Life, one story at a time
Posts tagged book
101 Classics: The Constant Gardener
Jul 31st
The Constant Gardener is a book by the great John le Carré. If anyone wants a masterclass on writing, I advise you to read this novel or, indeed, anything by him that you can get your hands on. Each character’s internal monologue is not limited by traditional speech devices but spills forth from the dialogue and segues into the surrounding text. The effect of this is that you feel as if you too are there, a fly on the wall sizing people up by their nervous twitches and trying to figure out who is with you and who is against you in your quest for answers.
The icing on the cake are the characters. They have foibles; they have fears; they know what they’re doing will lead them to death’s door and they continue to march on, full of idealism (Tess) and bound by love (Justin). I don’t disregard the fine plot of The Constant Gardener but, like with any good story, the characters are the reason the reader comes back time and again. Tess is the primal force that will “not go gentle into that good night” and Justin her counterpoint. Through their relationship, The Constant Gardener achieves that rare balance of profundity with credibility.
101 Classics: The Aeneid
Apr 5th
The Aeneid by Virgil is a legendary tale baked with all the usual ingredients: a dash of hyper-masculine leading man, a pinch of the ol’ “ill-fated lovers” scenario, and a dollop of grandiose battle scenes à la Troy and 300. Oh yeah and the cherry on top is Queen Dido, who kills herself atop a burning funeral pyre. (She had a touch of the dramatic about her, it must be said.)
The central character, Aeneas, is a Trojan fleeing from Troy with the remains of his people. He journeys to Italy and ends up founding the Roman civilisation after much placating of the interfering god Juno by her husband, Jupiter.
The epic poem – I want to say book but know this is wrong, and that if I did, my old Classics teacher would surely mount her own funeral pyre – is almost on par with Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey but suffers as a result of trying to combine these two works into one.
What lifts it up is its commentary on the dangers of mindless passion and the benefits of commitment to a higher purpose. A read worthy of your time.
101 Classics: In Cold Blood
Feb 10th
Possibly the first non-fiction novel, In Cold Blood details a multiple homicide case in 1960’s Holcomb, a small Kansas city with a population of around 2,000 residents. The premeditated murder of a wealthy, well-respected farming family in their home shakes the tight-knit community to its core – particularly considering there was no obvious motive.
"They shared a doom against which virtue was no defense."
The novel goes to great lengths to detail each piece of salacious town gossip and every minor relationship. At first, this entrenches the reader in the mindset of a Kansan, community member. You can practically smell the diner’s black coffee and peach cobblers; the waft of tall, golden wheat fields in summer winds. After their arrest, the viewpoint shifts to that of the killers. Trapped and slowly realising they would die for their crimes, Capote provides insight enough to keep the reader hooked but never attempts to justify their crimes.
In Cold Blood owes as much to its source material as its writer, who succeeds in blending fact with shrewd fictional embellishments. Though Capote claimed that every word of his novel was true, I tend to agree with the critics who claim otherwise. Unlike them, however, I believe that a man of such intellect and thought as he treaded this line with grave caution.
Almost half a century later, In Cold Blood remains a testament to the true power of the written word – if wrought by skilful hands.
