Thursday, 23 February 2023
To Shake the Sleeping Self, by Jedidiah Jenkins, is part travelogue, part coming of age memoir.
A Re-evaluation after some Discussion
The comments below reflect my opinions upon finishing my first read of the book. After a discussion with my book group — which is the reason this made it to my reading list — and revisiting the last few chapters, I find myself a bit better disposed towards it. Another member commented that the end of the book felt as though it was a recapitulation of the narrator’s birth — it ends with his mother wet and shaking and exhausted, while he has — at her urging — left her behind to complete his trip. It is a nice ending, and leaves me a bit more hopeful that the narrator experienced some meaningful change. I also looked at the few chapters before, where he is reflecting on his trip, and see there that he recounts some important realizations that I don’t really believe came out at the time. Perhaps I missed it, or perhaps he didn’t reveal all his thoughts, in order to get a bigger bang at the end of the book. I think the book would have been stronger if we’d witnessed his changes throughout the journey, rather than in hindsight at the end…
From here on are my original comments:
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