Extra Credit
Besides what you have to read, are you currently face deep in some fun-reading? Here are some Postmodernist faves of mine.
I'm wrapped up in the "Wheel of Time" series. Thanks, KB! I really need to know how Robert Jordan's The Eye of the World is going to resolve! It's a postmodern blend of fantasy, gritty reality, futuristic dystopia, and folksy love stories. Fabulism is where my postmodern heart is right now...
Last week I finished 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.
Overview: 2nd Thing, 5th period, Heartstopper (Volume 1 & 2), Temporal Distortion and Paranoia.
I've been reading the entire Heartstopper series by Alice Oseman and I'm now working my way through volume 2.
Paranoia
My absolute favorite aspect of Oseman's writing is the perfect representation of the paranoia (postmodernist alert) of being closeted. The constant fear of someone finding out more about you while you're not even sure how you are yet might be the most relatable thing I've ever read
Temporal Distortion
The novel appears to be cute and lighthearted, but the series tackles heavy topics such as eating disorders, sexual assault, and bullying. Oseman tackles these topics by utilizing temporal distortion throughout the series that serves as a way of leaving bread-crumbs leading up to where the character is now, until finally you're able to connect all the puzzle pieces.
The representation in the book is absolutely phenomenal. I read the book before the Netflix series came out, and both times knocked it out of the park. It's relatable, funny, cute, aggravating, and pretty gay and those are my favorite things in a book.