Customer Reviews

Imperial

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

William T. Vollmann spent a decade trolling through the underside of the nation, the California-Mexico border with an obsessed eye for the grime, excess, love, blood, and sex that is his meat. Heck, that makes for much of the interest in any work of fiction or nonfiction. Here's it revealed in 1300+ pages that read as though they were pulled directly from the travel journals of a crazed obsessive. But it probably wasn't that simple. Behind the flowing stream of consciousness is an author ruthlessly and efficiently dissecting the contradictions in American-Mexican relations, in late capitalism, and in a failed environment. (The Salton Sea is California's biggest lake, but it's also a massive failure caused by too many diversions of the Colorado River. Pollution and decay flow in, but nothing flows out. So it is with Imperial County.)

It's a big wasteland, and this is a big book that tries to look at the big issues in the wasteland. It's a product of an author who is interested in everything. It's a book I'd love to think of myself as writing, but I'd be too scared to dive so deeply. So this massive Moby Dick, an albatross about Vollmann's neck lands on our desks for us to live, vicariously, through his exploits. Yep, there are strip clubs, prostitutes, and illegal laborers, but there are also farmers, ranchers, folks striving for a better life. But the failures of Imperial (the county not the book) match and mirror the failure of America overall, and we're in the mood for some critical examinations today.

What's a book review without criticisms? Well, Vollmann is a sloppy investigator, a sloppy fact checker, and a failure as a journalist. This is a work of passion, not of careful investigation. We learn all about his breakup with a girlfriend, but are never clear on exactly what is produced agriculturally in Imperial. But such criticisms are missing the point. We endure this mass of pages for the excitement, for the energy, for the look at the underbelly, and not for clinical analysis. Someone could write "Imperial: A legacy of decay" for the University of California Press and a dozen copies would be sold.

I'll pass on yet another mention of Vollmann's excesses, but instead mention an excess of the publisher. $[...]. Sure, it's discounted here, but what about independent bookstores? Is this really intended to be sold for that price? Or only at discount? Compare with the pricing of Infinite Jest or Against and Day.

I understand Vollman's strategy but this book fails in this form. Some chapters are one sentence long and convey no information whatsoever. Some are many pages yet equally convey no information. Some convey a lot of information which may or may not be true. Vollman is the sloppiest researcher I have ever read. Any other author would have pared this down to a 500 page book, and it would have been great. As a Southern California resident I enjoy a lot of this book, such as the chapters about the formation of the Salton Sea, but the size and scope force one to skip a lot. People edit books for a reason.

I wrote and rewrote my review of this book (in my head) endlessly as I read this book. Often that mental drafting served the purpose of venting, since after about page 300 my partner made it clear she was tired of hearing how annoying I found the book. "Stop reading it or stop telling me about how much you dislike the book." Fair enough. But I did want to finish the book, and despite my great annoyance I now want to track down a copy of his 7 volume treatise on violence.

I have for years wanted to like Vollmann's writing. But after a few pages I always give up, and am annoyed at myself (and Vollmann). Imperial is a subject that interests me, so I decided this was the book I would read all the way through. And I did, including the source section. This is the only review I've written where I could envision writing a review, in all sincerity, with a 1 or 3 or 5 star rating (though I detest the requirement of assigning a numerical "grade" to a review). So here are a few reviews for this book.

One star - why is this classified as nonfiction?
Think of a student assigned a paper called "describe the various social, economic and natural forces currently faced by Imperial County, California." My student heads to the library, wanders through the stacks and lodged between Ellis Island and the peopling of America : the official guide and California state register and year book of facts (at least in my library) is a 2.5" thick bright red book spine with one word "Imperial." My student opens the book at random to chapter 88, which reads, in its entirety:

I can't believe in people. Did you ever consider them as machines-machines that make eggs? And in material advantages they are already well supplied.
Why, I would be sick to my stomach if a rode down that valley in California, over those long miles owned by one man. He sold out at a fancy price. Imperial County shows rapid increase. The constant threat of heavy shipments...seemed to be a depressing factor. I am willing to give a good deal of credit to the new methods of retail food stores.
Because of market conditions in 1934, the equivalent of 300,000 crates of lettuce were unharvested in the Imperial Valley. She's dancing with someone else, the bitch!

"Let's face it Bill. Investigative reporting is not really your strong suit." [page 922]

Five star - persons interviewed: 120, bibliography includes an impressive quantity of primary sources, he visited the area for a decade in order to assemble the research. And as every reviewer feels the need to say...it is over 1,100 pages! (I was touched by Brianna Lusk's unusual candor in saying "despite the local buzz generated from the book's publication...the Imperial Valley Press was unable to track down a local resident who has finished it.")

Three star...

He writes very well, is endlessly earnest, and is willing to search almost endlessly (or at least a decade) to uncover more elements (though not necessarily facts...and again, this purports to be a nonfiction book) of what he considers to be Imperial. But this is one of the most snarky books I have ever encountered! In a footnote the author asks if the book would be better if he were more cynical. Frankly I can't imagine how the book could possibly be more cynical. It is simply that he uses a quirky method to display this cynicism. As the book progresses Imperial does also, mainly through increased irrigation, and then the progress stops and Imperial slides backwards, mainly because of water issues. This is told in a pastiche of stories using historic photos, public records and interviews. But interspersed through these is a continual repetition of sentences such as "I have never been cheated out of a dollar in my life" to shadow all of his "facts" in a deep cynicism.

This is an author with a massive axe to grind. We are told several times during the book that he started Imperial, or the idea of Imperial, as a novel. On page 1116 we were finally told what we already know very well, which is that "I began my as yet unwritten novel by hating Los Angeles." By hating urban, by hating the rich, by hating, hating, hating the INS. The list is exceedingly long of the things he hates in this book. But with a couple of exceptions, he doesn't say that. Instead he provides you with a large set of "photos" describing a geographic area. But what he chooses to describe, and the photo-montage he creates with those descriptions speaks as strongly to what he leaves out of the descriptions as what he includes.

I also found it annoying that he has written a study, history, whatever that purports to describe both the Mexican and United States portions of Imperial. Annoying because the author speaks not a word of Spanish. I find this incredible. And if that isn't insulting enough to Mexico, he then uses as an early interpreter a homeless guy who not only smells but calls the Chinese Mexicans he talks to "gooks." Are we surprised that none wish to have anything to do with this "interpreter" and the author?

A gush of words and facts that, like desert irrigation, at first
produces impressive results, but cannot be sustained in the long
run. And one thousand pages of this stuff is a very long run.

.
I suspect the author thinks he is doing Fine Writing. But his story is buried under so much hyperbole and wanderings, staggering on for more than a thousand pages, that the reader is not impressed but gagging.

There is probably a story in California's Imperial Valley. Although that's the alleged subject of the book, Vollmann doubles the size of the county, stretching it to the Pacific Ocean and far down into Mexico. Then he dribbles occasional information about this region--no longer a county--throughout his book. He apparently spent quite a lot of time in the area. If he'd given us a straight reporting job, this could have been an amazing book.

Instead he fixates on phrases (repeating them page after page), treats us to the break-up with the love of his life, wonders why he didn't write a novel instead of this tome.

Unfortunately, Vollmann has fallen ill with a common disease in modern geographic writing. William Least Heat Moon, who wrote a superb first book, drowns his later subjects in verbiage, as the author does in "Imperial." It's as if they read too much Proust and not enough Ed Abbey in their youth.

What would this book have been like if an editor had trimmed it to 250 pages written in the style of "Desert Solitaire"? It could have been brilliant.

One reads William F. Buckley's non-fiction not for the subject (except for his book on Reagan, WFB could never stay on point), but for the digressions of Buckley's fantastic mind. Vollmann didn't know two things: a thousand pages of meandering is a hell hole and he doesn't have William F's brilliance to pull off any off-roading.

Ultimately this book is embarrassing--and boring.

This is my first Vollman book. I am currently on pager 627. I'm not a sophisticated reader, nor a literary sycophant, nor am I a Vollman fan (yet) - which is to say I had never heard of this writer before. My first love is Steinbeck, and stodgy reader that I am, I'd rather re-read The Grapes of Wrath than try a new writer, but I am something of a California history geek, so when I saw this book in the California section of my favorite Pasadena bookstore, I went a little crazy. A huge tome like this all about little insignificant Imperial County? Of course, I had to read it right away. As is my habit, I always keep a non-fiction book (usually about California) in my car, because I hate being somewhere (the doctor's office, the post office, any office where one is made to wait) without something interesting to read and People magazine does not count. So I had this book in my back seat for more than six months and had barely gotten through a couple of hundred pages, when I noticed the habit Mr. Vollman had picked up somewhere in those pages of repeating some previously used quote or turn of phrase from one of the characters he had run across, "Water is Here," "I've never been cheated out of a dollar in my life," etc. - well, I'm paraphrasing wildly, so forgive me if I've misquoted him. But he takes those phrases and winds them through other stories, and other escapades he writes about. I remember one year in December, I saw bird's nest in a tree, and the bird had found some green and red ribbon and had used that ribbon in the building of its nest. Mr. Vollman's book is kind of like that bird's nest. Little treasures are wound throughout the book that you'd only notice if you were really paying attention. The point is, I discovered that to really appreciate the poetry that this book is, you can't read it in fits and starts and little snatches while you're waiting for the dental hygienist to call you in for your cleaning. So I started reading it at home, on my lunch hour, whenever I could fit it in and now I'm halfway through, and quite frankly, I don't want to finish it because I am enjoying it so very much. There is poetry and beauty in his words, in his rhythm, in the way he wields his knowledge of those purely Imperial characters and experiences through every chapter. Yes, there is ugliness, and yes there is racism, poverty, and hatred. Have you been to Imperial County? I have already put a few of his other books on my Amazon wish list because I can't wait to read more of his work. But the truth is, and I know this wish is quite fruitless, I hope I never finish this book, because every page for me, every vignette, every experience of his, transports me. His writing is real and gritty and authentic - sometimes there is ugliness, and sometimes there is beauty so astounding, that it leaves me breathless. Yes, his biases and prejudices come through loud and clear, but I have willingly signed up for this journey and I am happy to be along for the ride. I'm a second-generation (on both sides, thank you very much) Los Angelena. I love and hate my city. I've lived other places in California, so I am intimately familiar with the hatred that those outside Los Angeles have for this metropolis. That particular bias does not faze me, nor should it you if you are brave enough to enter Vollman's world. If you like California, if you're interested in how cultures mingle at borders, if you're interested in the politics and financial dealings that go on between societies of the haves and have-nots, then I think you will find this book interesting. Whether or not you have been to Imperial County - I think you will "get" the Imperial experience from his writing. This county plays such a huge role in California's politics, its wealth, and its standing as an agricultural giant. I am very glad that Mr. Vollman wrote this book - if only I can continue to read it without every finishing it. Hey, a girl can dream.

Imperial is the first of Vollmann's books that I've read; at 1,132 pages that are alternately fascinating and dry it took a while. Imperial is an odd book that rambles and seems to reveal about as much about the author as it does the portion of California and Mexico Vollmann tries to study. I loved how richly descriptive his writing can be if you don't mind wandering off on a tangent or two hundred with him. Everything about this book is stream of consciousness and it seems as if the author is constantly trying to understand what he is experiencing as the book goes on. The book jumps around chronicling the history of the region focusing on farming, land use, water, immigration, and industrialization all with meticulous if scattered detail. At times I had to struggle through this book or do some skimming but overall, it was an intriguing portrait of a region of my state that I know little about.

Some very detailed reviews already, so I'll just add a few thoughts. I passed through Imperial valley once on the I-8 without even knowing what it was, but when I saw this book I instantly remembered the somewhat unusual ambiance of the place (we did stop somewhere just past Yuma to get out and take a short break) and knew I had to read it. There's no question that if an editor was involved this work would be very different. It reads like it ought to be the definitive treatment of the area, but it simply isn't. Part way through it I just happened to see Into the Wild, the movie treatment of Jon Krakauer's book, which has a substantial segment shot on location in Imperial. In just a few short minutes of screen time I was reminded that no one book or work can treat this subject definitively. So after that realization, it's a bit of a shame that just one work has to be so long. Nonetheless, it is a unique work of authorship. I will reread it in about 5-7 years, and thereafter.

I have read this book. However, I did not manage (or attempt) to read it straight through. Rather, I picked it up every now and then when I wanted to escape into a different place and/or time and maybe just gain some perspective on a region I didn't know very much about. I like Vollmann's writing and I am also interested in the Imperial County region and its history, so I was happy. This book is not for everyone. Hell, it's probably not for most people. Between the size, the price, and the subject matter, it's not light reading or light carrying. It's not all great. Some of it is quite tedious and overdone. But if you've any interest in the growth of southern California, life in a border region, or the evolution of agriculture in this country, you might want to give it a try. And it's Vollmann, so there are the assortment of prostitutes and view of the seedier side of things that you'd expect.

If one best learns a language by total immersion, then one can likewise learn of place as William Vollman sets out to prove in his massive study "Imperial" which bombards the reader with every sort of datum on the California-Mexican area. Major themes include distribution of water, the transformation of small farms to vast agricultural domains, the plight of the Mexican illegal immigrant, the history of the Chinese in Mexico, accounts of early settlers, and more, much more. "Imperial" documents the conflicting cultures of American domination and Mexican poverty that poses a political and so far insoluable problem.