Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

 (Originally written for the facebook group 'Sri Lankan Readers'/ 'පොත් කියවන අය', back in 8th July, 2013)

 

 

Kafka on the Shore - Haruki Murakami

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Frankly I know not what I’ve to say, what to conclude, what the author ultimately wanted to say or even whether he wanted to convey any message at all ( which I feel is most likely), through his novel, known as “Kafka on the beach” in English. What was evident to me was that the volume I read, that of 489 pages of dense text was never imposing and it was a thoroughly enjoyable read. That it had left the shores of reality by the sixth chapter, never to tread foot on that shore in the balance 44 chapters, makes uttering the obvious. I would venture to say that Murakami has scant want for his artistic creation to remain within the realms of reality.

Yet, Murakami does give an inclination that he has some emphasis on the statement, that one can run, but never hide – and as it were it is better to face the music and come up with the best solution to one’s obstacles as one’s options offer. Speaking of music, Murakami appears to be a huge Prince and Radiohead fan, and am glad that I’ve found a fellow fan of that music amongst world renowned authors.

Murakami appears to be telling us, in a subtle kind of way that we should hold on to judging people and incidents, as we are not qualified enough to judge. The numerous sexual encounters etc. appears to hint at this.

The roles that memories play in our lives possibly could be the main focus of Murakami. Some of us, for all practical reasons have lived our lives to it'sfullest and our present existence is just a course of going through the motions, dwelling in those memories which we cherish our every living moment. If not for those memories their lives are meaningless. The life of Miss Saeki and her message after her death to Kafka signify this.

All these things made this book a wonderful read, and make me lookout for other books by Murakami (for this was his first read by me.)

Amma - Saraid de Silva

 
"I have a tale to tell
Sometimes it gets so hard to hide it well
I was not ready for the fall
Too blind to see the writing on the wall"
                                          ( Live to tell - Madonna)

Read the novel, "Amma", by Saraid de Silva. While the title means mother in my native Sinhalese, the same word is being used by many other languages, especially Dravidian, and with less common use in Hindi. Amma is one of the three main female characters in this novel, who has the most impact, positive and negative, on her children, and grand children.

The novel sees the main characters, at different stages of their lives in various places - Singapore in its infancy, Sri Lanka just before things started to go awfully wrong with her ethnic strife, several cities in New Zealand at a time still unused to Asians in the 1980s and hence less tolerant, as well as in the  better subsequent decades, and finally Melbourne and London at the end of the 2010s. However the books' final chapter takes place in Colombo, as a mother and daughter rebuild their damaged relationship.

All three female characters undergo a lot - be it rape, abuse, mistreatment due to sexuality, disappointments over children, and death of their loved ones. As the world changes its stance on people who are different, their treatment towards children, parental expectations of their children, we see these three main female characters functioning in the turmoil of the world. The book ends in a relative calm, as the two remaining female characters make amends and come to terms with their lot, and rebuild broken relationships. One could say that the  theme of 'woke' is a consistently present one in this book, but it also include the painful path that the marginalised groups had to endure, to reach where they presently are.

I felt that this book included probably more than its fair share of strife and grief, so much so that it sometimes felt like a condensation of it. Yet who am I to say that there aren't  people who have endured so much pain, loss, and grief over their short lives ? Probably I am somewhat opinionated since I've read novels in which the authors try to bring in all forms of grief into their short narration, affecting its level of conviction. Upon reflection, on completing the novel I am now of the opinion that this is not that kind of artificial piling up of grief on a few hundred pages, but the author probably had a tale to tell of her own, inspired at least partially by  her own relations.

The authors' form of jumping from one period to another, at times across many decades, might not be doing the book justice given the extreme incidents that the characters endure.

Rating: ***1/2

Pastoralia - George Saunders

 George Saunders' name, as an author came to my notice upon his winning the Pulitzer for fiction, for the amazing "Lincoln in the Bardo". But googling a little I found that Saunders had quite a reputation for his short stories. I decided to include one his short story collection when forming the reading plan for 2025.

The short story collection has six stories, with the title story running to novella length. In that we see a man and a woman, both having challenges in their personal lives ( a sick son and  a son with an addiction), working as a caveman and a cave woman in a theme park. The state that they let themselves down to, is an indication of what employees bear, to adhere to the needs of the  corporate world. Although the story goes along at a dogged rate with only an occasional incident ( reminded me of 'waiting for Godot' at times), it is not difficult to understand that the doggedness of the story is what makes the situation feel real for the reader. Just like with 'waiting for Godot', the reader  has to feel the difficulty of the situation through the slow pace and repetitiveness of the incidents in the story. 

In "Winky", our protagonist Neil comes home determined to put an end to the cause which sees his life going to waste - that of his sister, Winky, slow, clumsy, and aging,

".., but like it said in the book, a person couldn't throw himself across someone else's funeral pyre without getting pretty goddamned hot."

Neil is returning from a seminar by Tom Rodgers, a self-help guru, who encourages to remove all obstacles which cling to one, which hinder one's progress in life, despite the level of attachment, or the helplessness of the party concerned.

In 'Sea Oak', the circumstances are a mix Pastoralia and Winky, as our protagonist works as a waiter (and then some, for women ). Again, the theme broadly is the sacrifices one has to make a passable life to those close to you, and yourself. The difference here is that a dead aunt comes back from the dead to read her relations, the ultimatum - for she realises how she hadn't lived a single day of her life for herself.

"Maybe you kids don't know this but I died a freaking virgin. No babies, no lovers. Nothing went in, nothing came out. Ha ha! Dry as a bone, completely wasted, this pretty little thing God gave me between my legs. Well I am going to have lovers now, you fucks! Like in the movies, big shoulders and all, and a summer house, and nice trips, and in the morning in my room a big vase of flowers, and I'm going to get my nipples hard standing in the breeze from the ocean, eating shrimp from a cup, you sons of bitches, while my lover watches me from the veranda, his big shoulders shining, all hard for me, that's one damn thing I will guarantee you kids! Ha ha! You think I'm joking? I ain't freaking joking. I never got nothing! My life was shit! I was never even up in a freaking plane. But that was that life and this is this life. My new life. Cover me up now! With a blanket. I need my beauty rest. Tell anyone I'm here, you all die."

"The End of FIRPO IN THE WORLD", is a sad, sad story, of a kid unloved by his mum, unwanted by her mum's latest lover, who tries to show the world that he too is something, in his brief life. 

The Barber in "The Barber's Unhappiness" has to wade off a minor disability, his insistent mum, and his own age as he tries to make a life out of his lot. Broadly similar in the other themes in this anthology, for the barber too, finds every step of his way, a challenge. 

Morse fights his insecurity and his lack of success, while taking a day at a time.

"His childhood dreams had been so bright, he had hoped for so much, it couldn't be true that he was a nobody, although, on the other hand, what kind of somebody spends the best years of his life swearing at a photocopier?"

Yet, for all his troubles, and the fact that he was needed at home, when the need comes up when he sees a couple of girls being swept down the river, all his logic goes out the window. Maybe we should imagine Morse happy in that one moment in life where he proves himself. (The Falls)

This anthology is an excellent one, albeit not one to make one's spirits rise as the author takes up the account of six protagonists, and their lots as they fight each day out - even if it means they end up dead, fighting.

Rating : ****1/2

The Banana Tree Crisis - Isankya Kodithuwakku

Read the Gratiaen prize winning book of 2006, the short story collection, "The Banana Tree Crisis". The book attempts to capture the ways of the cultures, how people think and act in times of adversity, while trying to capture a broad spectrum of the Sri Lankan society. In doing so the best short stories would linger in my memory for time to come, while the few weaker  expose as to what they lack.

The short story of the title of the book is quite an ingenious work, as a simple narration of an almost every day affair - that of a banana tree growing and leaning itself across a parapet wall - is made use of with a great deal of imagination to expose how a considerable section of Sri Lankans would not change their ways irrespective of its fallacies and errors, and would rather fight tooth and nail against those who oppose it rather than be self critical. In the same light, the author has managed to reveal with subtle humour how the lack of understanding of foreigners of the ways Sri Lankan, make them present solutions somewhat absurd to our eyes. The book being published in 2006, was written at a time when there were a lot of NGO presence in Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of the tsunami, as well as the civil war that was raging at the time. Hence the presence and doings of NGOs are featured in no less than three of the seven short stories. These actions are never told with the said NGOs held in poor light, but only to the degree that some of their best intentions don't match the ways of our people in certain circumstances. But that those who were affected, benefited from the generous contributions of these NGOs are not contested. Buffer Zone and Shallow Canoes, too feature the work of NGOs, the first focusing in the South and the Sinhalese, and the second in the East, and the Tamils and the Muslims. The latter has been inspired by a news paper article by Farah Farouque, titled 'Women riding the wave', of how women took to the sea for prawn catching etc., and how that unsettled the conservative and male culture of the people. Buffer zone is the longest story here, running to a total of fifty pages, as it gives rather a long account of how Harriet fared in the aftermath of the tsunami, how her insecure lazy husband was quick to adapt to a livelihood of handouts, and how she with the help of her neighbour manages to weather the hardest storms worse than the tsunami, and finds a purposeful life without accepting defeat. The title story as well as these two are possibly the highlights of this anthology.

"How Mrs. Senarath Called a Marriage for Mala" too is a story insightful of how two classes of Sri Lankan society  think they should react when opposed against each other. The rich middle class compassion of Mrs. Senarath quickly comes to an end the moment she is challenged by her servant, over what the latter sees as an insult. The poor servant while quick to scent the insult, is not capable of reading the longer plot of Mrs. Senarath as she labours her life away with hope for a man she will never have.

What I carried is a short story which falls between the two categories of the successful ones and lesser ones so, in this anthology. While based on the civil war and how the societies were affected in the east, as the tigers and the government forces battled each other, the story concentrates on a family of mixed marriage. The story carries hope for a better tomorrow.

I am reading this anthology after reading two novels from V.V. Ganeshananthan, and in such a light stories written from a Tamil perspective like, "The house in Jaffna" fail to impress me or convince me, instead show up as one with rough edges and a story in which only the top layer is touched upon. I am not denying that Isankya attempted to come up with an impartial anecdote here, but her best effort in the context that she has chosen shows up weak against narrations by such authors like VVG or Arudpragasam. The best estimate that I can provide for Nadarajah in this story is that he is very naive, - but that doesn't settle with the high profile he carried back in the UK.

The weakest story here for me was The Cricket Match, and it showed up as one contrived.

However, overall the pluses in this anthology out weigh the negatives, and hence can be recommended especially for some of the important themes that Isankya has touched upon. Reading it almost twenty years after its publication, the stories manage to hold on to their own strengths, and comes close to being considered as necessary reading for its then contemporary nature..

Rating: ****
Winner - Gratiaen Prize - 2006