Ok. What do y'all think this book is all about? What is this disease supposed to mean, and why is the title "Black Hole?"
-- Susan suggested an AIDS metaphor. I think that's a totally valid and important reading and I hope she says more about it.
-- I think this book works like Buffy (apologies for making a tv-reference, but it really makes sense to me) in that it takes quintessential adolescent experiences that usually only take place on the inside, playing out in a complex but invisible emotional landscape, and turns them into something physical. Feel like your boyfriend turned into an evil monster after you slept with him? Guess what, he really did! Feel like your overbearing mother pressures you to succeed because she longs for her lost youth, and that she'd switch bodies with you in an instant? Guess what, she really would! Because she's a witch! Anyway, I think Black Hole does the same sort of thing. Feel like you have a horrible skin-eating disease that makes everyone ostracize you? Guess what, you do! Feel like you're a monster? You are. Now what are you gonna do?
-- Other ideas?
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I think both ideas you pointed out are valid interps.
My thoughts (not all that clearly delineated):
The bug is not explained. This drove me nuts. I kept trying to figure out how it was transferred. Saliva? No, because the Lizard Queen shared a sandwich with Keith and he didn't get it. But then the Dave guy spit in the face of that jerk at KFC and said he has the bug now. But was that true? So, what about blood? When Chris cut her foot and Keith got it all over his hands, he was okay. So no -- only sex transmits the mutating disease.
Is the bug even that bad? It doesn't kill you (though you may be killed by the mysterious force in the woods) and though most voluntarily ostracize themselves, some are able to pass as normals.
So I guess I missed the point. It isn't the particulars of biology, or a cure. It's sex -- who's had it, with who and what happened afterward. Burns took the concept of a disease that visually identifies the chain of sexual contact and runs with it. And everybody is doing it -- check out the endpapers!
So, is sex a disease? Does it set them free or imprison them? Isolate them? Loss of innocence?
Keith is much more intent on having sex than worrying about the disease. He knows the Lizard Queen is infected and it is in no way indicated he thought "it won't happen to me." He's not surprised when those tadpole things appear.
Ew.
Which brings me to the art!
Wow! How did Burns keep his style the same for TEN YEARS? That's amazing.
To close, I appreciated the fact that the amount of female and male nudity was somewhate balanced. Not that p e n i s e s are pretty things, but it was nice that the book wasn't a straight-out BreastFest.
Oh, I love that idea of the bug "visually identifying the chain of sexual contact." It's like a horrible, depraved version of a fad that spreads like wildfire.
I can't decide whether Burns is demonizing sex or not. I feel like he isn't -- mainly because it doesn't seem like chastity is supposed to be the solution. Being infected seems like it's an inevitablity, and the only open questions are: Who are you going to choose to get it from? and What's it going to do to you?
I like the idea that having the bug reveals truths, in a twisted sort of way -- like the mouth on what'shisname's chest divulging secrets. It really felt like being infected was both awful and liberating at the same time. Mostly awful, of course.
Why only teenagers? Because it seems to me that the disease works as a metaphor for the ugliness of being human, and for the spiral of violence and destruction that the human race as a whole is engaged in. So why just the kids? Maybe they're illnesses are a harbinger of things to come for everyone, or maybe it's a "sins of the father" kind of thing. It's interesting that adults are totally absent from the story.
And by "they're" in the last paragraph there I of course meant "their." Two sentences collided.
I didn't get the significance of only teens getting it, either, but I chalked it up to "biological aspects that aren't part of the story," though I did want an explanation. What if an infected teen had sex with an adult? Was anyone looking for a cure? I also kept wondering what was going on with the adults.
I don't think the point of the story is to demonize sex, but wouldn't abstaining from contact prevent one from getting the bug?
Again, that's not something easily answered because the specifics of the bug are not explained.
Sigh. I do like specifics.
M & S: I just want to apologize and say that I've read both of your thoughts and interpretations and musings and I'm still trying to process it all. I'd love to say something really smart and deep, but I've got nothin'. But I felt bad leaving you all hanging, like I started the convo and then went into the kitchen for a snack and never came back. I will continue to process and will comment again when I feel I have something to offer (or just want to concur or not). But please be assured that your words are being read and that I think you both are very smart and intuitive!
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