THE TWENTY-SEVENTH CITY
Jonathan Franzen
Books for Bigots
Having finished The Twenty-Seventh City by Mr. Franzen, it is time to consider its appeal to Bigots - - a constant quest for appropriate fiction. Considering I am limiting my quest to fiction, American novels normally, generally with the view, appropriate I believe, that nonfiction would be far beyond the tolerance of most Bigots. When a book might want to discuss religion, or dinosaurs, or the physics of the universe, or human sexuality, or gender identity, or any other topic one might be able to think of, it quickly occurs to one that such topics contain facts and scientific conclusions unacceptable to the minds closed to them, which normally, is the condition of the minds of most varieties of Bigots. I will admit there are varieties.
Now The Twenty-Seventh City revolves around Martin Probst, the builder of the St. Louis Arch and Jammu, an East Indian woman, the police chief of Bombay, who suddenly and mysteriously becomes the police chief of St. Louis. The setting is St. Louis, always a plus for anyone familiar with the local. Love eventually prevails, but with an inordinate amount of intrigue and what appears to be an attempt of the Indians to take over the administration and economics of both St. Louis City and St. Louis County.
Considering the book is a mixed bag of intrigue and rich people being stupid, it is probably a book that a Bigot could get through with considerable effort. I will say that the book meanders from intrigue to the unsatisfactory lives of Probst and friends along with the effort to combine City and County of St. Louis. The various threads of plots get tied up in the last few pages - - not very satisfactorily it seems to me.
It actually took me a while to get through the book. In other words, I did not find it riveting and read it in small doses. I do believe that most Bigots would find it a difficult go. As with most current fiction, much of the action would not meet with the approval of the Bigotry with which I am familiar. Family and marriage appear to be particularly discordant with daughter moving in with some guy she just happens to meet while looking for someone else in a crowded St. Louis bar.
Looking back on the characters in the book, no one is happy or content with their lives with the exception of the Indians who are too busy plotting for economic dominance to think about it. Other than once again giving us a sense of the modern American condition of aimless activity with the exception of becoming more rich than one already is, the book has little new or profound and I am afraid that even with this caveat, Bigots are simply better off not even considering the book a possibility.
Richard E H Phelps II
Mingo
