Owning Up | George Pelecanos
episode SUMMARY:
In this episode of the Books for Men podcast, host Douglas Vigliotti discusses the work of author George Pelecanos, particularly his book Owning Up. Vigliotti praises the author’s simple, direct, and unpretentious writing style, his focus on realism, and his ability to depict the impact of various societal issues from multiple perspectives. He also compares the work’s thematical elements to The Deuce, a TV Show that Pelecanos co-created with David Simon, which explores the passage of time and the evolution of communities. Owning Up consists of four vignettes that tackle issues such as racism, the criminal justice system, near misses and close calls of life, and the continuum of history that links everything together. Vigliotti concludes by sharing two quotes from the book highlighting the importance of truth and the power of written history.
Listen to the episode:
*Subscribe to The Books for Men Newsletter, a monthly round-up of every episode with full book and author info, all the best quotes, and newsletter-only book recommendations!
READ THE TRANSCRIPT:
Welcome back to Books for Men, a podcast to inspire more men to read and bring together men who do. So this week we are circling back to a book episode coming off of the Back to Back special edition. So part one and two, hope you enjoyed a slight detour. It was fun to do, and I'm going to continue to do some of those in the future. Probably not a two-part series, but maybe, who knows? I leave everything open to Possibility. I guess. With that being said, today's book is a special one, but more specifically, I wanted to share with you this author, George Pelecanos. He is the author of, I don't know, twenty-something novels, all centered around DC specifically, and he's also a screenwriter, so he's helped create some of the best shows in television history as far as I'm concerned. So, The Wire, The Deuce, We Own This City is his newest one.
(01:03)
I think it came out maybe a couple of years ago. I will just say The Deuce if you haven't seen that series. In my eyes, it's a top three, top five show of all time, hands down. I know The Wire often gets touted as such, but, The Deuce, there are so many things that make it amazing. And one of the big aspects of it is this concept of the passage of time and how time evolves and washes things away. And that could be communities, ideas, our history. And I think with that show specifically, it's documenting The Deuce, which is what they called 42nd Street in Manhattan in the 1970s. This show takes place in the early-seventies, late-seventies, and mid-eighties. So you really get to see that evolve over that time period. And then by the end of the show, it actually hops all the way to the present day.
(01:56)
So you get this really deep emotional lens on how things have changed over that 30, 40, 50-year time period, not just in Manhattan, but on a societal level. And he achieves this through a very small community of people, which happens to be in the porn industry as well as the sex work industry and the evolution of how that started in Manhattan and then evolved into what it is today. And it gives you this lens on how we got to, now, I can't help but think that's a similar lens that Pelecanos uses in the book that I'm sharing with you today, which is owning up. And I'm going to get into that momentarily. But just one more thing on The Deuce. Yes, it is tackling a very subversive industry, but in no way does that deter from the quality of the work itself in my eyes.
(02:52)
Like I said, it is a top-three show. Not only is it written impeccably well, and for the record, it's done in collaboration with David Simon, who is the lead showrunner of both that show and The Wire and Treme, and a bunch of other great television shows. But there's amazing acting in it as well. James Franco is in it. He plays twin brothers, Maggie Gyllenhaal is in it, and a slew of other people that you would recognize. And the performances are just impeccable. Honestly, I can't speak highly enough about that show. I think that the only reason why it didn't get more publicity was strictly due to the timing, one of which it came out. So it was from 2017 to 2019 combined with some of the content things that were happening with some of the actors that were on the show and a whole bunch of stuff.
(03:41)
You even have to dig deep to find it. It's not something that HBO pushes to you, I guess you could say, or at least on my version of HBO, because I know everybody's algorithm might be a little different, which is odd because I think I'm probably the best fit for it. So if it's hard for me to find it and I have to go searching for it, probably everyone would, I guess. Alright, so enough about the show, because this is about the book Owning Up by George Pelecanos. As I've already mentioned, one of the things that I just love about him is his dogged focus on realism. So not everybody creates art, whether it be TV shows, music books in narrative form novels, or television shows, I guess no music, but not everybody does. So with this focus on making something as real as possible.
(04:29)
So how would this really happen? And giving a total picture of how it impacts every single party involved. So some of his collaborators do this. Someone I featured on this show, Richard Price, probably one of my all-time favorite novelists. He also does this. And in my eyes, it's very rare. It's not something that you see a lot, but the fact that these guys and Pelecanos does it and pull it off, it's really appealing and satisfying in a way that most things or a lot of things aren't one, either they're not achieving that because they're afraid to depict the gritty realism that is required to give that total picture. Or two, they're just more Hollywood-ized, I guess, or they rely on dramatic structure, which is making things dramatic versus making things real. And I get it, I can jive with both of those things, but I think stylistically this is what makes Pelecanos a very unique writer in my eyes, he's super unpretentious.
(05:31)
So when you're reading his work, it's very simple. The prose doesn't get in the way of itself. It's not beating you over the head with the same thing over and over and over again. He just says it and moves on, and he does so in a very simplistic way. It's almost like his personality is coming through in the work. And to that, it gives it also this earnest quality. Nothing ironic or jovial or anything like that. It's serious and it's sincere, so it knows exactly what it's trying to do. There's no wishy-washiness about it at all. To me, that just makes it super appealing, especially in a time like today where everything seems to be ironic or satirical or something of that nature. And for the record, I love those qualities too when authors do 'em and do 'em well. But again, I'm speaking about what makes Pelecanos work and writing unique, and I think that for the reasons that I just mentioned, that definitely sets him apart, at least it does for me.
(06:33)
So what is the book Owning Up about? Owning Up is really for vignettes. So it's not a novel, they call 'em novellas, but I think that they're more extended short stories because they're roughly around 40 to 60 pages each. So the book is short in totality, and they tackle really our culpability with the history of our country that links everything together. So yes, it talks about racism and the criminal justice system and the close calls one would have throughout their life. But in true fashion, he looks at this stuff from every angle, and I always appreciate him for that. It's really endearing and really empathetic to everybody involved. You get a full picture of how this stuff impacts everybody and in some cases destroys people, families, and communities. And then ultimately, similar to The Deuce, it's about the passage of time and how everything seems to be washed away.
(07:37)
Although being linked on this continuum, meaning, one thing leads into the next and you can't view things in isolation, it's still as time passes, everything gets forgotten. And people think that what is happening now is new and it's the first time. But in reality, we've seen a lot of this stuff play out before in our history, or at least something similar, but it's forgotten. And that's forgotten because that's just how time works. And when things move on, history compresses and we lose aspects of who we were and how we got to now. And this is what his work and this book attempts to tackle. And even the first story of the work, it's called ”The Amusement Machine,” and there's a quote in there, and it's the protagonist's uncle who's giving him advice. Whether you agree with the advice or not, I think it sums up the idea of the story pretty well.
(08:33)
“Our time here on Earth is nothing but an amusement machine. You get on the ride for as long as it lasts and you have fun, and then you get off, you've had your turn, then you walk from the Carnival Park, and as you keep walking, the lights from the park fade and it begins to get dark. You can't see anyone and they can't see you, and you're in the darkness forever. You're forgotten. You can own a mansion or live on the streets, drive a Mercedes-Benz, or have no car at all. Everyone goes to the same place darkness. So there's no reason to waste your precious time striving for status or possessions. It doesn't matter. Nothing does.” And while I think that that paints a pretty dire picture, I think the story evolves into something a little bit more hopeful. But like I said, it doesn't leave you without the gritty realism of the situation as a whole.
(09:25)
And then the second, third, and fourth stories are completely different. One is called “The No-Knock.” The next is called “The Knickerbocker.” And then the fourth is called “Owning Up.” As a whole, these vignettes provide a kaleidoscope look at macro issues that we face in society. And ultimately it's about owning up and understanding that we all play our part in this thing. Everything is linked together by not recognizing that you are only doing a disservice to everyone around you and to the future. And so that is just about all I want to share about this book. If I tell you too much about the stories, it has the potential to ruin it. But I think you have a good idea of what this book encapsulates, and more specifically the writer and stylistically what he brings to the table, or at least what I enjoy most about his work.
(10:21)
And before I leave you, I want to give you two quotes that I really loved from the book. One of them is, “Memories are unreliable and so are history books, but truth can be found in both.” And then the second one is, “The written word is simply the writer's truth.” And I think when you look at those two quotes combined together, even though they come from two different stories at different times in the work, what it reminds you is that history is what is written, but history includes everything, even the things that are left unwritten. And that idea itself is a pretty powerful one. Alright, so on that note, I want to thank you so much for listening. As always. If you enjoyed today's episode, please share it with friends, family members, and other people you think might enjoy it because word of mouth is everything.
(11:11)
And with this podcast, we are trying to inspire more men to read, and I need your help to do that. You could double down on that support by rating, liking, following, and subscribing. Basically, anything that you could do that takes only 30 seconds on whatever podcast platform you're listening to this on, please go and do it because you are helping more people find the show in return, you're helping support the initiative. You can always connect with me on Instagram @douglasvigliotti. It's the only social media that I have. For more information, visit BooksforMen.org where you can get full transcripts of every episode. As well as sign up for the monthly newsletter, which is a monthly roundup of every episode, complete with full book and author information, all the best quotes, and newsletter-only book recommendations. Again, all you have to do is head over to BooksforMen.org.
