From Screen to Page #3

Today I'm back with another From Screen to Page post! For any of you unfamiliar with these posts, From Screen to Page is a feature in which I recommend a piece of historical fiction I think people will like if they like whichever film I happen to be talking about. For example, in my very first post I recommended Maeve Haran's The Lady and the Poet to anyone who's a fan of Shakespeare in Love.

It's been a while since I last did one of these - check out #1 and #2! - and today I'm going to do something a little different: instead of recommending a book that's like a film, I'm going to recommend a book that's nothing like a film at all. Why? Because Grease is kind of awful.

*ducks*

... Is it safe to come out now?

Now when I say Grease is awful, I don't mean it's an awful musical. It's not my favourite - I like my musicals a bit more epic, like The Lion King and Les Mis - but there's no denying that it's a fun musical. People pop out of the womb already knowing all the words to pretty much every song, and because it's been a favourite for so many years, thanks to the 1978 film, it's the kind of story that entire families will sit down to watch together at Christmas. Kids love the songs, parents remember watching it when they were young, and grandparents can remember those unfortunate hairstyles.

There's actually a lot about the story that I like. I think Danny Zuko is quite a charming hero, struggling to maintain his reputation as the high school bad boy while also falling head over heels for a girl who doesn't quite fit into his circle of friends, and I love Rizzo who, in my opinion, is one of the most complex and interesting characters in the musical.

My biggest problem with the story is the way it treats Sandy. I'm all for coming of age stories, including coming of age stories set at high schools, but Sandy's story concludes with her being rewarded with her happy ending because she essentially changes everything about who she is. I'm not suggesting that because she smokes and puts on some leathers she's no longer the same kind, innocent girl, but there's something about a girl who changes that much for the sake of a boy that makes me sad. 

Grease is set in 1958, and Robin Talley's debut novel, Lies We Tell Ourselves, is set a year later in 1959, with a very, very different atmosphere.

While there are some similarities between Grease and Lies We Tell Ourselves in that they're both set at high school in the '50s, and both feature a love story between two people from very different social circles, they're not alike at all. Lies We Tell Ourselves tackles racism in the mid-20th century, and in particular how black students struggled when they were finally admitted to better, previously all-white schools.

It's one of those books that'll just hit you right where it hurts, because it's so difficult to think that human beings were treated in this way. It's even more difficult to think that many are still being treated in this way.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to be admitted to her previously all-white local high school, and the novel follows her as she battles racism on a daily basis and also tries to understand her sexuality. Everything becomes even more complicated when she meets and develops feelings for Linda Hairston, a white girl whose father is a huge bigot.

If you want to know my thoughts on the book then you can check out my review here. From what I've said I think you can gather that other than the '50s setting and vaguely Romeo and Juliet style romance there are practically no similarities between Grease and Lies We Tell Ourselves, but that's no bad thing. Lies We Tell Ourselves is the perfect story if you want to read a story set in the '50s that actually deals with issues from the '50s beyond who's taking who to the dance. It's a powerful debut from a much-needed voice in the world of YA, and one that challenges the fairly problematic way that Grease portrays the '50s, where's there's not a poc in sight and oh wasn't everything just smashing?

For me Lies We Tell Ourselves is like a version of Grease where Sandy falls in love with Rizzo, and the musical numbers are replaced by explorations of racism and sexuality. If that sounds more like the kind of story you want set in the '50s, then you need to pick up this book!

How do you feel about Grease?

Review | Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Lies We Tell Ourselves

by Robin Talley

My Rating: 

In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town's most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept separate but equal.

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

Somehow Robin Talley has completely passed me by, though considering I don't read much YA nowadays I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. It's not even that I don't read YA out of choice, I've just been drawn to a lot more adult fiction this year. I wanted to check out some of Robin's work after I discovered As I Descended, which is one of my most anticipated releases of 2016, and then I stumbled across her debut novel, Lies We Tell Ourselves, and just had to read it.

I haven't read many books set during the '50s - if any - so it was refreshing to read about a time period I don't stray into that often; I love historical fiction, but I'm drawn to earlier history much more than modern history, mainly because of my lifelong love of the Tudors. I also very rarely read books in which racial issues are such a focal point; again, this is not something I do out of choice, but something that just kind of... happens. The only books I can pluck from the top of my head that deal directly with racial issues are Malorie Blackman's Noughts & Crosses and Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and I've loved them both, so I guess that's proof that I should read more books like this one.

Lies We Tell Ourselves is difficult to read in the best kind of way. Does that make sense? The racism and abuse and outright cruelty that Sarah and her fellow black students, and the black population in general, face is sickening. It's awful to know that people were treated this way (and that, in some places, they still are) but stories like this one are so important. It's so important for us to remember the difficulties some people faced, and still face, purely because of the colour of their skin. I will never understand racism - I never want to understand racism - and I hope one day we'll see the day when colour no longer matters. If any of you think racism is a thing of the past, I implore you to open your eyes.

I really enjoyed Robin Talley's writing, particularly the sections in which Sarah thought about her relationship with God and whether or not God meant to make her feel the way she feels, whether the Bible says there's anything wrong with women loving other women, were so touching and beautifully written. To be honest I fell completely in love with Sarah - she's a wonderful heroine, and I just want to give her a hug.

This book also passed the Happy Lesbian Test - hooray! (If you're wondering what the hell I'm talking about, there's a trend in queer stories, whether they're in books, films, or on tv, where lesbian relationships almost always end in disaster. One of the women dies or they split up or one of them realises she's actually straight. It's bullshit.)

There were a few little niggles that meant I couldn't give the novel five stars. For me the ending seemed to wrap up very quickly; I was hoping for more of a climax, more of a 'BANG!'. Instead we were told a lot which was then never realised: for example, I was hoping for more of a confrontation between Linda and her awful father. I didn't want to see her getting hurt, but she seemed to get away from him very easily considering how hopeless she'd made her situation out to be, though I suppose a lot of Linda's issues were more insular than anything else.

I could also totally understand why Linda had feelings for Sarah, my little cherub, but I couldn't always understand why Sarah had feelings for Linda. I appreciated the idea that Sarah could argue with her and feel more like herself, and I really appreciated that Talley didn't write Linda as a super special snowflake who had none of her father's beliefs; she's had her father's views imposed on her all her life and people don't change their beliefs overnight. But she is racist. There's no denying that. Linda is racist and her racism gets people hurt. She does change her views - which is also an important message, because everyone makes mistakes and everyone deserves the opportunity to be given the time to develop and change their views; I said some stupid things when I was 18, too - but she is a racist when Sarah develops feelings for her, and though it wasn't entirely unbelievable I sometimes had a difficult time understanding why Sarah found her attractive in more than just a physical way when some of the things that came pouring out of her mouth were so ignorant and hurtful.

Ultimately, however, this is a brilliant debut novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I flew through it and I'm really looking forward to reading more of Talley's work!

This Week in Books | 16/09/15

This week I'm joining in with Lipsy @ Lipsyy Lost & Found to talk about the books I've been reading recently!

NOW: Right now I'm reading Robin Talley's debut novel, Lies We Tell Ourselves, set in 1959 Virginia where, for the first time, black students are being admitted to a previously all-white high school. It's tough to read. I'm really enjoying it so far, but it's so awful to know that black people were treated this way and that, in some places, they still are. I don't think I'm ever going to understand racism, and I don't want to, but stories like this one are so important. It's also an LGBT* novel, so our protagonists have homophobia to deal with too. 

THEN: My copy of Saga, Vol.5 arrived yesterday so I read it last night and now I have to wait for the next volume. Le sigh. I enjoyed it, I love this story and the art so I'm always going to enjoy it, but it felt a lot more bleak than some of the other volumes. Obviously this is a story about war so it's never going to be sunshine and rainbows, I just hope it's a story with some sort of happy ending at the end of it all.

NEXT: Continuing on my Sarah Waters binge I think I'm going to pick up Tipping the Velvet next. I recently bought myself the BBC adaptation on DVD but I want to read the book first, plus I've heard it's Waters' most fun novel. If I don't go for this one I may read either Jessie Burton's The Miniaturist or Lucy Ribchester's The Hourglass Factory - they're both debuts I want to cross off my TBR!

What are you reading?