Ok, so obviously I'm quite far behind now. It took me 13 days to finish 'Staying On' - 13!! That's a crazy long time to finish a novel that was barely over two-hundred pages long. I have fantastic excuses, but none of them will help me to catch up on my reading list. Gaining an hour last weekend didn't even help me - I don't think I read at all last Sunday. At least it's still early days, and with luck I'll be able to catch up.
I really enjoyed Paul Scott's 'Staying On', in fact it's probably my favourite of the "Indian" novels so far. Scott's humour is much cruder, almost juvenile when compared to Farrell's. In addition to the social humour of class structure there was a heavy dose of sexual and toilet humour, which I felt made it an overall funnier novel. Which means it automatically gets high marks from me - yay comedy!
It was also a profoundly honest and sad story. I think I may have put off finishing it because I didn't want to reach that sad ending that I knew was coming. Even though the book opens telling us that Tusker will be dying, I was concerned that it may be a maudlin ending and I hate feeling that I've been coerced into tears. I was needlessly worried, as it turned out the balance of comedy and tragedy was perfect. Tusker and Lucy remind me of my parents, but their situation reminds me of my grandparents. I felt connected to the story in a very human way, so Yes I cried, but they were honest tears.
The supporting characters 'BillyBoy' and Ibrahim are both very fun, and it's nice that they aren't just stereotypes but unique and flawed individuals. As usual I'm sure that I'm missing the "real" or deeper meanings of the novel - particularly with these two characters, whose religious identities combined with their "sinful" flaws must be intended as allegory or some such thing. I really don't know what the subtext is, I just feel that it's trying to tell me something that is just outside my reach. I'm trying not to worry too much about that, though.
I attended the Calgary Public Library's 'Read Like a Writer' talk on the 6th, which was one of the events from the One Book One Calgary program of events, with Steven Galloway and Writer-in-Residence Naomi Lewis in discussion. I was slightly disappointed by the Q&A sessions, which seemed more focused on writing than reading, but that's the nature of a Q&A. What I liked, however, was Ms Lewis saying that the first time you read a novel you should suspend your disbelief, don't try to dissect what the author was doing, just enjoy the story. I'm going to try to do that more. It seems to me that our educational system encourages a constant analysis while reading, even with fiction, and while I never try to analyze the genre writing I love so much (that would take the fun out of it!) I automatically try to analyze 'literature'. Obviously literary analysis has it's place, but I'm beginning to accept that it is not during the first read through.
My next book is Iris Murdoch's "The Sea, The Sea" which is just over 500 pages. So I'm not going to make up any time this week, but I am going to try to relax and enjoy the book.
Happy Reading!
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