Tomboy
Written by Thomas Meinecke
Narrated by Kate Rudd
4/5
()
About this audiobook
This innovative novel from German author Thomas Meinecke takes a thought-provoking look at the role of gender in the social, artistic, and intellectual pursuits of a group of inquisitive university students living in Heidelberg. The clique includes bisexual Korinna, a star tennis player and obsessive reader of Michel Foucault’s and Judith Butler’s theories of sexuality; Frauke, a lesbian doctoral student writing her dissertation about Christ’s foreskin; Frauke’s fiancée Angela, formerly Angelo, a Bible-reading Italian Catholic who considers himself a lesbian; and Hans, a self-described male feminist who believes that men suffer from “reproduction envy.” Last but not least is Vivian, a half-German, half-American student whose work on her master’s thesis leads her to throw out an incessant series of questions to these friends and classmates—and thus to us, the readers. Structured around Vivian’s questions, Tomboy examines why things are the way they are, particularly regarding the perception of gender between individuals and in society as a whole. Fans of novelists David Foster Wallace and J. G. Ballard, as well as such theorists as Foucault and Butler, are sure to be intrigued by this extraordinary postmodern exercise in literature.
Thomas Meinecke
Thomas Meinecke was born in Hamburg, Germany, and split his childhood between Heidelberg and Mannheim. He studied theater, German literature, and communication at Munich’s Ludwig Maximilian University, earning his master’s degree and writing for the underground magazine Mode & Verzweiflung. In 1980 he cofounded the band Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle (F.S.K.), which continues to record today, and since 1985 has worked as a club and radio DJ. He is the author of six innovative novels, including The Church of John F. Kennedy, Lookalikes, and Tomboy. He and his wife, the artist and musician Michaela Melián, have one daughter. They live today in the countryside south of Munich.
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Reviews for Tomboy
12 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tomboy is an interesting novel about the influence of gender on all aspects of contemporary life. The setting is Heidelberg, Germany, a beautiful old city dominated by a castle on a hill overlooking the Nekar River, the University of Heidelberg, and dwellings that date back to the 1600s rebuilt from a devastating fire. Vivian, the daughter of a German mother and American GI father, is a 24 year old doctoral candidate, an Army brat living independently in the city and attending the University. As a child, she was described by her parents as a Tomboy, not satisfied with her physically limiting role as a girl. Now, she has immersed herself into the German culture exploring with her friends and instructors the role of gender in art, fashion, philosophy, identity, literature, psychology, military history, industry, and sexuality. She asks questions of key informants (her unique friends) and other acquaintances and strangers about their perceptions of gender importance.Her research helps Vivian to fourmulate questions that open one intellectual door after another.The role of gender in the military is interesting to me, since I was stationed in Heidelberg in the USAREUR and 7th Army as a military policeman in the 1970s. I am very familiar with the old town, scene of much of Vivian's questioning, and also the industrial areas close to Heidelberg like Mannheim where she widens her point of view. With this territorial base, Thomas Meinecke takes the reader on a tour de force of gender effects on human behavior and thought. The style is reminiscint of Thomas Pynchon with more tangential thinking per paragraph than the reclusive author of Against the Day. Readers should expect the style to be relentless in a sort of dissociative presentation of a stream of consciousness from the opening sentence to the closing line.There are so many topics presented in a rapid fire manner in the novel that it reminds me of the flight of ideas experienced in some mental disorders. However, Meinecke holds his thoughts in check with an iron-fisted rationality that guides the reader through the maze of disjointed ideas. Some of the authors and players mentioned in Tomboy who were greatly influenced by factors of gender are: Freud, Courtney Love, Heidegger, Foucalt, Mark Twain, Lacan, Baudelaire, Mann, Marx, Descartes, Fliess, D.H. Lawrence, Gross, Jung, Hegel, Bloch, Virginia Wolf, Wagner and many others. Some of the historical events and movements influenced by gender considerations in the novel are: aWW II, the rise of the Nazi movement, the course of Zionism, the Vietnam War, women's rights movement, anti-Americanism, trans-gender activity, changes in Catholicism, NASA progress, evolution of psychoanalysis, new understanding of normality, the decline of the USSR, fashion industry changes,Arianism, and many others.Vivian discovers the complexity of gender influences on all aspects of daily life. But, she can handle it intellectually and in her mundane activity. I was struck with the unmitigated boredom of the lives of Vivian and her friends that mirrored my recollection of Army life in the 1970s. I knew many University students I met at bars on Untere Strasse in the old town of Heidelberg. The pervasive sense of ennui in apparently pointless lives could only be challenged by choosing to take some things seriously, even though the points of view of civilians and military personnel were arbitrary and had no intrinsic value. Reading Tomboy was a type of mirror-gazing for me and will be for other readers even if they have never been to Heidelberg or have not served in the military. The enjoyment is in the experience of Meinecke's tangential thinking, flight of ideas, and crystal clear rationality in his writing. It argues for flexibility and tolerance of ambiguity in our existential stand as individuals as we long vainly for answers to Vivian's questions and resolution of tension on the next page.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Could Zach and Fallon be any different. Complete opposites but they are exactly what the other needs. Fallon has spread herself out too thin as she follows her dreams of running a free clinic. She's already running on empty so the last thing she needs to do is nurse a grouchy, spoilt hockey hunk. Being attracted to him does not help but being the big hearted woman that she is she can't say no to her bestie. Zach has been burned by the people who is supposed to trust blindly so he doesn't let anyone in easily. He's a loner because he has history that he's ashamed of. But right now he knows he has no other option but to let Fallon work her magic and get him back on his feet in time for the next game. His performance is worse than ever and he hates letting his coach and team down.He is caught off guard when he finds himself drawn to Fallon. She's nothing like the women he's dated and in spite of being a mean douchebag to her she still won't back down. He soon realizes that his game is better and she gets dubbed his Lady Luck. He's finds himself wanting her around as much as possible, and more surprising he's beginning to trust her.When his secret becomes public news she's the only one who defends him. But he reverts to his grumpy old self and shuts everyone out. Until he realizes that the people he's hiding away from are the very people who are willing to stand and fight with him. And if he'd just get out of his way love was waiting for him to come and claim her.Advanced Review Copy provided for voluntary review consideration.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tomboy is an interesting novel about the influence of gender on all aspects of contemporary life. The setting is Heidelberg, Germany, a beautiful old city dominated by a castle on a hill overlooking the Nekar River, the University of Heidelberg, and dwellings that date back to the 1600s rebuilt from a devastating fire. Vivian, the daughter of a German mother and American GI father, is a 24 year old doctoral candidate, an Army brat living independently in the city and attending the University. As a child, she was described by her parents as a Tomboy, not satisfied with her physically limiting role as a girl. Now, she has immersed herself into the German culture exploring with her friends and instructors the role of gender in art, fashion, philosophy, identity, literature, psychology, military history, industry, and sexuality. She asks questions of key informants (her unique friends) and other acquaintances and strangers about their perceptions of gender importance.Her research helps Vivian to fourmulate questions that open one intellectual door after another.The role of gender in the military is interesting to me, since I was stationed in Heidelberg in the USAREUR and 7th Army as a military policeman in the 1970s. I am very familiar with the old town, scene of much of Vivian's questioning, and also the industrial areas close to Heidelberg like Mannheim where she widens her point of view. With this territorial base, Thomas Meinecke takes the reader on a tour de force of gender effects on human behavior and thought. The style is reminiscint of Thomas Pynchon with more tangential thinking per paragraph than the reclusive author of Against the Day. Readers should expect the style to be relentless in a sort of dissociative presentation of a stream of consciousness from the opening sentence to the closing line.There are so many topics presented in a rapid fire manner in the novel that it reminds me of the flight of ideas experienced in some mental disorders. However, Meinecke holds his thoughts in check with an iron-fisted rationality that guides the reader through the maze of disjointed ideas. Some of the authors and players mentioned in Tomboy who were greatly influenced by factors of gender are: Freud, Courtney Love, Heidegger, Foucalt, Mark Twain, Lacan, Baudelaire, Mann, Marx, Descartes, Fliess, D.H. Lawrence, Gross, Jung, Hegel, Bloch, Virginia Wolf, Wagner and many others. Some of the historical events and movements influenced by gender considerations in the novel are: aWW II, the rise of the Nazi movement, the course of Zionism, the Vietnam War, women's rights movement, anti-Americanism, trans-gender activity, changes in Catholicism, NASA progress, evolution of psychoanalysis, new understanding of normality, the decline of the USSR, fashion industry changes,Arianism, and many others.Vivian discovers the complexity of gender influences on all aspects of daily life. But, she can handle it intellectually and in her mundane activity. I was struck with the unmitigated boredom of the lives of Vivian and her friends that mirrored my recollection of Army life in the 1970s. I knew many University students I met at bars on Untere Strasse in the old town of Heidelberg. The pervasive sense of ennui in apparently pointless lives could only be challenged by choosing to take some things seriously, even though the points of view of civilians and military personnel were arbitrary and had no intrinsic value. Reading Tomboy was a type of mirror-gazing for me and will be for other readers even if they have never been to Heidelberg or have not served in the military. The enjoyment is in the experience of Meinecke's tangential thinking, flight of ideas, and crystal clear rationality in his writing. It argues for flexibility and tolerance of ambiguity in our existential stand as individuals as we long vainly for answers to Vivian's questions and resolution of tension on the next page.