This story starts out like any other work of fiction. There is a man who is depressed and he starts reminiscing about his childhood. Therein lies the fairy tale that slowly develops and draws you in deeper and deeper, until you can't put the book down and it ends. The story reminds me of a spiral. Constantly changing and moving downward, since the fairy tale grows darker and darker.
I usually break my reviews down by chapter, but since no one reads what I write; I will break this one down by themes. (I'm guessing no one will still read it/ha!) Themes: how we view ourselves, adult versus child and the power of dreams. And in the end, was it all worth it? This theme is the first step in the Prologue and the last step in the Epilogue.
Generalities -
Setting: Sussex, England - Hempstock Farm
Time: Present Day initially - than flashback to youth - age 7
I Digress - Book Quotes:
I like this part, because I happen to agree. Books are safer than people. They don't let you down (usually) and if they do, you can put them down. They keep you company when no one else will. They inspire you to do great things and go places you have never been. They show you how to act. They contain the past, present and future. ALL the rules are written down in black and white.
I - "Books were safer than [other] people anyway."
II - "I lived in books more than anywhere else." This quote is ME. At the present moment, I choose to live in midieval Italy. Hanging out with Lorenzo di Medici. Absolutely Marvelous...
VI - "I was not scared of anything when I read my book. I was far far away..."
VIII - " Growing up, I took so many cues from books. They taught me most of what I know about what people did, about how to behave. They were my teachers and advisors."
How We View Ourselves -
In several places in the book, the theme of looking in the mirror with respect to how we look.
"Sometimes when I look in the mirror I see my father's face, not my own... Lookin' Good!"
"Nobody actually looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everyone." This topic rolls nicely into the next one as how we view ourselves early on influences how we act as adults. We are older, not wiser is what the book seems to be telling us. By seeing our parents or grand parents in the mirror, in my case, are we simply repeating history, their mistakes or successes.
Adult Versus Child Perceptions -
"I had been fearless, but now I am such a frightened child."
"Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times,... perhaps it never occurs to the adult to step off the path... to find the place in between the fences.
"Grown-ups don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside, they're big and thoughtless and they always know what they are doing. Inside, they look just like they always have like they did when they were your age (referring to the boy at age 7). The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups." Furthermore, the book insinuates that children are wiser and open to more opportunities to know and grow since their minds are more accepting to the possibility. Sometimes I feel that this is true. I have to force myself off the path and when I do, I find I am rewarded.
Absolute Knowledge - Chapter XIII
When your mind is open to the limitless possibilities of the universe, the possibility of absolute knowledge exists. "There was nothing stopping me from bringing the ocean to you." Lettie to the boy.
Lettie points out that you cannot stay in a state of absolute knowledge as it would "Not kill you. Destroy you. Dissolve you." Reality must be embraced and balanced by knowledge for existence. "After a while of [absolute knowledge] you would exist everywhere, all spread out. And that's not a good thing. Never enough of you all together in one place, so there wouldn't be anything left that would think of itself as "I." No point of view any longer, because you would be an infinite sequence of views and points..."
Reality is dull for some people, like the boy who took refuge in books. Fiction is knowledge of a sort. "Reality I knew was a thin layer of icing on a great dark birthday cake writhing with grubs and nightmares and hunger." But on the flip side, when absolute knowledge is embraced for a time, "...I knew everything. Lettie Hempstock's ocean flowed inside me, and it filled the entire universe, from Egg to Rose. I knew that. I knew what the Egg was - where the universe began, to the sound of uncreated voices singing in the void - and I knew the Rose was the peculiar crinkling of space on space into dimensions that folded like origami and blossom like strange orchids, and would mark the last good time before the eventual end of everything and the next Big Bang, which would be, I know now, nothing of the kind."
The Power of Dreams -
III - The dreams start up at this point for the boy. Someone giving money away to make people happy. Money isn't the key to happiness. Don't get me wrong, it's nice if you have it, but it doesn't make you happy. At this point, the book takes on the beginning of the fairy tale quality I mentioned earlier. You are not sure if the dreams are real or not. The money just appearing, the old lady in blue in the woods. There is just enough reality to blur the lines at this point.
As the book progresses, the line between reality and fantasy blur even further. By chapters VII - VIII the reader is literally immersed in a fairy tale that gets darker and darker. As I was reading this book, I had a conversation about fairy tales with my daughter. Her words were, [fairy tales] do not have happy endings. Little Red Riding Hood gets eaten by the wolf. Disney Princess endings are not reality.
Chapter IX - The Snip and Cut Sleepover at the Hempstock's Farm. Now we are fully immersed in the fairy tale with minimal traces of reality. The toothbrush the father gives to the boy is Gaiman's icing on the cake. Is this touch from Steven King?
Is/Was It all Worth It?
In the Prologue the Man refers to himself and failed, frayed and broken with respect to relationships. In the Epilogue, the Hempstock women sit on either side of him and Ginnie Hempstock asks, "I think Lettie just wants to know if it was worth it." With the initial reference to failed, frayed and broken relationships, the reader wonders. Ginnie Hempstock continues by saying" I think you are doing better than you were the last time we saw you. You're growing a new heart, for a start."
For the mother of the character who sacrificed herself for the man, this is a big statement. His relationships will get better, as will his life. This is a hopeful theme to take away from the book. Just as one day, Lettie Hempstock will come back from where ever she is, Australia perhaps or The Ocean at the End of the Lane.
Another reference occurs in Chapter XII when Ursula addresses the boy. "How can you be happy in this world? You have a hole in your heart. They will call you as you grow. There can never be a time when you forget them, when you are not, in your heart, questioning after something you cannot have, something you cannot even properly imagine, the lack of which will spoil your sleep and your day and your life." But since Ginnie observes he is doing better since the last time she say him, it was worth Lettie's sacrifice!
BOC The Reaper - song reminiscent of this book - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM0im3V8HlU
No comments:
Post a Comment