Six Degrees of Separation

Six Degrees of Separation is hosted by Kate at Books Are My Favourite and Best. This month it starts with a classic teen novel, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. I have not read the book, or for that matter, heard about it. When checking the net, I find it is about troubled teenagers. Reading the summary, I immediately thought about East of Eden by John Steinbeck. I have not read it, but seen the movie. So much connected to James Dean, I think you sometimes forget that it was written by one of the great American writers.

That leads me to another James Dean movie and American writer with Giant, written by Edna Ferber. From Study.com I find the following introduction to the book. "Edna Ferber is the author of Giant, the book that caused one of the greatest scandals in Texan history. You may be familiar with the book's movie adaptation because it was James Dean's last role. Regardless of the narrative's presentation, the content inside of Ferber's novel created controversy for all the right reasons. Could you imagine reading a book about your town in the present day that shined a light on all the social norms you practiced? In an era when racism and classism ran amok through the state of Texas, Giant provides a good hard look at the struggles many people faced due to circumstances beyond their control." The word here as well in the other two references is 'trouble'.


That leads me to another book by Edna Ferber, Saratoga Trunk. The story "is about a Texas gambler and a Creole daughter of an aristocratic family who work together to seek justice from a society that has rejected them". Sounds like a little bit of trouble here as well. I have the book on my shelves since ages. Time to read it now, I think.

Since it seems that the six degrees has started out with American authors, I think I will continue. Talking about trouble. Well, we find a lot of trouble in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Claire is travelling from England in 1945 to Scotland in 1743 and meets a totally different world. Far away from the comforts on the 20th century, she falls directly into the fighting between the Highlanders and England. It goes on in eight books, the ninth, hopefully, soon ready for release.

Real trouble and murder we find in Truman Capote's In Cold Blod. It is a non-fiction novel, which details the murders of four members of the Herbert Clutter family in 1959. The family lived in Holcomb, Kansas, a small farming community and the murders stirred up the whole area. Much acclaimed for the book, there was also critics pointing out inaccuracies in the story. It was, though, the beginning of a new type of crime books.

Well, I guess you just can't mention Tennessee Williams when you are talking about great American writers. Although he is seen as a playwright, I think he fits in here. His characters are usually quite troubled as well. To mention one play, I choose A Streetcar Named Desire. Made famous by Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in the movie. Leigh plays Blanche, the troubled sister of Brando's (Kowalski's) wife Stella. A sad story of not being able to adapt to new times.

That was my six degrees of separation. The main theme turned out to be American writers/playwrights and troubled people. As always, a pleasure to start a chain from the pick of the month. I really enjoy all of your chains. You never know where they will you.