You're right, Handeland does specifically say that Jimmy and Liz are not all white, although they do not know what their backgrounds are exactly. However, there is nothing other than a couple of references to darker-than-your-average-white-person's skin color to make the reader consider them anything else. Handeland may have intended the characters' race to be ambiguous, but she *coded* them as white when she wrote them, if that makes any sense. It's as though they are "white plus."

From what the reader is told, there's no way of knowing what that "something else, not white" in these character's backgrounds may be. And yes, just because Handeland has mentioned that Liz Phoenix has dark brown hair with reddish highlights down to her ass before she cuts it all off doesn't mean she's white. Just because she has blue eyes doesn't mean she's white. Just because Jimmy's last name is Sanducci and his father is definitely Italian doesn't mean he's white. I know all that, I see it every day in my own family. And yet I got zero sense reading this book that these characters saw themselves as anything other than white-- they simply acknowledge that it is unlikely that white is all they are. The "something else" seems to be irrelevant to how they live their lives. The people they identify with are not the black characters or the native american. How can I tell? Well, one clue is that race is not explicitly mentioned for white American characters, but is mentioned for everyone else. Handeland is no different from most mainstream authors in this. So I stand by the parts in my review where I brought up the Magical Negro stereotype and referred to the main character as white, even though technically it may not be true.

posted by redheaddread at 5:36 pm (EST) on Oct 6, 2008

Yep, I think you got it. I knew that couldn't be you since you're so active on the BM thread over here.

posted by retropelocin at 6:55 pm (EST) on Sep 24, 2008

Hi Maggie,

Just wanted to let you know that your BM link takes me to a member who hasn't been active in over 500 days. I'm guessing that's not you.

posted by retropelocin at 10:48 pm (EST) on Sep 23, 2008