review – Ripple Effects

The Hunters: Two Novellas by Claire Messud

Always been fascinated by Claire Messud’s writing. Glad to discover a gem I’ve missed all these years, The Hunters, Two Novellas (first published 2001, this Norton edition, 2021) which I recently found in the basement of an indie bookstore, where used or overstocked books are stored.

The first novella is A Simple Tale. On the surface, it’s a Canadian immigrant story, how people came to Canada after the second World War to make a home for themselves and their future generation. But it speaks to deeper truths about belonging, hope, resilience, love and alas, family conflicts and disappointment. Immigrant or not, such are universal issues.

Maria Poniatowski was born in the Ukraine. WWII pushed her out of her village, stranded in Europe, and eventually arriving in Canada alone, having lost her family and close friends. She met Lev in the Displaced Persons camp, fell in love, married, and gave birth to baby Radek. Sounds common enough? But not in Messud’s interesting prose:

And finally there, in the Displaced Persons camp, Maria, an old maid of twenty… At long last. Dreamed, discarded, forgotten, it came to her on the sly, slowly at first, shy, and then in full torrent. That’s what the Displaced Persons camp would mean to her, in the ribbon of years: simply, love. (p. 26)

Settling in a new country doesn’t come naturally, especially when it’s totally foreign. Weeping and hardship may be for a short while, for joy soon comes. Maria receives a very Canadian welcoming at the Displaced Persons camp:

In the morning, that first September morning of 1946, there was the piercing early-autumn sunlight sifting through the pines, and the clean odor of the needles as they were trampled underfoot, and the soft damp mulch scent of the forest; and there were maples, in amongst the monstrous evergreens, turning, golden, vermilion, ochre in a riotous celebration of the Poniatowskis’ arrival. (p. 31)

Maria later found a housekeeping job with Mrs. Ellington, and became her life-long companion for decades. As little Radek grows up and Maria and Lev grow old, disappointments set in. The baby son she has raised all the years from the displacement camp to a house in Toronto is now a man with his own will but totally subdued by the girl he chooses to marry, an obvious unfit match, bringing his parents only disappointment and heartbreaks. Having endured and lived through the War and years of adjustments and finally calling a new country home, Maria, a widow now and alienated from her son and his family, watches Mrs. Ellington slip away. Alone again.

________

The second novella, The Hunters, can well be an exemplar for the now popular, contemporary genre of the psychological, suspense novels such as Before I Go to Sleep (J. S. Watson, 2011), Gone Girl (Gillian Flynn, 2012), The Girl on the Train (Paula Hawkins, 2015), The Woman in the Window (A. J. Finn, 2018)… just to name a few. An unreliable narrator, or a misleading perspective taking the story onto twists and turns until the frame of reference unraveled and truth spills out.

What Messud is doing in The Hunter, however, is a much deeper probe into the psyche of a person in solitude, blurring the imaginary with reality. How reliable is our judgement of character, or how accurate is our perception in deciphering facts from the inkling of our subjective mind? How reliable is our view on reality? Can we fully know someone?

An American academic spends a summer in London to do research on a book he or she is writing. Exactly, Messud does not specify the name or the gender of the narrator, this academic. I wonder what purpose would that serve, maybe universality. Nevertheless, Messud is an expert in psychoanalysis, and her prose, exquisite, as she describes the narrator’s state of mind and inner thoughts.

Choosing to stay in a neighbourhood away from the mainstream, academic centre of London, the narrator seeks solitude to nurse the ending of a love relation, as well, to seek refuge in the anonymity of a diverse neighbourhood where nobody knows her and no one the narrator wants to know.

Such a peaceful existence is interrupted one night by a downstairs neighbour Ridley Wandor, coming up to introduce herself and thus intrudes into the privacy and disrupt the solitude of our much annoyed narrator. Ridley Wandor would become the unwanted nemesis that summer, and months later, when a clearer view of facts is revealed, the cause of inescapable guilt.

The Hunters isn’t one of those page turners in which the plot pushes the reader to forge on, but an astute character study of both the hunter and the prey. In a deeper way, Messud challenges her narrator’s sense of reality, and just because of the lack of omniscience––our very limitation as human––shaking the narrator to the core as facts are revealed at the end. It’s hard to find an excerpt in the novella without dropping a hint as spoiler, but this famous line from Atticus Finch comes to me naturally:

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view […] until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

For our narrator, this revelation comes a bit too late.

~ ~ ~ ~ Ripples

Novellas in November is co-hosted by 746 Books and Bookish Beck

Related posts on Ripple Effects:

Small Things Like These from novella to screen

The Quiet Girl Movie Review: From the Literary to the Visual

Passing by Nella Larsen: from Novella to Screen

The Gone Girl Phenom

Before I Go to Sleep: Movie or Book?

***

Atonement: Book Into Film

The Book

Imagine my surprise as I finished Austen’s Northanger Abbey and opened up Ian McEwan’s Atonement to find this epigraph in the beginning of the book:

“Dear Miss Morland, consider the dreadful nature of the suspicions you have entertained. What have you been judging from? Remember the country and the age in which we live. Remember that we are English: that we are Christians. Consult your own understanding, you own sense of the probable, your own observation of what is passing around you. Does our education prepare us for such atrocities? Do our laws connive at them? Could they be perpetrated without being known in a country like this, where social and literary intercourse is on such a footing, where every man is surrounded by a neighbourhood of voluntary spies, and where roads, and newspapers lay everything open? Dearest Miss Morland, what ideas have you been admitting?”

They had reached the end of the gallery; and with tears of shame she ran off to her own room.

Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey

Henry Tilney’s somber words to Catherine Morland in Northanger Abbey sets the stage for the story in Atonement. Not only that, these words prove to be the most tragic irony as the plot unfolds, turning Austen’s satirical parody into heart wrenching reality.

The story starts off in the 1930’s, on a hot summer day in the idyllic country estate of the upper-class Tallis family. The misinterpretation of a couple of incidents by imaginative 13 year-old Briony sets off the events that ultimately rip the whole family apart. Later in the evening, Briony witnesses a crime but falsely accuses the wrong man, who happens to be her older sister Cecilia’s secret lover Robbie, the housekeeper’s son. Is it merely the misunderstanding of a young girl that drives her to bear false witness? Or is it jealousy…or even revenge? Maybe even Briony herself, as she recollects at 77, is baffled by her own motive. The heart is indeed an unsearchable deep to fathom.

Regardless of the cause, it is the consequences of her misdeed that has tormented her all her life: the breakdown of family relationships, the innocent sent to jail, and later to a horrific war zone, and a pair of lovers torn apart. As she cannot undo the past, Briony re-creates in the sanctuary of her own novel writing an alternative ending to a tragic story. Fantasy or realism? As she reaches old age and dementia sets in, the line between the two has also blurred, and yet her inner torments stay as sharp as ever.

Through Briony’s story, McEwan has poignantly shown that remaining unforgiven is probably the harshest punishment of sin. No matter how hard one works to be redeemed, the act of forgiveness lies with the one who has been wronged. In the latter part of the story, we see Briony’s painful strive for peace and atonement, and her realization that redemption comes only when sin is pardoned. Without the forgiveness of sin, there is no end to guilt.

But the story is not only about Briony’s desparate attempt to come to terms with her past, it is also a love epic. It is the heart-wrenching chronicle of the perseverance and loyalty between two lovers, Cecilia and Robbie, who, sustained by love, are able to withstand the searing pain of separation and atrocities. It is about the absurdity of war, that in the chaos of a war zone, everyone is guilty, and yet, everyone is a victim. It is also about the essence of a family and the fragility of relationships. The multi-layered structure of the plot and characterization give rise to the complexity and depth of the story.

Booker Prize winner Ian McEwan has written 11 novels and won numerous literary awards. The novel Atonement has garnered four since its publication in 2001. McEwan has shown himself to be a master of descriptive and incisive writing. His story is riveting. At times I have to read slowly, going back to re-read a passage several times, in order to capture all the details and savour the intricacies of the description and characterization. At times I read it quickly to capture the flow of the plot, eager to find out where it would lead me. The author has my emotions in his grasp. I have to admit, this is one of the rare occasions that I highlight as I read a novel. Overall, a very engrossing and satisfying read.

~ ~ ~ Ripples

The Film

Atonement the movie

Update February 11: Atonement just won Best Picture and Best Production Design at the BAFTA (British Academy for Film and Television Arts) Awards in London yesterday.

Update January 22: Atonement is nominated for 7 Oscars at the 2008 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score.

Update on January 14: Atonement won the 2008 Golden Globe Best Picture (Drama) and Best Original Score Awards announced at the HFPA News Conference last night.

With such a masterpiece in their hands, the screenwriter, director, actors …the whole lot, have a tall order to fill in turning the book into film. I must say they have done an extraordinary job in this adaptation. The film is nominated for 7 Golden Globe, including Best Picture (Drama), Best Actress and Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Original Score.

Unlike many movies based on literary work, this is one of the rare ones that truly depicts the essence of the book and keeps the integrity of its plot. Screenwriter Christopher Hampton (Oscar winner for his screenplay of Dangerous Liaison, 1988 ) has gleaned the pivotal episodes and remained loyal to the work, keeping the epic span intact; although the war section can be dealt with more details and depth as the novel has rendered.

Thanks to the great work in film editing, the audience can readily capture the flow of the story and benefit also from the seamless flashbacks to see the same event from another point of view, hence, understanding Briony’s misinterpretation. I’m sure even for those who haven’t read the novel, the storytelling is still clear and equally intense.

Director Joe Wright (Pride and Prejudice, 2005) uses the elements of film powerfully to bring to life an excellent script. The music and sound effects (who would imagine the typing sound on an old Corona can be used so effectively in a musical score), the cinematography and the visual flashbacks, the costumes and set all work together to create a masterpiece of cinema artistry worthy of McEwan’s work. Kudos to Dario Marianelli (The Brave One, 2007; Pride and Prejudice, 2005), who has composed a most riveting score heightening the intensity and poignancy of the film. I must also stress that, while the music is a powerful element in the movie, the silent moments are equally engrossing.

Young Briony, 13 year-old Irish actress Saoirse Ronan (I’ve read different versions of how her first name should be pronounced so I’m not including any suggestion here) well deserves the Golden Globe nod for a Best Supporting Actress nomination. Veteran actress and Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave is brilliant and her poignant summing up at the end is both needed and satisfying. I’m afraid to say the weak link is Briony at 18, played by Romola Garai (Amazing Grace, 2006), where she could be more intense and affective.

And for the lovers, Keira Knightley (Pirates of the Caribbean, 2007, 2006; Pride and Prejudice, 2005) and James McAvoy (Becoming Jane, 2007; The Last King of Scotland, 2006) as Cecilia and Robbie, may well go down in movie history as a memorable pair of star-crossed lovers. Their acting is superb and their chemistry, charismatic. The passionate scene in the library just confirms that it doesn’t need nudity to convey love, desire, or sensuality. I had in mind the movie Lust Caution (Ang Lee, 2007) as I was watching this scene.

Knightley and McAvoy are nominated for a Best Actress and Best Actor award at the Golden Globes. For their very moving performance in Atonement, I’d like to see them continue the ride all the way to the Oscars, and I wish them well.

Overall, an excellent adaptation of an enthralling novel. Don’t wait to read the book, go see the movie. But I’m sure after that, you’ll want to get hold of the novel right away. This is one of the rare examples of both book and film are worthy of complementing each other.

~ ~ ~ Ripples

Garfunkel In Calgary

The frizzy blond hair was still there, but the face belonged to a 65 year-old man. What was gripping though, was the same soft, angelic, tenor voice that was unmistakenly … Garfunkel. No, we didn’t buy a ticket to listen to the youthful folk singer we once knew, but what we’d purchased was an encounter, an experience, probably once in a lifetime, to see the iconic Art Garfunkel, the voice of our youthful past.

“Many a times I’ve been mistaken, and many times confused…” The haunting melody and the captivating lyrics of American Tune opened the concert. The face might have changed, yes, a great deal, but the sound remained, and along with it, the soul-searching quietness once again overcame me.

The circumstances might have changed, but the sentiments linger…”After changes and changes, we’re more or less the same…after changes, we’re more or less the same.”

What followed were the satisfaction of listening to the original voice singing the familiar tunes of Homeward Bound, Scarborough Fair, and The Boxer. What was regrettable, of course, was that we missed the harmonizing singing of the song creator, Paul Simon.

Backed by four talented band members, many of the familiar Simon and Garfunkel numbers had been re-arranged and improvisations added to make new renditions of old tunes, allowing Garfunkel to perform as a soloist. The singer had stepped aside many times to let the band and each musician shine in the limelight. Well, no matter how much it was altered, as soon as the audience recognized the introductory bars to such great classics as Mrs. Robinson, Bridge Over Troubled Water, and The Sound of Silence, unbridled excitement, cheers and applause would break out. I’d noticed that for many in the Jubilee Auditorium tonight, the concert could well be a chance to savor a piece of their past, awaking them to some long forgotten youthful longings, idealism, and the yearning of a better world. But what I didn’t understand was, why did those relatively young females in the audience jump to their feet, swaying, dancing and clapping to the tune of Cecilia? How old were they when Simon and Garfunkel first sang that song? I then realized that the work of the iconic duo transcends generations, their lyrics and melodies mesmerize audience of all ages.

Garfunkel also sang several of his newer titles, changing the mood of the concert hall with jazzy overtone, or moving into a more contemporary number written by Randy Newman. But it was the Simon and Garfunkel songs that elicited the most applause, bringing the audience to a standing ovation several times.

At one point, the singer introduced a song by reading a prose poem from a collection of his own writing. Here, I see Garfunkel the reader transformed into Garfunkel the writer. The singer is known for his wide reading interest, which is impressively chronicled in the Garfunkel Library, a site that records the books he has read since 1968 up till 2006, almost a thousand titles in all. Here in the concert, the singer shared his own writing with the audience, reading a prose poem from a collection of his published work, as an introduction to a song written also by himself.

The concert is part of a Green Planet Concert Series presented by the Pembina Institute, a national enviornmental organization. The displays in the foyer outside the auditorium had raised awareness of wind power and other safe and sustainable energy solutions. The sound and atmosphere inside had evoked reminiscence of mindscapes sustained by soul-searching melodies and lyrics. A powerful evening inside out.

~ ~ ~ 3 Ripples