Great piece. I admit I’ve been biased against this book because all the trendy lit people like it. I will give it a shot at some point now.
Also, this is pedantic, but I think relevant to the interpretation of the ending so I’ll mention it. “Je viens” means I’m coming, not I’m going. Since we would only say “I’m coming” to a person who is in the location we’re coming to, Denoon in this case, it creates the feeling that she is going to back to Tsau and that mentally she’s already there. If she had said I’m going, it’s less strong imo, because she’s still speaking to the reader and hasn’t mentally placed herself in Tsau. Of course there’s also the fact that the book is in English but Rush has put this line in French, which presents other interpretations. Not having read the book I don’t know what the significance of her speaking French is. The sexual meaning of coming is the same for “je viens” so that’s another layer, too.
Oh that is great info. Being an uncultured swine I had to use google translate and I must have just misremembered but the real version is much stronger.
And yes I was biased against it for similar reasons lol, or at least skeptical in my approach. I suppose I am just a temporarily embarrassed trendy kit person at the end of the day.
Lovely ending, fitting for the novel. I actually think Mortals might clock Mating on several fronts. I'm very much in the minority here. Mating is in the end something of a rousing book. It's a novel of the beginnings of love and the terrors of its continuance, and the final page is a defibrillator smacked to the chest. Mortals is more about endings. It's fat and heavy and sad. I think it's interesting that Updike hated it.
Also, Denoon and Karen make a single brief appearance (for people saying Denoon sucks, well, he gets a kind of scorching comeuppance).
Our tastes just have diabolical amounts of overlap! If you read Mortals and don't end up writing about it (this would be foolish) hit me up to discuss.
Mortals also has some of the best chapter titles of all time. One of them, towards the end, feels devastatingly childish, especially given the context (you'll see). It's also redolent of my distilled response to any great work of literature: I Want to Go Up There.
The Bellovian connection goes undiscussed, but Rush is very much an inheritor of Bellow's mantle (by way of Nabokov). Mating could be seen as a response to, or radical revision of, Henderson.
It synthesizes its influences really well without being too obvious about it. Henry Oliver's essay on Mating was all about its relationship w/ Naipaul. Also Doris Lessing. There's a very funny line in Mating that I assume is meant as a wry tribute that's something like, if a man tells you his favorite book is The Golden Notebook, you are dealing with a liar sent directly from hell.
I love the gusto of this, and your writing is always so good. I especially appreciated the moment of utopian ickfulness.
I don't think I would like *Mating* as much as you like *Mating* (please note the title case and my attempt at italics), but I do like this review. Also Botswana. I need to give Norman Rush a try.
Very nice piece. Was just thinking I needed to venture into my book-clotted attic and dig it out to finally read it. Perhaps this is the impetus I need. Makes me wonder if you have ever read the beloved-by-a-similar-class-but-for-good-reason Possession?
This post is 100% true to the experience of reading Mating but I feel like the fundamental problem with the way the book makes you feel is that Denoon is fucking terrible. And I don't think that's an antagonistic reading… I think he is presented as terrible! I'm never quite able to resolve this lol
Yeah, but I sorta felt like part of the thing the book's trying to convey is how love captures us in irrational ways. The narrator's clearly really smart and reflective, and yet she kinda caves right away for Denoon and then goes on a quest across the desert and almost dies just to give it a shot. I feel like we can all relate to falling for someone who, on further thought, is neither good or good for us, but the heart wants what it wants, which gives her journey an interesting tension as she tries to intellectualize an unjustifiable passion, only to eventually have the project shown to be untenable.
Yeah, I think it's just sort of textual that Denoon is a bully and a bit of an intellectual fraud, etc. The narrator is so charming that we are I think a bit in love with her, and I find her thoughts about love very moving, but I don't think her relationship actually matches what she says she wants. So when I'm reading the book I feel charmed and when I'm not reading it I feel… kind of angry lol.
For the other side, though, I went on a podcast to argue with Becca about Mating a couple years ago. She is pro-Denoon and does not think he's fucking terrible: https://manifesto.fireside.fm/55
I think that Rush's next book, Mortals, is a dissection of the dark side of the Mating relationship—it's a different couple but I think it basically is about what might happen in a relationship in the long term if the couple is linked by having great sex and good conversation and a level of one-sided adoration but not much else. I kind of prefer it as a book though Mating is much more fun to read.
This makes me want to read Mating, as I stare down the barrel of my 32nd birthday. Will come back and read the final section when I do. It’s been a minute since I’ve felt enraptured by a novel like you describe.
I have a copy of this book. So many good ones, so little time. Maybe I will move this up in the queue. Saying it may be your favorite book of all time is a consideration. I skipped the last section. No spoilers for me, thanks.
Good writeup. I didn't quite pick up on the fork-in-the-road ending where she might've gone back, so I read it as a more cynical novel, but the possibility of her going back is intriguing (my understanding is more of that world is fleshed out in some of his other work, which I haven't gotten to). I still do think there's something depressing to the narrative though, mainly the way it becomes clear that Denoon's loves have a sort of cyclical nature, with every current lover eventually realizing it's over and setting up her own replacement, which I think fits with (what I read as) Denoon's political pessimism. Maybe I need to read more of him to get a sense of his authorial intent, and maybe I need to be in love to not find a book so obsessed with love less tedious, but as it stands the book didn't quite click for me, but it at least didn't click in an interesting way that I'd be willing to give a second chance at some point in the future.
It's five in the morning and LA is up and litposting. Great piece!
Great piece. I admit I’ve been biased against this book because all the trendy lit people like it. I will give it a shot at some point now.
Also, this is pedantic, but I think relevant to the interpretation of the ending so I’ll mention it. “Je viens” means I’m coming, not I’m going. Since we would only say “I’m coming” to a person who is in the location we’re coming to, Denoon in this case, it creates the feeling that she is going to back to Tsau and that mentally she’s already there. If she had said I’m going, it’s less strong imo, because she’s still speaking to the reader and hasn’t mentally placed herself in Tsau. Of course there’s also the fact that the book is in English but Rush has put this line in French, which presents other interpretations. Not having read the book I don’t know what the significance of her speaking French is. The sexual meaning of coming is the same for “je viens” so that’s another layer, too.
Oh that is great info. Being an uncultured swine I had to use google translate and I must have just misremembered but the real version is much stronger.
And yes I was biased against it for similar reasons lol, or at least skeptical in my approach. I suppose I am just a temporarily embarrassed trendy kit person at the end of the day.
It’s worth reading A Bend in the River as a companion novel to Mating.
Lovely ending, fitting for the novel. I actually think Mortals might clock Mating on several fronts. I'm very much in the minority here. Mating is in the end something of a rousing book. It's a novel of the beginnings of love and the terrors of its continuance, and the final page is a defibrillator smacked to the chest. Mortals is more about endings. It's fat and heavy and sad. I think it's interesting that Updike hated it.
Also, Denoon and Karen make a single brief appearance (for people saying Denoon sucks, well, he gets a kind of scorching comeuppance).
You've read everything! Yeah Mortals sounds really my speed, I can't wait to read it.
Our tastes just have diabolical amounts of overlap! If you read Mortals and don't end up writing about it (this would be foolish) hit me up to discuss.
Mortals also has some of the best chapter titles of all time. One of them, towards the end, feels devastatingly childish, especially given the context (you'll see). It's also redolent of my distilled response to any great work of literature: I Want to Go Up There.
The Bellovian connection goes undiscussed, but Rush is very much an inheritor of Bellow's mantle (by way of Nabokov). Mating could be seen as a response to, or radical revision of, Henderson.
It synthesizes its influences really well without being too obvious about it. Henry Oliver's essay on Mating was all about its relationship w/ Naipaul. Also Doris Lessing. There's a very funny line in Mating that I assume is meant as a wry tribute that's something like, if a man tells you his favorite book is The Golden Notebook, you are dealing with a liar sent directly from hell.
I love the gusto of this, and your writing is always so good. I especially appreciated the moment of utopian ickfulness.
I don't think I would like *Mating* as much as you like *Mating* (please note the title case and my attempt at italics), but I do like this review. Also Botswana. I need to give Norman Rush a try.
Very nice piece. Was just thinking I needed to venture into my book-clotted attic and dig it out to finally read it. Perhaps this is the impetus I need. Makes me wonder if you have ever read the beloved-by-a-similar-class-but-for-good-reason Possession?
No, but I've been meaning to! It's on my shelf right now.
I don't mean to suggest it will be as good for you as Mating, or anything, but it is somewhat of a similar vein, and very, very good in my opinion.
Mating was a right place-right time-right book scenario that one can't expect to happen too often, but very very good is certainly good enough for me.
This post is 100% true to the experience of reading Mating but I feel like the fundamental problem with the way the book makes you feel is that Denoon is fucking terrible. And I don't think that's an antagonistic reading… I think he is presented as terrible! I'm never quite able to resolve this lol
Yeah, but I sorta felt like part of the thing the book's trying to convey is how love captures us in irrational ways. The narrator's clearly really smart and reflective, and yet she kinda caves right away for Denoon and then goes on a quest across the desert and almost dies just to give it a shot. I feel like we can all relate to falling for someone who, on further thought, is neither good or good for us, but the heart wants what it wants, which gives her journey an interesting tension as she tries to intellectualize an unjustifiable passion, only to eventually have the project shown to be untenable.
I got that vibe a bit even from this review. And, to be honest, the first block quote gave me pause!
Yeah, I think it's just sort of textual that Denoon is a bully and a bit of an intellectual fraud, etc. The narrator is so charming that we are I think a bit in love with her, and I find her thoughts about love very moving, but I don't think her relationship actually matches what she says she wants. So when I'm reading the book I feel charmed and when I'm not reading it I feel… kind of angry lol.
For the other side, though, I went on a podcast to argue with Becca about Mating a couple years ago. She is pro-Denoon and does not think he's fucking terrible: https://manifesto.fireside.fm/55
Oh dang, this is perfect! I picked up Mating on Rothfeld's rec in her book last year, so curious to hear some other takes!
I think that Rush's next book, Mortals, is a dissection of the dark side of the Mating relationship—it's a different couple but I think it basically is about what might happen in a relationship in the long term if the couple is linked by having great sex and good conversation and a level of one-sided adoration but not much else. I kind of prefer it as a book though Mating is much more fun to read.
On paper, Mating shouldn't work on any level, it's just too high concept for its own good...and yet it's brilliant!
“But what about Jews?” is a frequent thought I have
This makes me want to read Mating, as I stare down the barrel of my 32nd birthday. Will come back and read the final section when I do. It’s been a minute since I’ve felt enraptured by a novel like you describe.
I have a copy of this book. So many good ones, so little time. Maybe I will move this up in the queue. Saying it may be your favorite book of all time is a consideration. I skipped the last section. No spoilers for me, thanks.
I'm sold!
Good writeup. I didn't quite pick up on the fork-in-the-road ending where she might've gone back, so I read it as a more cynical novel, but the possibility of her going back is intriguing (my understanding is more of that world is fleshed out in some of his other work, which I haven't gotten to). I still do think there's something depressing to the narrative though, mainly the way it becomes clear that Denoon's loves have a sort of cyclical nature, with every current lover eventually realizing it's over and setting up her own replacement, which I think fits with (what I read as) Denoon's political pessimism. Maybe I need to read more of him to get a sense of his authorial intent, and maybe I need to be in love to not find a book so obsessed with love less tedious, but as it stands the book didn't quite click for me, but it at least didn't click in an interesting way that I'd be willing to give a second chance at some point in the future.