Posted on Tue Jul 15, 10:10 PM in Words On Paper
A really neat premise, but in the end I just couldn’t dance to it.
Earlier in 2008, Matt Taibbi put out a book called The Great Derangement in which he embedded himself not only in Iraq, but in the nation’s capital, the Fundamentalist Church, and something called the 9/11 Truth Movement. His subsequent reports present a picture told from the inside out, and in the end are coming from a free-thinking atheist, but we get that from the start, so no surprises there. In other words, if you don’t already agree there is a great derangement in our country, you probably wouldn’t read this book, anyway.
In some ways, that’s a problem I have with this book. I do enjoy hearing the choir preach to me, but in some ways, I would like to be surprised or even educated. As a whole, Taibbi seems to know his audience will already be like-minded individuals, and at times, the writing shows it, playing into our hands with very casual remarks about the people he’s surrounded by being of a certain station in life, or casting judgement. Which, honestly, I didn’t have a problem with, because I had kind of an idea of the author’s writing beforehand. However, I was let down because it just seemed that if one is going to spend so much time and (uncomfortable) effort in getting these stories, then linking them together to form the deranged pastiche that is our country these days, and convince the audience that this is a serious problem, I would think that personal remarks would diminish the effectiveness of that convincing.
Or I’m crotchedy. Anyways…
I also found it disappointing that the time he spend embedded in these four areas was quite uneven, and that in the end, the lines of investigation were not drawn together clearly. If the purpose of the book was simply to provide a detailed snapshot of these problem areas, then he accomplished that. But here’s the thing… He spent so much time on the Fundies that I think he could have very well done a whole book on the experience. I think he should have, because the efforts in the other three areas were not quite as well done, or even as long, chapter-wise. Besides, if the author is not going to bring everything back together to show us why these “subcultures” are sending us down the rabbit hole, why not just focus on the one where the interest seemed highest (from the author’s POV)?
Having said that, I really did enjoy reading about the true story of how bills get written and passed into law (Schoolhouse Rock is so wrong on that one), and also the undercover Fundie Church episodes; I think I enjoyed these because they were truly educational for me, and they were entertaining reads as well. At the end of the book, I honestly feel like I don’t want to vote (but I probably will), but I say that not with apathy, but with hope. Ironically, Taibbi closes the book with a chapter on what he thinks will happen in the 2008 elections, but now that the book as hit the stores, his predictions are already wrong. It was weird to read this forward-looking hopeful chapter after a lot of journalistic, angry, cynical observations.
Go in for the message if you’ve already drunk the Kool-aid. If you haven’t drunk the Kool-aid but are comfortable with that, then go in for the snapshots. Taibbi is a funny, observant writer. I just wish the book came together better as a whole.
Go ahead, have your say!