I found creating the jacket for
Americana a new type of challenge, because it's the first novel in our book cover club that I was not a fan of. Though I must confess, I only made it through a couple of chapters. I stopped reading because I felt that if I continued, my design would turn out to be a critique of the book, rather than an ad for it.
This challenge also prompted me to think about why I find the television show
Man Men, which ostensibly has a similar central character and set-up to
Americana, often brilliant, and this book completely intolerable and dated.
I hadn't watched
Mad Men since last season's finale. I've been hesitant to revisit it, because in the interim, HBO's
The Wire has come into my life and rendered everything else on television insubstantial.
The Wire uses a terrific ensemble cast to illuminate how social, political, and economic systems shape communities and their individual residents' destinies. David Simon,
The Wire's creator, used the "central character," the disillusioned Detective McNulty, more as a MacGuffin than an audience proxy. Viewers begin the series thinking that we will see the failed systems of Baltimore through the lens of McNulty's heavy conscience, but Simon quickly dispenses of the white man's burden angle and creates many freestanding portraits of the city's diverse residents. Their collective day-to-day experiences, along with McNulty's, provide the thesis. This is certainly not a new storytelling device, but it is done sooooo convincingly - except season five (it descends into
Crash,
Babel, &
Traffic levels of absurd heavy handedness).
I was afraid to revisit
Mad Men, because I worried that maybe it relied too much on showing the world through Don Draper's (the central character), eyes. Do I really need another perspective on a privileged, straight, male, WASP who seeks to broaden his horizons by going off on slightly non-vanilla sexcapades and dabbling in cross cultural drug use? This seemed to be the setup for
Americana, and I didn't feel the need to go down that road.
But why do I love
Mad Men so much? I re-watched the season finale again and it's still amazing! I think it rises above by showing in great detail the havoc that Don's "spirit quests" wreak on those under him- those whose social positions prevent them from indulging in similar meditations, and who must accommodate his "genius" direction and revelations to run his company and plan their lives. When
Mad Men is at its best, the show offers a rather harsh critique of the phenomenon of upper-class spiritual awakenings. I want more
Mad Men!
Am I wrong about
Americana? Does it become critical of the Don Draper figure as it goes along, or is it just a well written, steamy romance novel for restless business men who don't want to think of themselves as "The Man?"
