More Discussion Questions for “Cleaving”

February 8, 2015 | Comments Off on More Discussion Questions for “Cleaving”

'The_Butcher's_Shop',_oil_on_canvas_painting_by_Annibale_Carracci

(The Butcher’s Shop by Annibale Carraci, via Wikimedia Commons)

1. Did any part of Cleaving make you cringe?  And in what way, if any, do you think cringe-iness relates to oversharing?  For example, I found myself cringing at Powell’s repeated Buffy the Vampire Slayer references.  On the one hand, I could easily blame this on my dislike for this particular television show (…with apologies to any Buffy fans in the class). On the other, this is a classic overshare–revealing the wrong information (bad TV habits) in the wrong context (published memoir intending to deal with relatively serious topics).

2. Particularly in the context of a memoir, can a writer ever “win” when responding to critics? New York Times book reviewer Christine Muhlke, for example, calls the travel section of the memoir ” a 100-page exercise in self-indulgent writing, in which she dwells on how attractive the locals find her and how much Malbec, Cognac or goat’s blood she can drink.” Powell’s Slate piece seemingly doubles down on the very things that critics took issue with, like being too revealing and too self involved.  What purpose does this serve for Powell?  For critics? For readers?

3. Cleaving intends to be explicitly revealing in on several topics:  marriage, infidelity, sex, butchery, travel.  Are there themes on which Powell does not perhaps intend to be revealing where the memoir presents uncomfortable information?  In what ways should the reader negotiate this information?  Is it fair game for criticism?

(Post by Kathy Cacace)


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