A mental trip to understand why books like "James" by Percival Everett are written

At the start let me state that this is not a review of the book, although some traits of a review may have forced itself in. Plus, if a book encourages a further discussion with one's self, I guess that too is tantamount to the success of the book. Anyway, let's start with a quote from the book: 

“I considered the northern white stance against slavery. How much of the desire to end the institution was fueled by a need to quell and subdue white guilt and pain? Was it just too much to watch? Did it offend Christian sensibilities to live in a society that allowed that practice? I knew that whatever the cause of their war, freeing slaves was an incidental premise and would be an incidental result.”

It is the second time in 3-4 months that I came across a similar argument regarding injustices set upon a group of people by another group. The previous instance was in Babel, by R.F. Kuang. In fact it was subtitled "The Necessity of Violence". In James too there is a justification of the necessity of violence, for the victim had no other alternative, and no amount of guilt, confession, or 'righting the wrong' decades or even a hundred years or so past the actual events could bring solace to those who suffered. I am aware of only two books which hold such a stance (these two), and there is in all probability many more.

 “I did not look away. I wanted to feel the anger. I was befriending my anger, learning not only how to feel it, but perhaps how to use it.”  

In life, after a long time of the actual event, a mental revisit gives  time to reflect on how the victims should've reacted to minimize the damage that they endured, if not actually save themselves from death. I see this trait in James, as well as in Babel. Freshly upon reading Babel I felt that it was a book which served little purpose in rebuilding bridges, and said as much. It is not about rebuilding bridges at all - for they have been built decades back thankfully. But rather a personal reflection, a guilt trip for the sake of one's ancestors - those who were severely wronged. Everett uses the ideas of Voltaire's Polygenism, or that of John Locke in discussion with James in his dreams, to further press home, what to me are the main grounds for this book. True, that Everett has used the platform of a classic text to build his alternative narration ( and largely a good one at that). But my reading of the the intent of this novel ( or even novels like this), is to revisit those grave injustices (in which stereotyping of a certain group of people appears to be prevalent ) and ipso facto hint a blame to ones' ancestors for not fighting hard enough, or for not fighting with the necessary skill set (i.e. cleverness, violence, ruthlessness). 

One could extend this argument against the eating of meat, I reflect. Although we are unable to read the minds, and hence the fear of animals from their senses, beyond a level which is obvious to humanity - if ever there comes a time that advanced technology offers a chance for us to read their minds (and by that time eating meat is more abhorred than now - similar to a level racism has reached now), maybe we all would be revealed to be as guilty as Judge Thacher in "James" or Letty Price in "Babel". We wouldn't be able to argue that we didn't know enough to counter-argue - we will only be able to accept that we weren't brave enough to revolt, or our love for the meat of other animals was too strong to stand against our sense of compassion, and fairness. I will plead guilty even now.

Maybe as humanity reaches exaltation, it carries with it the collective guilt of many people as the fuel to drive it that far.

War Crimes - Peter Carey

I picked up this short story collection, with some expectations, given the author's high credentials. Previously, short stories by renowned novelists have not failed me. This dragged on for over three months for its completion, as I gave it only the scantiest of reading slots, given that after  a promising start, most of the stories adopt a mixture of the Dystopian and the absurd - and reads as if the true interpretation is hidden under those layers. I for one am doubtful if the labours in any deciphering such meaning is worthy of my time, in a book of this nature.

Let's take a peak at few of the short stories ( It has a total of 13 - which too is a problem as I felt it was too long a collection ).

The Journey of a Lifetime : Is a short story I felt a lot. Mr. Moon, absorbed in his own hobbies looks forward to his one chance in his life time for a much cherished first class train journey. However he finds in the middle of his journey that his sacrifice has been in vain. The story is rich with nuances on how the rich are meted special treatment, and how for those who aspire that treatment at much personal cost, don't always receive the just rewards. Money may buy one special treatment, but still one is not immune from deception.

"Do you love me?" : Is a short story with a dystopian background. As the title of the story suggest, temporary power may not be able to protect one in times of crisis, as we find characters in this story begging for love to protect themselves, and how at times loving someone is difficult irrespective of how much one wants to. Other than the message that the story carries, the reader may feel that short story may fall of its literary expectations.

The Uses of Williamson Wood :

"People do not love those whose eyes show that they are somewhere else. Her mother had not liked it. Her mother's lovers, in varying degrees, had been enraged or irritated by her withdrawals. She had learned not to hear their words or feel their blows."

The protagonist in this story lives withdrawn in her own fantasy, as a ploy to save herself from the suffering. Clearly she is a little simple minded such that she cannot get away using the windfall that comes her way, but rather resorts to a meaningless petty revenge which brings upon everyone's downfall. Enjoyed reading this story.

A Schoolboy Prank :

Although one of the better short stories I've so far come to find in this collection, three former students meet their former teacher - who back then coached them of firmness as men, and the controlling of emotions. But soon the students and the teacher resort to subtle insults, each of their homosexual tendencies - the students in their adolescence, but for the teacher clearly a life long closeted one. The former students, now all in respectable positions aren't ready to reminded of their early teen affections, while the teacher, now old,is a lonely beaten man, who secretly isn't able overcome the loss of his dog.

He Found her in Late Summer : 

This story is a rare non-Dystopian short story, and reads close to a realistic one. A girl who appears to have been the victim of her life style, is found by a hermit like man living in full appreciation of the river and natural life surrounding it. The story has its charm in the slow turn as Dermott shows immense patience, in waiting for the girl to make her own decision on how she wants to continue her life. Here too an ancient volume on draculas bring the book an element of shadow to its relative realism.

Most of the remaining eight  short stories are steeped in Dystopian worlds and didn't quite capture my fancy. They felt like rather whimsical efforts toward how power affects people - those who are holding it and those who are under it, and reads like written with that intent, at the cost of whatever literary pleasure that the better stories in this collection - which are not quite a handful  - deliver. 

Clearly, this collection didn't deliver whatever literary pleasure that I had expected, given the author's credentials, despite one or two good short stories. But "Journey of a Lifetime" clearly can stand neck to neck with other good short stories.

Rating: **1/2

 

In the Skin of a Lion - Michael Ondaatje

 Besides his memoir, "Running in the Family", with "In the Skin of Lion", I've now read four of Ondaatje's novels - ( am set to reread "The English Patient" next year, given its more than fifteen years since I read that book, and then followed up by watching the movie, plus it is kind of a sequel to this.) - and with each novel, am more and more impressed with the poetic scenes he paints with his words. In "In the Skin of a Lion", Ondaatje writes about Toronto, about the people who build it - largely the unnamed, and taken for granted immigrant community, who gave their best years, and at times their lives, to see the materializing of the dreams of those who dreamed grand plans for the city of Toronto. Ondaatje, from his research mentions not only millionaires like Ambrose Small ( and fictionalizes his post disappearance life), but  Rowland Harris, the Architect of the City and The Comissioner of Works for Toronto for 33 years,  a  character present across the decades presented in book, as well as  in the climax of the fiction. But it is not only the likes of Small and Harris that Ondaatje gives room to in his novel, but also others - from Harris' hired photographer Arthur Gross to Nicholas Temelcoff - a fictionalized character, although records confirm of a Macedonian immigrant of that name. The part of the narration where the protagonist (yes, we do have a protagonist in Patrick Lewis - who to me was the thread that wove through the story of  Toronto, and was hence a useful tool ) befriends the Macedonians through his involvement with the Leftist Artiste/Actress Alice has an attraction, that makes one glad.

"They approved of his Finnish suit. Po modata eleganten! which meant stylish! stylish! He was handed a Macedonian cake. And suddenly Patrick, surrounded by friendship, concern, was smiling, feeling the tears on his face falling towards his stern Macedonian-style moustache. Elena, the great Elena who had sold him vetch for over a year, unpinned the white scarf around her neck and passed it to him. He looked up and saw the men and women who could not know why he wept now among these strangers who in the past had seemed to him like dark blinds on his street, their street, for he was their alien.

Suddenly formal, beginning with Elena. The women shook his hand, the men embraced and kissed him, and each time he said Patrick. Patrick. Patrick. Knowing he must now remember every single person. And now, because it was noon, the King Street Russian Mission Brass Band fifty yards down the road, they invited him to lunch which was set up on tables beside the stalls and crates. He was guest of honour. Elena on one side of him, Emil on the other, and a table of new friends."

Through this focus of the Macedonian community, who had largely passed as Turks, Greeks, Bulgarians, or Serbians, Ondaatje turns the narration from the dreams of the likes Harris, the love struggles of our Protagonist to the grievances of the labour immigrant community, where the focus is, on the latter part of the narration.

On the Left, Rowland Harris - Photo taken by Arthur Gross

Bookmark Plaque for the book

 

 

 

 

 

 

Needless to say, it takes considerable skill to make part of the narration that detail just sufficiently the structural engineering sensible to a lay reader. But there is more than that here clearly. It is in a sense a tribute to those unnamed thankless immigrant labour community, without ever sounding propagandist. It reads like cinematic experience as the author doesn't bother to bridge all gaps, as he jumps from scene to scene - for example we do not whether Clara Dickens finally stays with Patrick or not - in fact the 'novel happens' by way of a narration to Hana, whom we will meet again in The English Patient.

The other novels I've read of Ondaatje are, 'Coming Through Slaughter', 'Warlight', and of course 'The English Patient'. There's no weak novel among these, and truly leaves me glad that I still have "Anil's Ghost", "Divisadero", and "Cat's Table" for me to read.

Rating: ****

( All photographs, other than of the book covers, by courtesy of the Internet)

The Little Matter of the Next Read After a Masterpiece

 

Although my reading throughput this year has been average, I had the good fortune of reading some masterpieces. Namely, "Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro, "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara, "The Netanyahus" by Joshua Cohen, with possibly "Brotherless Night" by V.V. Ganeshanathan as a close contender. The problem with reading an excellent book that leaves you in so much awe, is the subsequent need for inspiration while reading - and then upon completion, the need to dig deep to find the merits with good books which may not quite reach the upper echelons of the great ones. For example, Booker winner "The Orbital" is clearly a huge effort but is a slow buildup with little happening, which the author recognized for what it was, by limiting it to its 150 or so pages (compared to what Andy Weir did with "Project Hail Mary", another very good book I read this year, the literary fiction of Ms. Harvey took an effort to read) . Another former Booker winner, "The Gathering" is about fighting demons left behind in her adolescence and coming to terms, with the narration being messy just as the mind of our troubled protagonist. The book I read most recently, this year's Booker short-listed "Audition" has an awe inspiring form, that sits so naturally with our actress narrator, but leaves the reader wanting to post-analyze. Yet, for all their positives, this second batch - good books, which to me weren't as good as those excellent ones mentioned above, leave a wanting to taste the proved masterpieces which we find any "best books" list. I am wondering what is "the ingredient" which converts a good book to a masterpiece, for me? Anyone who has read "Remains of the Day" knows that for all his self-satisfaction at the initial phases of the book, when our narrator realises that he has in fact missed out on life - and how and when he accepts that stark truth, we're not far from the tears that he sheds. When Jude compares himself to a mathematical identity as he has a near fatal fall down the stairs in the hands of his lover, it takes a strong person to control their emotions (in "A Little Life"). Does it all boil down to the clarity of narration, where the reader is fully immersed in the novel, and doesn't need to share her time trying to tackle the tricks of the form - admittedly an important trait for development of the novel ? If that is the case is this post masterpiece condition, something that is felt more, or possibly wholly by the reader who reads purely for pleasure as against an academic ? I suspect it is.

Audition - Katie Kitamura

 Audition is the fourth of the six books I read, of the Booker Short List. It is to date, the most experimental in terms of form of the lot, even exceeding the minimalist approach taken by 'Flesh', this year's winner. So much so, it is a difficult task to talk about this book without spoilers - but try, I will.

The book, as narrated by the unnamed actress has two unmistakable characteristics, which is a testament to the world of the novel, and hence the naturalness brought upon to the novel. As appropriate of a narration by an actress, she reads each event as it happens in close deep detail, just like a good actress would read, or even imagine the tension any scene she casts would bring. In contrast, she is gives relative lesser importance to whole events that have happened - for example her former affairs, which she refers to only when she is almost forced to as part of the narration - episodes of regret that are best covered with deep involvement in her current life. In contrast she reads events as they happen -  the impact that Xavior makes on his entry to the play rehearsal, or to a restaurant, in some detail.

Certain references in part one of the novel, allow coming into terms of part two somewhat easy.

“People always talked about having children as an event, as a thing that took place, they forgot that not having children was also something that took place, that is to say it wasn’t a question of absence, a question of lack, it had its own presence in the world, it was its own event.”

 On the strength of this, we can measure the opposite of this through our narrator's reaction when two women have close relations with Xavier, who supposedly "gave good son" - Anne and Hannah - reading from the narrator's perspective we are not shown of her own jealousy, but that of the other party, and at times "bitchiness" from the other party.

There is also the 'joke' that Xavier tells in chapter six, in which he says  his father pretended to love his mother and his children as per the therapist's advice (at a time when he had grown tired of his family), and subsequently it worked out well. This episode can be  taken as a cue to part two. 

In essence one could say part two is an act in agreement, and mutual arrangement - even to the level of imagining the adolescence of Xavier as narrated by our protagonist. 

"We had been playing parts, and for a period- for as long as we understood our roles, for as long as we participated in the careful collusion that is a story, that is a family, told by one person to another - the mechanism had held". But the deeper the complicity, and the longer it is sustained, the less give there is, the more binding and unforgiving the contract, and in the end it took very little for the whole thing to collapse."

It would be a lie to say that this I liked this novel with all my heart - but that's just a personal leaning. However, respect for what the author has done with this book of less than 200 pages is uncontested, and awe inspiring. The author has used the narration of a natural actress, and then brought the act to the forefront. Thus, for originality, and pure literary tact the book scores high marks.

Rating: ***1/2

The Land in Winter - Andrew Miller

Princetown, Dartmoor, 1963

 The Big Freeze! Winter of 1962/1963. Britain's most brutal, intensive, and lengthy winter since the 19th century! That's the setting for this novel. The four main characters form two couples, both wives pregnant, and neither couple convinced about their respective partners, on whether love will see it through. Rita, with a somewhat coloured past for the 1960s, is not ideal as a farmer's wife, when her husband is hardly a farmer - more, a young man rebelling his father, and of a past that he is not fully aware of. The GP, Eric, is probably the least likable character here, and is clearly horrid to his wife, even on a normal day. It is in this background that the four people try to fight their inner demons, attempt to make their lives work, and try to see through a most difficult winter. How do the two couples come out of the winter? This novel is a like a close examination of the cross-currents of the four characters. All four characters face danger due to the indecisiveness which lead them there. It could be an attempt at a reconciliation of their families, where  Bill finds his sibling an alcoholic, and possibly still closeted since it was the early 60s. It could be that Rita has a longing for the bright lights and long nights, a far cry from the solitude of the farm. She has a difficult time to keep the demons from the past away. It takes her on a trip with dangerous consequences. The GP discovers the hard way that secrets are difficult to be kept is rural Western Britain, and although the damages to his  car could be fixed, his character in those parts are ruined - so much so we find him contemplating a getaway to become a hero. Probably Irene is the most everyday character we find here, and maybe her cosmopolitan back ground makes her decisions somewhat measured - until the weather makes measurement a farce. 

Britain is still recovering from WWII, and those with deep scars are still fighting their battles (i.e. Rita's father, Bill's father, and even the inexperienced Eric). It is in this background that the author has selected a close examination of the four lives who are the core characters in this book. The book moves at a pace in synchronicity with that of the long winter. The longing in the hearts of those who find  very little to do, who are out of place, who are struggling amateurs, and in hot water due to their own designs are examined in just sufficient detail to portray the restless mix - but usually with an open ended flow, which gives the impression that just like the helicopter that carries our four characters from the snow covered farm at the end, we too are taken away from the novel with an idea about their possible futures, which could be still undecided.

So far this year I've read four books from the Booker long list, with three inside the short list. Personally if I had my way, I'd include Sea Scraper over this in the short list.

Rating: ***1/2

Photo credits: Princetown, Dartmoor, 1963 ( Daily Herald Archives)

Sam the Cat and Other Stories - Mathew Klam

Modern short story is one of the genres that I like to read, especially during the short respites I get for reading during phases of more engagements than usual, in my life - which amount to almost half of the year. This book too was listed as one of the better recent short story collections, although some of the reviewers had mixed feelings about it. Anyway I took up this book to read on my kindle, and here's how I found the stories to be;

Sam the Cat - Sam appears to be an unsettled kind of man, undecided on what he needs, but with no shortage of women. He appears to be bored with life, when he sees a man who appears to be taking care of himself, and somewhat disciplined. Sam becomes further confused with what he wants in life, as he makes a point to impress the man. The reader is left wondering what exactly Sam wants, as Sam himself isn't being honest with himself. A fast paced short story, written in a direct style, giving a good view of Sam's confused state of mind.

Not This - The Protagonist Vincent needs some time away from his girl, Kiffany, and visits his brother and S-i-L over the Labor day weekend. The short story then focuses on the luxurious life that his brother leads, and what he does, and with whom he works with to get so much money. It also dwells on certain problems that the couple is having as they want to start a family. While all this, Vincent is undecided on his future, and is repeatedly insulted by his brother for being a loser. To say that the brothers are poles apart, is putting it mildly. Its a very readable short story, although it finished open-ended. 

The Royal Palms - It appears that most, if not all of, these short stories are related to the issues in relationships, irrespective of the stage they are in. In this short story, we come across a couple in which the woman, Diane, feels insecure about how attractive she is. Maybe she feels that her husband tolerates a dip in her looks out of sympathy ? Does it take an attention from a third party to rebuild her confidence ? And is that ok for the husband ? It is clear that these aren't the kind of things that, leave alone couples, even an individual is honest enough to admit to oneself. Hence a reader outside of the pages, do the deconstruction of what may have taken place.

Linda's Daddy's Loaded - Mike finds out he has married rich, and through his wife Linda's father's money, they soon begin to have a life their incomes would otherwise will not permit. But it comes at the occasional tolerance of the old man's unbearable visits, and his whims. But Mike soon finds out that maybe he really can ill afford to not tolerate his father-in-law, however much the daughter feels otherwise.

There Should Be a Name For It - A very young couple in the intense of early passion, try to understand if what they feel for each other is love - is there another name for it ? There should be a name for it.

Issues I Dealt With In Therapy - Is an enjoyable short story where a couple joins the wedding celebration in a resort island, of a close friend of the guy, who has really moved up the ladder of influential people. While the incidents therein make it a fun story, the fact that the father of the bride is one Mr. Niyangoda suggested that Matthew had picked up a Sri Lankan family in the U.S. to inspire the story. The therapy in question is the getaway for Phylida, a surgeon, and her guy, our narrator, who manage to  patch up issues that had accumulated over a time due to their busy schedules.

European Wedding* - Rich and Gynnie, both Americans, are supposed to get married in France, upon Gynnie's mother's insistence, citing their German and French roots. As with most of the stories in this collection, there is the doubt on the minds of both parties, an infidelity or two, and usually busy occupied lives.

As suggested above, all seven short stories are relationship related, and that of the young couples - young in today's terms for marriageable ages, I reckon - and the challenges, doubts, distractions that they have to live through. There is only short story, in which the story has a married couple as the center point.

A decent short story collection that I enjoyed, especially since I didn't spend my core reading time on this.

Rating: ***1/2



*A personal note about this 75 minute short story - I read this in the wee hours as I was returning on the night mail from Badulla upon completing stage 16 of Pekoe trail, somewhat drunk, and amidst the discouragement of my fellow trekkers.