Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

The End Of Cheap China By Shaun Rein – An Insightful Look Into China From The Inside

Before End of Cheap China is released to the Asia market, it is already banned in China.  Why would a subject on economic and cultural trends that may disrupt the world received such treatment?  My contact at Wiley is intrigued.  And she is keen to hear my view.  I too am intrigued.  The author Rein is a mixed heritage of Chinese and Jewish.  He married the granddaughter of 50 most important Chinese Communist party members in history.  Because of his business background, he gets to converse with China’s leading entrepreneurs on a regular basis.  The author practically lives and breathes in China.  End of Cheap China is largely a collection of Rein’s social, economical, and political opinions of China written in a journal style.  Because this is a still business book, at the end of each chapter, there is a short appendix catered for the business readers.  While I may not have a definite answer to why China deems the book unsuitable for her people, let’s take a look at what this book offers.

1998, Rein was in Changchun, a city at the northeast China.  Back in those days, everything in China was cheap.  For US$20, according to his observation during that trip, you could have some ‘fun’ with a girl in your hotel room.  A girl with a physical outlook that could qualify to be on the cover of Teen Vogue magazine.  Such scene is now unseen of in China.  Why so?  Here is his view on this matter.

China’s economy and job market have seen dramatic changes in the past decade and a half.  As more attractive, better-paying job opportunities increased, pretty young girls took advantage of better options, and the pool of prostitutes got uglier as a result.  The uglification of China prostitutes is part of a boarder trend that is the subject of this book, The End of Cheap China.

It is hard to understand China without an appreciation of Chinese modern history.  Through his personal interaction with his mother-in-law, the author recounts the events and impact of Cultural Revolution (66-76).  Many in China still remember the pain and suffering.  Yes, to the Chinese people, free speech is great but not if it threatens stability.  According to Rein, Chinese people support the central government.  What they often protest against are the local officials who are given the flexibility to implement the policies set by the central government.  In this complex political landscape, the author examines the root of corruption that is often found at the local level.  Local officials in China are poorly paid, not allowed to travel or retire to the private sector once they have reached a certain rank.  This leads to local officials being more susceptible to accepting bribes.

Officially, prostitution is illegal in mainland China.  But why is it practiced openly?  Again, this points to the political makeup of the country.

For ordinary Chinese people, vices like drugs and violence are intolerable due to the immediate impact on their every lives, but often they will tolerate prostitution as long as it is kept behind closed doors and distant.  Here we see the divide in thinking between levels of government: Local officials and people confront prostitution pragmatically, whereas the central government upholds a more morality-based approach.

To examine the economic trends, Rein visited Laura furniture factory in Shanghai.  There are 10,000 workers on the working floor and the environment appears decent.  Because of the high demand in Chinese skilled workers, the factory (and many others) is facing the challenge of keeping the workers.  This drives up workers’ salary and in turn drives up business cost.  The factory could pass the cost back to American consumers and Laura may have to consider moving the factory to countries such as Vietnam or Indonesia in order to cut cost.  However, this is not desirable because the skill of Chinese workers and infrastructure of China cannot be met by these countries today.  What should Laura do?  Rein’s advice to the factory’s manager is that instead of exporting all the furniture to America, create a market share in China.  Leverage on China’s domestic market to sustain or even grow the business.  In fact, that is what the current trend is: Market the products back to China consumers.  Branding then becomes the next challenge because these foreign brands are going to compete with the local household brands.

You may have heard that because of China’s one-child policy and Chinese’s desire to have sons, this leads to an imbalance to the gender ratio.  In the past, for practical reasons, when many were farmers, sons were preferred.  In the past decade and a half, the role of Chinese women has changed.  Take Laura furniture factory as an example, women are paid more because of the skill involved in, say, sewing the sofas.  Men are paid lesser comparatively because labor type of work is less valued.  Moving away from the factory and into the cities, the same pattern is observed.  Women are flavored in the service industry, especially on the consumer sales.  More often than not, wives earn much more than husbands.  This has an implication to the social trend within China.

The empowerment of women is one of the great developments of modern Chinese society.  Women are becoming the key drivers of spending; they are beacons of optimism in the country, and a major force behind China’s transition towards becoming one of the biggest markets in the world.

When it comes to food, foreign brands seem to do well in China due to local food-supply problem.  The recent baby formula episode is a good example of why Chinese people are especially careful on food consumption.  Kentucky Fried Chicken is considered as ‘healthy’ because many Chinese trust that the food from these foreign brands is safe to eat.  While on the topic of food, the author observes that China import over $15b in food products from America in 2011, up from $6.7b in 2006.  This trend will continue to go up.  What is the implication to the world?

I suppose for those who are outside China, we often wonder: Is China really doing well?  The author examines the topic of real estate from various angles – the policy flaw in terms of favoring the commercial zone as it is easier to obtain construction loans compare to residential and Chinese’s preference to hold tangible asset rather than stocks.  The author also examines GDP in China and he argues that unlike Japan, China’s infrastructure spending is more efficient and it helps to jump start the economy growth in the cities.  On the education front, Shaun highlights the classroom overcrowding issue (imagine a class size of 1,500) as well as the fact that the Chinese education system is not producing enough creative thinkers.

The topic interests me most is on China’s foreign policy.  Because of the need for natural resources, China has been actively expanding the influence to countries like Africa and Pakistan.  Different cultures adopt different policies when investing overseas.  When Chinese companies financially takes over a foreign company, the existing management team is often left intact.  Yet, not all countries trust China’s non-interference approach.  Some countries do not welcome China’s money.  Some struggle to accept China’s financial help.  Now I know why as a Chinese, I bond well with Pakistanis here in Singapore.  They seem to have a good impression of Chinese people, thanks to China’s friendly investment in Pakistan.

End of Cheap China is a good read, for those who wish to learn more about China from the inside.  The journal writing style makes it easy to follow.  Because the content of this book is filled with the author’s criticisms and opinions, it could get a bit disoriented.  This book at times appears to be written for the Western businessmen who are investing in China.  In other chapters, the author seems to address to the US government, to the Chinese government, to other governments, or to the Chinese people in China, on what they should or should not do.  Each target audience – I would presume – has different agenda and potentially conflicting interests.  It is unclear if Rein’s goal is to advocate a win-win situation.  Personally I would prefer a straightforward journalistic approach such as Nothing to Envy (a book on North Korea).  Having said that, End of Cheap China is also a business book and it is packed with action items for those who are doing business in China.

I do not know how a book get banned in China.  I admire the author’s boldness in analyzing China at the ground level, talking to commoners in China as well as to the Chinese billionaires.  To be fair, some of his criticisms go beyond China and are directed towards America.  Maybe it is the book title.  Or the prologue when he was approached by a young prostitute in 1998.  Maybe it is his account of Cultural Revolution.  My question to the writer would be: If he was to know the ban, which bits would he rewrite or censor, if at all?

Hardcover: 240 pages
Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (March 27, 2012)
ISBN-10: 111817206X
ISBN-13: 978-1118172063

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Boundless Potential By Mark S. Walton – Midlife Onwards Is Going To Get Better!

This book I received from the publisher McGraw-Hill surprised and inspired me at the same time.  Boundless Potential is a perfect book for those who are crossing or have long crossed midlife.  Even for the younger crowd, it is always good to read ahead and have an end in mind.  Before I go into the specifics, here are some questions for you.

  1. Do you feel unchallenged at work?  As in, work no longer taps onto your full potential.  You feel as though there is so much more you could do, although you are finding it hard to pinpoint what that is.
  2. Would you like to retire early so that you do not need to work but rather enjoy doing things that you like instead?
  3.  BIG question here: Do you believe that our brain, like other human organs, is fated to wear out over time?  That is, to lose its resilience and the ability to function as we get old, really old?

If your answers are yes, you and I are on the same boat.  In contrary to common beliefs, our brain works in a different way once we pass our midlife.  In fact, a better way.  The key is to reinvent ourselves in order to recognize and unlock our potential.  What is shocking to me is that I have this wonderful picture of what retirement is.  No more work.  No need to get up for work, and I can indulge in any hobbies – old or new.  Even travel around the world sounds like a good plan.  Have you dreamed about what your retirement is?

Now, what if I am to tell you that you should continue to work for as long as you can, be it as seventies, eighties, nineties, and beyond? And that retirement to pleasure alone could possibly kill you faster (curiously, my mother once told me about her concern over my dad’s retirement)?  Boundless Potential is packed with tons of real life stories on how people reinvent themselves towards the second half of their lives.  How they found a sustainable mean to pursue their dreams, and be happy ever after.  In fact, it appears to me that because these people are happy with their work and the positive contribution to the society and those around them, they live longer.  And they live a much fulfilled life possibly than those who sip beer over sunset at a farm populated by sheep (that is my dream retirement before reading this book).

Some of you may be skeptic.  How to reinvent?  What is my hidden talent?  After all, while there are pages and pages of success stories, majority of us may well have an unproductive or unfulfilled retirement.  To answer that question, the author presents a three-step approach.

First, you have to discover your fascination, your dream so as to speak.  It is not an easy task.  For some, this discovery journey may take place in a much later part of life, if at all.  A fascination is a direction that pulls you forward, regardless of the obstacles ahead of you.  It is something that both your heard and mind want.  No one can tell you what that is.  It may be something you chance upon if you open your eyes wide enough.  I am the optimistic one.  To me, finding your fascination is like finding your soul mate.  Those who are singles are often worried that they would never find that someone to spend the rest of their lives with.  But yet, many people are getting married or are living together.  Do some soul searching along the way: Where is my fascination?  I don’t know what yours is.  I am quite sure I haven’t found mine yet.  It is unlikely that I know the answer today.  But I shall keep this at the back of my head, just in case I stumble upon my answer.

Second, once you found your fascination, it is time to find your flow.  What is a flow?  It is the highest level of human happiness that is generated when fascination is translated into action.  The paragraph below best illustrates the concept.

Contrary to what we usually believe […] the best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times.  The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limit in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult or worthwhile.  Optimal experience is thus something we make happen.

With this specification, I can probably look back on my life thus far and identify a few flow moments.  When I was a consultant before my major career switch five years ago, I used to give training workshops and facilitate focused group discussions for the senior officers of my clients’ organizations.  It can be extremely stressful because while what I preached was derived from a defined framework, no two audience groups are the same.  Different corporate or team culture may require different means to unlock their enthusiasm so that they are more receptive to the training materials.  It is an art.  I have to observe on the spot and talk to people during breaks in order to understand how best to engage them.  For those highly intelligent groups, challenging questions that are new to me may come my way.  Teasing out ideas may not be easy.  Looking back, those were my happy moments.  And I reckon I did quite well because our team constantly received praises and recognition from our clients.  Could I reverse engineer my fascination knowing what my flows are?  Maybe I am fascinated by training and learning with people?  What about those moments when I played music with my band at Orchard for charity?  Could music be my calling instead?

Back to the reinvention framework the author has proposed, the third and final step to this process is to envision your structure.  A structure that is created by you for success in midlife and beyond.  Is it going to be a project, a role, a career, a business, or a nonprofit? Whatever the structure is, it is certainly required in order to sustain and grow your fascination.  It is probably something so new and different that you have to sell the idea to those around you and to establish one yourself.

Boundless Potential is written in a highly readable form.  It is not possible to summarize all the inspiring case studies in one blog entry.  Since I love reading this book (and for my future reference), here are some of my favorites.

An interview with Marion Rosen who was nearly 95 when the author conducted the session.

When we are at the height of our knowledge and the height of our lives, why should we give that up?  Why should we not use what we have gotten in 60, 70, 80, 90 years?  And hand it on to where it is wanted?  It seems ridiculous to me.

If you don’t use your potential, it hits back at you.  It strikes back, because it works on you, it wants to come out.  And in order not to come out, you have to hold it back. And that is very bad for your health, very bad for your personality, very bad for your relationships. It doesn’t work!

The second quote would take a while to explain (that can be found in the book of course).  It has something to do with our wisdom deriving from our maturity, experience, and the changes to the brain.  It does sound convincing.  I don’t need to see further but looking at my dad to know that this much is true.  My father has recently reinvented himself into someone who produces beautiful Chinese Calligraphy (previously he was giving Tai Chi lesson to the folks in Hong Kong and making training videos).

State-of-the art neuroscience has determined that the human brain was never designed for decline or retirement but for continual reinvention and success.  In fact, extraordinary powers become available to us in the second half of life that were not available in the first  […]  The mature brain, when properly maintained, has the potential to be continually transformed – to draw upon and synthesize its vast storage banks of knowledge and experience in ways that can be downright startling.

Another big question for you: What is the secret of living happily ever after?  The answer could be as simple as play hard, so that you can work hard (not the other way round!), and pay it forward.

Unlike “simpler” animals, [the Athenians] reasoned, we humans are “composite creatures” who want more than to eat and sleep our lives away.

Thus, attaining genuine happiness – eugeria – requires a full-out lifelong pursuit of worthy goals through the three components of our humanity: body, mind, and soul.

This ongoing quest, they believed, was “the meaning and the purpose of life, the whole aim and end of human existence.”

Hardcover: 262 pages
Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (March 16, 2012)
ISBN-10: 0071787852
ISBN-13: 978-0071787857

External Link: McGraw-Hill Asia

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin: Gruesome, with No Black and White

I did not choose to read this book.  Not exactly.  During my holiday in Bandung, I have finished the books I have intended to read.  I suppose I could start reading yet another Warcraft story.  Having read four in a roll, I need something more, shall I say, hardcore.  A Game of Thrones lies in Cynthia’s library.  I said to myself, why not?  HBO adapted the saga as a TV series.  It cannot be that bad.  So I dived into this mightily thick book of fantasy, without knowing what I was getting myself into.

I think, or rather I would advocate that in front of every book cover, there should be an advisory sticker like a film rating for movies or ESRB rating for video games.  This book, in my opinion, is unsuitable for the young adults.  It is bloody violent.  Children wield swords to kill (and then I watched The Hunger Games on a big screen wondering where this world is heading).  There are orgies, rapes, and prostitution.  Underage girls having sex.  Sibling having sex.  The most amazing thing is, there is no moral compass or whatsoever in A Game of Thrones.  There are no heroes, no villains.  Seldom characters are rewarded by doing the right things in life, nor they are punished to do the otherwise.  In fact, most of the time, it is the other way round.  Each chapter is filled with drama.  You could almost smell something bad, I mean really bad is going to happen.  Initially, there were surprises.  Then came the predictability.  Soon, I was numb.  I read somewhere that blood, sex, and money always sell on TV.  This book has them all.

Now, if I may accept a story that is so uniquely set up, in a fantasy world that has no black and white, a realm whereby treachery and brutality is the mean to survival, A Game of Thrones is a masterpiece.  So much details being poured into creating a world filled with a massive number of interlinked living and breathing characters.  Each character comes from a unique background.  Not only that, a history is crafted alongside with the main story.  On top of that, this first book of A Song of Ice and Fire saga to me read like a very long prologue.  In this Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, a major conflict is brewing.  This realm is slowly pushed into war from within, a war fueled by vengeance, jealousy, and ambition.  At the same time, there is subtle politics in place that shapes the events.  And, there is something strange happening beyond the realm’s wall in the north.  Creatures unfamiliar to this realm are emerging.  Myths of the dragons start to appear.  Something is brewing.  Something big.  Something mysterious.  But you won’t find the answers in this book.  Because this book is the first of a long saga that is still work in progress.  You have to keep reading to find out more.

Unique to this book, the story is told from a set of characters’ viewpoints.  Each viewpoint corresponds to one chapter.  There are three major Houses in conflict.  House Baratheon, where King Robert belongs.  House Stark, where the king’s right hand man Eddard leads.  And House Lannister, descendants of the blood of Andal adventurers.  The viewpoints are presented by Lord Eddard and his wife Lady Catelyn.  Their daughters Sansa and Arya.  Their son Bran.  Eddard’s bastard son Jon.  Tyrion Lannister, a dwarf who is the brother of the queen (who is nothing like a dwarf).  Finally, Princess Daenerys Targaryen who is the daughter of the previous king and is now in exile.  The initial chapters were a torture to me.  Because I was not used to the shear number of characters and the strange tone used that is specially tailored to suit the lore of the realm.  After I got over the hurdle, I was not able to put the book down.  Switching from viewpoint to viewpoint makes the narrative refreshing, keeps the plot in suspense.  It is a slow and satisfying buildup to the final ecstasy.  The endings are shocking.  They open up more questions than providing the readers with answers.  I am eager to take on the next volume in this series to see more blood, more violence, more sex, and more shame and glory.

When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.

The above quote is in essence what this book is about.  After reading A Game of Thrones, I can understand its popularity.  I must admit, I have not read something quite like this before.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

Night and Low-Light Photography by Alan Hess – Packed With Good Tips For Beginners

Normally, I prefer not to review non-fiction books on my holidays.  However, it is good to hear that Wiley publishes photography books as well.  So I grabbed a copy sent by my contact earlier on and was eager to read more on a topic so close to my heart.

For new photographers, night photography, especially under low-light condition, is likely one of the toughest challenges faced.  Our human eyes adapt to low-light well.  More often than not, as a beginner, what you see from the LCD screen at the back of your camera under these conditions seldom resembles to what your eyes see.  Many I know of struggle with flash photography so much so that they would rather not to use a flash at all.  I too have gone through that journey of frustration and experimentation.  I would say Alan Hess has done a good job in explaining the basic mechanics in Night and Low-Light Photography.

What I like about this book is that it reads more like having someone talks me through the basic, and not a book full of theories.  The author takes his time to explain the different gears required getting the job done.  Hess also in multiple instances explains the fundamental variables and their relationship such as ISO, shuttle speed, and aperture.  Other important topics such as exposure, white balance, metering, and digital noise are covered as well.  I often find myself having to explain the same set of attributes when approached by new photographers.  Hess’s explanation is clear and he uses plenty of illustrations to drive home his points.

The first three chapters of Night and Low-Light Photography talk through the basic.  The last chapter on digital postproduction is useful if you use Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop Elements.  Bear in mind that the chapter on postproduction mainly focuses on night and low-light photography.  Postproduction workflow, for instance, is not covered in this chapter.  Although I don’t use either tool for postproduction (I prefer using Nikon digital filters instead), it does read a bit too simplistic for me.  Maybe it is good for a start.  You may need another book to study the topic better.

Between the first three chapters and the last are chapters devoted to different scenarios.  Scenarios range from indoor shots (people, weddings, and concerts) to sport photography, from nighttime sky to outdoor shots (city and landscape).  For each scenario, the author shares with us many tips cumulated from – I assume – his personal experience.  He also details out the recommended settings and steps used.  Like where you should stand and what moment you should capture if you are a wedding photographer.  Like how your model should pose.  And much more.  I enjoy reading the chapter on Light Painting the most.  Perhaps because it is something I have yet to try (hence I presume the rest of the chapters may well be an enlightening read if I was a new photographer).  I am not a big fan of HDR photography.  But that is also covered briefly in this book, in case if HDR is your cup of tea.

There are a few photographs printed in this book that are inspiring.  I like the Ferris Wheel the most, and some of his concert photographs.  Most of the photographs, though, appear a bit bland to me.  Some, I wish the photographer would stand and point the camera slightly differently so as to get a more symmetric shot, or compose the picture better.  One photograph of a moon, the photographer used a setting of 1/400 second, f/8.0 and ISO 500.  Maybe he did not use a tripod.  Since the moon is pretty bright in nature, I would think that it is possible to use a different setting with a better ISO (for example, see my moon photograph here that uses the same f-stop).  Granted, perhaps the author’s intend is to illustrate his technical points, rather than articulating the art within.  There are other photography books that are full of inspiring printings (such as books by Scott Kelby).  This book does not appear to be so.  Having said that, the most important thing is for you to grasp the fundamental of night and low-light photography.  So that you can go out there and confidently create your beautiful shots.

ISBN-10: 1118138228
ISBN-13: 978-1118138229

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

The Night Circus By Erin Morgenstern – A Truly Magical Read Like No Others

Do you dig magic?  Do you dig love?  In a circus setting?  If yes, look no further.  Grab a copy of The Night Circus and start reading.  Like now.  You won’t find anything quite like this one.  You see, I have joined millions others to Take Earth Back, writing my own galactic story based on my decisions and actions.  To be able to distract me away from the highly anticipated video game Mass Effect 3, this book has got to be good.  Real good.

Well, it is.

I will not go beyond telling you what the excerpt says.  Because I want it to be a magical read to you, as it was to me.  In 1886, a mysterious traveling circus pops out from nowhere.  Tangled within this circus are two young magicians locked in a competition.  Celia is the enchanter’s daughter and Marco is the sorcerer’s apprentice.  Where does the circus come from?  What is the competition about?  What is at stake?  Where does magic come from?  What does magic do?  In retrospect, the answers hardly matter.  Because there is so much details on the journey itself, one could easily lose oneself devouring every single image, every little scent.  Every tent in the circus, every magical moment, the author turns words into something so surreal that you feel as though you are inside those tents, experiencing the shows in a time before you were born.

Majority of the materials are narrated in present tense.  Each snippet starts with a date and a location.  And the snippets are not arranged in a chronological order.  The time dimension plays a part in the story telling.  It may seem messy and disorienting initially.  But it works amazingly well going back and forth in time, juxtaposing the snippets and bringing out the essence of cause and effect.  Underlying to the story is a simple message: everything in life has its time and place.  If I am to read this book again, I would make a catalog of time and location of each chapter.  I would then attempt to read the story in a chronological order and see how a different experience it would be, reading the story from a different perspective so as to speak.

A small part of the book is written is second person, ‘you’.  It is unusual and rare.  It works well.  If you love magic like I do, chances are, you will be drawn into the story, materializing the circus inside the boundary of your imagination.  When that happens, you know the author has done something remarkable.  The Night Circus will capture your imagination.  Be fascinated.  Go ahead and try it out today.

Categories
Book Reviews Non-Fiction

What Matters Now By Gary Hamel

“What Matters Now” calls for a deep reflection on where your organization is, and to be.  And as a leader, what you should do now.  This book is divided into five sections: value matters now, innovation matters now, adaptability matters now, passion matters now, and ideology matters now.  Each section contains five articles that offer different perspectives under the same topic.  Each article is packed with relevant case studies to illustrate where the pain points and pitfalls are, the success stories, and how organizations can do better.  Some ideas are so bold that it may require a drastic change in the entire organization in order to make it happens.  It is as though the author is challenging us to aim higher.  Perhaps Hamel is right.  In today’s world, there is no place for an average performing organization.  Our organization has to beat the market or our competitors so as to survive and thrive.

Using the bankers, legislators, and regulators as a case study and recounting the major events happened during recent financial crisis, the author highlights that when a leader sacrifices long term goals with quick payout, people would not see them as trustworthy.  The author appears to feel strongly against corporation’s erosion of moral.  Hamel uses farmers as an example to contrast these highly paid leaders.  Here is the “Farmer’s Creed” for sharing.

I believe a man’s greatest possession is his dignity and that no calling bestows this more abundantly than farming.  I believe hard work and honest sweat are the building blocks of a person’s character.  I believe that farming, despite its hardships and disappointments, is the most honest and honorable way a man can spend his days on this earth …

Would you trust your life with a company’s CEO or would you trust the nurses or the farmers instead?  The author suggests that it is a high time for leaders to regain moral high ground and to embrace what Socrates called the good, the just, and the beautiful.  In short, value matters now.

When it comes to innovation, it should come as no surprise that Apple is used as a case study.  The author examines how Apple becomes one of the most profitable companies in the world today.  Hamel makes a detail listing of Apple’s success, from design innovation to passion within the organization.  Does your company often analysis the trade-offs and compromise?  Or is your organization as unreasonable as Apple so as to transcend trade-offs?

On adaptability, are we changing as fast as the world does?  Under the section of “Adaptability Matters Now”, there is a chapter on how decline can be diagnosed and another chapter on how your company can be future-proofed.  To make a company adaptable, the author has outlined six critical factors: anticipation, intellectual flexibility, strategic variety, strategic flexibility, structural flexibility, and resilience-friendly values.  In my opinion, to achieve this is no easy feat.  It depends on how entrenched your organization are with the existing processes and policies.  The paragraph below sums up the concept.  Ask yourself one question: how close is your organization to the following dream state?

We can dream of organizations that are forever looking forward and jump at every opportunity to better the human condition.  We can dream of organizations where the enthusiasm for change is palpable and pervasive, where individuals, ennobled by a sense of mission and unencumbered by bureaucracy, rush out eagerly to meet the future.  We can dream of organizations where the fearless renegades always trump the fearful reactionaries, where the constituency for the future always outguns the constituency for the past.  We can dream of organizations where the drama of renewal occurs without the trauma of a turnaround.  And, if we’re daring and inventive and determined, we can build these organizations.  That’s what matters now.

On passion, Hamel looks inside the Facebook generation for inspiration.  On how we as a community interact in an online environment where the hierarchy does not exist.  Everyone can contribute, anyone can lead.  No one can dictate or kill a good idea.  Ideas built upon ideas and excellence usually wins.  The author also brings up Christian community as an example, that the Church’s followers are on a decline nowadays.  Lesser and lesser people visit a Church these days.  But does that mean people do not believe in God?  The question is, how to bring these people back to the rhythm of visiting a Church?  The solution lies in the ignition of passion within the community.  When left without formal control and discipline and given a freedom to pursue their goals, people do rise up to the occasion and leaders do emerge.  Smaller groups can be formed and everyone contributes in accordance to their strength.

The last section “Ideology Matters Now” is, for lack of a better word, radical.  If not for the case studies of W. L. Gore, Morning Star, and HCLT, I would not be convinced that self-management works.  Imagine a company that has a flat organization chart.  Imagine the only way to lead is to gather enough supporters around you.  Imagine there is no top down authority, and there are no defined roles.  Imagine everyone is accountable for the decisions they are empowered to make, that anyone can be a decision maker.  Can your organization escape the management tax?  This book spells out the things we should do in order to reach the goal of self-management.  While this model may have its challenges, it has made organizations successful.  I guess, that is all that matters.

What matters now, more than ever, is that you question your assumptions, surrender your conceits, rethink your principles, and raise your sights – and that your challenge others to do the same.  We know broadly what must be done to create organizations that are fit for the future.  The only question is, “Who’s going to lead and who’s going to follow?”  How you answer that question matters most of all.

ISBN-10: 1118120825
ISBN-13: 978-1118120828

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Lord Of The Flies By William Golding – A Hard Look At Who We Are

Let’s not dissect Lord of the Flies in an academic style.  I am sure that has been done professionally over and over for decades.  Some studied this book in school.  As for me, when I first saw the title many years ago, I mistook it to be related to Lord of the Ring.  Soon I found out that it is not.  I may have bought this 50th anniversary edition eight years ago.  But I did not have the courage to read it, until recently, when I have this crazy for old classic books.

This story prompts me to ponder upon our very own humanity, when society may one day break down, a return to the prehistorical era.  Can democracy, human rights, respect to all things and more survive when we plunge into a setting similar to the reality TV series Survivor?  Like the famous Chinese proverbs, are we born as good or are we born as evil?  How do we as a human race build our society to what we have today and what is keeping it from falling apart?  We have seen, as history has told us, the rise and fall of civilization.  What if …

Tons of questions in my head after reading Lord of the Flies.

It is a simple story.  A group of British boys not older than 13 years of age have crash landed onto an island.  It is the era of nuclear warfare.  What happens outside the island, no one can speculate.  One of the main characters Ralph – a natural born leader with charisma, good intention, and a logical mind – finds a conch by chance.  Upon blowing it, he unintentionally gathers the boys who are scattered around the incident scene.  Ralph then calls upon a meeting.  His first agenda is to determine if they are indeed on an island.  An impromptu agenda, it seems.  Like any politician who is gifted to think on his feet, he delivers a rather fluent speech.  Piggy – an overweight boy with bad eyesight and asthma – encapsulates the concept of the intellect group that is important to a society, but can be physically vulnerable.  He is a trusted adviser to Ralph, although Ralph often bullies him like everyone else.  He holds one of the most important tools in the island – a pair of glasses that can be used to make fire.

The way I see it, in this remote island, Ralph and Piggy represents the last defender of civilization trying their best to uphold democracy and to assign work to others in order to ensure their basic survivability.  The boys are tasked to create a fire big enough to signal any ship that may pass by as well.  While all are motivated by a rescue plan, most do not like to work.  Without reward and enforcement, the boys soon are doing their own things ignoring the assigned duties.  In this island where there is no such thing as law – what does law mean to the young boys anyway – how can a community get organized?

Here come the hunters.  Led by Jack, another leader in his own right, a bunch of choir boys go about hunting pigs for food.  Jack has lost the leadership position because he does not gather enough votes in the first assembly.  Back then, a sound rescue plan seemed more superior to chasing pigs in a foreign island.  But as time goes by, eating meat appears to be more satisfying than eating fruits.  Killing seems to be more superior to waiting for a rescue.  The very first kill Jack and his hunters made marks a major turning point of the story – boys losing their innocent.  The consequence is immense.  With new found confidence and the will to kill, Jack stands up against Ralph.  It is like the military against the council.  If pigs can be killed as food, why can’t humans be killed?  Especially the ones that stand against those who wield the wooden spike?

I am ahead of myself here.  There is no taking of human lives until the arrival of Lord of the Flies.  Simon is a peaceful boy.  Someone who is positive and loves the nature.  While Ralph motivates the boys with a rescue plan, Ralph terrifies with the boys with the presence of a beast – a terror born out of the nightmares of the younger ones.  Where does the beast come from?  Nobody knows.  Some say it comes from within the island.  Some say it comes from the sea.  In fact, the so-called beast is none other than the corpse of a pilot who parachuted into the island and died.  Only Simon has seen the corpse.  He is assigned by Jack to carry the pig’s head as an offering to the beast.  A head that is dripped in blood and swarmed with flies.  All of a sudden, Simon has a vision.  A terrible one.  He sees Lord of the Flies, consumed by it, and become it.  To me, Lord of the Flies personifies the Devil.  It has a message for Simon and the boys.  It is they who create the beast.  And it is they who have the beast within.

This is where the beauty of symbolism comes alive in this book.  The pig is initially described as a swine peacefully feeding her children.  Nothing ugly or foul in that sense.  Once brutally killed, its decapitated head looks gross, covered with flies.  The pig’s head is offered to the beast created by the boys that in reality is a corpse that does nothing.  The pig is transformed into Lord of the Flies that engulfed Simon.  Later that day, Simon was murdered by the boys in an animalistic ritual.  Such act then corrupts the boys into further murdering and torturing of their kind.  It is as though an element of devil that originates from the boys has spread and now lives in each of the boy.  Upon reading this, I cannot help but to ponder on the old debate on God and Devil.  If God creates all things in life, what about evilness?  What makes this story realistic is the demonstration of free will.  Unfortunately, this also makes it depressing to read.  Is there hope in humanity?  Is it an inevitable fate that we shall degenerate into such terrible stage in end time?

From the social standpoint, it is interesting to observe how Ralph and Jack split into two camps due to their differences in beliefs.  They think that it is happier that way.  Initially yes.  But sadly, separation has its issues.  It fosters hostility and insecurity, much like today’s world.  That eventually leads to violence and bloodshed.

In the end, when all hope is lost, a naval vessel has found the island.  The boys are saved, all crying for the loss of innocence.  But is this true salvation?  When the naval vessel is heading to another war – the war of the adults?  The ending is truly depressing, yet truly awakening.  Can we ever break away from this cycle of endless killing and evil deeds?  Or is this the only mean of survival?

As an afterthought, I think there is much imbalance in this novel. I cannot help but to imagine what if these are girls instead of boys.  Would it be any difference?  What if we have a mixed group of boys and girls?  Would that make the story too distractive due to an extra layer of social complexity?  This book briefly touches onto the topic of the need for a religion but stops there.  Why is there no balancing act against the presence of the Devil?  It is as though the author is screaming: Give up, there is no good, no evil, there is no God, only Devil.  My heart weeps thinking about it.

To me, this story is devoid of love.  And we know that in the absence of love and light lies hatred and evilness.  Perhaps, that is the main message.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Memories of My Melancholy Whores By Gabriel García Márquez

This book, I have read twice.  After “My Cousin Rachel“, I wanted to keep up with the soul nourishing reading spree.  I ransacked my book collection, even scanned through the book list according to Harold Bloom’s Western Canon for inspiration.  I have read “Memories of My Melancholy Whores” once, possibly in the year of 2004.  I wish I had started writing book summary or introduction since the day I have started reading.  It is without a doubt one of the top-10-things-to-do-if-I-could-turn-back-time.

Gabriel García Márquez is a Colombian writer who has awarded with Nobel Price in Literature in 1982.  I have always wanted to read his books.  Both “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and “Love in the Time of Cholera” look mightily heavy.  Perhaps one day I will consume them.  For now, I am happy to have read his modern novella, especially since I enjoy reading short story format.

The topic of humanity has a wide reaching coverage.  To that extend, I shall not read this book purely from the angle of morality.  Any mature individual should be able to tackle the material with an open mind.  Those things that you may not approve of in life do not mean that they do not exist.  Nor should they be conveniently ignored.  I do not believe that the writer uses the book to endorse certain objectionable behaviors.  Rather, he uses it to bring out a facet of life that some of us rather not look at.

Because of its mature content, I would not recommend this book to the young adults (nor should you continue reading this post if you are one).  Also, this post may contains spoilers.  In case if you plan to read the book, you may wish to come back later instead.

The narrator of the story is turning ninety.  And he has an idea on what to get for his birthday.

The year I turned ninety, I wanted to give myself the gift of a night of wild love with an adolescent virgin.

This one simple, yet genuine statement kick starts the story, sets the tone of what is to come, and basically tells the book in one line.  Slowly, the author introduces the main character: his near-century long career of being a mediocre columnist, his wedding that he failed to turn up, his stumbling into the scene of prostitution when he was merely twelve, and decades of paid sex without love, without friends.  Why does not he get married?  Why frequent the prostitutes?  To that, his reply is:

Sex is the consolation you have when you can’t have love.

No, that does not justify his action of sleeping with more than five hundreds women by the age of fifty.  Nor it was his intend to boost his conquest.  It is a consolation.  For someone who has lived for decades without someone to love, it sounds melancholy to me.  As a reader, I do not despise the main character.  I sympathy him.

I do not know the era the story sets in.  There is a hint that it may be in the ’60s.  I suppose the era does not matter.  Even in today’s world, underage girls are sold into prostitution (more can be read in CNN’s The Freedom Project).  When this ‘adolescent virgin’ turns out to be a 14 years old girl, part of me frown upon the main character’s moral standard, even though he did not specify his requirement for the virgin’s age.  Part of me, however, is aware that this is a slice of reality.

I woke in the small hours, not remembering where I was.  The girl still slept in a fetal position, her back to me.  I had a vague feeling that I had sensed her getting up in the dark and had heard water running in the bathroom, but it might have been a dream.  This was something new for me.  I was ignorant of the arts of seduction and had always chosen my brides for a night a random, more for their price than their charms, and we had made love without love, half-dressed most of the time and always in the dark so we could imagine ourselves as better than we were.  That night I discovered the improbable pleasure of contemplating the body of a sleeping woman without the urgencies of desire or the obstacles of modesty.

The beauty of Márquez’s work is that he can tell something plain in such a ordinary and neutral way that when read, it is uplifting.  That honesty and so directly to the point, I can’t help but to feel for the main character.  Making love without love and hiding the true forms in the dark.  No, there is no sex between the ninety years old man and the fourteen years old girl.  In fact, for a year, they spend time with him watching her sleeps.  He names the girl Delgadina, in accordance to a Mexican folk song.  I did some research in the Internet.  The folk song tells a story of a young girl whose father proposed a marriage with her.  She refused, was locked up as punishment, and died of thirst.  The song ends with the girl going to Heaven while her father to Hell.  It is in some way fitting to this novella.  The girl is young and her client could be as old as her great grandfather.  It kept me thinking how the story would resolve itself to be.

I cannot find words to describe the relationship between this girl and the old man.  After the first night (of he watching her sleeps), the old man has fallen in love.  Most interactions between these two throughout the book are one directional.  Some are highly imaginary.  Others, I am not too sure.  It is as though this platonic love from him to her is mostly his virtual creation.  Is it how love is born?  Because of this, the old man has changed, starting with the way he writes his columns.  All of a sudden, he is happy.  His new work has gained popularity.  From then on, a twin plot surfaces.  It is a story of celebrating being ninety.  That ‘age isn’t how old you are but how old you feel’.  The main character’s transformation can be best illustrated below.

Thanks to her I confronted my inner self for the first time as my ninetieth year went by.  I discovered that my obsession for having each thing in the right place, each subject at the right time, each word in the right style, was not the well-deserved reward of an ordered mind but just the opposite: a complete system of pretense invented by me to hide the disorder of my nature.  I discovered that I am not disciplined out of virtue but as a reaction to my negligence, that I appear generous in order to conceal my meanness, that I pass myself off as prudent because I am evil-minded, that I am conciliatory in order not to succumb to my repressed rage, that I am punctual only to hide how little I care about other people’s time.  I learned, in short, that love is not a condition of the spirit but a sign of the zodiac.

Another plot is the main character’s recollection of some of the women he encountered in his life.  Each encounter is memorable.  One of them retired from prostitution and was married.  She said to him: Today I look back, I see the line of thousands of men who passed through my beds, and I’d give my soul to have stayed with even the worst of them.

Melancholy.  Isn’t it so?

I found there are quite a few take home messages upon reading “Memories of My Melancholy Whores”.  It is never to late too transform ourselves in a positive manner, as what we always envisage ourselves to be.  Celebrate the present, regardless the physical state we are in.  Love, or rather loving others is the path to happiness.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

My Cousin Rachel By Daphne Du Maurier – Words Of The ’50s Still Haunt

I normally do not read books that are written before I was born.  I mean, way before I was born.  This book “My Cousin Rachel” was published in 1951.  I cannot even relate to what the world was like back then.  Inside a library, deflated by my return of a book that I was not able to even get through the second chapter, I was looking for one that is nourishing, yet easy to read.  I was attracted by this book’s hardcover design.  Very unique, and elegant.  I flipped to chapter one and immediately, I was hooked.

They used to hang men at Four Turnings in the old days.  Not any more, though.  Now, when a murderer pays the penalty for his crime, he does so up at Bodmin, after fair trial at the Assizes.  That is, if the law convicts him, before his own conscience kills him.  It is better so.  Like a surgical operation.  And the body has decent burial, though a nameless grave.

I was intrigued.  What is going to happen next?  I read on.  Before I realized, I was reading in the library, continued reading at Subway over my lunch, and I read it while waiting for Cynthia to leave the office.  I read it in the evening and in the morning over breakfast.  I could not stop.  It became, briefly, my obsession.

The narrator Philip from Cornwall is 24 years old (or shall I say four-and-twenty like in the novel?) when he inherits his elder cousin Ambrose’s estate and wealth.  Ambrose has died in Italy and at that time, was married to his cousin Rachel (who is half English half Italian).  Did Ambrose really die of brain tumor?  Or was he murdered by his new young wife?  Now that Rachel is heading to England, what is her motive and what will happen when the two meet?

“My Cousin Rachel” is a mystery novel, a masterpiece of its genre.  There are layers upon layers that are built onto the story.  There are hooks within the story that lead you onto seeing the characters from different perspectives.  What if this is true?  What if that is true?  Which one is the truth?  Characters come alive by the hands of Du Maurier.  Philip is young and inexperience, arrogance yet innocent.  Rachel is charming and mysterious, unpredictable and full of mood swing.  Both characters are acting on impulse.  Philip’s actions are rather predictable but Rachel’s not.  Other characters too.  Such as Philip’s wise godfather who is always cautious and selfless, knows where to draw a line and when to step aside.  His godfather’s daughter who has always been a good friend of Philip no matter what.  As well as Philip’s servants.  The characters are alive, even those who are dead.  Such mastery in literature, it is a rare gem I have found in recent days.

The center theme, to me, is about the collision of the two worlds – Philip’s and Rachel’s.  It is jealousy and obsession mixed with delusion and deception.  Because Philip is blinded by his background (he has not been raised or around women in his childhood), his infatuation, and his lack of experience, it is hard for the readers to truly decipher who Rachel is, through a man’s and through such a man’s eyes.  This rift could also be caused by the cultural difference between England and the Continent back in the old days whereby there was a certain expectation on a woman’s role in the society in England.  Should a woman yield to money, gift, and power when it came to her marriage?  Could a woman decide for herself?  After reading the novel once, I must admit that there are still much I am unable to grasp.  I feel as though I am hopelessly charmed by Du Maurier’s writing yet at the same time rendered helpless, wondering what the truth is.  I may never find the answer.  It could as well be a mysterious that Du Maurier has taken to the other world.

Part of this book has invoked a powerful and vivid recollection of my younger days.  I am sure most of you can relate too.  The days when we were young and innocent, thinking that anything is possible.  Days when we could give it all without reservation, just gambling everything away.  Days when we first fell in love, the silly things we thought, said, and did.  The clumpy things we did to the opposite sex.  The misunderstanding.  The make ups and the break ups.  The frustration, the infatuation.  Hope and despair.

On a side note, this version I am reading contains an introduction by Sally Beauman.  It is beautifully written.  If I am to take her words for it, “My Cousin Rachel” could well be Daphne Du Maurier’s best work in her entire career.

The next bit of this entry are some of my favorite quotes that I wish to share.  First, on women whom some men cannot live with, cannot live without.

‘I don’t know what’s come over you,’ she said; ‘you are losing your sense of humour.’  And she patted me on the shoulder and went upstairs.  That was the infuriating thing about a woman.  Always the last word.  Leaving one to grapple with ill-temper, and she herself serene.  A woman, it seemed, was never in the wrong.  Or if she was, she twisted the fault to her advantage, making it seem otherwise.  She would fling these pin-pricks in the air, these hints of moonlight strolls with y godfather, or some other expedition, a visit to Lostwithiel market, and ask me in all seriousness whether she should wear the new bonnet that had come by parcel post from London – the veil had a wider mesh and did not shroud her, and my godfather had told her it became her well.  And when I fell to sulking, saying I did not care whether she concealed her features with a mask, her mood soared to serenity yet higher – the conversation was at dinner on the Monday – and while I sat frowning she carried on her talk with Seecombe, making me seem more sulky than I was.

Perhaps it is a high time to note that literature written in the old days has a foreign touch to it.  Fortunately, this book is highly readable.  I found myself chuckle at times by the unfamiliar usage of words.  I find it charming.

Du Maurier describes the scenery well.  The era of the story is unknown.  There is something magical when reading how she paints the picture with words.  Such enchantment.

In December the first frosts came with the full moon, and then my nights of vigil held a quality harder to bear.  There was a sort of beauty to them, cold and clear, that caught at the heart and made me stare in wonder.  From my windows the long lawns dipped to the meadows, and the meadows to the sea, and all of them were white with frost, and white too under the moon.  The trees that ringed the lawns were black and still.  Rabbits came out and pricked about the grass, then scattered to their burrows; and suddenly, from the hush and stillness, I heard that high sharp bark of a vixen, with the little sob that follows it, eerie, unmistakable, unlike any other call that comes by night, and out of the woods I saw the lean low body creep and run out upon the lawn, and hide again where the trees would cover it.  Later I hard the call again, away from the distance, in the open park, and now the full moon topped the trees and held the sky, and nothing stirred on the lawns beneath my window.

Yet another view of a woman through the eye of the narrative (written by a woman!)  I approve the entire paragraph.

Why, in a sudden, had she changed?  If Ambrose had known little about women, I knew less.  That warmth so unexpected, catching a man unaware and lifting him to rapture, and then swiftly, for no reason, the changing mood, casting him back where he had stood before.  What trail of though, confused and indirect, drove through those minds of theirs, to cloud their judgement?  What waves of impulse swept about their being, moving them to anger and withdrawal, or else to sudden generosity?  We were surely different, with our blunter comprehension, moving more slowly to the compass points, while they, erratic and unstable, were blown about their course by winds of fancy.

This quote is my favorite.  Because it seems so true.

My tutor at Harrow, when teaching in Fifth Form, told us once that truth was something intangible, unseen, which sometimes we stumbled upon and did not recognise, but was found, and held, and understood only by old people near their death, or sometimes by the very pure, the very young.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

1Q84 By By Haruki Murakami – A Magical Read

1Q84 is the 10th Murakami book that I have read.  There are similarities when compared to The Wind-up Bird Chronicle.  It is divided into three books that span across three consecutive time periods.  Each chapter is named using a phrase found inside that chapter. 1Q84 further explores the concept of free will versus destiny and fate.  Having a page count of 925 covering the topics of cult religion, love and friendship, murder and violence, history and philosophy, 1Q84 is an ambition work of literature.  In addition, 1Q84 opens us to the world of alternative realities and it embeds stories within a story.  George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four has a theme on Big Brother.  1Q84 – a world that bears a question – switches the theme to Little People.  I took my time in devouring the entire book slowly and I enjoyed every bit of it.  For those who are new to Murakami, he is a Japanese writer and has won literature awards such as Jerusalem Prize.  Milan Kundera and Don DeLillo are among the prize winners whose work I also enjoy reading.  In view of this, perhaps I shall explore that list further in order to expand my reading horizon.

Some readers of my site have asked why I am so into Murakami’s books.  It is hard to describe.  But in the best I can, his unique style works for me.  Murakami tends to spend much effort in building the characters as well as the environment that wraps around the plot.  When writing in the mode of realism, Murakami put much details onto every single elements making them alive and real.  When writing in the mode of surrealism, Murakami describes the unimaginable so well that you feel as though you are sucked into this surreal vision.  The author is meticulous in crafting the plot, down to the very detail that links multiple plots into one.  His works are often filled with mystery that readers have little idea on where the story is heading.  In my limited reading experience, I have not read any book quite like his, in the same quality level.

Book 1 begins with the story of Aomame.  She is inside a taxi stuck in a traffic jam listening to classical music played on the radio.  On one highway, she has decided to get off the taxi, walk down the emergency exit and take a subway.  Before leaving the taxi, the driver says the following.

“It’s just that you’re about to something out of the ordinary … And after you do something like that, everyday look of things might seem to change a little.  Things may look different to you than they did before … But don’t let appearances fool you.  There’s always only one reality.”

That pretty much kicks start the concept of an alternative reality.  And before the author reveals the nature of Aomame’s appointment that cannot be missed, chapter two brings in a new character called Tengo.  He is a mathematics teacher by day and writes literature as his hobby.  He is about to encounter a writing competition submission by a seventeen years old girl.  Her story Air Chrysalis may read like a fantasy but it is slowly shifting into the very reality Tengo lives in.  How are the two main characters going to interact in 1Q84 when they have no such possibility in 1984?  This book by and large follows a structure that toggles the stories between Aomame and Tengo.  Throughout the book, there is this concept of light and shadow, or maza and dohta.  There are enough logos and hooks that make the twin stories connect, and not feeling disjointed.  Murakami varies the timeline too by allows part of the plots to overlap in time.  The result is that although the plots run in different threads, the overall story is not confusing.  Characters may overlaps.  But Murakami is meticulous to distinguish what each character knows in their story line versus what he or she speculates or does not know.  Taking all in, 1Q84 is a magical read.

Readers who are used to the author’s first person writing style may feel a need for a certain adjustment when reading 1Q84.  The twin stories are written from the third person perspective, with main characters’ thoughts written in italic and in a first person style.  It does feel odd in the beginning.  But this works better than some authors who switch the alternate stories in first person style whereby confusion may become a major hindrance to reading.  Among the three books of 1Q84, I would rank book two high in action and entertainment value.  Because of that, book three seems a bit slow.  It feels as though Murakami is trying very hard to control the pace, to impart upon us this sense of anxiety and lost, danger and death – slowly and steadily.  As always, patience readers are rewarded accordingly.  I don’t see a need to rush through the plots.  There is a reason and time for everything in life.

I would say 1Q84 is perhaps Murakami’s most polished work to date.  The hard copy design is beautiful.  On the front cover, there is a picture of a woman and at the back, a man.  On alternate pages, the page number and the book title is reversely printed.  Even the inlaid pictures of the moons are reversed comparing the ones in front and the ones at the back.  After finished reading the book, I cannot think of a better art design than this.  I have read 1Q84 in English and I am looking forward to reading the same story in Chinese.  I could be wrong to think that the Chinese version may be closer to the original Japanese version.  But I am keen to see the difference between the two – English translation versus Chinese translation.

Similar to my previous book summary entries, I am going to share some of the favorite quotes I found in the book.  I am often careful in not giving out too much spoilers.  If you intend to read the book, you may stop here and return to see if these are your favorite quotes too.

A while back, my friend and I had a lengthy discussion on practice versus talent.  On page 65, Murakami talks about talents versus instinct.

You can have tons of talent, but it won’t necessarily keep you fed.  If you have sharp instincts, though, you’ll never go hungry.

As for the next paragraph, I like the way the author describes the situation when communication breaks down.

[She] fell silent again, but this time it did not seem deliberate.  She simply could not fathom the purpose of his question or what prompted him to ask it.  His question hadn’t landed in any region of her consciousness.  It seemed to have gone beyond the bounds of meaning, sucked into permanent nothingness like a lone planetary exploration rocket that has sailed beyond Pluto.

“Never mind,” he said, giving up. “It’s not important.”  It had been a mistake even to ask [her] such a question.

I do enjoy reading some of the dialogues between two people.  Here is one on a dog.

“How’s Bun?” she asked.

“She’s fine,” [he] answered.  Bun was the female German shepherd that lived in his house, a good-nature dog, and smart, despite a few odd habits.

“Is she still eating her spinach?” [she] asked.

“As much as ever.  And with the price of spinach as high as it’s been, that’s no small expense!”

“I’ve never seen a German shepherd that liked spinach before.”

“She doesn’t know she’s a dog.”

“What does she think she is?”

“Well, she seems to think she’s a special being that transcends classification.”

“Superdog?”

“Maybe so.”

“Which is why she likes spinach?”

“No, that’s another matter.  She just likes spinach.  Has since she was a pup.”

“But maybe that’s where she gets these dangerous thoughts of hers.”

“Maybe so.”

The next paragraph – I believe – is not written by Murakami and is taken from a book called Sakhalin Island by a Russian writer, Anton Chekhov.  I find it a beautiful read.  And its style blends well into the story.

… The roaring sea is cold and colourless in appearance, and the tall grey waves pound upon the sand, as if wishing to say in despair: “Oh God, why did you create us?”  This is the Naibuchi river the convicts can be heard rapping away with axes on the building work, while on the other, far distant, imagined shore, lies America … to the left the capes of Sakhalin are visible in the mist, and to the right are more capes … while all around there is not a single living soul, not a bird, not a fly, and it is beyond comprehension who the waves are roaring for, who listens to them at nights here, what they want, and, finally, who they would roar for when I was gone.  There on the shore one is overcome not by connected, logical thoughts, but by reflections and reveries.  It is a sinister sensation, and yet at the very same time you feel the desire to stand for ever looking at the monotonous movement of the waves and listening to their threatening roar.

How would you write about ‘time’?  Here is the author’s attempt in describing time.  That is a pretty interesting way to observe time and us.

[He] knew that time could become deformed as it moved forward.  Time itself was uniform in composition, but once consumed, it took on a deformed shape.  one period of time might be terribly heavy and long, while another could be light and short.  Occasionally the order of things could be reversed, and in the worst cases order itself could vanish entirely.  Sometimes things that should not be there at all might be added onto time.  By adjusting time this way to suit their own purposes, people probably adjusted the meaning of their existences.  In other words, by add such operations to time, they were able – but just barely – to preserve their own sanity.  Surely, if a person had to accept the time through which he had just passed uniformly in the given order, his nerves could not bear the strain.  Such a life, [he] felt, would be sheer torture.

Through the expansion of the brain, people had acquired the concept of temporality, but they simultaneously learned ways in which  to change and adjust time.  In parallel with their ceaseless consumption of time, people would ceaselessly reproduce time that they had mentally adjusted.

I like the way Murakami describes reality.

… where I’m living is not a storybook world.  It’s the real world, full of gaps and inconsistencies and anticlimaxes.

And here is the most cryptic message of all.  I think that has something to do with beliefs.

If you can’t understand it without an explanation, you can’t understand it with an explanation.

1Q84 has also quoted Karl Jung.  I now recall that quite a few of my favorite books quote Karl Jung.

It is as evil as we are positive … the more desperately we try to be good and wonderful and perfect, the more the Shadow develops a definite will to be black and evil and destructive … The fact is that if one tries beyond one’s capacity to be perfect, the Shadow descends to hell and becomes the devil.  For it is just as sinful from the standpoint of nature and of truth to be above oneself as to be below oneself.

Within the story of 1Q84, Tengo is given a task of ghostwriting a fantasy book written by a seventeen years old girl.  In that story, there are two moons.  Tengo’s editor keeps on telling him that when writing something out of ordinary, more details need to be added so that readers are able to visualize.  But how?  Later on when that story diffuses into the main story, here is Murakami’s take in describing a scene with two moons.  He further infuses this symbolic vision into some of the characters, making this paragraph read more like a prophecy.

No doubt about it: there were two moons.

One was the moon that had always been there, and the other was a far smaller, greenish moon, somewhat lopsided in shape, and much less bright.  It looked like a poor, ugly, distantly related child that had been foisted on the family by unfortunate events and was welcomed by no one.  But it was undeniably there, neither a phantom nor an optical illusion, hanging in space like other heavenly bodies, a solid mass with a clear-cut outline.  Not a plane, not a blimp, not an artificial satellite, not a papier-mâché moon that someone made for fun.  It was without a doubt a chunk of rock, having quietly, stubbornly settled on a position in the night sky, like a punctuation mark placed only after long deliberation or a mole bestowed by destiny.

Here is one on hope and trials.

Wherever there’s hope there’s a trial … Hope, however, is limited, and generally abstract, while there are countless trials, and they tend to be concrete.

I also happen to like how Murakami describes clouds.

The clouds continued to scud off toward the south.  No matter how many were blown away, others appeared to take their place.  There was an inexhaustible source of clouds in some land far to the north.  Decisive people, minds fixed on the task, clothes in thick, gray uniforms, working silently from morning to night to make clouds, like bees make honey, spiders make webs, and war makes widows.

Finally, a quote by Tolstoy, another Russian writer.

All happiness is alike, but each pain is painful in its own way.