The Diary of Many Women
Review by Ronica Wahi
The Mars Room
By
Rachel Kushner
First
published: May 1, 2018, Sribner.
Edition
Reviewed: June 7, 2018, Vintage Digital, Kindle Edition.
Pages:
352.
Epub
ISBN: 9781910702673
The Mars Room,
like other works of Rachel Kushner, was received well, even being shortlisted
for The Man Booker Prize 2018. And rightly so. The novel is
unapologetically bold and is a much-needed voice, raising many important
issues. Among the key merits of the novel is its ability to touch deeply,
without being too sentimental, despite the strong presence of memories and
nostalgia. The laying bare of cruel realities and raw details, and the constant
juxtaposition of the varying circumstances in life as the narrative moves back
and forth in time by way of recalled events as life is suffered in the present
are done with finesse.
Kushner
brings to life with untiring effort – and yet effortlessly – the realities of
so many sufferers, victims of their circumstances and their society, people who
have seen mostly evil in the so-called Golden State of the US, California. Her
understanding of social injustices and of human motivations is keen and
insightful, allowing the reader a journey through both social and psychological
alleyways.
The
main character and narrator for a major chunk of the novel, Romy Leslie Hall,
is serving two life sentences and six years in addition at a women’s
correctional facility. The inhuman treatment, the lack of empathy, the absence
of strong ties with other prisoners, the cramped quarters, the tortured
existence, and the clear failure of the “sensitivity training” that had been
given to the guards are displayed. Living conditions are pathetic – the
prisoners, for instance, do not have white teeth or proper soaps and shampoos
to clean themselves, sleep on “piss-smelling” mattresses, and have dreams of
sleeping as their best dreams. There is hardly any means of education
available, the eligibility for prison jobs needs to be reached, and the absence
of any significant gainful engagement is wasteful. While the facility is a
hellish place that allows hardly a means to even reach family members – Romy,
for instance, cannot even easily get information about her young son left all
alone in the world, it is also not the only place where women suffer. As
memories flood back to Romy and other characters, and as dialogues among
characters show, discrimination and prejudice have made lives shackled even
outside prisons.
Discrimination
on the basis of race, class, and gender is widespread. There is the pressing
issue of drug abuse which furthers sexual abuse. There is lack of education and
the inability of people to access the right opportunities. Lack of proper
familial structures and secure childhoods destroy so many lives. Little girls
and boys are victimized by sick men, who may be the abused child’s stepfather,
foster father, or even biological father. Lack of resources and adequate human
support is the curse of countless young lives. For example, young girls in some
informal foster home endure rape by an old man because they have no other
option. The question of why some women in prison became what they did is not an
easy one to even ponder, and the placing of blame entirely on them merely
reductive.
Working
as a lap dancer at a notorious strip club, The Mars Room, and doing “bed
assignments” was how Romy made a living in the dark, cursed world of San
Francisco; as she says, she was barred from seeing the beauty of the city that
so enticed so many. Among the many injustices of life that Kushner presents,
sexual exploitation in different ways, including prostitution and rape, is highlighted.
The Mars Room is not only an important element in the plot but also is symbolic
of sexual exploitation; it is a place that offers women a means to earn a
living but it is also a place where the safety of the women employees is of no
concern if the man threatening that safety has money. The Mars Room is
indicative then of the sufferings of so many women who have been exploited. As
the symbol of women’s exploitation, it is also indicative of the suffering of
women other than Romy who inhabit the prison or whose stories are recalled,
even though they may have never been associated with the club. With its
importance to how the plot unfolds and this significance, the club’s name is an
appropriate title for the novel.
Women,
because of the pervading nature of our ideologies, even suffer abuse, not
believing it to be abuse. Fernandez let Rodney beat her thinking it was the
strict side of his love. Women themselves do not understand the exploitation or
gruelling circumstances of other women, but look down upon them and judge them
harshly. Even the unfortunate ones have this ‘grading’ – they look down upon
those who are worse off.
At
times, Kushner changes the narrative voice – sometimes another character takes
over, sometimes there is an omniscient narrator. This method aids in letting
the reader know what Romy alone cannot tell, and also reveals thought processes
and sufferings of others. For instance, the reader gets graphic descriptions of
a man’s recalling of his sexual history, in ways that, at times, are distasteful
and disturbing. At one point, as he recalls his sexual encounters, the faces of
the women that he had been with are of hardly any significance, merely the acts
are worthy of recalling. This gross objectification and sexualisation takes
away individuality, agency, and power of the women.
Power
rules the world, and pervades every part of it. Within the prison, the
authorities impose a wide range and large number of rules. Worse, some prisoners
make rules for the rest. Despite suffering in many similar ways, there is a
desire in some to snatch a semblance of power. Many enjoyed seeing others
suffer what they exactly did. The better sort of prison jobs was reserved for
the whites. And then there is some privilege of class within prison – better
food, and no necessity of finishing it within ten minutes, for instance. For
even junk food or drugs, women prisoners are exploited – by staff, prison
guards, and men from outside; they even ‘trade’ among themselves. These women
strike whatever bargain they can to gain even the littlest of benefits. They
are even willing to declare themselves dyslexic, for the Americans with
Disabilities Act was solely what prevented “unlimited abuse”. They fight for
little advantages because there are hardly any. What women prisoners suffer is
way worse than what the men in similar situations do, both because of living
conditions and because of the sexual nature of exchanges.
As
Romy gets her sentence having had no adequate legal support, only an
incompetent and overworked public defender – a result of her class, she is
engulfed by this darker world – darker than the darkness of her San Francisco.
And in this darker world, as the lines that serve as an adequate prologue to
the novel tell, “friendly faces…now are fading into darkness.” It is only in a
worse world that the lost is appreciated, that what was not appreciated and
enjoyed becomes regrettable. The severance is so complete that even news of the
outside world is not allowed. Then there are the struggles of prison living and
the lack of fellow support. However, despite the pervading sense of lack of
human empathy, it is relations with other people that surround her in the
facility that get her on the path to accruing certain benefits, and striving
for what she can. Togetherness can indeed help achieve. But her life forces her
to snatch greater control ultimately, as she learns a truth.
Kushner
dwells on her characters’ thoughts and instincts, showcasing her studied
observation of human behaviours, needs, motivations, insecurities, twisted
thinking, and weaknesses. The reader can as if visualize people holding a
sufferer sufficiently away, as if an ailment or even rotten luck could catch
them too.
Places
acquire a character of their own. The Mars Room is a significant place, closely
linked to the life of Romy even after she stops working there. The curse of her
city San Francisco follows her even after she escapes, her exploitation in the
club and in the city follow her out of them in the physical shape of her
stalker. She hates the city for its evil, and misses it for the memories of her
youth and of her happier existence. Kushner recreates different parts of San
Francisco, with their glaringly different realities, and also recreates the
city as changed by time.
Kushner
displays intimacy with the landscape of California, and the waves of change and
of fashion that have hit it. Her familiarity with culture and literature also
shine through. The novel is not only well written, but it is also well-researched.
The language, in its sheer precision, is fascinating, enlivened by graphic
comparisons and interesting symbolism. Chapter Nine gives one particularly
memorable and vivid comparison – similarity as well as difference – between
stars and car lights. Another interesting one is of emus as comparable to
humans – violent, unpredictable, and possessing walnut-sized brains. The
significance of a flying and a limp flag is important in view of what America
is - the American flag that flies proudly on commercial enterprises, and hangs
limp and collects dirt in courts that do not really succeed in upholding
justice. Elements that are simultaneously humorous and sad are also presented –
for instance, prisoners making furniture for use in courtrooms.
The
way the novel is structured is interesting and complex. Details are revealed
piece by piece and layer by layer, through different memories and through
different narrative voices. The structuring and chapter division is also used
to highlight the importance or constraint of certain elements. For instance, an
entire chapter is what Kushner dedicates to defining inappropriate attire for a
visit to a state facility, and another to rules for inmate and visitor
behaviour.
For
any sensitive reader, the novel will create a deeply disturbing world, and for
a woman particularly, the novel will bring to surface the deepest fears and
insecurities. Yet, it displays mental strength in women, despite suffering and
exploitation. It is impossible to make peace with sexual exploitation, yet they
reach out for some comfort, even if a merely psychological one. Romy, knowing
that the exchange she indulged in was in no way fair, thought of men as walking
wallets as much as she could. As each human tends to look for soft targets in
this power-centric world, she hits where she can. But her targets are also
really not targets because she is still a sexual object for them. Yet, as the
novel progresses, some togetherness and some agency lend power to her. Women,
as per the character Doc, are “too stupid to commit inspired acts of prison
violence”. Though violence is not the answer, the inspired acts for the self
can be. Surely greater empathy among women, and towards the world in general
would make the worlds of all better.
In
the cruelties that this novel depicts and in the chilling manner in which it
depicts them, lending authenticity by way of the clearly informed nature of the
telling, this is a significant work. Particularly because it is a woman giving
voice to the dreary existence of many women, and compelling a deeper
understanding of the plight of other women by invoking anger and pity. “Facts”,
as the novel asserts, can be in conflict with what people remember of what has
happened to them; stories and sufferings of others cannot be understood so
easily without having acutely felt the sensations or witnessed the events. To
her great achievement, Kushner manages to shed much-needed light on certain realities
about the contemporary world at large and the US in particular that are not
accessible or knowable by all. As she very aptly says about realities,
“A
lot of worlds have existed that you can’t look up online or in any book, even
as you think you have the freedom to find things out…”
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Room on Amazon India:
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