Welcome to a lucky find. Amidst the boring, mundane life, sometimes we come across some things that makes us want to believe in a fairy tale. Be it a song, a picture, a book, a place, a relic – that makes us appreciate our life more, helps us to see how beautiful the world is. A small token that starts a fire inside, helping us find the strength to push through depression and darkness.
A lucky find, to make life bright, inspiring, and memorable.
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The Way Back – A Novel by Gavriel Savit
When I picked up the book, The Way Back, at the store, it didn’t look anything fancy. I had not read anything by Gavriel Savit before and was curious. While I was going through the back cover to understand the plot, I picked up the word Jewish tale and that intrigued me. I enjoy learning about new cultures and this was an wonderful way to peek into a whole new world. And wow! was I surprised! So I purchased the book and hurried home. Along the way I picked up 2 other books of Murakami and Poet Rumi but I will write about them another day.
Now the story of ‘The Way Back’ is a historical fantasy that follows two children, Yehuda Leib and Bluma, on a journey through the Far Country, a Jewish land of spirits and demons. Lack of background knowledge on Jewish folklore made it a bit difficult for me to follow the plot at the beginning. But slowly, as the story unfolded, I slowly started recognizing various words and Jewish traditions detailed in the book and picked up the pace. The book, in the first chapters, largely covered how the children evolved as they suffered through the loss of family overcoming grief while trying to return home.
The story starts providing the context, the societal structure, the customs and traditions of shtetl (shtetl: a small Jewish town/village in eastern Europe) of Tupik, where our little heroes live. While the story starts slow, it picks up pace as death shows up at the door making the little heroes scurry for their sanity. The story is told from the perspective of multiple characters which is often challenging to follow. Nevertheless, it a marvelous story and an eye opening read if you are not familiar with Jewish fantasy and folklore. You can buy the book from here: Amazon (affiliated link)
Do let us know how you find the book in the comments. We look forward to reading your views.
Myth by Beach House – A beautiful haunting song
Last week a friend suggested the song Myth by beach house. I am not an avid music fan and had not heard that before. But as soon as I started listening to this on YouTube, I found the song to be catchy yet haunting. To see if it was just me or whether the people felt the same, I went down in the comments section and went through a few. Majority of the comments shared the same view but there was one comment by Thomas Kuzmik that perfectly summarized what I was feeling:
“Myth is a human attempt to overcome our Reality, and that Naming gives us a sense of control over people and things and events. This incredible song radiates that feeling of rolling the stone of Sisyphus up the hill. Although the stone may roll back on us over and over again, and our repeated attempts may seem futile, it is our determination to keep trying and never to quit that grants us dignity and a sense of inner tranquility.”
The tune immediately pulled me into the song, setting a dark scene while showing the silver lining, providing the courage to push forward. The lyrics and voice of the singer aligned perfectly with the emotions it stirred. The words “… It came rolling down your cheek, you say just what you mean, and in between, It’s never as it seems…” takes you by the hand to the darkest corner of the mind and lets you face them. Almost, as if, shifting under the cover of myth, we humans, try to rationalize our actions and make it justifiable. It tries to convince us that hoping for happiness does not have to make us feel guilty. And that we can seek forgiveness to start life anew as long as our actions does not cause additional grief to people around us.
“can’t keep hangin’ on
To what is dead and gone
If you built yourself a myth you’d know just what to give
Materialize
Or let the ashes fly”
While listening, I found myself drifting in memories, trying to deal with the surging emotions, trying to name or label the struggles of life and find the harmony between all the troughs and crests. While I cannot change the past, I can be true to myself, accept the mistakes, and let it guide me out of darkness. Myth is a beautiful haunting song that leaves you craving for more after the music ends, leaving a trail of memories on its wake.
And not to mention the tune at the very end, I could hear that all day long! A very lucky find indeed.
Here is the link to YouTube in case this doesn’t load.
Portrait of a Lady – T. S. Elliot
There are certain verses of poems that I have been carrying with me. And one of those verses were the six from the Portrait of a Lady by T. S. Elliot. Where I heard these verses first, I can vividly recall – a friend who introduced them to me. Since then I have came across these lines many time and fondly kept in my memory as something that I cherish.
I am not very fond of the whole poem. It seemed too long and boring for my taste. In short the poem charts the friendship between a man and an older woman. In the first section, they attend a concert together; in the second, she talks regretfully of being old, and envies the young man his youth (he, meanwhile, busies himself reading comics and the sports pages of the newspaper); in the third, he tells her he is going abroad, and she makes him promise to write to her. After he leaves her, he reflects on how he has treated her. Does he have the right to smile? Has he treated her badly?
But irrespective of the story of the poem, I found these lines staying with me after all those years. The words and narrative paints a very busy picture and kind of clouds my mind. I can almost hear the violins and cracked cornets playing a symphony that I do not enjoy like loud rock music on mid day during work.
“Among the windings of the violins
And the ariettes Of cracked cornets
Inside my brain a dull tom-tom begins
Absurdly hammering a prelude of its own,
Capricious monotone
That is at least one definite ‘false note’.”
I find this to have that perfect balance, living on the line between sanity and insanity. This is a perfect example of sensory overload where you still can detect the deviation from the chaos we live in. Even though we plough through the drudgery of every day life, all the mayhem and stresses, we can still notice the slightest of changes in our surroundings. We may not pick them up instantly, but we eventually take notice.
Where the Forest Meets the Stars
Where the Forest Meets the Stars by Glendy Vanderah is touching tale of mysterious child who teaches two strangers to embark on a journey together towards fulfillment. I pondered some time over this book and Ikigai for some time. This seemed like a nice story but I find the self-development genre pulling me more these days. But after I was done reading this story, it took some time for me to process it all and left a mark on my mind for quite some time. So, as I blog about the story, I will try to keep out major story incidents but there might be some spoilers ahead and read through at your own risk.
Where the Forest Meets the Stars revolve around 3 major characters – Joanna, Ursa and Gabriel. Joanna, the protagonist of the story, has been dealing with the loss of her mother to breast cancer and being a survivor of the same. Joanna forces herself to a life of work from dawn till dusk to find meaning of life. Ursa appears in the life of Joanna one day, all bruised and barefooted. Ursa claims she was from planet Hetrayeh and came to earth school to witness 5 miracles. She confounds Joanna with her knowledge about many things. Unsure of what to do, Joanna takes her in. Joanna reaches out to the reclusive neighbour Gabriel to support her in the course of find more about Ursa. Till a certain point of the story, it seems like a brilliant fantasy novel. But slowly it starts to unravel into a drama/thriller that shows the human nature. It pushes the reader to guess the Ursa’s story which reveals a dark past. Eventually Ursa gets to see the 5 miracles she was hoping from the earth school but the story and how it unfolds left me craving for more.
There were a couple of issues in this book that I could personally relate. Most importantly, I am also dealing with cancer in the family and the uncertainty, dilemma Joanna went through makes Joanna as a character a lot more believable making it an enjoyable read.