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Theory of Bastards - Q2: Book Structure
Theory of bastards is separated into three starkly different sections - The Setup, The Sandstorm, and The Aftermath. The Setup involves getting to know the main characters - Frankie, Stotts, and the Bonobo tribe, Mama, Goliath, Touch, Houdina, and the rest. The Sandstorm concentrates on keeping the Bonobo tribe alive through the ordeal, with the ramping up of sexual tension between Frankie and Stotts. The Aftermath deals with the widespread destruction of civilization and the escape of the Bonobo to freedom.
Was this all believable? How did it all work? Why do you think the author chose to follow the path she took?
Comments
I thought Setup and Sandstorm both worked very well. I wasn't so convinced by Aftermath. I don't know that area of the USA at all, but it didn't seem credible to me that they could travel all that distance and not even encounter a decent size town, let alone a city. Where did everybody go?
It felt to me as though the author had worked out a superb plot premise and early development, but had no real idea or enthusiasm for writing a conclusion. So in that sense I don't think she was interested in writing a novel as such, but more interested in putting out particular ideas and seeing how they went down. Given that the ideas were (at least to me) quite fascinating, she got away with it.
I think the Aftermath was there to show how the bonobos and humans formed a single community. After all, Schulman is trying to say that Frankie takes the place of Mama as the group's matriarch.
As a story, I don't think it makes a great deal of sense. As a pop-science book it does. It 's also a work that makes a statement about how humans and apes are much more similar than different.
That last is very true!
I don’t think Shulman was trying to show that Frankie became the matriarch. Actually, she specifically mentioned another Bonobo starting to fill that role toward the end.
And I got the sense that although humans and apes could co-exist for a time, they could never really integrate.
Anyway, the 3-act structure was fine. Some aspects didn’t really make sense to me, like the chimp attack that killed mama felt totally contrived. I assumed they were avoiding the most densely populated areas as they move, but in any case, these might not have existed in this dust bowl future Midwest. But that raises another doubt - why build an ape sanctuary in the Midwest, where all the food needed is scarce? Why not in the Florida keys, for example, where you could at least grow your own mangoes.
Hurricanes?
Agreed - the proposed biological theory made sense and I could believe that it was based on an extrapolation of current research, but there didn't seem to be any parallels between that and other parts of the story.