Erin reviewed Machine by Susan Steinberg
Review of 'Machine' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Really quick read. I thought the experimental writing would bother me or be too difficult to parse, but it wasn’t. My sense of the author’s decision to write it how she did was that she wanted it to feel close to stream of consciousness, which I think was effective.
This book covers sexism and class in particular, but sometimes you have to read the subtext to understand that.
The narrator’s parents are definitely cliches, but I get the sense that that’s because this is a teen girl’s perspective on them. Her parents are flat characters to her. I don’t think we’re supposed to think she’s being fair to her mother.
I’m not sure in the end about what happened. Given the scene of intense anger from her brother, it seems possible he murdered the girl. But it’s just as likely to me that she drowned from neglect. I think this …
Really quick read. I thought the experimental writing would bother me or be too difficult to parse, but it wasn’t. My sense of the author’s decision to write it how she did was that she wanted it to feel close to stream of consciousness, which I think was effective.
This book covers sexism and class in particular, but sometimes you have to read the subtext to understand that.
The narrator’s parents are definitely cliches, but I get the sense that that’s because this is a teen girl’s perspective on them. Her parents are flat characters to her. I don’t think we’re supposed to think she’s being fair to her mother.
I’m not sure in the end about what happened. Given the scene of intense anger from her brother, it seems possible he murdered the girl. But it’s just as likely to me that she drowned from neglect. I think this one might be even more interesting on a reread, I might understand more.
It’s definitely a book of privilege, and definitely White privilege. It sort of interrogates that, but maybe not enough? I’d have to give it a reread to consider that, which I might since it’s so short.