Tigers Are Better-Looking reviewed using songs I listen to.
Tigers Are Better-Looking
By Jean Rhys
(all the stories were published in the 60s and prior to 1968 when the book was first published. there is an end section titled The Left Bank which contains shorter things from the 1920s. There is an introduction-type-something written by Ford Maddox Ford)
“Till September Petronella”
I feel like this story is like the song “Taste” by Animal Collective in that the lines 'am i really all the things that are outside of me' makes me think about the main character’s conflict with her surroundings. The character feels depressed. Her life seems aimless. She has friends. She is from some other place. She spends time in a cottage or something with these friends, two men and another woman. I think there is some sort of jealously. Approximately 8 pages into the story you read these lines:
That’s the way they always talk. ‘You look as if you’d lost a shilling and found a sixpence,’ they say; ‘You look very perky, I hardly recognized you,’ they say; ‘look gay’ they say. ‘My dear Petronella, I have an entirely new idea of you. I’m going to paint you out in the opulent square. So can you wear something gay tomorrow afternoon? Not one of those drab affairs you usually clothe yourself in. Gay – do you know the meaning of the word? Think about it, it’s very important.’
There is a ‘bit’ about her past. She forgets her one, brief line during a play's performance. She cries afterwards. The actresses say something like ‘you’re wasting perfectly good tears’.
I feel that these lines in “Taste” also feed into the comparison between the story and song:
Only Ma'd pretend to like the clothes you showed to me,
Something in my heart can tell me it's a weakness,
And maybe you would have more luck playing those tasty games,
But me, I called and called and never heard from her again.
“The Day they Burned the Books”
I feel like this story is like the songs “Nazi White Trash” by Leftover Crack(the mother, rumored to be ‘obeah’ ‘betrays’ the dead father by burning his library); “Born to Die” by Choking Victim (the narrator ends up with a book at the end, titled Fort Comme La Mort (Strong as Death)); and “Kid” by Bouncing Souls (the main characters are ‘kids’).
“Let them Call it Jazz”
I feel like this story is similar to the song "Money" by Choking Victim off the No Gods / No Managers album in that the main character experiences money, residency, and unemployment problems. In the beginning of "Money" on the No Gods / No Managers album there is a speech said by Michael Parenti, who ends by saying "[...] the function of the police is social control and protection of property." Here is an excerpt from the story where a character, who is providing the main character with temporary housing, talks about the consequences of not 'caring about money,' in his view:
"[...]he tells me I'm a fool. He tells me I'll get push around all my life and die like a dog, only worse because they'd finish off a dog, but they'll let me live till I'm a caricature of myself. That's what he say, 'Caricature of yourself.'
The character ends up in jail fornot having money to pay a fine and causing complaints as a result of her race and strange behavior. She overhears another inmate singing a song and memorizes it. On the outside she 'teaches' it to a man who overhears her whistling it, as he 'makes it first class' using a piano. Later he sends her money for providing the song to him. She feels different things after that. One of the things: 'Nothing left for me at all.' She spends the money on a dress.
“Tigers Are Better-Looking”
I feel like this story is like “Badonkadonkey” by Born Ruffians. I don’t know why. The song seems kind of bouncy. All the instruments and the vocals in the song move to the same ‘bounce’. In “Tigers Are Better-Looking” it starts off with a letter from a friend who has left town. He writes: “I got the feeling that I was surrounded by a pack of timid tigers waiting to spring the moment anybody is in trouble or hasn’t any money. But tigers are better-looking, aren’t they?”
My favorite line in the song is “I won’t be sad when you and me are through” because of the attitude or something -- plus its 'neat' syncopation with the beat.
Both the story and song seem like a reaction to something previously more eventful, but are ‘interesting’ in and of themselves. The story seems to take place during one night, when a man takes two women to a place for drinks and a show. They get into a fight and end up in jail.
“Outside the Machine”
I listened to these songs while thinking about this story: “For a Long Time” by Line & a Dot, “Long Way Home” by Line & a Dot, “Echelons” by Line & a Dot, and “To the Sea” by Line & a Dot.
I feel like the more I listened to these songs and thought about the story the more they went together. There are no likenesses similar to the ones used for the previous stories. The moods match in some places, maybe.
In the story a woman spends time in a British-run clinic in
I recall hearing amongst discussion that Line & a Dot is of French descent and lives in
“The Lotus”
I don’t know.
“A Solid House”
No ideas here.
“The Sound of the River”
“Poison” by
THE LEFT BANK
Preface by Ford Maddox Ford
“Illusion”
This story is like “3rd Planet” by Modest Mouse. I don’t know why.
“From a French Prison”
I don’t remember this story at all.
“Mannequin”
The main character in this story steals a dress at the end. This short makes me think of “This Wal-Mart Life” by Star Fucking Hipsters.
“Tea with an Artist”
“A Man and His Dream” by
“Mixing Cocktails”
“Ivory Tone Piano Factory” (cover) by Owen.
I liked this short and I like this song, more than a lot of other songs.
“Again the
“In a Mirror” by Born Ruffians.
“Hunger”
“Take Pills” by Panda Bear.
“La Grosse Fifi”
Not sure. Maybe, “Hummingbird” by Born Ruffians.
“
I think I hated this story. “Good Girl” by Panda Bear.
Conclusion:
I guess I like these songs because I listen to them, or have listened to them in the past, frequently. I guess I like this book, since I spent time typing about it. The stories seem like helpful guides for style and length.