Extra Credit
Besides what you have to read, are you currently face deep in some fun-reading?
Of all the fiction I have read recently, my Postmod faves are:
There, There by Tommy Orange, a novel that weaves Radiohead, Joyce Carol Oates, and Native American cultures together powerfully. It's a mystery around a pow pow in Oakland. It tells stories of displacement - of being exiled from your home and community, forcing you to create new communities of your own, because if you try to return home, there is no there, there. It's gone.
Uzumaki, by Junji Ito, definitely the top Manga that I read this year. I'm relatively new to this genre, so I went with a 2013 classic. It takes place in a Japanese sounding town that has been invaded by spirals. The shape, in Postmodernist Magical Realist style, becomes a fixation, then a menace that deforms the entire community. Nobody raises an eyebrow even though people are bending themselves into spirals or growing new body parts shaped as spirals. It is a deeply unsettling tale. I couldn't sleep for a while after I finished it.
"I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream" by Harlan Ellison, an old short story from 1967 that was pitched to me on YouTube as the most optimistic post-apocalyptic story of humanity ever. The singularity has occurred, and the new master of the cosmos is "AM," an artificial intelligence that HATES humanity. AM takes it out on the few remaining people left. This is a smorgasbord of Postmodern treats.
The Murderbot Diaries, by Martha Wells, the most fun I had with a book series. These are hilarious Postmodern romps through the psyche of a "murderbot" who swears it/she/he/they have no human qualities, then proceeds to demonstrate more humanity than any of the homo sapiens in the story. This is the perfect blend of Postmodern paranoia, black humor, and parody.
I finally finished the "Wheel of Time" series. Hey, it's 14 books. Thanks, KB! I really needed to know how Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World was going to resolve! It's a postmodern blend of fantasy, gritty reality, futuristic dystopia, and folksy love stories. Fabulism was where my postmodern heart was right then...
I also read The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride. This is a mash-up of secret lives, secret wells, and generational joy. I'm still not over the ending. Thank you, Monkey Pants. IYKYK.
Last year I read The Water Dancer, by Ta-Nehisi Coates. He's a well-known nonfiction writer, but this book is a Postmodernist paella of temporal distortion, historiographic metafiction, hyperreality, and black humor. This has magic, Harriet Tubman, and some of the most beautiful prose I have read.
Another book I recently read, coincidentally similar in setting, is The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead. This one does with the legends surrounding America's Underground Railroad what Quentin Tarantino does with the Manson murders in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. It's part gritty history, part fabulism, lots of wish-fulfillment, and all terrific.
Hey hey!! Let’s talk about a book that probably emotionally wrecked you in high school (or at least gave you an identity crisis): The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. It’s one of those books. You know — the kind that’s quiet and weird and honest and makes you rethink every awkward interaction you’ve ever had.
So what’s it about?
Basically, we’re reading letters written by this sweet, sensitive kid named Charlie. He’s starting high school and trying to figure out, well… everything. Friendship, trauma, family, love, mental health, the Rocky Horror Picture Show — it’s all in there. And the twist? We never really know who Charlie is writing to. Just “dear friend.” Which is lowkey poetic and mysterious and very postmodern of him.
But how is this book Postmodern?
Let me break it down, nerds (affectionate):
The format is funky. The whole novel is a series of letters — no chapters, no traditional plot structure. Just Charlie’s raw, unfiltered thoughts. It’s like a diary, but artsier.
The identity crisis is the point. Charlie’s not even sure who he is, and neither are we. Postmodern lit looooves a character with a slippery sense of self.
It references everything. Books, songs, movies — Perks is a mixtape of culture. It doesn’t try to be “original”; it embraces the remix.
Truth is messy. Trauma, memory, and emotion are all tangled. We’re not told everything. Some parts feel more like vibes than facts — and that’s totally on brand for Postmodernism.
So yeah. If you ever felt weird, quiet, too observant, or like the “infinite” moment in a tunnel actually made you feel something?? Perks gets it. And that’s why it’s still such a big deal.
So yeah. If you ever felt weird, quiet, too observant, or like the “infinite” moment in a tunnel actually made you feel something?? Perks gets it. And that’s why it’s still such a big deal.