OBOC - Brazil

I don't remember the last time I struggled as much to finish a book. 345 pages of sex, crime and drugs is not something that I would normally pick up, but I couldn't find another writer from Brazil and Rubem Fonseca's "High Art" was a highly acclaimed novel. He is considered one of the trendsetters and most important literary figures of contemporary Brazil and this novel is supposed to have captured the urban heartbeat of Brazil in the '80s most vividly.

Unfortunately it was just not for me. I am no prude, but I just cannot read pages and pages of knife fighting techniques. It is simply not an area of interest for me! And the tale itself meandered around so much - everyone was sleeping with everyone else, everyone wanted to stick a knife into everyone else's throat and everyone was looking for a videotape for no particular reason. At least the Godfather had a purpose! It also didn't help that I came to the second part of the novel after a 2 week gap during which time i had even forgotten the main character's name.

I can see this novel work under 2 circumstances 1) If Fonseca had intended this as a satire against this genre of novels, then i can see the humor behind the purposelessness. 2) If this is indeed a true reflection of '80s Brazil where drugs, prostitution and corporate criminals where going at each other with an aim to control these trades.

There are some stories which work better as movies - The Bourne series, Godfather etc and i think High Art is one of those which might have worked better as a movie than as a book.

Whew! I am just relieved that I am done with this one and can focus now on Burkina Faso and Burma!

2nd year for me; 7 years for tens of thousands

In case you've forgotten it was the 7th anniversary of the Iraq war yesterday. Exactly a year ago, I got up from my armchair and joined the anti-war protest with hundreds of others who felt enough was enough. A year has gone by with the President of change who has become a just another war time President. But this post is not about the politics.

As I showed up to wave a few peace banners, I was struck by the fact that the crowd seemed smaller than last year and much older. Were these the people who came out during the '60s and are still holding the banners? If so where is my generation and the ones after me? This was a point of discussion i had with a peace activist at the protest. Countless distractions for the young in a beach town like ours he said.

It was quite a struggle to mute the cynic in me to head out to the protest and i am glad i had a friend with me who wanted to show up too. Are we changing anything, is anyone listening... yeah yeah i've heard the famous quote from Margaret Mead a few hundred times... still a few hundred people in a county of over 3M not enough to make the headlines as we had far greater things to cover like spring break in our beaches.

Then i heard a young 20 something veteran at the protest describing his tour of duty in Iraq. His body had enough evidence to describe his experience, and he is one of the lucky ones! He is here today, alive and protesting along with other veterans against war. Just to stand by his side with my banner was enough to ask the cynic in me to shut up!

So there it is, I stood for an hour on the roadside for peace and to my little one's question "Why mommy?" i had to say "Why not dear". "Can I come next time?" she asked. "I hope you don't have to" I thought.

OBOC - Bulgaria

For a long time I had put off reading Kafka as I had assumed that it would be one of those books which only the literary minded will appreciate, and of course that changed completely for me after Metamorphosis - but that's another story which will be duly filed under OBOC-Czech Republic :)

So why this long opening lead - well I felt the same when I picked up Viktor Paskov's Ballad for Georg Henig as many reviewers compared him to Kafka. Well, I don't know if that comparison is valid or not, but all I can say is I loved this novella!!

Set in Bulgaria in the 1950's, the book is about the Czech Georg Henig a once famous master craftsman of violins, who goes unappreciated and even completely forgotten with the passage of time in Sofia. He is discovered dying of hunger by the young Viktor and his dad when they seek him out to build a sideboard for Viktor's mom.

Poverty of every kind engulfs the novel - be it scarcity of food, money and other resources ("owning a sideboard is like owning a three story villa with a pool"), or cultural poverty - under appreciation of arts, artists and anything sublime or even poverty of love and faith in God or in fellow beings... a reflection by Paskov of Bulgaria under the Communists. While not having a sideboard epitomizes poverty for the young Viktor's mother, one look at the plight of Georg who lives on water and butts, is without family or friends, surrounded by predators who want his prized tools and a neighbor who wants to set his dog on him and hasn't crafted a violin in ages crystallizes Viktor's father's argument that poverty is relative.

As the family reaches out to the master to care for him, Georg takes young Viktor under his wings, passing on his love for art, love and faith giving purpose to his life as the end approaches.

If you think the background is too too bleak and depressing, don't let that stop you from picking up the book. I found it very difficult to put the book down, and the music and art which is at the heart of the novel will carry it through for you.

OBOC - Botswana

I don't know what it is about African authors, but all the books from Africa that i've read so far have left me wanting more and that is very true of "When Rain Clouds Gather" by Bessie Head. Rural Botswana comes to life in this book and I believe the central theme is one of regeneration in the midst of hopelessness.

When Makhaya crosses the border from South Africa fleeing oppression under the Apartheid regime, he didn't expect much in Botswana. Here was a country that didn't see as much cruelty as his South Africa, yet there was the frustrating unwillingness to give up old tribal ways hampering progress and prosperity.

But amidst all the hopelessness he is surprised in countless different ways - an ingenious white man (Gilbert) living amidst the villagers of Golema Mmidi striving to bring a positive change with his ideas on agriculture and cooperatives, finding hospitality among the penniless, surprised by the widow Pauline's defiant spirit despite her situation, surprised by a stranger's willingness to stick his neck out for him, surprised by how the almost barren land can actually support agriculture, surprised by how art flourishes even in an arid cattle post in the middle of no where even when one is looking into the eyes of death!

That is the central motif - there is hope even in the most dire circumstances and the human spirit somehow finds a way to harness that hope to triumph. The second theme i found is oppression - Apartheid in South Africa and Tribal lords in Botswana - both exploiting the poor to live a king's life. The third theme is the clash between tribal ways and modernism. Makhaya is often frustrated by his fellow villagers' inability to give up traditional tribal ways even in the promising face of modernism. But to Bessie Head's credit, she does not portray the Batswanas as dumb, illiterate people. Someone once mentioned to me how even Gandhi had commented that it is one thing to immerse yourself in tradition, it is another thing to drown in it. I guess Makhaya was referring more to the latter.

From what I read about Bessie Head, I don't think she was as welcomed as Makhaya when she first migrated to Botswana. Nevertheless she fell in love with her adopted country and this novel brings out her love in beautiful prose. She is not in any way an apologist for colonialism but she has still managed to portray the humanity of the Englishman in Gilbert, who is kinda a misfit among his own countrymen. While I was a bit disappointed that here was one more story where a whiteman had to show the path to progress for the natives, I willingly overlooked that given the partnership between Makhaya and Gilbert and the crucial role played by Pauline in the story.

Overall a wonderful story that gave me some great insights and perspectives about Botswana!