july 13, 2007
i have an appointment at 1830 hours at kelana jaya, giant. darn!!! my client is late. he turns up at 1920 hours. i scuttle through the contents of my suggestions with him and rush out of the building to drive like a maniac to reach borders, the curve at 2005 hrs.
shafinas, brian and lydia are already there, chatting. after a while jade comes in, takes her place and the discussion starts.
i am glad to see lydia. i first meet her at the holland film festival, we promise to meet a few times after that but our different schedules keep us from enjoying each other's company. she is a sweet young and intelligent future author. :-). it is only because of her, i complete the book in one day. lydia is asked to start the forum. she begins by declaring it is the most beautiful book she has ever read. she was hooked to it.
brian eyes her and speculates. (this is only my observation). he has this intimidating look. he is definitely not geared up to agree with her. he later says that he tries hard to like the book, the way his sister and mother liked it. but i think, some books are perhaps not meant for some people. brian says he thinks the book is trying too hard, he senses the writer being at work. furthermore, like i said before, i do not know what he sees in `the road', he must have this real diversed way of perceiving contents. it would have been great though, to have his analysis on the life of pi. regrettably, he was absent then.
jade wishes to identify if the book is about claire or is it about henry. i blurt out almost immediately ...it is about love and sex. hmm!! no one seems overwhelmingly delighted that i say that. oops. ok lets leave it at that.
the author is smart. she gives us both perspectives. can we really say it is just about one person?
jade likes the fact that henry is a crook, and that he actually enjoys being that especially when he teaches his younger self to do the unthinkable, pick pockets.
shafinas is quiet and composed. she only responds when we throw a question at her. until then, she listens to all our psychoanalysis. wiser is she who listens more and talks less. her view is that the author has portrayed claire to be perfect, an absolute angel, loyal, good, smart and faithful to henry. she is not in favour of niffenegger bringing in the infidelity of claire's moment with gomez. it is such a letdown to the perfect outline and build up of the angel.
makes her more human doesnt it? but then, is it a flaw or a strength? hmm.
why does niffenegger separate the book into two parts, the first and second. jade wonders if we have picked up any shifts.
everyone is quiet, a little unsure. maybe the marriage in the second part makes claire secure. we do not quite know.
jade puts it beautifully. in the first part, claire waits for henry to appear. in the second, she waits for him to disappear. hmm. we think about it. yeah, its true.
is this time travel an ability or a disease? a gift or a curse? would anyone be keen to live like that? not knowing when you will suddenly disappear into another realm of time, and then coming back to find out that you can't really change anything at all? we all have a consensus on that. definitely none of us are too thrilled to live like that. but i am sure it would do us no harm to have some tips on the `empat ekor'.
being henry is not easy. but he has adjusted, regulated, accepted and lived a complete life despite the condition. dr roy says it is frightening to abruptly find your self elsewhere and to survive through it.
is this book about time or timelessness?
shafinas says it is about hope and faith. it is about claire's bravery, the wait and the confidence that henry will appear sometime.
dr roy stresses on oneness, the soul mate that you find and the one you know will accept you for who you are.
brian says sometimes you can just meet someone but have this immediate connection to him, while others, you can spend a whole lifetime with and never have any chemistry at all. he likes the part when henry meets claire for the first time in the library and how henry has this natural affinity to move towards claire and gets attracted to her presence. bizzarely, there is a reason for everything even when we do not know what they are at that time.
jade speaks of niffenegger and infers that if she had perhaps contained the whole book into a shorter period of time or if she had made it more enclosed, it would have gotten more depth. she gives the example of two movies, the red lantern and kidnap. in the red lantern, the scene is the old courtyard and everything happens within it. it is more intense, full and deep, not at all contrived.
does this book seem terribly unnatural and manufactured then? does it seem unreal and like brian says, a book of `trying too hard'?
claire doesn't have anything constant with henry disappearing like that. but then the disappearing itself is constant, says jade.
lydia says that she is upset because claire's life seems to be about waiting for henry. she does not have an achievement of her own.
jade says that it is an achievement just to wait for henry for that long.
dr roy says, it comes back to kindred spirits.
shafinas thinks the book shows claire to be high spirited, strong and enthusiastic. a person like that should have achieved much more in her life. but they don't mention anything like that...it is only henry that she focuses on.
brian says niffenegger hasn't really explored the pain and the euphoria of this random life. the trouble of holding on to your senses is not something one can easily do. the constant wonder of this timelessness is not communicated.
dr roy says even during the war years, there are agonising moments just waiting for the people to return not knowing if they will ever come back. isn't that a heartrending feeling?
brian's query is directed at us. does the book move us?
lydia of course says yes, she finds it like a love letter beautifully written.
dr roy loves the beginning of the book and the sentence structures, the way it is written, and yes love always does move us in one way or the other as well as crafting eternal optimists out of us.
shafinas is puzzled, jade says she does not really get lost in it.
for me, i state that it does not really move me. i think a book moves me and has captured me completely when i am a character in it, with this one, i only imagined a situation where i am henry and i have this ability/curse to deal with. how would i survive it? but other than that, i can't say i was immersed in it like i was with the life of pi or even the road.
lets hope we don't fall out with the sailor who fell from grace with the sea. that's our book for next month by yukio mishima san. looking forward to it. sarah and kim, we missed your reflections and views. good luck with the exams. we expect to see you next month. happy reading. :-)
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