How could I forget...

my favourite book from all of those I have read over the past few months?

Island - Aldous Huxley

 

This is Huxley's final novel, published in 1962. I urge you to read it. Keep in mind when it was written when you do.

Literature often provides a platform for the individual to voice their discontent. Many authors have written successful and haunting dystopian novels, drawing on elements of our reality to create terrifying portraits of the possible destiny of modern humanity. George Orwell's '1984', Margaret Atwood's 'A Handmaid's Tale' and Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World' are favourites among many.

But how many writers can give us their vision of dystopia and follow up with an alternative offering into a possible utopia?

In 'Island', cynical journalist Will Farnaby is shipwrecked on 'Pala' (a fictional island in the Pacific Ocean). Farnaby has been sent to explore the land for its potential oil reserves. The motor of the outside world is running on empty and here, the peaceful islanders have not yet plundered the land. Through the course of the novel Will learns about the way of life on Pala. As the Islanders open his eyes to an alternative way of life, he wonders whether the outside world could benefit from a similar education.

Huxley's antithesis to 'Brave New World' reveals a society where Eastern philosophy meets Western science. Violence and weapons are banned, as is needless materialism. Children learn 'the yoga of love' and selective industrialisation is implemented to meet basic human needs such as nutrition and food storage. People take 'moksha medicine' to aid their enlightenment and practice Buddhism. They strive to attain enlightenment through constantly working towards awareness; of their own bodies, minds, and the world around them. The Palanese people have ultimately built a society that aims to dissipate collective human fears by sharing, learning and understanding them. It seems that when fear is removed, greed and the need for power and attachment disappear too. People accept who they are so they no longer need panic-fuelled crutches to assert their importance and make them feel worthwhile. The Islanders are able to find peace with their place in the chaos of the natural world, rather than fight against it.

I like the way this guy writes:
"spongy seats for spongy bottoms - at home, in the office, in cars and bars, in planes and trains and buses. No moving of legs, no struggles with distance and gravity - just lifts and planes and cars, just foam rubber and an eternity of sitting. The life force that used to find an outlet through striped muscle gets turned back on the viscera and the nervous system, and slowly destroys them."

This book highlighted our obsessive need as humans for control. For whatever reason, humans have been given the gift of consciousness. No other animal seems as aware or conscious of its own existence as we do. What we choose to do with this consciousness is up to us. That's where the fear steps in. One thing is clear, with responsibility, comes fear. The idea that we are free and have the power to choose actually terrifies us more than anything else. Why else are so many of us so desperate to believe in a God above us? So that we may find a reason for our actions, and a responsible party outside ourselves. Rather than look at the fear, we have tried our utmost to bury it. We build cities, surround ourselves with manmade things, suckle oil from the earth like desperate overgrown babies and farm animals so we can get nice and plump and show them who's boss while we're at it. Huxley indicates that this "gift" of consciousness could be nurtured in an alternative way. If we learned to understand ourselves, we may see that there is in fact a higher order. It is not us, as we have tried to assert, but if we stop pretending we are the higher order, we can definitely be part of it. It might be a better idea than trying to destroy it?

Unfortunately, in the novel, the future of the island lies in the hands of Murugan, a greedy teen who is set to be the next Raja. Murugan represents the hoodwinked greed and naivety of capitalism. He is drawn to the ways of the outside world and has links with Colonel Dippa, the military-backed ruler on the large and developed 'Rendang' island next door. Murugan provides the ultimate example of how power corrupts.

Some quotes that illustrate Huxley's philosophy in the novel:

"Abstract materialism - that's what you profess. Whereas we make a point of being materialist concretely - materialistic on the wordless levels of seeing and touching and smelling, of tensed muscles and dirty hands."

"Armaments, universal debt and planned obsolescence - those are the three pillars of Western prosperity. If war, waste and money-lenders were abolished, you'd collapse. And while you people are over-consuming, the rest of the world sinks more and more deeply into chronic disaster. Ignorance, militarism and breeding, these three - and the greatest of these is breeding. No hope, not the slightest possibility, of solving the economic problem until that's under control."

"But the underdeveloped countries aren't committed. They don't have to follow your example. They're still free to take the road we've taken - the road of applied biology, the road of fertility control and the limited production and selective industrialization which fertility control make possible, the road that leads to happiness from the inside out, through health, through awareness, through a change in one's attitude towards the world; not towards the mirage of happiness from the outside in, through toys and pills and non-stop distractions. They could still choose our way; but they don't want to, they want to be exactly like you, God help them."

The Reading List Catch-up: Part 2

Here are some short reviews of books I have read in the last months. Unfortunately the details are already receding as time sweeps the pages out of my grey matter to make space for boring things such as arbitrary sentences from job applications I have filled in of late and Neighbours quotes (which are always important and deserve brain-space, despite the fact I am no longer 10 or a uni student and thus have no excuse to watch the show other than unemployment and pure love).

I think I just wrote the longest, most incoherent sentence of all time on this blog. Can you tell I have been away a few months? Let's start scraping the rust away and dig out those lovely books from the back of my brain...

 

The Vintage Book of Latin American Stories - Ed. Carlos Fuentes, Julio Ortega

A surreal and magical collection of short stories by imaginative writers from across the continent. The volume includes tales by some of Latin America's most celebrated literary figures, such as Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia) and Juan Rulfo (Mexico).

The short story is a popular and pivotal medium in Latin American literature and I adored this collection. I would go as far as to prescribe this book to any writer suffering from block. Each day they should pick any story at random and read. I guarantee each tale will feed even the weariest imagination and help to fill the writer's well with new images and delicious impossibilities.

The genre of magical realism was born in Latin America, and this collection proves that it is alive, well, and continues to grow in exciting and unpredictable directions, tipping the conventions of story-writing as we know it on its proverbial head.

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara - The Bolivian Diary

Having previously led revolutions in Mexico, The Congo and Cuba, Che Guevara left Cuba in 1966 to front the Bolivian Liberation Army in an attempt to overhaul Bolivia's military dictatorship. On 8th October 1967 Guevara was captured by the CIA-backed  Bolivian army. The following day he was murdered at the orders of Bolivian president Rene Barrientos. This is Che's last diary, rescued from his backpack after his murder.

Diaries can be a wonderful thing. If Che had not been committed to scribbling his daily entries, this story is one that may have been lost or distorted. The matter-of-fact tone and practical nature of Che's recordings reminds us that this is not a literary tome created with the public in mind. This is as close to the bone as it gets - Guevara expresses his worries regarding dynamics within the guerrilla army, lack of food and shelter, new warfare strategies as well as his own thoughts and political ideas. Reading the diary provided an illuminating insight into the mind of one of the world's most famed  and romanticised political revolutionaries.

The tiny guerrilla army consisted mainly of Cuban and Bolivian men. I found it riveting to read about the dreary realism and survival logistics of such a small team of principled revolutionaries with such a grand aim. Guevara was a passionate, well-read thinker, but he knew that thought and belief were not strong enough allies. He believed that action and aggression was the only way to ward off the spread of US imperialism. The diary reveals a warm, genuine man who fought for his principles until the end. He used aggression as a tool, but he never advocated it needlessly. Where possible, prisoners would be set free and only those that stood in his way were killed.

This book contains a foreword by Fidel Castro.

Siddhartha - Hermann Hesse

 

Modern Penguin Classics version includes an introduction by best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho.

A lovely, nourishing read by German author Hesse about finding purpose in life and the importance of following one's own heart. Set in India, a young Brahmin (Siddhartha) finds himself constantly dissatisfied and lacking in life. Following a meeting with the Buddha, Siddhartha finds himself wandering down many different paths in search of peace and fulfilment - religious, spiritual, sexual and materialistic. Although each way of life seems right initially, Siddhartha repeatedly ends up disappointed and disillusioned.

The book is written in a simple style and explores the importance of finding our own way in a world full of existing dogma. Only when we listen to and trust our own intuition and innate beliefs can we find fulfilment on the path right for us. Often life itself is about finding this path and the experiences and growth we encounter on the way.  This book echoes many of the preoccupations Hesse himself held in life and had a huge effect on its reading audience when first published in 1922.

If You Survive - George Wilson

On a recent seven month trip around South America, Murry and I recommended one of our favourite books to each other. We then had to read the other's book to revel and share in the love...or explain why we didn't agree and thought it was crap. This was the book Murry recommended to me. Initially I thought "oh great, a war story, blurgh". What judgement!

This was a fantastic read. It documents the experiences of a young American infantry officer fighting in some of the most renowned and devastating battles of WWII in 1944. 

The title owes to Wilson's first day in combat, when his commanding officer tells him: "if you survive your first day, I'll promote you." This sets the tone for Wilson's progression to a veteran combat commander and the shocking human turnover he encounters amongst his comrades. Of all the men to start out that day in Wilson's division, he was the only one to survive the war.

Wilson provides a matter-of-fact, detailed account of the grim realities of frontline warfare during the last months of WWII. The writing is not emotive, which actually strengthened the emotion for me. Wilson's survival seems like an incredible miracle when faced with the facts in this book. He dodged death daily through his encounters in some of the most brutal battles to take place in France and Belgium: Saint Lo, Falaise, Siegfried Line, Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge.

This book is worth the time. 

Me Before You - JoJo Moyes

 

Oh my, did this book make me weep? Unfortunately I wasn't alone at the time either. I finished it on a crowded long-haul bus journey in Chile. It was the sort of silent weeping you can get away with as long as nobody looks at you. I ended up with a soaking face and a very snotty nose. Murry was asleep next to me and completely oblivious. Some stranger sitting nearby probably thought I was having some sort of quiet breakdown. The book got me good!

It's a brave and touching fictional story that resonates with the personal choice 'right-to-die' debate currently rife in UK news and debate. Will Traynor, a young and formerly successful businessman has lost all joy in life following a road accident that's left him in a quadriplegic state. Lou Clarke, a vibrant and bubbly small-town girl with no huge ambitions loses her café job and ends up as Will's carer.

I don't want to give any more away, but it's a lovely, heart-breaking read. My only suggested improvement: Moyes' should think about selling it in waterproof copy.

Moab is my Washpot - Stephen Fry

This is the first of Fry's autobiography instalments, re-hashing the first twenty years of his life. We follow a young Fry through his confusing youth via various school expulsions, sexual and romantic encounters, and finally imprisonment and probation for fraud.

Stephen Fry's well-known wit and intelligence is intact throughout, however the book is also beautifully candid and honest. Fry suffers from bipolar depression which sees him careen from swooping highs and ecstasies down to plummeting lows of darkness and despair. He recounts his pain in early years at feeling like an outsider. Language, books and knowledge blossomed into his strongest allies and passions in a world that didn't always allow him to be himself.

This account is a wonderful contrast to many glossed-over celebrity autobiographies. Fry's brave dedication to honesty in his writing lets us into the vulnerable world of a remarkable individual. All the more poignant in light of Fry's recent admission regarding a suicide attempt in 2012.

Of Love and Shadows - Isabel Allende

Set in an unnamed country full of random arrests, executions and disappearances 'Of Love and Shadows' is a magical novel with a strong undercurrent of political satire. As in many of her other novels, the Chilean author campaigns and speaks out against the military dictatorships imminent in South America during the time of her writing ('Of Love and Shadows' was published in1985).

A young aspiring journalist Irene Beltran sets out with her photographer friend Francisco Leal to document the case of Evangelina Ranquileo, a young girl partial to powerful and supernatural fits. Whilst witnessing one such fit, the military arrive and take Evangelina away. She is never seen again. Irene and Francisco embark on a mission to uncover the disturbing truth of an order that dupes and victimises its own people. Allende's novel is a political homage to her own people as well as a powerful love story.

Allende is an insanely talented writer with an impressive career spanning three decades. I received lots of recommendations on my South American jaunt to read one of her more recent novels, 'The Island Beneath the Sea' (2010) so that one is lined up next...

Love's Executioner - Irvin Yalom

 

I am currently enrolled on a ten week 'Introduction to Counselling Skills' course at The Minster Centre and this was one of the books recommended to us on the course reading list.

The blurb of the book reads:

 Why was Saul tormented by three unopened letters from Stockholm? What made Thelma spend her whole life raking over a long-past love affair? How did Carlos's macho fantasies help him deal with terminal cancer?

Irvin Yalom is a well established American psychiatrist and author. In this book he opens the door to his consulting room and lets us revel in his individual relationships with ten patients. His honesty about his own opinions, mistakes and prejudices gives us a refreshing view into the mind of the therapist as a human rather than a non-judgmental blank canvas.

Together, these complex therapeutic cases unravel to reveal some basic underlying existential fears we can all relate to. Yalom sounds like a talented therapist and he's a bloody good writer too.