[1] january man

Black Swan Green starts out simply enough-- there’s the occasional bit of slang too foreign for me to figure out on the first try (“pongs of gravy,” for example) and the occasional detail that makes no sense; but all of that is the sort of thing one can easily brush aside, assuming an answer will be forthcoming.  

Then it gets weird. 

No, actually?  I’m wrong.  It starts weird, with the story of the mysteriously ringing office phone, but that episode is overshadowed by the relatively solid, mundane picture it paints of life as a young boy in the village.  There’s a complex, rigid, and (if not for the narrator’s explanation) baffling social hierarchy upon the girls, one that imposes a mock-military structure on their games.  There’s the borrowed adult language of sexuality, tossed around by kids who don’t always understand it, who only know that it’s gravely important not to be on the receiving end of the insults.  There are small mysteries-- the ‘odd’ children of the village, the House in the Woods.  

But then, slowly and subtly, it gets very strange.  The first reference to Hangman seemed incidental, and after a while I got the sense that this was the narrator’s way of personifying his problems with stammering.  I thought it a bit odd, but not completely an irrational way of dealing with such a condition.  Then, all of a sudden, there are these casual internal references to “My Unborn Twin” and “Maggot,” apparently other internal voices he’s accustomed to recognizing.  It gave me the sense that maybe Jason isn’t quite as mundane as he seems; and the fact that these internal conversations were so unremarkable in his own estimation (which, of course, makes perfect sense,) was a little chilling.  In a good way.

There’s also a certain pervasive air of mystery-- there’s the repetition of “It didn’t feel at all right” about both the Sour Aunt in the woods, and his own family in light of the phone incidents.  It’s hard to tell, though, how much of the strangeness occurs because he’s looking for it-- like his offhanded observation that he ought to take down the license number of an unfamiliar car, just in case it should show up on a police show.  I think asides like that help to link the usual incidents to the unusual ones-- they remind us that we’re perceiving reality through one character’s particular lens. 

As for what might happen next... I honestly have no idea.  Personally, I like that in a first chapter-- it sets up some mysteries I’d like to see resolved, but doesn’t entirely explain where it’s headed.  I expect we’ll get a bit more explanation of Hangman, Maggot and Unborn Twin, but I’m also hoping to see some more of the other village boys.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some of them turned out to be important to the story-- particularly Squelch, since he’s treading the line between the “normal” (village) and “unusual” (the House in the Woods).  

I’m assuming that ultimately this isn’t a supernatural story, though I have to confess that assumption is partially informed by circumstantial cues; the tastes of people who’ve recommended it to me, the sorts of reviews quoted on the cover, and so forth-- even the publishing imprint.  I know not to judge a book by it’s cover, but covers are informative! 

All in all, I have to say I really enjoyed it, and I was a bit frustrated when I realized I had to stop reading until I had a chance to sit down and write about it.  Blogging done, I’m looking forward to picking it back up.