2-News

6 — Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

BOOK REVIEW

MUSIC REVIEW

Daily Arts on ‘Shuggie Bain’ and the Booker shortlist

Kali Uchis shines on debut Latin album ‘Sin Miedo’

WINNER: Douglas Stuart, ‘Shuggie 

Bain’

“Shuggie Bain” is a novel that is quick 

to overwhelm the reader with its vivid 
and frequent depictions of tragedy, 
though in an unsustainable fashion. The 
reader immediately becomes emotionally 
invested in the broken family dynamics of 
alcoholic mother Agnes and her young son 
Shuggie Bain. However, just as Agnes’s 
processing of events is numbed by her 
incessant drinking and Shuggie’s by a 
childlike lack of understanding, the reader 
must, too, prevent themselves from being 
vulnerable and taking in the full force of 
the family’s misfortunes. Stuart does not 
give the reader a chance to come up for 
air between each chapter’s perils, so they 
have no choice but to distance themselves 
from each emotionally taxing misstep that 
they vicariously live through.

Perhaps if the committee selecting 

the Booker Prize winner is particularly 
mentally strong and willing to undergo 
the struggles Agnes and Shuggie face 
without shielding their eyes in the process, 
they will find “Shuggie Bain” moving and 
worthy of the prize. But if their reading of 
the novel resembles mine, then Stuart’s 
relentless 
creation 
of 
traumatizing 

obstacles for its protagonists will leave 
them needing a break rather than giving 
praise.

— Andrew Pluta, Daily Book Review 

Editor

OUR WINNER: Diane Cook, ‘The 

New Wilderness’

Diane Cook’s “The New Wilderness” is 

a beautiful tale of survival, motherhood 
and human nature that has a fighting 
chance of winning this year’s Booker 
Prize. The novel explores a dystopian 
reality where the overcrowded City can 
no longer sustain its inhabitants and only 
a lucky few are able to escape by joining a 
survival study in the Wilderness State. 

Cook masterfully examines group 

dynamics, mother-daughter relationships 
and power struggles in her debut novel. 
“The New Wilderness” feels both timely 
and timeless, warning of the effects 
of overcrowding and pollution while 
exploring classic themes of man in nature 
and the subtleties of human interaction. 
For a beautifully written, well-researched 
and utterly engrossing novel, author Diane 
Cook deserves the 2020 Booker Prize.

— Emma Doettling, Daily Arts Writer

Tsitsi 
Dangarembga, 
‘This 

Mournable Body’

Seen as a staple author in contemporary 

literature, Tsitsi Dangarembga is widely 
known for her 1988 novel “Nervous 
Conditions.” The novel functions as 
the first installment in the trilogy that 
“This Mournable Body,” this year’s 
2020 nominee, bookends. To say that 
Dangarembga is an unskilled writer or 
undeserving of celebration would be in 
bad faith — the writer-activist has written 
groundbreaking works and was recently 
arrested while bravely protesting against 
Zimbabwe’s autocratic crack-down. 

Admittedly, I read this book as a 

standalone from the remainder of the 
trilogy (as it was nominated for the Booker 
Prize). Still, “This Mournable Body” 

feels immensely weak against the rest of 
Dangarembga’s profile. 

Centered on the character of previous 

novels, Tambudzai, “This Mournable 
Body” dissects issues of war trauma, 
gender and a feeling of hopelessness that 
pervades both the novel’s characters 
and setting. Yet, the writing of the novel 
feels both probable and uninspiring. 
Dangarembga flits nonchalantly through 
imprecise metaphors (of hyenas, vines) 
and disposable characters, wrapping the 
book in a sense of confusion. Moments of 
tangible action, which should lock down 
readers’ attention for at least a page, feel 
distantly abstract. Even the moments that 
reveal the greatness of Dangarembga’s 
intentions — the profundity of her message 
that is most visible when one recounts the 
novel’s plot as a whole — feel diluted. Easy 
to speed read, “This Mournable Body” 
is a nominee that seems too safe and too 
unremarkable for the 2020 Booker Prize.

— John Decker, Managing Arts Editor

Maaza Mengiste, ‘The Shadow King’
We at the Daily have placed our bets 

behind Mengiste’s newest novel, “The 
Shadow King’” to win this year’s Booker 
Prize. Covering a lightly fictionalized 
Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Mengiste 
documents 
Mussolini’s 
invasion 
of 

Ethiopia and the people’s resistance. She 
includes multiple perspectives, creating 
a decadent, layered story about violence, 
women and wartime.

Mengiste pulls heavily from Greek 

storytelling influences, even including 
a Greek chorus in her tale of epic fights. 
She effectively rebrands and reframes 
a 1930s conflict into a Homeric myth, 
complete with capricious higher powers, 
irresponsible kings and fighting women. 
Usually, World War II-adjacent literature 
and media focus on the grittiness of 
war, the trenches, and the broken men. 
Mengiste takes a different approach to 
make the war feel real. She dulls the 
everyday traumas, mythologizing to make 
the novel read like a bad memory. Though 
softened by time, the war is still a jagged 
edge: painful, sharp and traumatic. 

Mengiste’s 
technical 
skill 
and 

reinvention of the war genre make her 
a favorite to win. Her lyrical prose and 
consistent storytelling leave nothing to 
be desired, fortifying her already lofty 
chances of becoming the 2020 Booker 
Prize Winner.

— Elizabeth Yoon, Daily Arts Writer

Avni Doshi, ‘Burnt Sugar’
“Burnt Sugar” is unlike anything I’ve 

read before. Shortlisted for the 2020 
Booker Prize, debut author Avni Doshi 
unpacks 
a 
volatile 
mother-daughter 

relationship that often does more harm 
than good. It’s a story that exposes our 
ugly emotions — our biases and flaws — 
and the threads of love that still persist 
in our tangled network of relationships. 
The novel lives and breathes its setting 
— Pune, India — and gives unfamiliar 
readers a new perspective on the bustling 
subcontinent. “Burnt Sugar” is a fantastic, 
quick and captivating read for anyone, but 
especially for those of Indian heritage. 

Will “Burnt Sugar” win the 2020 

Booker Prize? Unlikely. Does it deserve 
to? I think so, but as the daughter of 
Indian immigrants, I’m biased. The novel 
is unique in its piercing and unapologetic 
words. It makes us confront and pick 

apart our own relationships until we’re 
unsettled by our dependency on others. 
Yet, accessibility to Indian culture is a 
roadblock that could cost the novel a 
shot at the prize. Read “Burnt Sugar” for 
the thrill, but don’t expect it to shock the 
world.

— Trina Pal, Daily Arts Writer

Brandon Taylor, ‘Real Life’
“Real Life” is a fascinating character 

study that dissects trauma as it relates 
to race, sexuality and mental health. 
We follow Wallace, a Black, queer PhD 
candidate at a predominately white 
university, as he navigates a number 
of difficult social situations that force 
him to confront his own neuroses. The 
incredibly rich narration Taylor presents 
through Wallace makes the novel’s slow 
pacing more than worthwhile. Wallace’s 
psychological development is allowed to 
unfold naturally; Taylor’s guiding hand 
is nearly invisible for the entirety of the 
novel, letting Wallace’s character speak 
for itself. This book’s likelihood of winning 
depends on the selection committee’s 
priorities. If they seek an experimental, 
groundbreaking story this year, “Real 
Life” won’t fit the bill. No narrative 
technique or device in this novel will blow 
readers away. However, what the novel 
does within its scope, it does extremely 
well. Taylor is modest in his aims, but 
greatly exceeds expectations, creating a 
gut-wrenching story that would certainly 
make for a fantastic Booker Prize winner.

— Sejjad Alkhalby, Daily Arts Writer

THE LONGLIST

Gabriel Krauze, ‘Who They Was’
In the realm of Booker Prize nominees, 

“Who They Was” is like the scrappy, rag-
tag small town team that somehow made 
it to the Regional Championship. You just 
want it to win, even if the odds are stacked 
against it.

The novel is rough around the edges — 

it does not fool the reader into accepting 
a tidy story tied up with a bow. This is a 
work of honesty more than it is a work 
of mastery, but Gabriel Krauze offers up 
skillfully layered narration and emotional 
depth rarely seen in a debut novel.

An unrelenting work of autofiction, 

“Who They Was” grips the reader in its 
tone of fragile apathy towards a violent 
way of life. The story is narrated by 

Snoopz, a young man living a dual life as 
a criminal and a university student — torn 
between two opposing paths.

Krauze compares each person’s life 

to a gigantic column, “you can’t ever see 
all the way around it in one go, so people 
only ever get to see the side that’s in their 
immediate view.” Yet this novel somehow 
captures every side of life all at once — we 
can’t wait to see what Krauze does next.

— Julian Wray, Daily Arts Writer

Hillary Mantel, ‘The Mirror and The 

Light’

Hilary Mantel, two-time winner of 

the Booker Prize, brings her critically 
acclaimed Wolf Hall series to an end that’s 
almost as decisive as the execution that 
kicks off the final installment of the series. 
“The Mirror and the Light,” more than 
anything, is the culmination of an 11-year 
character study of Thomas Cromwell, one 
of the closest confidantes of Henry VIII, a 
king best known for his six marriages that 
sparked the English Reformation. The 
novel covers Cromwell’s final years, before 
he was beheaded in 1540 for spurious 
charges of treason against the king. 

Though “The Mirror” is the third book 

in Mantel’s series, the strength of its well-
developed and fleshed out characters help 
this novel stand on its own. Cromwell’s 
hopes and fears are palpable, as Mantel’s 
focus constantly circles back around to 
the litany of enemies he’s made on his 
climb to the top. The resulting profound 
sense of unease not only unseats the 
reader, it also plunges them deeper into 
the experience. Mantel capitalizes on 
the dread that the knowledge of history 
brings, and spends the novel building this 
tension up. She weaponizes the stress 
resulting from waiting for the other shoe 
to drop, and peppers the experience with 
heartfelt moments between the reader 
and Cromwell, endearing him further 
before his untimely death. Though “The 
Mirror and the Light” may not have made 
the shortlist for the Booker Prize this year, 
the legacy of Mantel’s Cromwell trilogy 
will certainly remain.

— Tate Lafrenier, Daily Arts Writer

Colum McCann, ‘Apeirogon’
“Apeirogon”’ by Colum McCann is a 

literary feat of storytelling. Its story, based 
on the true tale of an Israeli father and a 
Palestinian father, both of whom violently 
lose their daughters, sneaks up on you. 

Very little of the novel is chronological 
narration; instead, McCann offers the 
reader 
small 
pieces 
of 
information 

until the picture is complete, and then 
he continues to fill it in. His masterful 
prose is poetic in style and flexible for 
the innovative format of the book — over 
one thousand “chapters,” most less than 
one page long. He combines meticulous 
research with lyrical language in a way 
that seeps every page in raw emotion — a 
difficult task for a book that is over 450 
pages. McCann does not shy away from 
the length, or the distinctive storytelling 
style; instead, he embraces it. He uses 
the freedom that his chosen format 
gives him to tell a story in a new way, 
not chronologically, but emotionally. He 
reconstructs the experience of grief and 
mirrors the emotions of the fathers, by 
telling the story in such a scattershot way. 
Deeply moving, emotionally exhausting 
and literarily accomplished, “Apeirogon” 
captures the soul of its characters within 
its pages — and perhaps within the heart 
of the reader, as well.

— Emilia Ferrante, Daily Arts Writer

Kiley Reid, ‘Such a Fun Age’
Kiley Reid’s debut novel “Such a Fun 

Age” is predictably included on the 
2020 Booker Prize longlist. It received 
almost immediate recognition upon its 
publication — a trend that hasn’t faltered 
yet. 

“Such a Fun Age” explores the 

transactional 
relationship 
between 

a white blogger, Alix, and her Black 
babysitter, Emira. The book opens with 
a family emergency that prompts Alix to 
call for Emira’s service late one night and 
ends with a security guard accusing Emira 
of kidnapping Alix’s daughter. The effects 
of this incident stir different anxieties 
in both the women as well as larger 
discussions of race, privilege and class. 

Despite Reid’s ability to genuinely 

portray the broken systems that drive the 
character’s actions, while simultaneously 
challenging the reader’s own biases, the 
story is undermined by the emotional 
distance perpetrated by the overlapping 
narratives and artificial dialogue. These 
imperfections slow the pace of the novel 
and emphasize its abrupt ending. The 
novel provokes significant discussion, but 
its issues of progression keep it from being 
Booker Prize quality.

— Lilly Pearce, Daily Arts Writer

DAILY BOOK REVIEW

Daily Arts Writers

THE BOOKER PRIZE COMMITTEE

Kali Uchis wants you to know that 

a language barrier doesn’t prevent you 
from enjoying her music. 

Earlier this month, the 26-year-

old 
Colombian 
American 
singer 

released her first Spanish-language 
album, Sin Miedo (del Amor y Otros 
Demonios). Though highly anticipated 
by the majority of her fanbase, 
some English-speaking fans voiced 
their apprehension for the project 
— they felt it would fail to remain 
relatable and personally meaningful 
in a different language. Seemingly 
in response to these concerns, Uchis 
tweeted with the release of single “la 
luz” in October, “today i drop another 
song in spanish which i know means 
another day of disappointment for my 
english speaking fans who do not wish 
to make the attempt to listen to music 
in languages they can’t understand.” 
Despite the R&B princess’ unabashed 
celebration of Latin language and 
culture on prior projects like Por Vida 
(2015) and Isolation (2018), many of her 
American listeners are still resistant 
to 
embracing 
foreign-language 

music. It represents a larger issue in 
our industry, which though steadily 
diversifying, has only just warmed 

up to breakout multilingual acts like 
Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny and 
Korean boy band BTS. On Sin Miedo, 
Uchis reminds us that good music 
transcends these bounds of language. 

Known for her sultry California-

glam aesthetic, Uchis’ lush vocals feel 
right at home on her latest project. Yet 
opener “la luna enamorada” may be 
surprising to some fans, both for Uchis’ 
uncharacteristically 
deep 
register 

and the song’s bolero-style structure. 
Bolero, a type of slow-tempo music 
first popularized in 19th century Cuba, 
is just one of many different Latin 
genres that make an appearance on the 
album. “la luna enamorada” sets the 
tone for the rest of the project, as Uchis 
presents the listener with a microcosm 

of modern Latin music, incorporating 
everything from reggaetón to bachata 
into the soulful R&B pop that made 
Uchis famous. 

With the project’s release in mid-

November, Uchis tweeted, “this album 
is full of so many genres that made my 
childhood & i am very proud of its range 
of emotions & nostalgia. i hope it brings 
you any bit of the joy it has brought 
me.” Growing up in both Alexandria, 
Virginia and Pereira, Colombia, Uchis 
has fully embraced her multicultural 
upbringing 
on 
Sin 
Miedo, 
citing 

influences like Panamanian reggaetón 
group La Factoría and Cuban bolero 
singer La Lupe.

Her 
ability 
to 
master 
both 

traditional Latin sounds and newly 
developing ones is further testament to 
Uchis’ artistic growth since Isolation. 
She gives us a velvety cover of “Que 
te pedí,” La Lupe’s most famous work 
from the 1960s, while also infusing 
elements of neoperreo, a burgeoning 
experimental subsect of reggaetón, on 
tracks like “la luz(Fín)” and “te pongo 
mal(prendalo).” Uchis’ roots in pop 
and R&B are not lost on Sin Miedo 
either, with infectiously fun synth 
ballads “telepatía” and “aguardiente y 
limón” and the luxuriously seductive 
“vaya con dios.” It’s evident that Uchis 
is becoming a savant of a variety 
of different sounds, all the while 

developing a self-assured voice absent 
on earlier works like Por Vida. 

On the track “¡aquí yo mando!” 

Uchis makes her inviolable confidence 
known with the help of a bilingual 
feature from rapper Rico Nasty. Uchis 
declares on the song’s chorus, “Mando, 
aquí yo mando, si quieres conmigo 
vete acostumbrando,” translating in 
English to, “I command, here I call the 
shots, if you want to be with me get used 
to it.” Gone are the “Loner”-era days of 
solitude and introversion in love. On 
Sin Miedo, Uchis now demands respect 
not only in her relationships but in the 
ranks of American R&B stardom. Even 
Uchis’ vocal range has flourished since 
her last project, with soul-clenching 
contraltos on “la luna enamorada” and 
shimmering high notes on tracks like 
“vaya con dios.” Uchis invites you to 
kindly refrain from putting her in any 
type of box, a clear departure from 
earlier days of consistently marketable 
mainstream hits. 

In honor of Uchis truly owning her 

sound on Sin Miedo, its production 
presents a refreshing switch-up from 
her previous works. Puerto Rican 
producer Tainy, who’s churned out 
mega hits for Latin talents like J 
Balvin and Daddy Yankee, shines 
through on the record (in major 
contrast to the industry heavy-hitters 
that have collected production credits 

on Por Vida and Isolation). In much 
of Uchis’ older music, underlying 
influences from collaborators like 
Tyler the Creator and Kevin Parker 
have peeked through and, at times, 
drowned out her own voice. Yet on her 
latest release, Uchis has fully taken 
the reins, refusing to bend to the will 
of what popular American culture is 
comfortable with. While Sin Miedo 
places less emphasis on storytelling 
and vulnerable lyricism than Isolation, 
it remains a deeply personal work 
by embracing the elements of Uchis’ 
sonically diverse adolescence. 

Sin Miedo is by all accounts a 

success for Uchis, widening her career 
trajectory and proving that the artist is 
able to charm listeners in both English 
and Spanish. Never does Uchis dilute 
her Latin roots in an effort to appeal to 
American audiences, instead injecting 
these cultural foundations with the 
ethereal candy-colored elegance that 
earned her popularity in the first 
place. Whether you’re fluent or relying 
on Google Translate to understand 
Uchis’ words, Sin Miedo reminds us 
that in expanding our musical palettes 
to include multilingual works, we are 
opened up to a whole new world of 
beautiful art.

Daily Arts Writer Nora Lewis can be 

reached at noralew@umich.edu

NORA LEWIS
Daily Arts Writer

Her ability to master 
both traditional Latin 

sounds and newly 
developing ones is 
further testament to 
Uchis’ artistic growth