COMMENTARY: And What Can We Offer You Tonight (2021)
The following are thoughts and reactions I had while reading And What Can We Offer You Tonight (2021) by Premee Mohamed. They do not reflect my overall post-reading opinion of the work.
⚠️ SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD ⚠️
- OK, time for a novella breakdown. First of all few. AWCWOYT is
7668 pages (the novella doesn’t start until page 8) broken into 16 chapters. So far the language is a stream-of-consciousey, elegiac prose. I like this. The hook is kicked off well in chapter 2. Dead girl at funeral wakes up and sits upright in coffin. The whole funeral ritual is unique and weird. The microtension created by the rich girl who fell far is good. All a promising start. - Ch. 3 - ah ok. This is a late-stage capitalism dystopia. Cool. Cool cool cool. I should tell Nigel and Theresa to get on this.
- Ch. 4 - a little more background and world building. Selling the mystery portion.
- Ch. 6-8 - ok cool. We got Reanimated Sex Worker Batman here. This is a cool premise. Well built world as well. And a spy in the pseudo union. Lots of anti-capitalist thematic elements.
- Ch. 9 - ah the cost of disobedience in late stage capitalism. We will put you on so much debt you can never get out.
- Ch. 11 - when is kindness a threat? When a boss treats you to a party for no good reason.
- Ch. 12 - when these sex workers spend money, they spend it on cosmetic enhancements so they can make more money. Jewel with her nasolabial folds. Nero with his wings. This is a great analogy for people who buy get rich quick, self help, and biz op stuff.
- ch. 13 great tension. Great power dynamics.
- Ch. 14 nice twist. Nothing in this novella is super original. It’s just well told. The prose is beautiful but not in an annoying or purple way.