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Literary Review
First Impressions
IN the undulating landscapes the artist paints with a precision that seems extreme almost. Its very nature compels you to watch, tantalising all your senses. Of smell, touch, anger, love, betrayal and its aftermath, revenge, anger but most of all, loyalty. And so as the main character, Takeo, begins the second part of his journey, he finds himself torn between his love and loyalty to the man who rescued him from the very jaws of death and who taught him to live with hope and affection and the demands being made on him from the Tribe. As Takeo delves into the path he finally chooses, he realises that in him are two extremes: the infamous qualities of the Tribe to whom he also belongs and the qualities of the Otori clan — that of loyalty.
In a hauntingly beautiful sequel to Across the Nightingale Floor, Lian Hearn establishes, once more ,that he is indeed a master artiste. His turns of phrase, his minute observations and his rich imagination have led him to paint a novel so realistic that the reader automatically transported to another time and place. It is one of the more compelling books in the market today and it is almost with a sense of unfinished business that one puts down the sequel and waits for the next in the series.
Grass For His Pillow, Lian Hearn, Macmillan, price not stated.
It is bone dry — I pray for any moisture that might fall from the emaciated skies —
There is a cloud, just a solitary cloud wafting perilously —
But it is too far in the distance for any real hope — for rain
AND yet when it pours and those jewel-like first drops patter onto the dry parched earth, sending up that heavenly fragrance, it is rain that we celebrate. In this little book the evocation of rain, in its many manifestations is beautifully captured in short poetic images. Black and white photographs add a starkness to an otherwise celebratory time where rain is also associated with a riot of colours and a lush green. Written as an ode to the monsoon season, this book is a collection of poems and photographs that show monsoon in all its sights — some achingly beautiful and others ugly. Yet when it rains almost everything is washed away, all the dirt and the dryness suddenly runs into little rivulets leaving everything dew-drop clean. An unusual collection of thoughts on the monsoon, with an equally unusual format, make this book interesting .
Monsoon, Sudeep Sen and Mahmud, Bengal Foundation, price not stated.
"AGANTUK" was Satyajit Ray's last film and according to many, the one that projected Ray most closely. There has been debate as to whether he used the character in this film as a spokesperson for his own philosophy and ideals. Having said that, the play as translated and presented is actually a rather simple story of a upper middle class family whose lives are suddenly thrown into a tizzy with the arrival of a long forgotten relative. As the husband and wife try to figure out the stranger who walks almost nonchalantly into their home and then declares that he will stay for a bit, the little boy, the couple's son, finds in the stranger a delightful playmate as well as a man who is ever willing to go along and tell him stories. Various friends and do-gooders arrive on the scene trying to ascertain the credentials of the stranger. One friend almost insists that their visitor leaves. Next morning, on looking through the strangers' bedroom, the couple find he has disappeared with no forwarding address. Later, they discover that he has made his niece (the wife) heir to all his wealth. Once again the book proves that Ray is a master when it comes to portraying the subtle moves that human beings make to survive.
Agantuk, Satyajit Ray, translated by Antara Deb Sen, TLM books, Rs 195.
WHEN Myrna a Caribbean environmentalist meets Arno, a Dutch civil servant, at a summit, little do the two realise that they would be thrown together by a play of events in which both unburden their lives. Arno, who suffers from insomnia, finds that on the first day of the summit itself, he is unable to function. Myrna who helps him suggests that he try her sleep therapy. In return all she expects is that Arno be her guide in her discovery of Europe. A deal is made and as Arno and Myrna go through a series of unusual therapies, Arno finds himself being drawn to Myrna. As Myrna discovers her own self, she also touches upon the political conflict of the Caribbean Islands where the struggle for freedom was aimed at the Dutch. In a complex plot, both Arno and Myrna try and work out their individual identities and what it means when boundaries have been crossed. The twists and turns of this little novel are fairly nonnegotiable given the fact that most lay readers don't have a clue of the Caribbean Islands political struggle nor of the Dutch conquests.
Love's Perfumes, Rita Rahman, Penguin India, price not stated.
SUCHITRA BEHAL
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