Adultery. My colleague was bewildered by looking at the book cover. I expected. I expected mixed reactions from at least few people. Well I did not take the book to my workplace so it escaped being noticed and I escaped being judged.
Well, I live in a society which judges everything and everyone by its cover, I mean appearance. Be it a book or a person. And I am brought up not to care, to be bluntly, not to give a damn about it. Brought up by many things and few people.
So, I purchased the book approximately 10 months ago, and trust me I didn't have time to read it. Seriously. I mean every sense of its word. I was busy busy and busy. Some revelation happened few days back...sort of waking up from a long slumber. I woke up or my inner self woke up to realise that there are few other things or perhaps many other things that matter in the world than what I was doing. I am sure you know what I mean!
A long slumber gives you the power to forget things and rejuvenates the self and helps you with more meaning in the world. And so it happened to me. After a short but deep nap two days back, it was a flashing but compulsive thought to read something. While I was in the kitchen getting my coffee, my mind was busy browsing what to read and picked up Paulo Coelho. One of his books still left unread was "Adultery".
My introduction to Paulo Coelho was through a Tamil translation of his Zakir. The translation was so good and so smooth. The language (Tamil) and the concept took me to a different level of awareness. I purchased, (I always buy and never borrow even from a library) series of his books, read one after the other. I read them all.
As in the case of his other novels, this also talks about revelation, realisation, discovery and identification of the self. The main character of the novel is a woman, a married woman who is loving and lovable. She leads a wonderful, contented and peaceful life with the children and the husband. She is blessed with what many people do not have in life: real or fictional. However, simply because of boredom, she wants to experiment something that is different from the routine. There begins the problem. Since she lives in a closed, perfect country, not knowing what else to do, she tries to restart her relationship, eventually she did, with her school days boy friend who also has a peaceful life. And the story goes on and on with the turns and twists, mostly unexpected, and finally the revelation comes. She realises that nothing is more important than family, the usual conventions of a married woman. And it is her husband who helps her in redemption. I can't imagine this in Indian context!
The book, of course, is not his best, at least for the people who have read Zakir, Pilgrimage, Veronica or the Alchemist. His characterisation is similar to his previous novels. The goal or the objective, whatever you may call, is clear and the same like his previous novels. The transition and transformation is also the same, and the role of other minor characters are also similar. The novel's setting is different.
After completing the novel, I was wondering why would the protagonist came out with boredom as the reason to for risking one's life and reputation. When a woman commits adultery, the whole family is at stake unlike men. It is a universal phenomenon. Contrary to many stereotyped men, the husband understands her and gives her the option-to stay or to leave. Very few characters are generous, in real life too.
The best aspect of Paulo's writing is the style, and may also be the translator's. The way in which he takes you through the process of realisation is overwhelming. The process and the minor characters you meet in between before the destination is fantastic. However, the theme of his novels are the same with slight variation.
Not too bad, it is a good read. But, may I not read him anymore? Don't know.
No comments:
Post a Comment