Posts from ‘November, 2007’

“The question is,” said my aunt, “if it is a real window with glass in it, or if it is merely painted, or if it once was a window, and has been built up. And the oftener people look at it, the less they are able to say.” -From The Library Window-

Margaret Oliphant published this Gothic novella in 1896. I found it through Gaslight – an internet discussion group – which provided the book as an e-text.

The story takes place in Scotland and is narrated by a young girl who is visiting her Aunt Mary. Bored by Mary’s tea parties with her elderly friends, the narrator spends much of her time tucked away in a large window with her sewing and books while she idly listens to the older people talk. When the conversation turns to a window across the street, the narrator’s imagination is inflamed.

Oliphant carries the reader forward with the simple, yet mysterious plot. The reader, along with the narrator begins to ask herself what is real and what is not.

The story is not just pure mystery, but stimulates some compelling questions about how we see the world – and if our ‘vision’ declines with age. How much of what we see do we interpret correctly?

A classic tale which reads quickly, I would recommend this book for those readers who enjoy late 19th century literature and gothic mysteries.

To read more about Margaret Oliphant and for links to her vast works, check out this wonderful site.

On November 11, 1997, Veronika decided that the moment to kill herself had – at last! – arrived. She carefully cleaned the room that she rented in a convent, turned off the heat, brushed her teeth, and lay down. - From Veronika Decides to Die, page 1-

Simply written with prose that is almost dreamlike in its quality, Veronika Decides to Die explores life in the face of death, the meaning of insanity, and the importance of following one’s dreams.

Veronika, a young woman, finds herself in a mental institution in Slovenia after a failed suicide attempt. Told she has only days to live because of the overdose’s damage to her heart, Veronika begins to re-evaluate her life. The characters Veronika meets provide the catalyst for her self-reflection: Zedka, the depressed housewife; Mari, the lawyer who gave up her dreams for panic attacks; and Eduard, a schizophrenic artist who has spent his life denying love. Dr. Igor, the administrator of the mental hospital plays a pivotal role in this philosophical novel and his  theories of insanity are used  to question the idea of normalcy.

While I was reading this book, I began to think about the children and adults with Autism who I have had the privilege of working with…at a seminar several years ago a Speech Pathologist told the story of a young boy with Autism. Whenever he would flap his hands around his face,  the boy’s mother would caution him, “Stop that. Don’t you want to be normal?” And the boy would agree, yes normalcy was what he wanted. One day the Speech Pathologist asked the boy, “Do you know what normal is?” And the boy confidently replied, “Sure. It’s a setting on the dryer.”  I laughed when I heard this story because it was an example of how words like ‘normal’ only have meaning within the context of an individual’s unique experience. Paulo Coelho makes this same argument in Veronika Decides to Die. Sanity is only defined by universal experiences – those individuals who are different or unique or view the world solely from their own perspective are often labeled “not normal” or “crazy.”

Coelho’s message in this novel seems to be one of following one’s dreams, going against the norm, living life to its fullest. As the character Mari explains:

As each character comes face to face with his or her own mortality, they are forced to look back on their lives and explore their failed dreams. They also ponder God and faith.

This is the second Paulo Coelho novel I have read. Coelho has a unique voice and style – philosophical and dreamlike. His stories are written like fables, with messages about life, God and faith as the over-riding themes. I enjoyed Veronika Decides to Die because it made me think of my own dreams and life path.

Recommended.

I feel a direct line extending from that girl with her knees steepled beneath the hotel blankets to this person writing now in an Aeron chair. Hers  was the duty to live out a mythical life in the actual world, mine to tell about it now. -From Middlesex, page 424-

Jeffrey Eugenides Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece, Middlesex, is a rich family saga spanning three generations and takes the reader from Greece to Detroit on a whirlwind ride of rich, original language and spot on characterization. The story of Calliope Stephanides – an American born intersex individual with strong Greek heritage – is narrated by Cal…Calliope’s adult male counterpart.

Middlesex is a tragic story which is comically portrayed using Greek mythology. Eugenides is a talented writer – his vivid descriptions are filled with the lush sensations of life. The characters who people this wonderful novel are fully developed; their flaws and imperfections revealed even through the names they are given: The Object (Calliope’s teenage love interest), Chapter Eleven (Cal’s brother), and a vast array of other characters based on mythical stories.  Even the title of the book is steeped in symbolism.

The novel is essentially two stories: the history of a Greek family who carries a recessive gene; and the coming of age story of the main character – Calliope. At times it was easy to forget that this huge novel was written by a man. Eugenides wonderful insight into the thoughts of an awkward, self-conscious teenage girl is finely illustrated in this scene in the locker room after a field hockey game:

The novel is an exploration of immigration and the split loyalties that immigrants face. Eugenides parallels this theme with that of identity in general using the pain of adolescence and the confusion of sexual identity as spring boards to delve into the human psyche.

Middlesex is a vividly imaginative novel – epic in its scope and sensitively wrought. It is well deserving of the Pulitzer Prize.

Highly recommended.