That Columbus discovered American in 1492 is one of the first things American children are taught in school, if not earlier. Discovered is the operative term. More than a few anthropologists note that as Native Americans lived in North, Central and South America, they would have been living there for centuries before Columbus even set foot on Santo Domingo. There is also reason to believe that America had pre-Columbian visitors — the Vikings on the Atlantic coast and the Chinese on the Pacific coast. And hadn't the Aztecs spoken of white men in ships in their forefathers' day? Evidence is persuasive, but not conclusive of those comings and goings.
The Eye Of Heaven By Clive Cussler and Russell Blake Michael Joseph 399pp Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 595 baht
Novelists use their fertile imaginations to make them seem true. Who knows? They might be right, to an extent anyway. Still, some go too far in their use of poetic license. Such as, this reviewer believes, Clive Cussler and Russell Blake have done in The Eye Of Heaven.
It is a nicely written adventure story, in the Indiana Jones' vein, with historical titbits, but beyond the limits of readers' suspension of disbelief. It is set in 980 AD and in the present day. At the outset, a Viking longboat survives a storm only to be iced-in off Labrador.
The crew of warriors disembark, walk over the glacier, head south. A millennium later — now — two of Cussler's oft-used literary creations, the husband and wife team of Sam and Remi Fargo stumble on the weather-worn, albeit still afloat, derelict vessel.
On route the Vikings meet Aztecs, Toltecs, Mayans and Incas. With a huge Inca emerald — the Eye of Heaven — they are the supreme rulers of them all. Why return to Norseland when life in the new world is so enjoyable? In time, overcome by age, they brick themselves up in a tomb beneath a pyramid, with the emerald.
In every Fargo story, Cussler explains that while Sam and Remi are treasure hunters the payment they seek is the adventure of the search. The treasure is handed over to the government of the place it is found. Their nemesis is a treasure hunter in it for the treasure.
For clues to the location they translate runes, an ambiguous manuscript, pictographs and uncover snake and spider-filled tunnels. There's a shoot-out with their coldblooded competitor. Our protagonists make several friendships with well-intentioned anthropologists. Their search is ultimately successful.
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki: His Years of Pilgrimage By Haruki Murakami Alfred A. Knopf 383pp Available at Asia Books and leading bookshops 775 baht
Japanese love story
Of the varieties of genres most written about, romance takes first place. Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet is the foremost love story, with tens of thousands lined up behind it. The theme of classical epics, fairy tales, novels, poetry, plays and films, we are left in no doubt that love makes the world go around.
However, when we are convinced that we fall into it and tie the knot with our soul mate who claims to feel the same, all too many realise after a longer or shorter period that they have fallen out of love. Or they've never been in love at all. Half of the marriages end in divorce. Or the couples stay together for the children. Or they respectively don't want to go through the courting stage with others.
In arranged marriages love is supposed to come later. But does it? Divorces are fewer, mainly because it is considered more shameful, especially to women. From personal observation, I'd say that a sizeable number are the result of girlfriends becoming pregnant and men feeling that they have to do the right thing. Love doesn't enter into it (she may be threatening suicide).
Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki And His Years Of Pilgrimage is a contemporary Japanewse love story by Haruki Murakami. The literary creation of the author is an engineer living in Tokyo. Not a virgin but an honourable man, sensitive, courteous. He is trying to live down the unjust belief that he raped a woman, later strangled, in his circle of friends.
His determination to learn how the scurrilous rumour started takes him through Japan and as far as Finland. Tsuruku meets and becomes infatuated with Sara. Hundreds of pages are filled with their analysis of feelings for each other. They cuddle, but does she love him? Sara has other boyfriends, too.
Murakami has a way with words, even in translation. Best about the novel is when he turns his attention away from the protagonists and makes observations about his countrymen. What it's like for subway commuters during rush hour will make you wince. And contemplating suicide when they fail at something is a serious option.
Frankly, this reviewer was disappointed at the story's end. Suspense builds as to whether Sara will accept Tsukuru's proposal, then leaves us hanging. Still, it's a boon that Muslim terrorists weren't thrown in to spice up the plot.
The best Japanese writer since Kawabata, don't pass Murakami's books by.
