Prehive Book Rant

Posted by Madison

About the author of Tangerine: Christine Mangan was born in Detroit, raised in Long Island, New York, and North Carolina, and currently lives in Brooklyn. She received her PHD in English from University College Dublin, where her thesis focused on 18th century Gothic literature. Tangerine is her first novel. (From the publisher.) 

What are the effects of beginning a novel with an unreliable narrator? 

The chapters alternate between Alice and Lucy. What effect does this have? Could it have been told from one perspective and achieved the same feeling? I read one review that suggested it could have been told from Lucy's point of view alone, but I think the way it's written makes the book that much more disorienting. Alice and Lucy are clearly opposites, but their voices are sometimes written in a way that makes you double-check the name at the beginning of the chapter. The blending of this was intentional, I think, to make the reader question the reliability of both narrators.  One of the main questions is whether Alice’s paranoia is real or not. I have a feeling doctors of the time would call her hysterical. 

Tangier becomes a character in the novel. Youssef tells Lucy, “If you are looking for a place that makes sense, I feel I must provide this warning—you will be disappointed.”  In what way does Tangier enhance the plot? In many ways this reminds me of A Passage to India or Paul Bowles' The Sheltering Sky, both travel narratives that explore Other with a capital O by comparing Western and Eastern societies. 

The story is set in the 1950's at a time when it wasn’t acceptable for same-sex relationships or for women to exist much outside the kitchen. Based on era alone, the book begins with feelings of claustrophobia and shame. On top of this, we're transported to Tangier, a place even less progressive than the United States, during a time the French still ruled Morocco. Alice is terrified of Tangier and has panic attacks every time she thinks about leaving the house. Meanwhile, Lucy goes out on her own and explores the city (wearing trousers instead of a dress)! Both are outsiders but one of them embraces this, a nod to Youssef's distinction between tourist and traveler. 
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