 PM, January 13, 2010
Erin said...

Yeah, it's interesting. I found the chapter about Petit's training and his feelings about the wire really nice. I'm even more interested to see "Man on Wire" now.

I like your idea about the threads that connect people. It certainly fits the book.

I've seen a few book reviews that call this a 9/11 book. The NY Times review said, "But the metaphorical possibilities of the walker — the paradox of this innocent, unsanctioned act of 'divine delight' being carried out between two buildings that would one day be so viciously and murderously destroyed — are hard to ignore, particularly in a novel so concerned with the twin themes of love and loss."

11:44 AM, January 14, 2010
kc said...

Yeah, I've seen references to its being a 9/11 book, too. I don't really get that. The bulk of the book takes place 27 years before the towers fell, and the author doesn't specifically address the attack later in the book, does he, when the characters are older? (sorry, I can't remember, it's been too long now since I read it).

I think the World Trade Center is just so potent a symbol that it's impossible for it to be itself anymore. To just be two really tall buildings in the New York skyline. Since 9/11, every reference to the towers takes on automatic poignancy in many people's minds, so any book in which they are prominent is going to be seen as a "9/11 book."

12:39 PM, January 14, 2010
Erin said...

Yeah, I thought the same thing. I read that NY Times quote several times, but no, I just don't see a 9/11 connection. Like you say, it's just impossible not to think about it when you think of the towers.

3:17 PM, January 14, 2010
cl said...

I admit I got a little skimmy on the man on wire sequences. The book was already packed with metaphors. I sort of needed to get on with the story.

But KC, I like what you said about the fragile connections -- fragile and fleeting.

Maybe, also, there just aren't that many things that could stop a jaded city in its tracks like both events to happen at the WTC.

Erin, I'm also interested now to see the movie.

I think references to 9-11 were subtle, or in any case, to its aftermath. The security hassle at the airport, Jaslyn facing hostility in Ireland ("damned Yanks")-- bits and pieces of what the Bush administration did to foul up this country some more after the attacks.

7:06 PM, January 14, 2010

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