Critics are taken to task by artists, writers, chefs, architects, etc, for giving thumbs up or down to their finished products, without taking into consideration the time and effort they put into creating it. To which we plead guilty. Not that we are unaware of the work expended, but we regard it as irrelevant. The proof is in the eating.
The Accident by Chris Pavone 385pp Faber & Faber paperback Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 595 baht
Yank Chris Pavone, a book editor for two decades before turning out his own — the successful The Expats — disagrees. In The Accident under review, he details the trials and tribulations of those penning manuscripts with the object of seeing them in print. There are many speed-bumps, more than a few formidable.
The plot of the story is contrived, unnecessarily complex. The setting is the isle of Manhattan in the Big Apple, with short sojourns elsewhere. Pavone notes that each reputable publishing house receives an average of 200 new manuscripts a week. They have a staff of professional readers to go through them to separate the wheat from the chaff.
There are passed on to the publisher with recommendations. These he reads and makes the final decision on. Keeping in mind that the bookstand price of hard covers is steadily increasing, the public becoming more discriminating, the hope is for a manuscript so outstanding that it will sell like hot cakes.
This wish is granted. The manuscript is named "The Accident", but the author is anonymous. It contains both a murder story and secrets of national security. People will love it. Living in a free country, its denizens have the right to know. Not according to the CIA, who demand that the manuscript not be published.
Threats. Lawyers. A search for the author, who will be tried in secret when found and thrown into a prison known only to the spooks. As for the other part of the manuscript, the murders continue by the spoiled university sons of wealthy businessmen. Nor is the Agency averse to dropping a body or two.
To seek and destroy the manuscript and copies or to hide one during the thorough, destructive searches? We learn which on the last page.
Pavone's novel is a readable 385 pages. Best are his descriptions of Union Square — the Greenwich Village area favoured by artists and those feeling part of the milieu, reminiscent of Paris' Left Bank.
The Accident contains what you have to go through to get a book published. As for the CIA's mindset, turn to David Baldacci.
The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir Who Got Trapped In An Ikea Wardrobe by Romain Puertolas 310pp Vintage paperback Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 450 baht
Upbeat, inspiring
With the global population 7 billion and counting, I can only wonder how many are drones and how few are exceptional. Then again, how many of the former have it in them to be exceptional, yet lack the ambition and willingness to work hard to bring it out? Sadly, laziness is one of our strongest traits.
Nevertheless, when the reason to overcome laziness is strong enough, it will be. Foremost is to prevent one's family from being evicted or paying medical expenses, causing us to draw on our latent talent. The well-to-do may have the desire, but don't feel the need.
Novelists and biographers touch the readers with their rags-to-riches stories. The poor man (or woman) living in a garret who becomes famous for his paintings, music, books, plays, poetry, deserves his accolades, posthumously when dying prematurely.
Frenchman Romain Puertolas writes about such a man in Ikea. Ajatashatru Oghash Rathod was born into an impoverished family in an Indian hamlet in the Rajasthan desert, his mother dying giving birth to him. During puberty, archaeologists on nearby digs befriend him, in return for his performing oral sex.
Observing fakirs, AOR imitates and practices tricks until he is just as good. He acquires the reputation of being a magician. Travelling around India with a wardrobe filled with costumes, he feels he can do better abroad. With coins from his neighbours and rupees saved, he becomes part of the human trafficking from East to West.
Concealed in a truck, the trunk of a car, in his own wardrobe, he reaches Europe. Apart from being an illusionist, he discovers that he has another talent: storytelling. Trying his hand at writing, a publisher pays him €100,000. His life shifts gear. Neither he nor his hamlet need it at all. What to do with the rest?
Carrying it around in a briefcase, easily spotted because of his turban, crooks have him in their sights. Fleeing Italy to Libya, the tramp steamer captain robs him of €15,000 at gunpoint, glibly talking his way out of not taking the rest. A sucker for hard luck stories, he gives half to a Sudanese.
Dispensing with his magic show, he devotes himself to writing popular and profitable stories, all having happy endings. In Paris, he weds a Frenchwoman. A philanthropist now, he finances hospitals in obscure Indian and African locales. The Extraordinary Journey Of The Fakir Who Got Trapped In An Ikea Wardrobe is upbeat and inspiring.
