What makes a book, a good book for you? Find more about about how Nell Zink's Nicotine proved to be a reading milestone for me here.
What makes a book, a good book?
This question floated into my
brain an early November morning and left me perplexed. I had just put down Nell
Zink’s much acclaimed fourth novel Nicotine a few days prior and wanted to
review it. But I was just as confused about the book after I was done with it,
as I was while reading it. Is this a good book? I was clueless. So, I looked up
the definition of a good book and even randomly put this question to some
people I know who read.
Google showed me some articles that provided tips to guarantee the
flawless book – catchy opening, solid storyline, good characterisation and it
went on and on. As to the real people I had approached, the initial replies
were mainly suggestions and their type of preferred genre. I made myself
clearer. I wanted to know what made a book of any genre appealing to them. What
makes them smile after they are done with a book and lock them up in their
heads not to be forgotten soon but to be shared among others as intimate
suggestions? Though it took some time for everyone to get over the randomness
of that question and tell me crudely what made them love a book, they all made
sense.
Before Nicotine
I used to prefer, note the past tense, beautiful writing, not too
complex that like Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice described by fellow social
cataloguer as “language that could be beautiful, ends up difficult to decipher
and you find yourself going back to those paragraphs again and again only to be
left unsatisfied” or not too simple like say Chetan Bhagat who chews your steak
for you. Books with a definite story line – an introduction, the build-up, the
climax, not necessarily in the same order. Yes, multilinear and multiple
narratives. Naïve me thought I was an adventurous reader because I was
happy with these multi-s in my read. I required humour, philosophy, drama,
realism and all in the right proportions for me to like a book.
Age of Nicotine – my forbidden fruit.
But just like how the forbidden fruit changed the course of humanity post the original sin, Nell Zink’s
Nicotine changed it all. It showed me that a writer is not supposed to give a rat’s arse about what the reader wants and the reader is not supposed to tell a writer how to do their job. My reading graph after Nicotine hereby shall be divided into 3 eras – Before Nicotine, Age of Nicotine and After Nicotine and I
had not one clue when I purchased it. Nicotine was supposed to be a funny, easy read.
Briefly, Nicotine is about a very young business graduate Penny
who loses her very old and rich Dad and is suddenly out in the world without a
purpose. Jobless, homeless and suffering from PTSD, Penny is manipulated by her
family consisting of her young mother and two half brothers to reclaim their
ruined ancestral property now occupied with squatters who have come together by
a common love for tobacco, so strong, they name their home Nicotine. The very
squatters become her new family and welcomes her to their anarchic, confusing
but supposedly driven by a cause life. It is not the perfect book. It is
named after Nicotine but rarely gave much importance to it other than a lot of
mentions. It is hard to relate to at times. It becomes the anarchy it tries to
portray, may be intentionally. It strays from the path off and on, making the
pseudo progressive in me uncomfortable.
The story starts off promising a typical American coming off age movie. As Penny introduces herself as a
fellow homeless anarchist to the squatters at Nicotine, you expect the tried and tested trivia of pretences and the attached drama once the truth is unmasked generally towards the end of the story but you are not served what you expect. The truth is revealed to the inhabitants of Nicotine by a third person pretty soon into the book and there are no tears, yelling or talks of betrayal. They all shrug their shoulders and get busy.
Another interesting part is when Amalia, the young mother tries to describe her take on the cosmic snake.
Penny is trying hard to make a moment out of it. She wants her mother to make sense. Just like she had just corrected Penny’s assumption that in a sexual relationship between a 16 year old boy and a 12 year old girl, the older male doesn’t necessarily have to be the abuser and it could be the other way just as
much. Penny is pretty flawed, confused and lost throughout the story just like the reader I was throughout the book and the ending really doesn’t change that. You could even say that is exactly the type of reader I was with this book.
If you look at other reviews of Nicotine by professionals, like the New York Times or the Guardian, they all seem to say the same thing. The book is a mess. There is no binding story line, the plotline is actually rather bizarre and not very satisfactory owing to the fact that it never really gets anywhere. The characters are fresh but they don’t change dramatically for the good or bad over the time period of the story but rather merely gets by every day. What else could I say about a novel where the protagonist takes up a bank job while conveniently living as a squatter to save upon rent? Where’s the betterment and where’s the redemption? May be this complete lack of reverence to any binding norms is what makes this book so
special. It is fresh and it is funny.
After Nicotine
But as a writer Nell Zink is the right dose of funny, serious, sarcastic, silly and refreshing. The book is not a treat to my brain who demands a story. But it is unputdownable (add to dictionary) and hilarious, at the same time thought provoking but not preachy. Hell yes, I am suddenly more open to books not conforming to my idea of writing and that I think is our most remarkable achievement as the reader- writer duo and now I am a proud peruser ready to take up more unconventional reads.
May be this is what books are supposed to do – give the comfortable
reader a slap across the face and ask them to stop being so boring, help you
evolve as a reader. Many thanks, Nell Zink, I may not love your book and
might not rate it a 5 star if I had to, but I would always be thankful for it.
Ardhra Prakash
26th November 2017
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