Reviews for Minor characters

The average rating for Minor characters based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2013-04-21 00:00:00 Jonathan Dorval If I weren't taking a class about the Beat Generation right now, I probably would never have even been told about this book, much less read it. And that would really have been a tragedy, because very shortly after starting this book I found myself hooked. I was supposed to speed read it in just a week, but I found myself captivated. I couldn't rush through it, only gleaning the information I would need for whatever upcoming paper or discussion I would be taking part of. Instead I read this book slowly, enjoying it only at moments when I was most relaxed. I allowed myself to fall deeply into the world that Joyce Johnson recreates in her memoir. And I found myself attaching to the characters almost against my will. I'll be honest: there is no love lost between me and the Beats. As much as I appreciate their writing for the literary value, I've never found too much to interest me in the people themselves. After reading entirely too many biographies on various big wigs in the movement, I've gotten somewhat tired of the same stories told by people who are academically removed from the people they are writing about. It is boring, and no one has made any of the writers and their circle come alive for me. That was Joyce Johnson's biggest success here. She brought these characters alive for me and made me feel for them and sympathize with them. I am not one hundred percent sure what the reason is, but I suspect her own love for these people played a large part in my own warming to them. I could see them not just as these detached literary figures, sanctified by generations of hipster kids, but as real people, with real flaws. And instead of those flaws making my distaste for the Beats feel vindicated, they made invited me into the lives of these men and especially the women. And I didn't want to leave. Even though I already knew how the story ended for all these characters, both major and minor, I didn't want the end of the book to come. Even as I rushed headlong toward the end of the narrative, I didn't want to reach that last page. I was hoping that Johnson would finish on the happy notes, or at least the bittersweet ones. But she doesn't hold back. Just as she let us into the lives of these rising stars of literature, she also let us into their downfall--either into anonymity or early death. Or both. In the end I was glad to have read this book. I would definitely recommend it to anyone even remotely interested in the Beats and their hangers-on. But I especially recommend it if you, like me, find yourself unimpressed with the character of the Beats. While this book will not necessarily change your mind, it will give you a deeper understanding of why they were the way they were.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-03-18 00:00:00 Yann Roye Although there are moments of stunning beauty, this book is more often... dull. The nature of life may be fragmentary, but Johnson's swerving changes in direction make for a book whose narrative is confusing and even annoying. This book is three things: it's a memoir of a woman's early life; it's a reflection on women's place in society in the 1950s; and it's a book about the beat generation. I suspect most people who pick it up are interested in the third element. However, as a Beat memoir, I found it disappointing. Johnson's interaction with the major Beat writers is, all told, a bit limited. She gives interesting portraits of those that she knew and attempts to demystify Jack Kerouac, but there are no particularly stunning revelations. As a book about women in the 1950s, it's a more chunky read. Johnson is clear and insightful on the subject of gender and the most memorable passages are those where Joyce navigates what it means to be a woman in society. Her accounts of illegal abortions are particularly vivid. Possibly the best part of the novel is Joyce's relationship with her friend, Elise, who suffered a much more tragic fate. However, Minor Characters is, predominantly, a memoir about an unremarkable young woman. Bear in mind, Johnson doesn't meet Kerouac until halfway through the book. I found much of the content about Joyce's childhood/adolescence incredibly tedious. Also, it's only a part memoir. We don't get to hear what happened to Joyce after her 30th birthday. We also don't get to hear what happened to any of the other "characters" later in life. (Johnson assumes a lot of Beat knowledge from her reader. I'm pretty well-read in that area and even I found myself on wikipedia, looking up information about the players in her story.)