Picking up The Pickup

By now you should have your copy of The Pickup.  And you may be wondering what is this book about? I don't think this is a novel about a truck, but to what does this title refer?

They say you cannot judge a book by its cover, but what can we glean from our Cornell edition of this book. We see that The Pickup was a New York Times Notable Book in 2002, and that it is recommended for discussion by the Great Books Association.  The citation on the back tells us that the image on the cover is from an untitled painting by artist, Alexander Calder. The abstraction allows us to provide our own interpretations. Perhaps the black and white "objects" are basking or maybe sizzling in the heat of a red desert sun. (Don't we have a red sun on our bookmarks?)

If we look at the cover of the British edition of the book, we see the windshield of a car.  Is this Julie's car that breaks down? Or is it the windshield of a pickup truck? Hmmm.

A search on Google Images for Gordimer and pickup yields two additional images that may help here. There is a cover of a German edition of the book, Ein Man von der Strasse, that pictures an interracial couple.  (Curiously, "the pickup" has been translated into the phrase, "a man from the street.") And then there is Karen Caldicott's drawing of a couple in front of a map of the Middle East from a review of the book in the Seattle-based newspaper, The Stranger.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then here are four thousand words to get us started on our reading.

By the way, the Oxford English Dictionary has nine different definitions for a "pick-up." Or pickup. Definition 2.c. does refer to "a small truck or van," but definition 3. is closer to our needs.  It reads, "That which is picked up...one who is picked up, a chance passenger, acquaintance, etc.; spec. a person whose acquaintance is formed with the intention of having a sexual relationship...also the act of forming such an acquaintanceship." So a pickup is a hookup or a friend with privileges. But there may be something more to this relationship than just physical attraction. 

As the blurb on the back cover tells us: "Set in the new South Africa and in an Arab village in the desert, The Pickup is a "masterpiece of creative empathy...a gripping tale of contemporary anguish and unexpected desire, and it opens the Arab world to unusually nuanced perception." (Edward Said).

So pick up the book and let's start reading.

Comments

[pulser]

i read this book and it was a great read. i totally the the way in which it was written and it only made my admiration for the author to grow... i love her work and have almost read all of it

[Anonymous]

Okay, so I was assigned this book for my High School AP English class, and well...reading it is rather frustrating at times. Are there any sites to help me understand the book better? Maybe something like Cliffnotes/sparknotes?

[Jonathan]

Its not a bad book. The language may be a little difficult for some and Gordimer's style of writing in the book might be difficult for others but it has interesting and complex topics embedded within the storyline that when you reflect on it, you realize it was worth it.