Pros: Spencer seems to be a decent writer when not fixated on race.
Cons: Racial stereotypes. Poorly written characters. Text is littered with racist jokes.
The Bottom Line: A Ship Made of Paper is a novel that intends to show the complexities of interracial relationships, but it falls apart due to racial stereotypes.
briankrakow's Full Review: Scott Spencer - A Ship Made of Paper
There is certainly some merit to the idea of exploring the issues involved in an interracial relationship in the modern day. Many people seem to think that racism no longer exists and no one would have a problem with interracial relationships. Scott Spencer's A Ship Made of Paper attempts to put that notion to rest. Sadly, the author only proves this by inadvertently displaying his own racism. Furthermore, any exploration of interracial relationships is further deluded by the questionable circumstances surrounding the relationship.
A Ship Made of Paper tells the story of Daniel, a white middle class attorney who left the allure of his big paying job in New York City after nearly being beaten to death by his African-American defendants. Daniel, who has always had an infatuation with black culture (the book takes great pains to make sure you know this), is now scared of the city and moves to a small town with his white girlfriend Kate and her daughter Ruby. Kate is a writer who is obsessed with the OJ trial, and Ruby thinks of Daniel as her father.
Daniel eventually takes a liking to Iris Davenport, an African-American woman he meets because Kate's daughter and Iris's daughter go to the same nursery school. Iris is in an unhappy marriage and she seems charmed by Daniel's flirtatious advances. Kate is suspicious, but intrigued enough to wait for the situation to play out. And as Daniel and Iris grow closer and closer, their self-destructive behavior begins to affect everyone around them.
It's unclear what the author was going for here. If he was trying to make a statement about the problems faced by entering an interracial relationship, then he fouled that up by conferring adultery upon the situation. The problems faced by Daniel and Iris has nothing to do with the color of their skin and everything to do with the fact that they are cheating on their significant others. It is clear that Spencer never meant to simply discuss the consequences of adultery, for race is at the heart of almost every line of this novel and nearly every character is defined by how well they fit into their own racial stereotypes. Spencer goes to great pains to show that Daniel is different than most white men because he loves the blues, while Iris doesn't want to be rebellious and "fight the man" like her one-dimensional friend from the local college. The book contains fairly explicit sexual encounters, and clearly attempts to contrast Daniel and Hampton's lovemaking styles, both fitting into most people's preconceived notions of white and black men.
At one point in the book, Daniel and Kate meet a young interracial couple. They are happily married and love to talk openly about the nature of their relationship. Spencer seems really uncomfortable in writing this section, as if an editor suggested he included the scene to balance the two relationships. The dialogue is very stilted. When Daniel asks them about the problems they've faced as an interracial couple, the man responds, "I'm so glad you asked that!" This seems to be Spencer's answer for the rest of the book, his apology for showing a dysfunctional interracial couple. This is supposed to be the ideal situation, but the scene is poorly written and the characters never return, so the half hearted effort doesn't do one bit of good.
The book is littered with racial jokes that are not properly placed in a context that shows the author completely disavows himself from them. At one point, Daniel thinks of Iris as his "Afrodisiac". At another point, one of Daniel's friends catches him reading a pornographic magazine with African-American women in it. The friend teases Daniel by making the sort of racial jokes you'd find in the locker room at an elite country club. Statements like this seem to suggest that Spencer is living out his own fantasy of an interracial relationship. By couching that fantasy in a destructive surrounding, he has made it exciting for himself, but offensive for everyone else. Do I think it was Spencer's intention to write a racist novel? No. However, I think by developing the poor ideas he started out with, he revealed some of his inherent prejudices. And let's be honest, we all have our own prejudices. It would be a lie to say otherwise. We all deal with them in our own way. Spencer decided to write a book about it, and the painful dialogue and stereotypical setting made for a very unpleasant reading experience.
This isn't to say that Spencer is a horrible writer. The prose flows pretty smoothly and I get the sense that with better subject material, Spencer would be much more interesting. His other novels (Endless Love, Waking the Dead) have been well regarded. And there is one funny moment to remember. At one point, Daniel and his friend Bruce are playing racquetball and run into Iris. As Daniel begins to speak to her, and as Hampton comes along to join the discussion, Bruce quickly makes his way back to the court, and begins playing racquetball all by himself. As A Ship Made of paper got worse and worse, I wanted to go join him.
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