Pride and Prejudice - A Life of Fairytales

Jane Austen

First published in 1813

Trade paperback edition published by Barnes & Noble     
Books in 2004

392 pages

Jane Austen’s love story would not be nearly delicious had it not served us a plate of tasty appetizers that consists of ill-formed first impressions, prejudice and misunderstanding, all of which have caused our heroine, strong-minded Elizabeth Bennet, take a disliking of our hero, prideful and principled Mr. Darcy, right from the start. Not to mention that the ladies’ gossip did not help either.

Elizabeth is as lovable as any Austen’s heroines, and just like the other heroines, Elizabeth is not without flaws. She is very perceptive but sometimes has too much confidence in her ability to read people. When she overhears Darcy criticize her look as “only tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt (him)”, she easily becomes irritated and quickly decides Darcy’s character at face value, without prudently finding out his real strength. When comforting Elizabeth, we find her mild-tempered sister Jane says:

            “We must not be so ready to fancy ourselves intentionally injured. We must not expect a lively young man to be always so guarded and circumspect. It is very often nothing but our own vanity that deceives us. Women fancy admiration means more than it does”.

            But Elizabeth is too romantic and too stubborn to be sensible, thus began a story of emotional growth.  For Elizabeth and Darcy, pride and prejudice are not flaws but character traits that require minor adjustments, and before long the couple comes to recognize each other’s merits and live happily ever after. Now you may wonder, why are pride and prejudice are not condemned as unacceptable qualities in the Austen’s day? That is because the gentry society considers pride not as arrogance but as a manner worthy of one’s rank in social status. They also see prejudice as a quality of discrimination that is helpful in preserving the order and stability of aristocratic class. New ideas and progressive thinking, which could cause disarray of the upper-class, are quickly fended off by this sense of prejudice.

            The union of Elizabeth and Darcy could not have been more what the readers ask for. Not only is that Elizabeth and Darcy admire each other dearly, but Darcy is also an incredibly wealthy man! In an age when friendship, economic motive and family ties and religious duty are all more acceptable incentive for marriage than romance, Elizabeth and Darcy’s relationship is as perfect as a fairytale!

            It is interesting that Jane Austen, the woman who wrote about many happy-endings, remained single her whole life. It is said that she once accepted a proposal from a wealthy man, only to turn it down the next day, reason being that she felt that she didn’t love the man enough to marry him. This action is just as shocking as when Elizabeth refuses Darcy’s marriage proposal. The motives behind these two refusals are very much alike, since neither Jane Austen nor Elizabeth Bennet sees marriage as a mercenary pursuit. It seems like that Austen has written herself into the story. I often wonder whether she used this story, as well as many others, to compensate the loneliness in her non-existent romantic life, but I would very much like to wrong than to accuse Jane Austen to be a lonesome and fragile spinster. Austen chose her to live her life the way she preferred, with a strong sense of self and faith for romance, two virtues as timeless as fairytales, certainly still need to be preached to young women in modern days. In a letter to her niece Fanny Knight, Austen wrote:

                        “Do not be in a hurry; depend upon it, the right Man will come at last….”

Sense and Sensibility - A Matter of Head and Heart

 Jane Austen

First Published in 1811

Published by Penguin Classics in 1995

409 pages

Meet the Dashwood sisters. Elinor, the eldest of all three daughters, is considerate, reserved and very sensible, while Marianne, the second daughter of the Dashwoods, carries a set of characteristics completely opposite of those of her older sister. She is wildly romantic, outspoken and emotional. In the pursuit of love, neither sister was successful at finding happiness by solely relying on their natural instinct, be it Elinor’s sensible reasoning or Marianne’s uninhibited passion. Marianne falls head-over-heels in love with deceitful Willoughby who, in the end, confesses that he’s never had the intention of returning her affection. At the same time, Elinor finds out that the man that she has become attached to, Edward Ferrars, was already engaged to someone else.

Early on in the story, Jane Austen established the parallel progression of both sisters’ love lives. The obvious contrast between Marianne’s and Elinor’s different ways of dealing with the pain caused by every turn of event allows readers to identify and compare the mental capacity and behaviors produced by each disposition – sense and sensibility. Austen has chosen Elinor as the person who delivers most of the important scenes in the story. It is not hard to detect that Austen favors the cool-headed and thoughtful Elinor over the romantic Marianne who is still too young and stubborn to compromise her emotions outburst for the consideration for others and circumstances. The main contrast between Elinor and Marianne codes of conduct lies in Marianne’s romantic insistence that desires be spoken, whereas Elinor requires that they be silenced. When Marianne learns that Elinor has silently suffered just as much as she has, if not more, she is ashamed by comparison with the virtues of her sister Elinor. But is this to say that sense is a superior form of disposition than sensibility?

If we define Elinor and Marianne’s temperament with our modern-day psychology jargons, Elinor would certainly be labeled as someone with a high EQ, whereas Marrianne a not so high one. The ability of reserving one’s emotions and thoughts and directing them to an appropriate outlet at an appropriate time is a derivate action of delayed gratification which is the most important sign for high EQ. Elinor possesses exactly this ability. It is unfortunate that women in Jane Austen’s time could only bestow this power in tasks that are no more impressive than the task of searching for a good husband. However, when Elinor puts her high emotional quotient to use in the matter of love, she fails miserably. Her cautiousness and emphasis on form have delayed her from getting to the truth that would have made her suffer much less by lessening her attachment to Edward Ferrars.

While reading texts from the beginning part of the book where the sisters are excitedly speculating of the verity of affection from their prospective lovers, I was fondly reminded of the scenes from movie “He is just not that into you”.  Throughout time, women have waited by either their door or their phone for their lovers to call. It is undeniable that women have disposed to be emotional, and they have been in the passive and submissive position during courtship for as long as time. What Jane Austen is trying to tell us with Sense and Sensibility is that neither being highly sensible and logical nor being crazily romantic and emotional guarantees the success of love. Sometimes, women have to love with their heart, just as much as with their head.

The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett

Title: The Secret Garden

Author: Frances Hogdson Burnett

Genre: Children

Publisher: Geddes & Grosset 2004

Length: 222 pages

When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle, everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.

10-year-old Mary loses her parents to epidemic cholera. She is sent away to her uncle who lives at Misselthwaite Manor in England. Mary's life begins to change after she discovers a secret garden next to her uncle's house. While she tries her best to revive the dead garden, she realizes that there is so much more to life than just feeling lonely and getting everything her way. Like the roses and lilies that sprout to life in the secret garden, Mary becomes healthier and happier. However, Mary is soon to realize that she is not the only person whose life has changed because of the secret garden.

"The Secret Garden" is essentially about the power of positive thinking, a classic children book where something valuable is to be learned. The young characters are all very lovable. The beauty of their innocence is hard to find in many children/YA books nowadays. Although the story is enjoyable, I can imagine that this book could be too wordy for young children who lack of long attention span. Parents could instead read this book to the kids before bedtime. 

Now why did I read this book? Well, I read it because I wanted to see if this book would be suitable for translation and brought to China's children book market which lacks of quality books. I have to admit that this is the first time in a long time since I've read a children book. I am glad that I picked "The Secret Garden" to jump start my memories because this book is awfully sweet and refreshing. I decide not to translate this book in the end due to various reasons, but I do not regret reading it.

Illusion - Edmond Cheng

 

About a few weeks ago, I was contacted by a local Hong Kong writer named Edmond Cheng who asked me if I'd like to review his new novella "Illusion". I was quite excited at the opportunity of reviewing and supporting a local writer's work, so I happily agreed.

"Illusion" is a story of riveting mystery. The protagonist - a happily married young man named Thomas - has a bizarre encounter with his best friend's mother Aunt Wai Ha who informs Thomas that her daughter-in-law, Helen, is having an affair and urges Thomas to warn her son Jonathan.  Thomas doesn't think much of this incident until when he finds out from his wife Karen that Aunt Wai Ha has been dead for months. From this point on, Thomas' life is forever changed. He is haunted by an unknown spirit that repetitively infuses unusual images into Thomas' mind. After a failed attempt to warn his Johnathan about Helen's evil deception, Thomas receives a strange phone call which leads him to Johnathan's dead body. At the same time, his wife has gone missing. In order to get his wife back, Thomas has to summit all courage and goes head on with the two people behind this tragedy: Helen and her lover Brian. After several thrilling chase scenes, Helen and Brian are finally caught by the police. However, Johnathan's journey does not stop here. Another truth of the mystery is revealed to him, and he realize he is the master of his own illusion.

This is Mr. Cheng's first attempt at writing a mystery novel, the effort is worth applauding for as mystery is one of the most difficult genres in literature. The story is a good one, although there are a few imperfections. While the ending the story is suspenseful and surprising, it has taken quite a sudden U-turn and left me a bit bewildered. I feel that somehow it lacks a close connection to the previous development of the plot. As a reader, part of the fun of reading a mystery novel is the constant guessing of what the ending will be, and the success of a great mystery often lies in the writer's ability to end the story at a place that is just inches away from most reader's guess but still within the sensible realm. As for "Illusion", I'd say that the ending has just stepped out of sensible realm, thus the shock has become too far-fetched to have a substantial effect.

I assume that English is not Mr. Cheng's first language, since the writing comes off a bit stiff and even awkward in a few places. I strongly recommend Mr. Cheng engage in intensive reading in English literature so that he can bring color and emotion in his narration.

This novella is included in the book "Unearthed" which is published by Midnight Showcase. Mr. Cheng is an English teacher in Hong Kong. He is currently working on a new sci-fi mystery named "Prison". I wish Mr. Cheng the best of luck on his writing career!

The Pursuit of Reading

How do you decide what book to read next? How often do you refer to Amazon's best seller list to make your decision? Do you pick the book that everyone else is reading, or do you choose instead a book that satisfies your own intellectual need?

These are the questions that should be addressed after reading New York Times article titled "The Book Club With Just One Member". In the article, author Motoko Rich pointed out that, in the era of Facebook, Goodreads, Shelfari or book clubs, people's attitudes toward reading have changed drastically. Long ago, Virginia Woolf once said, "The pursuit of reading is carried on by private people." Nowadays, however, there is no longer any privacy left in reading. The act of reading has turned into a "relentless social pursuit". When people read a good book, their natural and immediate instinct is to share it on Facebook, Twitter, blogs (guilty as charged myself) or whatnot.

Long before the age of internet, the relationship between books and readers are much more intimate. Books were private possessions. The bookshelf reflected the reader's taste, intellectual altitude and even personality. Back then people decided on what books to read without much social noise. They spent more time indulging in books that piqued their interest and quietly savored the great moments in reading.

The act of private reading can be soul-enriching albeit a bit lonely. In our fast-paced society, loneliness is something we frown upon. Loneliness is not tolerated. But, think about all these book clubs where people get together once every two weeks to sip champagne and discuss the latest Oprah selection. How many people do you think are really there for a heated discussion on how well crafted chapter 15 is? How many people are there because they are hoping to reach out to someone else who could share their thoughts? Better yet, how many people do you think are reading a book that they don't care at all just so that they can use it as an ice-breaker at a social setting in order to meet people? Maybe we are all lonelier (and shallower) than we'd like to admit. Nonetheless, it is a fact that book reading has become a great tool of communication and connection among people (and the lonely souls). As much as it is digressing from what reading is really about, it is benefiting the society a great deal.

What I like to see is that each one of us indulges in a bit of private reading. Forget about the best sellers. Forget about Oprah. Forget about what you are told to read. Go to the bookstore and pick a book that is entirely "you". Get absorbed into the book! Soak up all of its wonder and glory. Preserve the experience for reflection. Put the book at the end of your bookshelf, and never utter a word to a soul. And that is the book that you will not forget for a long time. Mark my word.

Eleven Kinds of Loneliness - Richard Yates

Title: Eleven Kinds of Loneliness
Author: Richard Yates
Genre: Fiction/Short Stories
Publisher: Vintage 2008
Length: 221 pages

Short Stories Included:
Doctor Jack-o'-Lantern
The Best of Everything
Jody Rolled the Bones
No Pain Whatsoever
A Glutton for Punishment
A Wrestler with Sharks
Fun with a Stranger
The B.A.R. Man
A Really Good Jazz Piano
Out with the Old
Builders



If you are not familiar with the name Richard Yates, I am sure you know of his first novel Revolutionary Road which was adapted into a popular movie in 2008. The movie was nominated for 3 Oscar awards.

This book contains 11 short stories in which Richard Yates explored various forms of "loneliness" that can be found in marriage, friendship or workplace. I have to say that Yates has an ingenious crafting skill. His stories are extremely well-written and leave no room for even the tiny bit of disappointment.

More often than not, the success of a story is not dependent on the story itself but rather on the characters in the story. Characters are hard to develop, and sometimes they take pages and pages of building before the readers fall in love with them. To a short story writer, this task is even more challenging. How do you make your readers like your characters in just a few pages? I am not exaggerating when I say Yates is the master of short stories because, to my surprise, he wasted no words at defining and building his characters who, in most cases, are outcasts, loners or people who are simply unable to connect with another person. With precise and powerful depiction, Yates skillfully showcased their innermost raw emotions which readers can easily relate to, thus making these characters less pathetic but more lovable.

Yates reminds me a lot of Fitzgerald in the way where Yates' stories are also quite grim and often filled with a sense of lost identity and an inner-struggle to connect with the outside world. However, Yates' writing is much more emotional and sarcastic, which adds a bit of an edge to his style.

I always feel that short stories is where writers reveal the most about themselves. After 11 stories, it is not hard to see that Yates is not a believer in marriage. He is rather a pessimist when it comes to love, frequently alluding to the fact that marriage is what kills passion. He even wrote a rather melancholy story about love starting to change in the most subtle ways just two days before a young couple's wedding day. It is not a surprise when I flipped to the first page and read in his biography that he was divorced twice in his lifetime.

My personal favorite is the 4th story No Pain Whatsoever, in which Yates described a young woman riding a friend's car to visit her husband who was checked into the TB ward of a hospital. The story was quite flat and uneventful until we almost approached the end when the woman finished yet another dull visit where she barely conversed with her sick husband. She came out and stood in front of the hospital, in the freezing cold weather of Christmastime, and cried quietly. Yates never mentioned what she was crying for, but it was exactly this kind of crafting that subtly touched the hearts of many.

I am definitely putting Revolutionary Road back on the reading list, and I'm definitely a fan of Richard Yates now.

Have you read any short story collection lately? What are your thoughts?

A Tale of Two Cities

Author: Charles Dickens

Published by: Penguin Group, 488 pages

Opening: It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

It is not easy to review a classic, let alone a classic with great historical implications such as Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. However, as a devout Dickens reader, I feel obliged to review his book.

Like many great literature in history, A Tale clothes itself in multiple layers of meanings and the story can be enjoyed on various level depending on the age of the reader. On the most superficial level, it is an intimate story of kinship and love with the tumultuous backdrop of French Revolution. Lucie reunites with her long-lost father (Doctor Manette) who has suffered years of political imprisonment in the Bastille. With Lucie's loving care, Doctor Manette struggles to maintain his sanity which is otherwise reflected by his obsessive shoe-making activities. During this time, Lucie is met and pursued by two suitors - Charles Darnay who is an exiled French aristocrat, and Sydney Carton who is a disreputable but brilliant English lawyer. As the story progresses, Lucie marries Darnay and war breaks out in France. Darnay is arrested for his acrostic association. Doctor Manette learns to let go of his fear and irrational rage towards his prosecutors through helping Darnay. But it is Sydney Carton who makes the ultimate sacrifice in the name of justice and his undying love for Lucie.

Of course, Dickens' stories are never to be taken lightly at its face value. There are always deep and even deeper implications, which makes his books so much more intriguing. The most important implication of this book is the French Revolution. Unlike other books from the genre of historical fiction, Dickens used only a handful of characters and successfully delivered the epic movement of history and portrayed the clash of classes by microscopically examining the relations between Manette, Darnay and the Defarges. There is strong conflict between the lowly working-class such as the Defarges and Darnay who is crowned as an aristocrat only by birth but would rather earns an honest and modest life by laboring for it. Then, there is Manette. Caught between two clashing forces, his unforgettable past gives him the urge to hate Darnay and the likes of him, yet Darnay's marriage with his daughter represses him from exposing his inner feeling. Manette's internal struggle and fragility is seen everywhere in the book and his dependence on his daughter Lucie is somewhat disturbing to me.

The Defarges are the central characters who represent the roaring mass that overrun the Bastille. At the end of the story, readers will discover the Defarges have ulterior motive for uprising and for relentlessly trapping Darnay. I don't want to give away too much but it does have a hollywood-ish dramatic effect where everyone turns out to know everyone in the end.

Readers may wonder why Dickens chose to focus on two cities rather than just one. The answer becomes quite obvious as we move onto later chapters. To Docotor Manette and Lucie, London is a safe haven where they are able to live at peace and with abundant joy. Paris, however, is a city of turmoil. With each trip they make to Paris, they lose more and more control over their lives. Without London to contrast Paris in the story, it is hard to show how much damage the war has caused.

This book is different, yet I wouldn't consider this book a historical fiction more than a general fiction. As much as this book is different from his other master pieces such as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations (which are both my favorite), Dickens' writing still focused on character development and the relationships between them, as well as the contrast between classes.

If you ever complained about Dickens' writing style to be lengthy and full of descriptions, this book actually is a lot of lighter on the wordy description and uses more of dialogues to lead the story, which means that Dickens is trying to fade out his voice in the story and allow the readers to perceive the characters with more imaginations.

Regardless if you are a Dickens' fan or not, I suggest you pick up and read one of his books, if not this one, any other one will be just as good. To me, Dickens' books are timeless and I like how most of his characters have a sense of purity and goodness in them than are hard to find in most books.

Odd Hours

It's only life. We all get through it.

Dean Koontz created Odd Thomas on a whim - a young man haunted by lingering spirits who can also foresee potential disasters - Dean Koontz then went on and wrote four books about this young man and his thrilling adventures. Odd Hours is the fourth installment of these adventures, and possibly the last, as Dean Koontz gravely put it - "I saw the end of his journey".

Odd Thomas arrives at Magic Beach without much of a purpose. The only thing that leads him here is a dream of an blazing red ocean and the face of a woman. On a chilly afternoon, Odd goes out for a walk on the boardwalk of Magic Beach, and there he meets the mysterious lady in his dream. Her name is Annamaria. It is also on that gloomy afternoon when they run into three comic looking villains of the story - a blond gorilla and two skinny redheads - who are determined to chase down Odd and finish him off. After vowing to Annamaria that he will die for her, Odd immediately understands that the mission he is about to embark upon is not like any other he's experienced before. A greater power is at work and it could lead to mass destruction. Odd has arrived at the of his journey, the end of his destiny... (I rather not spoil it for you)

This is my first time reading Odd Thomas, as well as my first time reading Dean Koontz. I humbly admit that as an inexperienced Dean Koontz reader, my opinions could be biased, but I still like to put forth my two cents.

I find it very hard not to like Odd Thomas. He is an absolutely down-to-earth guy who is wise and mature beyond his years, not to mention he possesses the psychic power that allows him befriend the likes of Elvis and Frank Sinatra! Dean Koontz.also injected him with a great sense of humor that is undying even when facing the greatest peril. Annamaria, I don't know what to say about this character. She is a mystery at the opening of the story and remains so throughout the book. Odd meets her the same time he runs into the villains. But is Annamaria the link between Odd and the 'bad guys'? Did she exercise some kind of power to draw them together? There is no clear indication in the book. As Odd drives off with her at the end of the book, I can only imagine the meaning of this woman's existence in Odd's life. It is almost as if Odd could have accomplished everything without her. Was she in the story purely out of the need a female character in the story? One has to wonder...

This book is mostly entertaining and even philosophical at times. There are quite a few passages that discuss the Odd Thomas' Morales and motives for partaking dangerous missions. It adds more definition to the character and shows readers that Odd Thomas, as odd as he appears to be with his premonition power, is in fact a human being just like the rest of us. He has fears and doubts. He questions his purpose of existence. He wonders if he is able to make it... (Well, don't we all?)

When it comes to style of writing itself, I have to admit Dean Koontz lost me. I can't comprehend the reason behind some of the lengthy scenes such as the escape at the pier, the coyotes, and finding the bodies at Sam Whittle's house. There are times when I really wanted to give up on this book because I simply couldn't bear with the directionless plot. And speaking of which, the plot is neither very complicated nor full of suspense. If there is any mystery in the story, it has to be the question of what kind of danger is awaiting Odd? And to be honest, it didn't take me very long to figure it out.

I am not very keen on reading the previous books from Odd Thomas series, but I would definitely love to pick up one of Dean Koontz's older books from the 90's or even 80's as I heard that his writing has been changing profoundly over the years.

Do you have any Dean Koontz's books that you would like to recommend?

Hope you find this review useful. Let me leave you with one of my favorite quotes from the book.

Don't get me wrong. I do not seek death. I love life, and I love the world as its exquisite design is revealed in each small portion of the whole.
No one can genuinely love the world, which is too large to love entire. To love all the world at once is pretense or dangerous self-delusion. Loving the world is like loving the idea of love, which is perilous because, feeling virtuous about this grand affection, you are freed from the struggles and the duties that come with loving people as individuals, with loving one place -- home -- above all others.
I embrace the world on a scale that allows genuine love -- the small places like a town, a neighborhood, a street -- and I love life, because of what the beauty of this world and of this life portend. I don't love them to excess, and I stand in awe of them only to the extent that an architect might stand in the receiving room of a magnificent palace, amazed and thrilled by what he sees, while knowing that all this is as nothing compared to the wondrous sights that lie beyond the next threshold.

Until next book...