The Anthropocene Reviewed – Buddy Read Write-up Five (of nine)

Past half-way! I can barely believe it. Not gonna lie, I’m really looking forward to the next book we have planned for our Buddy Reads. Though I also acknowledge that I need to get better at keeping my other posts on track otherwise this is truly average content. If it helps, there’s one more to go after this and then I’m all the way up to date – and that one is already written so will drop tomorrow.

This batch of essays included:

• The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest
• CNN
• Harvey
• The Yips
• Auld Lang Syne

And, I actually have a bit so say about these, though none of it is particularly relevant to anyone but me.

The Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest

We read these in July and , quite uncannily, the contest in question coincides with the 4th of July. I suppose if synchrony matters, then here’s a smidge of it for you. I also feel like this essay, for one of the very few times so far, followed neatly after the one before – in that there’s a certain consideration around food that doesn’t nourish and this seems to thematically tie in with Piggly Wiggly.

The tie-in, or seeming thematic relevance, may not have mattered, except for the fact that Marie and I have both come to feel that there is no rhyme or reason to the order of the essay. In our more brutal moments we’ve gone so far as to say John Green was either a very difficult author to deal with, or his editor was terrible at structural editing. As Marie and I are both editors in our own right who come from the publishing world, we feel rather comfortable with these arrogant throw-downs in the literary sphere. Yes, it is almost certainly hubris and not at all a flattering colour on our complexions.

For all that, though this essay actually moved me to somewhat. (It was also delightfully controversial when Marie and I were recording, as Marie did not feel much of that movement and went so far as to write long rage-filled paragraphs in her margins. Please feel free to see the anger for yourself, on Marie Reads Books.)

I think it’s starts with something relatively inconsequential, but then highlights the turn from worship to hatred at a level where it’s impossible not to see just how close to the surface racism lingers even when we think it’s gone.

I also find the conversation around a joke as just a joke to be a really complex and confusing one. It goes right to the heart of what comedians do and how and why they do it. When is a joke not just a joke? So many comedians now make political points, they have their voices heard regarding important matters, and many seek to affect change. People are listening. When does it go from comedy to responsibility?

I don’t have the answers, but I think the questions are important and I think nothing is ever ‘just’ anything.

CNN – and onwards

Similarly, CNN tackles the issue of content for public consumption from a related perspective – journalism, and what drives journalism. But that’s not was this essay was really about. CNN briefly touched on the news cycle and reported hardship and then moved to a personal regret of John Green’s. Actually, looking back over CNN, Harvey and Old Lang Syne, there’s quite as bit of grief here. We don’t get much of the expectation around the news cycle and how journalistic integrity is deeply unreliable. We don’t get much of the usual angst around life and all the ways in which our current environment and systems are failing us – which they are. No, these three essays seem to hold missed opportunities, self-repression and understanding, and, simply, grief.

The Yips, thrown in there for good measure, seems to emphasise the intrinsic lack of control we have over life, our biology and our current circumstances. Again, something that is intensely relevant at the moment, and possibly at all times.

Brutal truth

Reading back over my notes and the paragraphs highlighted, there’s no denying that some truly important topics and themes are discussed in the essays. I think what Marie and I are struggling with, however, is how much better it could have been if the structure, format and themes weren’t so seemingly haphazard, disorganised and fear-driven. The chronology and editorial approach seem to be a 2am angst ramble where one thing after the next pops up and needs to be expressed. A single essay can have three to four different tangents papier-mâchéd together. There are moments of beauty and artistry and raw honesty, but it’s all a bit messy.

This batch, for all that, get 3 out of five, and it does feel a slightly less negative 3 that the one from the previous batch, but I was altogether too tired to break into the decimals.

As always, Marie and I can be found and followed at:
@serialhobbiest
@serial_readings
@mariereads_books
Marie’s YouTube Channel