Enduring Love and a Misleading Title...

 

Science writer Joe and his partner Clarissa are on a picnic while heavy winds drag a huge helium balloon out of its mooring with a kid trapped in its basket. Along with five other strangers, Joe also attempts to rescue him. One of the rescuers dies after falling from a height, and the couple is disturbed by the incident. Trouble starts when another of the fellow rescuers, deeply religious Jed, starts stalking Joe, professing his love for him. Joe gets tormented by Jed's constant shadowing and his wife's reluctance to believe him. Moreover, when the dead man's widow confronts him with a secret, Joe realises that the only way out is to apply what he does for his living—research deep and uncover the hidden layers.

Enduring Love is a 1997 novel written by the British novelist Ian McEwan. The novel is a psychological thriller that is based on de Clérambault's syndrom, a rare and not much known psychological condition where the patient gets infatuated with another person and strongly believes they are in a relationship. The novel also deals with several different themes, like trust, morality, rationality, religion, and the power of perspective to bend reality. The novel is adapted into a movie starring Daniel Craig.

The plot is mostly narrated by the protagonist, Joe, in the first person, while one chapter uses the third person to show the domestic turmoil in his family. A few more chapters, which are letters from Jed, show his perspective and make the reader grasp his complex psyche. The novel is told as the reminiscences of the protagonist from a future time. He lets us know many elements of the story with the benefit of hindsight. It is very rarely that I encounter such an approach, even in novels written in first-person style. The novel contains two appendices at the end. One is a fictional medical report on Jed, and another is a letter from Jed that concludes the novel.

Joe, who is a writer of science books and articles, is portrayed as a rationalist who is very particular about perfect knowledge of things that concern him and is ready to deep dive into researching them. As a contrast, we find Jed, who is extremely religious and interprets each experience as a sign from his God. It is this aspect of Jed that causes deep disturbance to Joe. I believe if Jed were a more rational man, Joe would act more tolerant of his advances and may not even consider him a freak from the outset.

Joe recounts his tale like a thesis or a scientific paper. He never tells the story straight, as it is. To reach a point, we find that he uses the most convoluted route. He gives detailed descriptions of the surroundings, jumps back into the past and sometimes briefly into the future, tries to pry into the minds of others, explains certain nuances, and then, when you least expect it, slams you brutally with the plot. This strategy used by the author has an enormous impact on the plot. Before something eventful happens, you are given a few clues, you get to comprehend its enormity, and then the event is withheld from you ominously, to the point that you literally dread it by the time it arrives.

The novel also deals with the idea of perspective, about how the same event will be viewed, remembered, and retold by different people in a very disparate manner. For example, after the opening of the balloon accident, one of the best openings I ever read in a novel, it is mentioned that no one could remember who dropped the rope first. Everyone insists that someone else dropped first. After another important scene in a restaurant, when the police ask some questions about the dish each of them had for lunch and the order, we find that even the flavours of ice creams aren't matching.

The title of the novel Enduring Love may denote only one of the three love affairs recounted in it. The love between Joe and Clarissa, which starts out as a strong relationship, smashes into the waves of the obstacles placed by Jed. We find the unwinding of trust and confidence in each other, causing a deep wound in it, and with every hurdle, it only deepens. Similarly, the second relationship between Logan, who dies in the balloon accident, and his wife Jean goes for a tumble when Jean finds a picnic basket and a scarf inside his car posthumously. She suspects that her husband has an affair, and he joined the rescuers to show off to her, ultimately resulting in his demise.

The third affair, which I believe is the only enduring one in the plot, is Jed's love for Joe, for which he doesn't have any boundaries or an issue of trust. He earnestly believes that it is reciprocated by Joe, and he never considers any attempts that Joe makes to push him out of his life. When we read the title, we believe that it is a positive and wholesome one, only to realise after the end that the enduring love portrayed in the novel is a toxic one that crashed and shattered the lives of its characters.

Book Review: The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Santlofer

 

When artist Luke Perrone's art historian girlfriend, Alexis Verde, bought a cheap painting from a thrift store, little did they expect to find a lost work by Van Gogh hidden inside it. Rumours of a self-portrait painted just before his death and stolen during his funeral have always been around in the circles of art experts, collectors, curators, and the dangerous underworld of the art world. When someone steals the Van Gogh, Perrone has to join hands with Interpol agent Smith and uncover an art puzzle. But he never anticipated that there would be many bigger and more treacherous players searching for it, and the quest would lead to the unveiling of the mysteries of a dark era in human history.

The Lost Van Gogh is a historical mystery novel written by Jonathan Santlofer, with criminal activities associated with art works as the background. I received an advance review copy of the book by the publisher, Sourcebook Landmark, through Netgalley in exchange for honest feedback. This is the second installment of the series that started with The Lost Mona Lisa, which I never had the opportunity to read. This one can be read as a stand-alone novel, though the relationships between some of the main characters are continued from the predecessors, and reading that one, I hope, may illuminate the plot more vividly.

The theme of the novel is very interesting and has elements of several conspiracy theories spun into its plot, like the mysterious death of Van Gogh and the case of numerous valuable artworks stolen by the Third Reich from the hands of Jews, many of whom were ultimately tortured and killed. The novel asks a pertinent question about the future of such stolen art that even today adorns many major museums around the world and if they have a moral obligation to return them back to their rightful owners or their heirs. The novel makes the reader aware of the fact that these art works, termed degenerate art by the Nazis, are still sold and bought globally through underground channels, involving dark web and hired muscle.

The plot of the novel reminded me of Dan Brown novels that use real events and places to narrate an intriguing mystery. Though I am not an avid reader of his, I love the way he fuses facts and fiction, which can be found in The Lost Van Gogh too. But here, the welding is improper, and the two elements—actual history and a concocted story—stay apart. The life of Van Gogh or the fate of degenerate art never comes to the forefront and affects the plot. Instead, we find a generic race-against-time kind of thriller, which I agree is a pretty engaging one, reducing the titular painting to just a macguffin in the plot.

The writer has chosen to narrate the novel using first, second, and third-person narrators. All the chapters that are from the point of view of Perrone are narrated with him as the first-person narrator. Other chapters where he doesn't appear are in third-person narrative, except a few chapters in between using second-person to capture the point of view of a mysterious character whose identity is revealed only towards the end. I've read some incredible and complex novels that use such a structure, which aids in developing a complex plot or making the reader find aspects in it that may never be revealed by a standard narration. For a plain suspense thriller, I am not sure if such gimmicks are warranted.

The novel has around a hundred chapters, most of them only two or three pages long. I found it tough to properly follow the characters or plot threads. In such a novel that has many characters and subplots, a sudden shift of perspective and narrator, I feel, breaks the flow. Whole reading and small chapters had the effect of watching tiktoks or reels. I also felt that concentrating all expositions in a few chapters has also spoiled the fun of reading.

The upcoming historical thriller The Lost Van Gogh by Jonathan Sandlofer is a standard thriller with certain important and timely themes that may make the reader interested in learning more about history and the arts.

Book Review: Slow Down by Kohei Saito

 We are facing an imminent calamity that places enormous existential repercussions on the entire planet that we live on. Climate change is an unprecedented challenge that we, as the human race, have to tackle, and we cannot deny that it is brought about by ourselves. We pumped an enormous amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere continuously for around two centuries, from the emergence of the industrial revolution, with its quantity increasing progressively every next moment. Today, the proportion is so high in the atmosphere that the climate of our earth, which emerged from the balance of several variables through activities that spanned millions of years, is changing for the worst and threatening even our existence. 

It is not that the world is unaware of this threat or is complacent in its actions. Most nations in the world have formulated policies and targets to reduce their respective carbon footprints in a timely manner to prevent any disastrous outcomes. The United Nations has created the Sustainable Development Goals, a collection of seventeen objectives that emphasise climate action. It is identified that even when climate change is a global issue, its effects are not evenly distributed and will be affecting those nations that are already impoverished, especially the Global South. Thus arose the concept of climate justice, which tries to protect the rights of these vulnerable populations. But on the implementation side, there are numerous geopolitical barriers that prevent prompt and regular addressing of most of these issues, like wars, mistrust between nations, political shortsightedness, plain selfishness, and greed for profit. 

Slow Down: The Degrowth Manifesto is a book written by famous Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito that tries to propose a solution to the immediate redressal of climate change challenges. The book, which was originally written in Japanese, is translated into English by Brian Bergstrom. I received an advance review copy from its publisher, Astra Publishing House, through Netgalley in exchange for my feedback. 

The basic premise of the book is that climate change is the direct result of the impact of capitalistic policies on the world economy, and the only path forward is a Communist degrowth of the economy. The writer puts the total blame for climate change on the capitalist philosophy of unchecked and never-ending ambition for growth and argues that the measures now proposed for containing this menace cannot be implemented successfully by systems that are biassed towards growth and its measurement by the GDP. He criticises the 'green' proposals, like shifting to electric cars, when the production of electric cars according to the demands of the global population will need more reliance on fossil fuels, which will in turn accelerate the dangers of climate change. 

His solution to degrowth is based on Marxist principles. But these aren't the ones that Marx and Engels arrived at while they wrote The Communist Manifesto. During that period, his theory was productivistic and described that the efficiency of production will grow in a capitalist system along with the exploitation of the proletariat, resulting in commodities being overproduced and a majority of the working class being unable to purchase them. The capitalist system will face a crisis causing unemployment among the masses, and finally, the working class will rise to bring about the socialist revolution. 

But in later years, Marx studied in depth about the pre-capitalist agricultural societies where small communities controlled production and the distribution of wealth among themselves and did not much bother about economic growth while giving more priority to sustenance. It is this idea of commons that Saito tries to develop into a working model of Communist degrowth that can, as per him, prove to be the only solution that can save humanity from immediate climatic challenges. 

This is distinctly different from the Soviet or Maoist style of centralised and state-controlled governance, which, as per the author, was a wrongful interpretation of the philosophy of Marx, which he arrived at only at the tail end of his life and which even his collaborator Engel failed to comprehend while completing the volumes of Das Capital following Marx's demise. This change in the philosophy of Marx, as per Saito, is evident in his studies about how the pre-capitalist communities handled the commons and the handwritten notes that he prepared during it, which incidentally are being collected in multiple volumes. 

Saito's proposal for the world to combat climate change is the total demolition of capitalism and the obsession with economic growth, which is an inherent part of it. He argues that governments all over the world are incapable, as they cannot opt for anything that could potentially hamper economic growth. Saito proposes the restoration of commons—provisions like air, food, water, education, power, medical care, etc.—that are essential for human sustenance, of which the operation and distribution have to be undertaken by the common people in a democratic way without any interference from the government or experts. The pathway is to be through non-violent civil disobedient movements like the People Power Revolution of 1984 in the Philippines or the 2003 Revolution of Roses in Georgia. 

Slow Down is a passionate cry for the knocking down of capitalism, to stop the obsession for continuous growth, and to restore the Marxist idea of the commons. The book is very verbose in its criticism of capitalism, though I cannot find any serious data that backs up several claims that the author makes. I am not denying that the obsession with growth is dangerous for our survival, and the incontinent technological advances that are unsustainable are the reason for the situation we find ourselves in. But the writer seldom goes beyond his claims and declarations and certain quotations from fellow thinkers to push his points. 

Most of his solutions can be implemented and may work locally, but I have serious doubt if they can be put to use for defending ourselves against a forthcoming global catastrophe. The concept of several independent mass protests erupting around the world simultaneously doesn't sound that right either. There are so many variables that can go wrong to provide a consistent result. Throwing the spanner on a functioning economy can also be a disastrous attempt. 

For example, Bangladesh is an emerging textile superpower. Just suppose that the developed nations are reducing textile imports considerably. The entire nation will crumble down in days before any kind of alternate 'degrowth' strategy can be employed. Rampant and sudden poverty will demolish social and systemic structures. An entire generation may go towards crime and extremism. 

The concept of degrowth is a necessity in today's world. The pathway that Saito has laid out is intelligent and workable. But to use it as your only weapon against a calamity of such gigantic proportions will be suicidal, a kind of existential hara-kiri.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

 

Every book, every volume you see here, has a soul. The soul of the person who wrote it and of those who read it and lived and dreamed with it. Every time a book changes hands, every time someone runs his eyes down its pages, its spirit grows and strengthens.

Daniel's book seller father takes him to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books, a library that houses banned and rare books in Francoist Spain. There, he discovers a novel by a mysterious author called Julian Carax, titled The Shadow of the Wind. He loves the book and also finds out that its enigmatic writer is missing, and someone has taken up the mission to burn all his books. When he realises that the copy with him is one of the few surviving, Daniel is fixated on uncovering the mystery, embarking on a dangerous journey to uncover a tragic story of passionate romance, hidden family secrets, treacherous betrayals, and brutal violence.

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is a historical mystery with gothic undertones. The novel, originally written in Spanish in 2001, turned out to be a tremendous success all over the world. It is even touted as the most successful Spanish novel after Don Quixote. Zafón went on to write a few more novels that are set in the same universe, which I have yet to read. The writer employs a story-inside-story kind of narration to tell a tale of intrigue.

The novel has an embedded narrative, in which the main narrator takes a break and allows other characters to tell aspects of the story that only they are aware of. This is the facet of the novel that gives it additional layers and makes it more absorbing. The main branch of the narrative features Daniel recounting his experience in the first person. He is in search of the truth behind Julian Carax, all the while struggling with his own desires. He encounters several complex characters on his way, and it is through their accounts that the reader finds the keys to uncovering the mystery of Julian Carax and his tragedy. We also find quaint similarities in the way the stories of Carax and Daniel develop, signalling a circular narrative that the author masterfully delivers on the final page of the novel.

Along with narrating a striking tale of mystery, the writer ensures that he populates The Shadow of the Wind with brilliant characters. In a narrative that spans decades, we find that all the characters move and transform organically with the plot. Zafón treats his characters with much love and empathy, allows them to breathe and grow inside his plot, and simultaneously manages to keep them from affecting the overarching structure of the novel.

The chapters of the book very precisely label the time period in which the incidents take place and provide a temporal anchor for the novel. It helps to give a historic context and offers a perspective on the motives and actions of certain characters that may look rash and out of place at any other time. Breakage and reformation of social structure and class, as well as tumultuous political and economic situations, work as catalysts to drive the plot.

The Shadow of the Wind reminded me of several other novels, especially the ones by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. The sprawling narrative, despondent humour, and a self-doubting protagonist on a journey towards self-realisation evoke novels like Life in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude. Some other novels that came to mind while reading this book were Life is Elsewhere by Milan Kundera, The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Hugo, and Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco. I am not implying that any portion of The Shadow of the Wind is similar to any of these books, but that it possesses the power to invoke in its reader such strange feelings and emotions that cannot be named while enjoying it.

Book Review: Dead of Night by Simon Scarrow

It's 1940. The Nazis have already held Germany in their iron grip and are ready to unleash an ideology of brutality on the unsuspecting public. The mysterious death of an SS doctor is attributed to suicide by the authorities, but Inspector Horst Schenke has reasons to believe that it is a cold-blooded murder. His attempts to pursue the case are prevented by forces far beyond his power. But when another case of suspected killings of kids in a facility seems to intertwine with the death of the doctor, Schenke is forced to make a choice—either to serve justice or cater to the orders of a bloodthirsty regime.

Dead of Night is the upcoming historical mystery novel by Simon Scarrow, which is set in Germany during Nazi rule. It is the second installment of his Wartime Berlin novels, featuring Inspector Schenke. The novel, along with narrating a nail-biting mystery, explores the nature of justice, how effective a sense of justice is, and the pursuit of truth in a world where the regime itself is corrupt and the rules are meant to subvert natural ethics. I received an advance copy of the novel from its publisher, Kensington Books, through Netgalley in exchange for my honest opinion of it.

The book is an interesting concoction of generic crime mystery laced with a strong dash of ethical dilemma. Its protagonist, Schenke, is a no-nonsense cop who believes that his job is to nab criminals, and his sense of duty to his fellow citizens ends there. But on the course of his investigation, he succumbs to pressures from different quarters and has to pursue deep-down secrets that are way above his league. People nearer to him believe him to be a deliverer of social justice, but he knows that the authority above him is more powerful and can cripple him if he goes too far for their comfort. So he behaves as a practical person and tries to balance it out, even against his own conviction.

In the dark and depressing world that Scarrow narrates in this novel, the reader feels that more questions are left behind than resolutions. None of its characters accept being slotted as plainly black or white. For each one of them, their life, career, and the safety of their family are important. Most of them choose to be on the safe side of the rules and regulations that are landed down from the higher realms of an ideologically controlled, ruthless regime and totally close their eyes to the impact on the entire society. The book illustrates how seemingly conscientious people choose to close their eyes to gross injustice when they realise that it is not in their interest to fight a battle that has more chances to fail.

While reading the novel, even when engrossed in the suspense and thrills it portrayed, I couldn't help but reflect on the history of violence that unfolded under the Nazis. The novel depicts the beginning of the 'Aktion T4' programme, which is the mass murder of 'degenerates', in the language of Hitler, that includes other races like Jews and Gipsies and even physically or mentally deformed German kids. There is a blood-curdling situation in the plot where a German SS man loses his kid and rages that his son is a true German and not someone like a Jew who deserves to die.

Dead of Night, even though it is a murder mystery that follows a formulaic format, ends up probing its reader's mind with pertinent questions. We are compelled to compare the situations in which the characters find themselves with our present social and political situations and try to identify the signs of intrusion by a powerful regime into the way we desire to lead our lives.