For the third entry in #MySummerOfMysteries, I opted to read Chris Pavone’s The Travelers because I’d heard such good things about the book, generally, as well as enthusiastic feedback from people who attended his program at the 2016 Virginia Festival of the Book. So, it was no surprise that The Travelers was a quick-paced read.
The plot twisted back an forth enough to warrant the 400+ pages and, generally speaking, the twists and turns kept my interest and worked well within the spy narrative. It felt like a movie that would garner reviews about how it’s a “fun romp with a sharp edge.”
That said, this was the first book that I’ve read in a while that just felt really, well, elitist. Let’s unpack that, though, since that word can mean a lot of things. Here, I simply mean it in the most basic sense: white male privilege.
First, there’s not much racial or cultural diversity in the characters, though plenty used as the backdrop and scenery of New York City:
Will boards the crowded downtown local to the East Broadway station on the fringe of Chinatown, where recent Asian immigrants mix with African-Americans and Latin-Americans and Orthodox Jews, a heterogeneity that looks almost stage-managed.
The characters of color who do exist in any sort of developed way are either exoticized (Gabriella) or… well, I guess she’s the only character of color who’s developed at any length. Everyone else is white, fashionable, and globe-trotting, or an underling/thug that we’re meant to feel sorry for (Raji) or fear (Stonely and his dudes). Stonely’s viewpoint is described at one point as:
He doesn’t like being a brown-skinned dude being hired by a white-skinned dude to commit a crime. But Stonely needs this job.
In his writing and as a human, I want to assume that Pavone is someone who isn’t purposefully trying to perpetuate this sort of white male privilege… that this is just an inevitable quality for a book about international spies and a luxury magazine. I don’t actually think that’s true though, and I know I would have liked the book better if there were characters who weren’t all just privileged white New Yorkers (even if some of them are “down on their luck” like Will and Chloe, who nonetheless own a home and are both employed).
Also, women get screwed in this book. Literally, yes (and Pavone ensures that almost every female character is associated with prostitution in some way, whether abstractly or physically), but also metaphorically. In short, The Travelers is not a great book for strong female characters. Men continually dominate the action, until the very end when Chloe takes charge in order to, quote unquote, save her man. Throughout the rest of the book, women are objects to ogle, background scenery, or complaining wives who drive their men close to the edge. Don’t even get me started on how unsympathetic Pavone is to Allison, but even Chloe, Elle, Gabriella, and Inez get a raw deal in how their gender is portrayed.
At one point, Malcolm’s (one of the “good guys” who we’re supposed to like) thoughts are described:
He’s heard this before, and not just from his wife. There’s no shortage of women whose graduate degrees have transmogrified into heavy chips on their Pilate’d shoulders.
Even assuming that this is meant to demonstrate the character’s feelings, it’s just so unnecessarily gross. It’s not a requirement to have strong female characters, of course; it’s just disappointing when the narrative itself is as bro-centric as some of its characters.
But, while both of these things irked me throughout the book, I have to admit that it was fun as a beach read. I get why Pavone’s brand is strong and can understand why people like reading his books. I just won’t count myself among them.
This post is part of #MySummerOfMysteries, a project to immerse myself in mysteries, thrillers, crime writing, and whodunits. For each book I finish, I’m posting brief thoughts and reflections here. Please note that these are not intended as full reviews. To view my reading progress throughout the summer, click here.