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

සතුරෝ - අජිත් තිලකසේන

කෙටි කතා සංග්‍රහයේ පිට කවරයේ එහි නම සඳහන් ආකාරයටවත් එහි නම මෙහි නිමවා ගැනීමට නොහැකි, කෙටිකතා සංග්‍රහයකි ; තිලකසේනගේ පළමු කෙටිකතා සංග්‍රහයයි; 1960 වසරේ පළ වූවකි - ඒ නිසාම මෙහි එන විස්තර මගින් අප කිසිදා නුදුටු යුගයක් ගැන සාංකාවක් ඇති වීම ස්වභාවිකය. කෙටි කතා 11කින් සපිරිය. මීට පෙර මා කියවා ඇති කෙටි කතා සංග්‍රහයන් දෙක ( පිටුවහල් කර සිටිද්දී ; රාත්‍රියේ පූර්ව භාගය ) තුලින් අප දුටු තිලකසේන නිර්මාණ වල ඇති ස්වරූපයට අඩිතාලම වැටෙන ආකාරයත්, හුදෙක් සිතුවිලි මාත්‍රාවන්, මෙනෙහි කිරීම්, ආදියෙන් පෝෂිත නිර්මාණ මෙහි ඇතුලත් වේ. ඇත්තෙන් ම පෙර කී සංග්‍රහයන් දෙකට වඩා මෙම සංග්‍රහය රස වින්දේ, සමහර විටෙක අපි 1960 දශකයේ මැද පමණ දැක ඇති තිලකසේන ගේ නිර්මාණ වලට වඩා මෙහි යම් තරමක හෝ සම්මත සාහිත්‍ය ලක්ෂණ ද දැක ගත හැකි නිසා විය යුතුය. ඒ නිසා ම පෙර කී සංග්‍රහයන් ට සාපේක්ෂව මෙම සංග්‍රහයේ කෙටි කතා කියවීම පහසු විය.

මෙහි එන කුඩා ශ්‍රියානි, වස්තුව, සහ තිසාට උන, යන කෙටි කතා ත්‍රිත්වය මුලික වශයෙන් කුඩාවුන් මුල් කොට ගෙන ලියැවී ඇත. ඉන් වෙසෙසින්, වස්තුව, කෙටි කතාව කියවනා කල රනාල - ආටිගල වැනි පෙදෙස් මීට වසර 75 ට පෙර කෙසේ තිබෙන්න ට ඇත්තේදැයි සිතේ. නාගරීකරණය නොවූ ඒ යුගයේ, අපේ කතා නායකයා තමන් 11 වියැති දරුවෙක් ව සිටියදී තනියෙන් බස් රථයක ගිය ගමනත්, තමන් ගිය නෑ ගෙදර ගඟ අසබඩ වූ සිදු වූ සිදුවීමක් ගැනත්  මෙහි කියැවේ. කෙටිකතාව රචනා වී ඇත්තේ 1956 දී ය. '56 දී මෙහි එන කථකයා ආවර්ජනයක යෙදෙන්නේ නම්, මේ ගමන් ඊටත් වසර දහයකටවත් පෙර සිදූ වූවක් විය යුතුය. එනම්, ලංගමත් ස්ථානපය වීමට පෙර යුගයක කතාවක, රුපියලේ මුදල් නෝට්ටු භාවිත වූ යුගයක ආවර්ජනයකි. තිසාට උන කෙටිකතාවේ, කුඩා තිස්ස ගේ මනසින්, එම වයසේ දරුවෙකුගේ අදහස් ගලායෑම පෙන්වා දෙන අයුරින් ලියැවී ඇත. ඔහු තම නිවෙස අසල අන් ළමුන් සමඟ කෙළි සෙල්ලම් කරනා ආකාරය, පාසැලේදි උන හැදී ආපසු නිවෙස ට ඇවිත් තම දෙමාපියන් සහ මෙහෙකරුවන් ආදින්ගෙන් සාත්තු ලබනා ආකාරය, ඔහුගේ අක්කාගේ මගුල් ගෙදර, අක්කාගේ මණමාලයාගේ සපත්තු සෙදීමට ගොස් සිදු වූ අකරැබ්බයක්, ඔහු ගේ අක්කා ඊට පෙර වෙනෙකුකට ලියුමක් ලියූවැයි අම්මාගෙන් දොස් ලබද්දි, තමන් ද තම මිතුරන් ට ලියුම් ලියා ඇති හෙයින් ලියුමක් ලිවීමේ ඇති වරද කුමක්දැයි කල්පනා කරන්න ට වීම ආදි, එම කුඩා ළමයාගේ සිතුවිලි වලින් මෙම කෙටිකතාව පෝෂිතය. වස්තුව, සහ තිසාට උන යන කෙටි කතා දෙකම මා මහත් රස වින්දෙමි.

නිරර්ථක ජීවිතයක සාර්ථක මොහොතක් (1955) කෙටිකතාව, කතානායිකාව තම පෙර සැමියාගේ වියෝව පිළිබඳ සැල වී, ඔහු ගැනත්, ඔහු ගේ සහ ඇයගේ අදහස් අතර වෙනසත්, ඔහු  ගැන මතකයනුත් පිළිබඳ ආවර්ජනයකි.

"ඊට මාස කීපයකට පසු ගුනසාරව යලිත් දුටු බවත් ඔහු ඈ සමඟ කීයේය. හරමානිස් ට්‍රොලි බස් රථයේ ඉහල තට්ටුවේ වාඩි වී බොරැල්ල දෙසට යමින් සිටියේය. එවිට පුංචි බොරැල්ලේ බෝගහ ලඟදී ගුනසාර පත්තරයක් කියවමින් කොටුවට යන ට්‍රොලී බස් පෝලිමේ හිටගෙන සිටිනු ඔහු දුටුවේය. ... ගුනසාරගේ ඇස් පෙරට වඩා ගිලිහි තිබුනේය. එහෙයින් ඔහුගේ මුහුනින් වයස් ගත්තෙකුගේ විලාශය ප්‍රකාශ විය." (19 පිට)

මෙවැනි ම පෙර යුගයක, කෙටිකතාවට ඍජු ව අසම්බන්ධ, එහෙත් අප තුල සාංකාවක් ජනිත කරලීමේ විභවතාවක් ඇති සිදුවීමක් කරුනා (1956) කෙටිකතාවේ ද අපට හමු වේ.

"දුම්රියපල පාරත් ඇතුලු-වට-රවුම් පාරත් එකට සන්ධි වන තැනට ඔහු කන්ඩිය දිගේ ඇවිද ගෙන ගොස්, එතන නතර වී දුම්රියපල දෙසට හිස හැරවී ය. ඕපනායක දෙස සිට ආ දුම්රිය ආ දුම්රියපලේ නොනවත්වාම ගසාගෙන ගියේය. ඇතැමුන් දුම්රියපල දෙසට දුවන්නට වූ අතර ඇතැම්හු කඩිමුඩියේ එහි සිට එලියට එන්නට වූහ. ඒක බඩු කෝච්චියක්ද කොහෙදැ' යි කවුදෝ කියනු ඔහුට ඇසුනේය." (40 පිට)

කරුනා කෙටිකතාවේ, අම්මාගෙන් ලියුමක් ලබන අප කතාකරු ඇගේ අවුල් ලියවීම් රටාවේ එන එක වැකියක් කියවා මනස අවුලට පත් කර ගනී. ඒ, කරුනා, විවාහ වන්නට යන බව අන් කරුණු අතර වෙසෙස් විස්තර වලින් තොරව සඳහන් ව තිබීම හේතුවෙනි. සාර්ථක නිර්මාණයකි.

පෙබරවාරී මාසයේ එක් සැන්දෑවක් මෙහි එන මා වඩාත් ම රස විඳි කෙටිකතාව විය. තරුණයන් කිහිප දෙනෙකුන්, ඉන් එකෙකුට අයත් කබල් කාරයක් නැඟී ඔවුන් දන්නා අය ගේ නිවෙස් වලට ද, තේ වත්ත පල්ලියේ මංගල්ලය ට ද, ගොස්, නිදහස් ව, සතුටින්, කල් ගෙවන සන්ද්‍යාවක් ගැන අපි මෙහි කියවීමු. වගකීම් වලින් තොර වීම, මිතුරන් අතර සිටීමේදී ඇති සතුට, ආදීය පාඨකයාට හොඳින් සන්නීවේදනය වන ආකාරය මෙහි සාර්ථකත්වයට හේතුව යැයි සිතමි. අජිත් තිලකසේන කොහොමත් "ගලන මුහුදු රැල්ලක, ගලා හැලෙන දිය ඇල්ලක සෞන්දර්යයක් තිබුනත් එහි ඇති 'තේරුම' කුමක් ද?" යන ස්ථාවරයේ සිට තම කෙටිකතා වල තේරුම සොයන අය වෙනුවෙන් පැහැදිලිකිරීමක් කර ඇත්තෙකි.

 මෙහි එන කෙටිකතා දෙකක, කෙටිකතාව අතර මැද දි, ප්‍රධාන චරිතය යැයි සිතිය සිතිය හැකි අය මාරු වෙයි. හතුරෝ නම් රසවත් කෙටිකතාවේ, මුලින් ජයේ හෙවත් ජයන්ත දික්වැල්ලේ අවදානය යොමු චරිතය මුත් ඔවුන්ට නිහාල් හමු වීමෙන් පසු නිහාල් ගේ දෘෂ්ඨිකෝණය ට මාරු වෙයි. ජයේ පාසැලෙන් කලින් පැන තම මිතුරාත් එක්කලා යන්නෙ ඔහුගේ ගැහැනු ළමයා හමිවීමටය. නිහාල් ඒ ගැන විමසුවද ඔහුට යමක්  නොකීම හේතුවෙන්, ඔවුන් හා ඇති මිතුදම බිඳි ගොස් ඔවුන් සතුරෝ ගනයට වැටෙන බවට නිහාල් සිතයි. මෙහි එන දුබල මිනිස්සු කෙටි කතාව ද මෙලෙස් අවධානය යොමු වන චරිතය වෙනස් වෙමින් නිර්මාණය වුවකි. අප මුලින් දකින්නේ අයේෂා ගේ චංචල වික්ෂිප්ත සිතුවිලිය. ඒ ඇය ගැන විශාල තීන්දුවක් ගැනීමට සූදානම් ව සිටින හෙයිනි. ඒ අතර සිය පෙම්වතා ගැන සැකයන් ද උපදී. එ අතරේ තිස්ස ද ඇය කෙරෙහි අදහස් ඇති ව එම නිවසේම වෙසෙන්නෙකි. තිස්ස ට තම අදහස් ඍජුව කීමට නොහැකිව පැකිලේ - හෙවත් මේ චරිත දෙකම දුබල චරිතයෝය.

 ජීවිතයක සිහිවටන කෙටි කතාවේ තම ගූරුවරියක, ඇගේ ප්‍රේම සම්බන්ධය පටන ගන්නා කාලයේදී ඈව තම පෙම්වතා හමු වීමට භාවිත කල ආකාරය, ඈට වැටහෙන්නේ පසුව ගුරුතුමිය සිය සැමියා සමඟ මග තොට දී දුටු විටය. ඒ ගැන ඇය තුල වික්ෂිප්ත අදහස් පහළ වෙයි -ඇය පාවිච්චි වූවා ද ? ඇය එතරම් අන්ධ ද ? එසේ මුත් ඇයට සිදු වූ අවැඩක් ද නෑ නේද ? - ආදි සිතුවිලි ගොන්නක ඈ තෙරපේ. 

අක්කාගේ මිතුරිය ගැන උනන්දු වන අප කතා නායකයා තම විභාගය අසමත් ව නැවත ඊට පෙනී සිටීමට යත්න දරන්නෙකි. ඔහු ගේ සිතුවිලි සමුදාය, විභාගය ගැන කලකිරීම ආදිය ගොනූ කල ලීවකි, එම කෙටිකතාව.

පෙර කීවාක් මෙන්, මෙතෙක් මා කියවා ඇති තිලකසේනයන්ගේ කෙටිකතා පොත් තුනෙන් බොහෝ රසවිඳි  සංග්‍රහය මෙයයි. මෙය දැනට මුද්‍රණයේ ඇත්තේ ද යන්න සැක සහිතය. දිනෙක මා මිතුරෙකු සමඟ මරදානේ පොත් මිලදී ගැනීම වෙනුවෙන් වෙන් කොට, රාක්ක අවුස්සා පරණ පොත් සොයද්දී, ඔහු විසින් සොයාගෙන තිළිණ කලවූවකි මෙම පිටපත.

ශ්‍රේණිය: ****

 

Brotherless Night - V.V. Ganeshananthan

 I read V.V. Ganeshananthan's first novel, a few months back, as one of the last books for 2024. The primary reason for reading Love Marriage ( https://me-and-err.blogspot.com/2025/01/love-marriage-vv-ganeshananthan.html ), was as a step in preparation for her latest, more renowned work. It won the  Women's Prize for Fiction, 2024, and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, 2024.

Firstly, I hope that this novel is translated to Sinhala and Thamil, and I hope that as many people of Sri Lankan origin read this book. This, because I believe that this is as neutral an account of our civil war, as could be presented via a work of historical fiction as possible. I will not dwell much, on why it is important for many Sri Lankans (or of that origin ) to read it, other than say, that our fellow Thamil citizens suffered much, much more than most of us could imagine as a community, and was at the receiving end of not only the Sri Lankan Government Forces, the Indian Peace Keeping Force, but unfortunately the Tamil militants whom they once believed were their saviours. It is a very sad situation when you have no where to turn to, and in that respect I am at a loss for words for what they as a community have gone through.

To come to the novel; In the first quarter of the book, I had some reservations of the approach of the book. It differed not much from "Love Marriage" in the detailed style that she wrote. Shashi's happy life with her family soon starts to go awfully wrong, and the reader can't help but stick to the narration with a heavy heart, as most of my generation know of the shameless 1983 pogroms to some detail. But still, personally, it didn't have the flow that I typically favour, as more often than not it felt like a faithful account of the times that were, presented by our narrator, Shashi. Shashi suffers multiple personal losses in her life, across this book. But it was when she treats them from her helpless personal perspective that the novel shone for me.

"She thought Periannai's death was her fault, and I thought it was my fault, and when our paths crossed in the Jaffna house, she averted her eyes and neither of us spoke of it." (page 88)

"And then I breathed again, and K did not. It was  the first moment in which such a thing was possible, and the sharp quickening pain of it stunned me. How swiftly the world reshaped itself? Perhaps someone you know has died and you have a sense of what I mean: the horror of knowing  that everything is going to continue very nearly as it did before" ( page 254)

There are many incidents that we can recognize across this narration , and a few characters whom we can identify. I was just eight years old when the 1983 riots took place, and we lived through the risk of being at the wrong place at the wrong time during a countless number of LTTE terrorist attacks from that time onwards. Hence, it naturally makes it a personal reading experience for my generation, as the memories of a few who lost their lives in these bomb attacks resurface. But it has to be admitted that hitherto the few incidents of the sufferings of our Thamil community were confined to those shared by our friends - but nothing as heart wrenching as this. In that sense, it is these details of a community wronged by at least three parties, plus when the narration takes on a very personal bent as depicted in the above quotes, that the book worked for me. True, it is not my favourite type of novel - heady, satire mixed with self-criticism, is what I enjoy much - like The Finkler Question, The Netanyahus, The Buddha of Suburbia, or the subtle confessions of Remains of the Day. But the pain is too close to home  and mulling over with a stoic philosophical bent like I did with those books is not an option here. Sometimes the pain is very necessary for a reader.

Rating: ****

The Netanyahus - Joshua Cohen

The complete title of this book, which won the Pulitzer Award for fiction (2021) is, The Netenyahus :An Account of a Minor and Ultimately Even Negligible Episode in the History of a Very Famous Family.

Few highlights right there. For most of the world, the first person who comes to mind when the title of the book is mentioned is the former Israeli Premier. Then the full title - why is it minor, and even negligible. How many of these minor and even negligible incidents make a not so minor impact on the minds of the party who experience it ? For our narrator Rubel Blum, him being asked to play Santa at the Christmas party is to highlight that as a Jew he doesn't celebrate Christmas, which is a not subtle - yet negligible reminder of his ethnic origins. Rube being asked to host, and assess, Benzion Netenyahu's suitability for the post is also on ethnic lines, as at the time Rube was the only Jew in the fictional University. His, and his wife's golf club membership applications being repeatedly being misplaced stinks of someone not really wanting them around. But mind this was the 1950s in update New York. Much has changed since then. But has it ?

Pearl Jam has a song called WMA (White Male American), in which Vedder laments that "Police stopped my brother, again" - this was back in 1993, because his brother's skin colour was different. 32 years after, maybe things have improved. But few years after the Obama regime I was aghast to see the US president claiming that a question raised to him by a journalist of Indian origin, dismissed on the grounds that he couldn't understand a word that was being said, and that too in the presence of the Indian Prime Minister. Things are the same elsewhere. In Colombo, Sri Lanka, where I am from, social media is circulating a post by a man, who claims that the Police harassed him at 3:30 am near the main Railway station, as to what he was doing about at that time, and whether he was a Gay seeking favours, when all the man was doing was returning home after his work at US working hours. The other - when he or she is a little different - cannot be let alone is still the default stance of many, regrettably.

But this book is much more than the highlighting of victim-hood.  Well, actually it is all about highlighting of victim-hood, but where new interpretations are made which question the very attempt of assimilation by those who believe it whole heartedly. This is the essential quality of the book which made an impact on me. Our narrator Rube lives down his Jew origins in modern secular America, and he dismisses the negligible incidents of the Santa role or the missing Golf Club applications. But then comes a scholar seeking a position in Rube's university, who he finds has fixated on the hatred against Jews, and argues that there was no difference between Spanish inquisition against Jews converted to Catholicism in 1490, and what happened in 1940!

After a lecture that Benzion N. delivers, our narrator has these thoughts which question everything that he believes in, and on which he has built his life on - even at the cost of distancing himself from his extended families, and their unmistakable stressing on their Jewishness.

"This would even be true with America, where everyone if they're asked who they are answers Irish, or Italian, or preposterously three-quarters Scottish, half-Belgian Dutch, and at most one-drop Mexican black, anything but American. If the American empire couldn't persuade allegiance to democracy over origin, it would fail. He said that while staring at me, unblinking: it would fail. He might even have been pointing at me: You will. What was true for Europe at the emergence of Zionism will one day be true for America too, once assimilation is revealed as a fraud, or once it's revealed that the country contains nothing to assimilate to- no core, no connate heart - not just for Jews, but for everyone."

The book was published in 2021, and now in 2025, I hope the percentage that questions assimilation hasn't increased.

But these troubling thoughts are interspersed with a lot of satire, and comedy. So, although the politics, and their relevance of it today is sadly true, the book is a delightful, hilarious, yet pretentious affair, which can hold its own for the heady mix. To top it all off, we then learn that Harold Bloom once had to host Benzion Netanyahu (and his family), which included the future prime minister back when he was just a kid. To say that the whole visit was chaotic, is it to put it mildly, and this is the cornerstone for the novel. Bloom has mentioned this to Cohen, and Cohen has fictionalized - and then some - and here we have this gem of a book!

Rating: ****1/2