Noah Solloway: America's Best Writer or Selfish Jerk?

[AmandaPanda]

Your Noah topic!

[scrb]

OK, he's probably the most hated character in the show but can we come up with some good things to say about Noah?

 

1.  He didn't cheat for years, at least one of his kids was almost an adult?  Well at least in his POV, women were throwing it at him like at the pool but he was a good husband and father until he met pure "sex" Alison.

 

2.  He doesn't walk away from his family and children, even if he no longer wants to be with Helen.  Or he's using the kids to get back at Helen?

 

OK, never mind.

[SlackerInc]

There is not necessarily a contradiction between being America's best writer and being selfish jerk. But I think Noah is neither.

Things I like about Noah:

He fiercely loves his children, and steps in when he is needed; not to mention not wanting to do the stereotypical deal of a dad that is found a new wife and abandons his older children. Noah instead wants them half the time.

He has progressive ideals and fights for them in the face of his in-laws' scorn.

He took care of his mother as a teenager instead of going out and meeting girls and having fun.

He appeared to be a compassionate, engaged, and engaging teacher in a diverse urban public school.

When Alison tried to push him away, saying that she was basically too damaged and that he would be better off not getting involved, he insisted on being there for her. That continued when she was having a tough time with her mother and grandmother. And then again in the aftermath of the Cole gun incident.

He is philosophical and thoughtful about life. This obviously dovetails with what Millburn Stone was talking about.

Rather than just go on with a comfortable marriage and a kept second woman as his best friend advised him, he decided to go out on a limb and leave Helen for the woman he really loves.

When Helen told him he could have anything he wanted in the divorce, he told her that all he really wanted was joint custody and not any of her money.

In the wake of his son nearly dying from a perforated bowel, he realized that he never really understood how intensely it must have affected Allison for her son to die and he brought it up apropos of nothing, to convey his empathy and his sympathy.

[chocolatine]

I really don't see him as anywhere close to "America's best writer". Even though the passage he read in the most recent episode was much less cringeworthy than the stuff Alison read at Yvonne's, I thought it was too self-conscious to have been a critics' favorite and PEN/Faulkner award candidate. "The ring that had been twisted from her finger staring at him from the top of the radiator" - please.

[Constantinople]

I really don't see him as anywhere close to "America's best writer". Even though the passage he read in the most recent episode was much less cringeworthy than the stuff Alison read at Yvonne's, I thought it was too self-conscious to have been a critics' favorite and PEN/Faulkner award candidate. "The ring that had been twisted from her finger staring at him from the top of the radiator" - please.

 

But "...above the tea set she'd liberated from a little Moroccan pension where they'd spent their honeymoon..." shows some promise as a copy writer for Seinfeld's version of the J Peterman catalog.

[carryanation]

The quotes from the creators saying Noah is a good guy are really disconcerting. I mean I've hated characters whose writers' liked them before but I understood why they liked them. I mean usually I can see how they're trying to make their characters likable and just failing at it. But with Noah there is just a series of empirically, objectively bad actions that I can't see anyone condoning. Does the Sarah Treem lady think it's acceptable behavior to get hammered and punch a critic who doesn't like your book? Or to try to bang three different women when your pregnant fiancee is waiting at home? Is that what she does? Does she really just not realize these things are wrong? Is she a bad person?

Edited November 23, 2015 by carryanation

[HumblePi]

I would compare Noah Solloway's talent as an author similar to someone like Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James.  Like that erotic money-making novel, Noah's novel also titillates and provokes emotions, primarily among women. The undergraduate student that panned it was male so Noah's book was obviously seen differently by a male than it was by the adoring and impressed women at the reading. As this student said "Do you see anyone reading your book in five years?" which would of course make Noah's book a piece of literature. Noah's response to that question was spoken in jest but I'm sure came from honesty "for the sake of your generation I hope that in five years it will be translated into an emoji". Similar to Fifty Shades of Grey it's a commercial success because of the eroticism and sexual titillation. If anyone has seen the movie Fifty Shades,( which I am embarrassed to say that I have on HBO), it was so vacant of feeling and substance that I ended up chuckling at most of what was intended to be sensual and erotic. It was absolutely awful. Fifty Shades of Grey was not literature that will be read by generations to come or taught in literature classes. The same for Noah's book. The undergrad students panning of Descent was right-on deadly accurate.

 

I suspect that Noah's book will be compared to a musical one hit wonder where a performers song reaches #4 on the Billboards then sinks into oblivion never to be seen or heard from again.

[Darian]

I would compare Noah Solloway's talent as an author similar to someone like Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James.  Like that erotic money-making novel, Noah's novel also titillates and provokes emotions, primarily among women. The undergraduate student that panned it was male so Noah's book was obviously seen differently by a male than it was by the adoring and impressed women at the reading. As this student said "Do you see anyone reading your book in five years?" which would of course make Noah's book a piece of literature. Noah's response to that question was spoken in jest but I'm sure came from honesty "for the sake of your generation I hope that in five years it will be translated into an emoji". Similar to Fifty Shades of Grey it's a commercial success because of the eroticism and sexual titillation. If anyone has seen the movie Fifty Shades,( which I am embarrassed to say that I have on HBO), it was so vacant of feeling and substance that I ended up chuckling at most of what was intended to be sensual and erotic. It was absolutely awful. Fifty Shades of Grey was not literature that will be read by generations to come or taught in literature classes. The same for Noah's book. The undergrad students panning of Descent was right-on deadly accurate.

 

I suspect that Noah's book will be compared to a musical one hit wonder where a performers song reaches #4 on the Billboards then sinks into oblivion never to be seen or heard from again.

That's what most indicators suggest, but he was on the shortlist for the PEN/Faulkner award. I can't stop rolling my eyes over just about every aspect of the "Descent" story line, but especially that. What a mess. 

[DarkRaichu]

I suspect that Noah's book will be compared to a musical one hit wonder where a performers song reaches #4 on the Billboards then sinks into oblivion never to be seen or heard from again.

 

Oh c'mon Noah had at least 2 equally crappy sequels followed by a movie that bombed at the box office before sinking to oblivion... :D

[Constantinople]

That's what most indicators suggest, but he was on the shortlist for the PEN/Faulkner award. I can't stop rolling my eyes over just about every aspect of the "Descent" story line, but especially that. What a mess.

It is a mess and it continues to be a big mistake for Sarah Treem & Co. to keep emphasizing, again and again and again, that Noah is God's gift to writing and that literature should be broken down into three periods: before, during and after Noah Solloway.

1. They can't back it up with any of the lines from his book. What's even weirder, is they seem to acknowledge this through the critic from the college newspaper "Solloway's attempts at a stylized voice only serve to illuminate the novel's shortcomings. What could have been literary eroticism is instead reduced to clumsy groping in the dark." (and that was a polite way of putting it).

2. For a guy who's supposed to be a writer, he doesn't seem all that interested in writing or telling stories. Except for his first novel, we never hear of any other stories he's written, started writing and put aside, ideas he has, nothing.

[scrb]

He's so busy with the brats and groping Alison, where does he find the time to write?

[SlackerInc]

The quotes from the creators saying Noah is a good guy are really disconcerting. I mean I've hated characters whose writers' liked them before but I understood why they liked them. I mean usually I can see how they're trying to make their characters likable and just failing at it. But with Noah there is just a series of empirically, objectively bad actions that I can't see anyone condoning. Does the Sarah Treem lady think it's acceptable behavior to get hammered and punch a critic who doesn't like your book? Or to try to bang three different women when your pregnant fiancee is waiting at home? Is that what she does? Does she really just not realize these things are wrong? Is she a bad person?

 

It almost seems like she's trolling the audience at this point.

[Milburn Stone]

It almost seems like she's trolling the audience at this point.

 

Ya think?

[RedInk]

The quotes from the creators saying Noah is a good guy are really disconcerting. I mean I've hated characters whose writers' liked them before but I understood why they liked them. I mean usually I can see how they're trying to make their characters likable and just failing at it. But with Noah there is just a series of empirically, objectively bad actions that I can't see anyone condoning. Does the Sarah Treem lady think it's acceptable behavior to get hammered and punch a critic who doesn't like your book? Or to try to bang three different women when your pregnant fiancee is waiting at home? Is that what she does? Does she really just not realize these things are wrong? Is she a bad person?

I'm not a Noah fan, but I used to think I had a read on him. The character makes absolutely no sense to me anymore. It's almost like there should be bigger time jumps between episodes for any of it to make sense; his wants and needs seem to change on a daily basis. At this point, I don't know if he ever loved Helen OR Allison. Does he even think he loves Allison anymore? Is he just a bottomless pit of insecurity and raw neediness? He doesn't even seem that moved about the murder charges hanging over his head. How can a writer claim to "like" a character that's so poorly drawn? I don't know if the acting choices are killing his good/charming qualities or if (and I suspect this) the writers are intentionally putting up a wall for some big reveal that will explain everything. If that's true, will anyone care at this point?

[molshoop]

 

I don't know if the acting choices are killing his good/charming qualities

 

       Sarah Treem said that she wrote the part with DW in mind.  She thought he was the only actor who could really play the part and     was thrilled when he agreed to do it.  I think she sees him as a person and actor who has a natural likability that will come though no matter what.  That isn't happening.

 

      I have a problem with DW as Noah and with his character in The Hour.  In both parts he is meant to be a handsome, sexually attractive man.  Tastes vary, but I think he looks like a frog, and he also looks about 10 years older than his actual age.

 

    I love Ruth Wilson and think she is a brilliant actress.  She can sell any line of dialogue, except when she told Noah how hot he was.

Nope, I couldn't buy it.

[scrb]

Paraphrasing Noah:  "great men take what they want, screw the consequences."

[Otherkate]

 

Solloway is, essentially, a scandalized (and possibly more tragic) Nate Fisher for the white-people-problems era — an unsympathetic, disenfranchised yuppie who assumes we’ve all been anxious for his destiny to manifest.

 

The Affair’s Noah Solloway Is TV’s Villain of the Year:

http://www.vulture.com/2015/12/affair-noah-villain-of-the-year.html

[marys1000]

I haven't watched S2 yet so perhaps my opinion will change but I think Noah is pretty much like a lot of people.  Nice enough.  Did some bad things, will do some more.  Trying to figure it out.  I agree with a lot of Slackerinc's post.  So far:)

 

I mentioned this in another thread that his "those people are real" bit about the "natives of Montauk" is irritating and insulting.   I don't know whether this is some sort of writing trope for rich and artistic characters but I've read/seen it before; that the rich and artistic somehow see people struggling economically and having problems that  money inoculates them from, somehow makes those others more authentic real people.  Gah.  No, its just means you have money and have a safe boring life because you have time to be bored and lawyers to handle your problems. 

 

Which leads me to his writing.  Wasn't his book basically autobiographical?  Man on Montauk has an affair?  So essentially he has no ability to imagine the life of someone else's to write about?  Will he constantly have to fuck up his life in order to be able to write another book?

[Former Nun]

I think she sees him as a person and actor who has a natural likability that will come though no matter what.

 

 

Hasn't come through for me.  The only time i remember seeing him is in a BBC (?) series "The Hour."  Not. Likeable.

[crowsworks]

Noah has a weakness for women with duck lips?

[Fourseasons]

When I read how this season was going to be "the season of Noah", I thought and to a huge degree so was season two.  They weren't kidding about this season.  I've never been a great fan of his character, but this season it is just too much.  Last season I could deal with him, because the others had stories too which balanced the season out.  I can't really say that about this season.  I hope they resolve things with Noah somewhat this season, because I don't think I could handle it continuing big time next season.

[Razzberry]

I've only seen a few episodes from today leading up to the season opener, but I'm hooked, despite Noah.  Maybe he'll grow on me, but I doubt it.  Looks a bit neanderthal for my tastes and I can't understand why these women are obsessed with him.  His ex-wife even had him living secretly in her basement.  LOL  Loving Maura Tierney.

[Elizzikra]

Quote

we come up with some good things to say about Noah?

He has some good qualities but generally I think he's an ass.

Quote

Hasn't come through for me.  The only time i remember seeing him is in a BBC (?) series "The Hour."  Not. Likeable.

Allow me to betray both my age and Dominic West's. In St. Elmo's Fire, DW plays Andie McDowell's boyfriend; the one that Kirby (Emilio Estevez) finds with her at the ski cabin. He's snarky and likeable in the couple scenes he has in that movie.

[AngelaHunter]

I enjoyed this article - Why Does Anyone Want to Sleep with Noah Solloway?:

 

https://www.theringer.com/2016/11/21/16042622/noah-solloway-the-affair-showtime-3ba34449f4cc

[grommit2]

My (quite late) two cents:
1) Noah wanted to be a successful author, but he lacked inspiration.
2) Being a husband to an attractive, smart wife; father of several kids (including the fabulous Whitney)...ok, but...
3) Being a resident of the exclusive Park Slope section of Brooklyn...ok (although it came from Helen's family money)...nah...
4) Being a respected school teacher...also pretty neat...BUT....
He could keep on with this life...
UNTIL...he sees the most exotic, intoxicating, attractive, sexy, youthful (but experienced) woman...who needs a bit of rescuing.
This puts him into a dizzying slide.  His brain is overwhelmed by his libido.  He is worse than drunk or stoned. 

So, is he really a crappy person?
Somehow, guys have to answer this one for themselves.  I, personally, saw HER as an object of desire (which is how the director wanted her to be seen) and, given similar circumstances, I wonder if I could have exercised any restraint.
But, hey, this was just a TV show.  Enjoy!

[AngelaHunter]

In a case of life imitating art:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8834113/Dominic-West-returns-home-wife-kissing-Lily-James.html

Disclaimer: I usually never bother with celebrity gossip, but I was struck by this. Shades of Noah, Helen, and Alison.

[grommit2]

8 hours ago, AngelaHunter said:

In a case of life imitating art:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8834113/Dominic-West-returns-home-wife-kissing-Lily-James.html

Disclaimer: I usually never bother with celebrity gossip, but I was struck by this. Shades of Noah, Helen, and Alison.

AngelaHunter...
Lily James was terrific in the movie "Yesterday".
Now she gets involved in this stuff.
Oh well...life goes on..or at least you hope so.

[AngelaHunter]

2 hours ago, grommit2 said:

AngelaHunter...
Lily James was terrific in the movie "Yesterday".
Now she gets involved in this stuff.
Oh well...life goes on..or at least you hope so.

Never heard of Lily James and never saw that movie but it seems to me anyone carrying on as blatantly as DW wants to get caught. These things happen, but how humiliating for the wife when it's so public.

People have affairs, break up, etc. all the time but it just struck me in this case because it's so much like the show - he's married to a woman his age, has four kids with her and starts fooling around - just like Noah -  in such an obvious way. It's kind of surreal.

Edited October 14, 2020 by AngelaHunter