La Diaphane

With most of the books we've read for this class, there's been a question of how much of this book is drawn from the author's actual experience. I've felt this a lot with the last three books we've read, especially since we know a little bit more about the background of the authors of The Bell Jar, Black Swan Green, and Sag Harbor. I personally don't know quite as much about Coulson Whitehead, but he has an interesting habit of bringing the adult narrator's voice deeply into the story with monologues about how he's seen these events shape his life. During these monologues, he explores issues of things like racist microaggressions, abuse, and the realities of growing up black and middle class. Of course it is supposed to be grown up Ben who is talking about all these issues, but like we have discussed in class, I can't help but feel that Coulson Whitehead is using the character of Ben to explore his own opinions about his childhood memories and exp...