su[shu]

I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sandcastles, house of cards, that’s where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate.

Written with Death as the narrative, this book is altogether enchanting, gripping, and heart-warming, all rolled into one. Never before have a I read a book like this, where sorrow and happiness come hand in hand, where the ending is revealed without taking away any of its magic, where loss is so heart-wrenching and sorrow so strong yet hope and love is strewn around in abundancy.

Such is the feeling I got from reading The Book Thief.

Set in Nazi Germany, Death tells us a story about a little girl who caught Its attention. Death tells us the story of Liesel’s life, and gives us short glimpses into the lives of the people important to Liesel. Death tells us about It’s horrid job of collecting souls, of how It carries young childrens’ souls in Its arms, of how It tries to warm the shivering souls that float up from gas chambers, of how It sees colours in humans, colours  that we don’t see.

Death tells us:

If you feel like it, come with me. I will tell you a story.
I will show you something.

Liesel is a book thief. That much we can gather from the title. But in stealing books, Liesel also discovers the magic and strength of words. She discovers what words can do. Death shows us, through Liesel’s story, how words have both the power the heal, and the power to destroy. Words are double-edged swords, wield them wrongly, and you end up getting cut up yourself. Spend them wisely, and the edge of the sword might just slice through air.

*

This, is a story about love.

A love between a boy and a girl; a love so deep and strong, they both didn’t know it.

A love for words; a love so passionate that thievery is completely warranted for.

A love between father and daughter; though not of own flesh and blood, but a bond that runs thicker than blood.

A love for humanity; a love so pure and true that it transcends all boundaries humans could ever erect.

A love for music, for the little joys and pleasures in life, for the precious gems that come when least expected.

A love for sudden rainbows in the skies, for buckets of snow and mud, for sun rays peeking through long slender clouds.

This, is a story about life.

*

Heart-breakingly beautiful.

“Don’t punish yourself,” she heard her say again, but there would be punishing and pain, and there would be happiness too. That was writing.

That was The Book Thief.

*

Rating: 5

Before embarking on my attempt to put my thoughts into bytes, I would like to put forward this one simple question:

What constitutes a family?

Is it enough to have a mother, father, and perhaps one or two siblings? Is that what a family is?

*

Shadow Family is a mystery story. Two people get murdered within a couple of days of each other, and seemingly unrelated. But thread from a striking blue parka left on both crime scenes soon prove to the police that things are more than meets the eye. Meeting dead end after dead end, one of the officers come up with a theory that could potentially make or break the mystery behind the curious deaths.

And it is here that the story finally starts to reveal itself.

One of the victims had, during the one year or so before his tragic death, been part of an online ‘family’. He called himself ‘Dad’, and his family consisted of ‘Mom’, ‘Minoru’, and ‘Kazumi’. A 4-member family. A typical family set-up, only that it was all virtual.

Upon finding out about this make-believe family, how does the real-life family respond? And how do these deaths reveal the truth behind all the pain, anger and loneliness?

*

Personally, I feel that the mystery in this plot is not at all strong. In fact, I felt like I already knew who the culprit was half-way through the book. However, I also feel that the redeeming point of this book is how the story unfolds. The mystery of the plot itself may not have been its strongest virtue, but certainly the way the characters were introduced, and how certain things were thrown into light just when you least expect it… These make the plot feel less significant.

We’re made to think, exactly why does a man with his own family go in search for a virtual family on the Internet? What drives a person to such measures? Then we are given a chance to see things from the wife’s perspective. How would one feel if her husband were to find another ‘wife’ on the Internet? Does one feel lonely? Does one feel like a failure?

How about the people with whom this man forms a ‘family’ with? Why does one choose to be the virtual daughter of a stranger?

On the face of it, this is a mystery story. But underlying this story is the undeniable search for connection. Under the surface of it all, is the question of how each different person reacts to a given set of circumstances. How does one overcome feelings of loneliness and desperation?

At the end of it all, when family ties start to tangle up into a big mess, or maybe fray away at the ends, what is it that holds the family unit together?

*

Rating: 3.5

This is the kind of story that you need to finish, and sit on for a few days before making any conclusion about it. The many layers within the story are laid upon each other lightly and subtly, but one can hardly ignore the very strong themes that reside within them.

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Postscript: This qualifies for the Japanese Literature Challenge, but does it qualify also for the RIP IV Challenge, and also the Hello Japan! mini-challenge?

Postscript #2: This DOES in fact qualify! =)

I had initially intended for this to be one of the books I’d read during “Banned Books Week”, but time constraints just wouldn’t allow me to go anywhere near this book during that time. Having read the book now, I can see why *some* people would find the book offensive and try to get it banned. I can even push so much as to say I can also see why *some* people find the book controversial.

But the book is definitely one very worth reading. (Possible spoiler alert, as there are some parts of the book that might come as an added element of surprise, which I cannot not mention here.)

*

It is now many many years in the future. We are introduced to this time and era by the way people are ‘born’, that is, they are produced by way of joining sperms and eggs together, then multiplying them so as to produce a group of individuals who are exactly the same. There are no mothers or fathers in this era. In fact, “mother” is a foul word and should never be mentioned. People are no longer brought into the world through childbirth - they are ‘unbottled’.

Social norm is not as we know it today. There is no such thing as monogamy. It is in fact considered the worst possible manners to want to stick to one individual man or woman as a partner. Sex is talked about freely. Orgies are arranged as part of building a healthy society. And so on and so forth.

The climax of the story is probably when a “savage” is brought into this “civilisation”. Someone who still believes in a religion and a god, someone who finds it filthy to talk about sex in the open, and someone who still believes in parents and still knows of childbirth - a complete stranger is brought into this sterile world where everyone and everything has their own place in society, never questioning anything. Some chaos obviously results from this. And so the story goes.

*

As I’ve mentioned, I can probably see why *some* people find this book controversial and disturbing. After all, it depicts a life quite different from the social norms of today.

But looking at it critically, it’s also not that difficult to imagine a life similar to that in the story, possibly some time in the future. We are currently in a world that is constantly trying to affix a specific role to a specific class of people in society. We are constantly finding new ways and means for machines to do all our work. We are constantly trying to control the thoughts and actions of others through different mediums and ways of manipulation.

We may think we are, but we’re not really that moral of a society. Not all of us have a moral conscience that we can be proud of.

With the development of newer technologies, thoughts are being numbed; feelings are being suppressed and forgotten about. Society is brought so much closer through things like the Internet, and yet we live so much more apart from our daily lives. We talk on the phone so much, we forget to have conversations with the people around us. We send emails and use online network services like FaceBook, but never bother to hold a pen on paper to send out personalised letters.

It’s so many of these little things that we forget about. These little things that make us who we are, that set us apart from unthinking and unfeeling robots that do only what they were invented to do. Robots that have a specific role to play in society.

It may seem very unlikely that society as we know it today will turn out to be anything like the society they call ‘civilised’ in Brave New World. But as unlikely as it may seem, we mustn’t ignore the possibility that perhaps we are headed that way.

It’s a disturbing thought to have. But books that provoke and encourage difficult and critical thinking are books that should be read even more widely. Not kept in a dark corner of the bookshelf.

*

Rating: 4

I’ve been meaning to join in this challenge for a while now, but have only found the time today to post about it.

Hello Japan! is hosted by Tanabata of In Spring it is the Dawn, and is a monthly mini-challenge about all things related to Japan. In a way, it is like an aperture, a viewport from which we could learn more about this little country and its culture.

This month, the challenge is:

..to read or watch something scary, spooky or suspenseful.

Tanabata also very kindly provides us with a list of possibilities. I was ecstatic when I saw Death Note in the list, because I’ve been wanting to re-watch the anime for a while now, and this challenge provides me with just the reason (or excuse!) to watch it again despite my horrifying pile of things to do for uni.

Death Note is about a high school boy, Raito, who finds a notebook that belongs to a Death God. In this book, if a person’s name is written in it while the writer thinks of the person’s face, the said person will die. There are twists and turns in this story, because as it turns out, the police are becoming very suspicious of the unexplainable multiple deaths. And in the centre of these investigations is another high-school boy, only known as L. It is a battle of wits between the two of them, making for a very gripping story.

I remember absolutely loving this anime of 37 episodes. But I’m confident that now, watching it for a second time, there will be new things that I will discover, small details that I never really picked up when I watched it initially.

I look forward to posting my thoughts on this anime soon.

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The Japanese Literature Book Group and Read-Along are also hosted by Tanabata. I think it’s awesome that we’re getting this opportunity to explore so much of a country and culture that I’m really interested in, and I’m really glad I found out about them.

The Japanese Literature Book Group is a bi-monthly thing, where we will be discussing the book on the last Monday of the month. For the months of October and November, the book group is doing The Old Capital. Mark David from Absorbed in Words has a stunning review of this book, and I’m more than ready to read the book now, especially when there will be discussions about it.

Sometimes, discussing a book and what it meant to you, and finding out what others thought about it and hearing their take on the same story, is every bit as exciting and enlightening as reading the book itself. So I’m really looking forward to taking part in the Book Group.

*

As for the Japanese Literature Read-along, it is for selected titles that are longer than the average Japanese novel, perhaps a little daunting for some of us. The first book in this read-along is I Am a Cat. I’m not too sure how involved I can be in this read-along, simply because it’s my final semester at uni, and time is really a luxury these days. But I would definitely try my very best. Especially because this takes place over three months.

*

So yay! for all things Japan!

I didn’t think that I’d be picking up another one of Jeanette Winterson’s books up so soon after PowerBook. I was simply screening the library the other day, and this book just screamed at me, begging to be brought home and loved. So that’s what I did.

Weight is the retelling of the story of Atlas and Heracles. Or rather, the myth that surrounds the two strongest men in the world. Atlas carries the entire Cosmos (or Kosmos) on his back for all eternity, and Heracles, well, he’s Hercules!

Having always been interested in myths and stories of ancient times, I found this book a timely reminder of all things I love. I love the mystical magic that shrouds the characters of these myths. I love the complexities of their egos and their relationships with each other. I love how their stories were told from such a long time ago, but yet are relevant in some form or other to us in this time and age.

Stories never grow old. They just need to be re-told.

Winterson focused on a theme that is rarely associated with these two strong mythical figures. She drew on, perhaps, some of her own personal experiences, and painted a whole new light to how ancient characters might be looked at and perceived. Atlas went to war with the gods, and so was punished to hold the whole world on his back. He was strong, defiant, unruly. Heracles was the half-human, half-god son of Zeus. He was driven to madness by Hera, killed his own children, and became a blood-lusting murderer.

But in Weight, we get to see the other side to them. Winterson focuses on how these men, though uncouth they may be, might actually be lonely. As Atlas carries the entire universe on his back, he’s not only punished, but he is also sent to exile. He is alone, as he carries a burden that is not his own. As Heracles kills without so much as a blink of an eye, he is also a man who is unable to open his heart, unable to accept people into his dark world.

These men are men with a huge burden on their shoulders. One that is physically and mentally intolerable. But they carry it anyway.

Winterson writes beautifully. Weight was written like poetry. Subtle and touching. The words felt like they required no effort. It was like following the flow of a stream, rolling over stone and rock. It was like running in a great field of lavendar with the wind in your hair. It was like breathing in salty air as the sound of breaking waves soothed your mind.

Winterson took me by the hand and brought me some place other than the present. It was that beautiful.

*

Rating: 5

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Weight is part of The Myths Series. There are other books by other authors that dwell on the retelling of myths and stories of ancient times. I’m now keen on reading the others in the series.