Awkward-ature: Jamestown

Awkward-ature: Literature that may be written about or in the style of the awkwardist cultural movement. Passages may make one laugh out of embarrassment or uncomfortableness. Sentences may induce pleasurable cringing and a deep-rooted connection between the awkward writing style of the author as well as his or her awkward readers. In reference to OnwardAwkward, Awkward-ature attempts to seek out the best and most enjoyable awkward literature around.

This week: Matthew Sharpe's Jamestown

Talk about awkward literature. First, this book is premised on America's favorite story, the settling of Jamestown. Except it's not that at all. All the characters are there; Pocahontas, 'Johnny Rolffe', John Smith. But before you yawn like I did prior to reading the back cover, hear me out. The world is basically at an apocalypse. The island of Manhattan, which is seemingly a horrible, nuclear wasteland, has run out of oil and its the Virginia Settlers who must find oil in the Native American territory of Jamestown. Sharpe resurrects William S. Burroughs in his depictions of violence and crude humor/language. And of course there is plenty of social commentary in the inhumane ways the white settlers enter and attempt to seize Jamestown. This book is a wild, violent, hilarious and ultimately fucked-up explosion of literacy, black humor and biting sarcasm. Pocahontas, for one, is an ultimate feminist, trying to figure out the peculiar white culture while simultaneously 'playing' both Johnny Rolffe and John Smith. She is a complete character, one that stays with you long after the book ends because of her forth-right nature and her philosophical jargon that seems to baffle the rest of the male characters in the book. The clash of tradition, culture, history and technology is worth the read alone. Not only does Pocahontas curse like a fuckin sailor, but she text messages, IMs, even reads minds. The writing is the first thing that got me.

Check out this paragraph:
"The road dead-ended in a field. That was it. We'd arrived. The only thing worse than the journey is the destination. I looked out the window at the tall bulbous stalks we were surrounded by. Beyond them lay dark woods, like the ones in my dream of the dog. The predatory sun devoured the field and had begun to eat my eyes, so I turned my head, bent down in my seat, pressed my knees into my eyes, and tried to let myself be soothed by the black behind my lids. I vaguely sensed the bus door open and the men who represented us stepped down to what awaited them. Maybe they'd be killed. I often think that death would bring relief but, fearing change, haven't sought it out."

Whoa. Sharpe's got a serious eye and tongue for slick descriptions and dialogue. With alternating chapters of aforementioned characters, you see how intentionally the male characters are left rather undeveloped, giving Pocahontas this omnipotent place in the novel that is almost, dare-say, chilling? But hilarious. She's perhaps one of my favorite characters I have read in many years. Like Kathy Acker, Pocahontas has no qualms about her sexuality and struggles throughout the book to understand who she is apart from the prejudices put upon her by her father Powhatan and her brutish suitors. She is a character to love--if you're a woman, you'll want to be her and if you're a man, you'll want to do her (despite the long descriptions about her pock-mocked face and her less than attractive appearance.) Awkward, right? This book is fucking great, if you can handle violence, Ebonics, Algonquin, and snarky dialogue (and really, isn't that what you look for in a good read anyway?) Please read this. It is completely--no-- utterly entertaining, interesting, and delightfully awkward.