This piece was certainly a driveway moment for me when I first heard it last year. The way partial quotations from different voices are woven together so closely makes the sense of communal grievance all the more haunting.
What a beautiful piece about the trials and joys of a truly incredible woman! Subramanian and Levine do a brilliant job of weaving famous literary moments and reflections into the narrative Sethu's own storied life. The piece paints an especially nuanced portrait of Sethu's relationship with her husband. Whereas a less skillful portrayal might have come off as overtly editorialized and ethnocentric, we get to hear Sethu's contradictory feelings played out firsthand, as in the part where she describes wanting to run away from her husband but still feeling the sensation of melting whenever she heard his voice. Without a doubt, "A Woman of No Consequence" melted me.
Comments by Molly Bennett
Comment for "“Last Words” from Hopi High"
Molly Bennett
Posted on February 13, 2011 at 04:51 PM | Permalink
A true driveway moment
This piece was certainly a driveway moment for me when I first heard it last year. The way partial quotations from different voices are woven together so closely makes the sense of communal grievance all the more haunting.
Comment for "A Woman of No Consequence"
Molly Bennett
Posted on February 13, 2011 at 04:14 PM | Permalink
"Then when I heard his voice, I would melt..."
What a beautiful piece about the trials and joys of a truly incredible woman! Subramanian and Levine do a brilliant job of weaving famous literary moments and reflections into the narrative Sethu's own storied life. The piece paints an especially nuanced portrait of Sethu's relationship with her husband. Whereas a less skillful portrayal might have come off as overtly editorialized and ethnocentric, we get to hear Sethu's contradictory feelings played out firsthand, as in the part where she describes wanting to run away from her husband but still feeling the sensation of melting whenever she heard his voice. Without a doubt, "A Woman of No Consequence" melted me.