We were supposed to read this book as the first in our "novel to film" round, but as luck would have it (or rather, lack of luck), none of us could get our hands on a copy in time, so we moved on to the next book on the list. I was still interested in reading this book, however, so I kept it on my library queue and read it after I was done with the bookclub book of the month.I had seen the film with Denzel Washington, so I was vaguely familiar with Carter's story, but after now having read the novel, I see that the film definitely left out a lot of the events of his life in order to make a more sympathetic character out of Carter. You don't see Denzel Washington mugging people (or at least that I can remember...I'm going to netflix it so that I can refresh my memory...)
Considering that the novel is a memoir more than a biography, I couldn't help but question some of the things that Carter tells us. I'm not saying that I don't believe Carter's story to a certain extent because I know that racism plays an big part in the relations between many different ethnicities, but it seems that every time something happens to him, he blames it on the prejudice of others. He never seems to take responsibility for his own behavior (which includes mugging and robbing people) and instead tries to justify his actions by constantly reminding you of the circumstances of what most, if not all, Black people during that time were going through. Not everyone made the same choices that he did.
As for the murders that he was given the life sentences for, I believe him when he says that he didn't commit those crimes, if only because his life seemed to be going in a completely different direction than most of his life was heading and he seems to be on the right path. Married with a child on the way, a career that was flourishing...he'd have had to be an idiot to mess that up.
I found the novel to be an interesting read (especially since my dad grew up in Paterson and my grandmother still lives there...I was even able to picture some of the places that Carter mentions) and I was definitely intrigued by Carter, but I don't think that I ever allowed myself to truly open up to Carter. Perhaps that was because I never felt like he was able to truly open up to us...his audience.
Has anyone else read this novel? What were your thoughts? Do you think that Carter was able to give an objective view of his own life?
1 comment:
I haven't read The 16th Round, but I think the point you raised about him blaming the bad things that happened to him to on racism is interesting. I recently finished reading the novel Push by Sapphire and the character in the novel goes through a lot crappy things; she believes her life would be better if she were white/light-skinned and rich (since society seems to value these attributes).
Part of me feels that it’s too easy to blame the awful things that happen to black women like Precious or black men like Rubin Carter on racism. But another part of me feels that many African-Americans have had to face an awful lot of racism in their lives (some on a daily basis) for many years. So I can understand why they might point to it when things go wrong or they make bad choices –does it make it right, maybe not, but I can see why they might do it. Nice reading your perspective on the book. Hoping I’ll get to it soon!
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