A piece I wrote some months back, titled "Ego and Technology", revised and is now published online in an Malay-language e-zine. My apologies for I do not the time to render it to English.
http://jalantelawi.com/esei/2006/06/ego-dan-teknologi.html
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Broken
Days join nights in
siege of seasons;
requests for clearly defined
lines and rationales discarded like litter
lining the pathways strewn with mortal shards
and tears dried on hot tarmac, replenished with other torrents
spilled by soured sweetness.
An irreparable rent through the veil.
See that thread branded
like an ugly scab,
unlike baby skin it would
never heal.
Tragedies working like clockwork,
little tin soldiers ready to take turns in
battles unowned.
When nights join days,
black overrides white.
"Go", tin pawn, you commanded me,
"get on the ground with all the others"
but careless,
through choice or ignorance of
gnarled claws, serpent vines,
shadowed bodies
holding out patiently,
for that hideous embrace
in the deep.
siege of seasons;
requests for clearly defined
lines and rationales discarded like litter
lining the pathways strewn with mortal shards
and tears dried on hot tarmac, replenished with other torrents
spilled by soured sweetness.
An irreparable rent through the veil.
See that thread branded
like an ugly scab,
unlike baby skin it would
never heal.
Tragedies working like clockwork,
little tin soldiers ready to take turns in
battles unowned.
When nights join days,
black overrides white.
"Go", tin pawn, you commanded me,
"get on the ground with all the others"
but careless,
through choice or ignorance of
gnarled claws, serpent vines,
shadowed bodies
holding out patiently,
for that hideous embrace
in the deep.
Monday, June 26, 2006
"Human Trafficking" - the TV miniseries by Lifetime Network
I wanted to call it "The story of Woman objectified and abjectified" but I thought such a clunky, loaded title will just turn potential readers off. It is not for nothing I work in advertising. :D
Here it goes
It was really hard on me, but I forced myself to sit through four hours of this feature film. It is not because it is boring or long. Even a person with short attention span like myself could not tear myself away from this riveting show. It is not just good script and good story line. It is a subject that is very close to my heart. The story about the lives of women (and children) living under oppressive and dehumanising condition. The story of sexual slavery.
When I first came across this DVD, I realised that I must buy it, and get a friend to sit with me through it. And that friend has to be a woman. So that's what we did. Two of us, watching this tale that make you want to break down and cry many times. And it is particularly painful for a woman to watch the way other women are being treated. If you are already cynical and bitter about men, this is one show that would make you even more cynical of those sweet-talking, dashing charming "knight of charming armour" who is merely impatient for the time when he can get his reward by making you fall in love with him.
I dont' want to give more details, which I suggest you read here
http://www.maynardije.org/columns/guests/051024_sextrafficking/
But what I'll say is that the scenes are very intensed. And it makes me extremely incensed when I read newspaper articles and you have callous reporters saying that these women are indulging in "immoral" activities whenever there's a raid and some of these sex slaves were arrested. Yes, there are some women who enter into the flesh trade "willingly", though if you ask me, they are more in the range of high-class escort who have a say about who they will service or not, and can choose their own hours and days off. Who have full economic control and power over their own body. And this is only at the tip of the icing, which is like perhaps less than 1% of the overall women involve in the flesh trade. Most of the other women, in the words of Helena, the Czech woman tricked and sold into the trade by her "boyfriend", they are "bent backwards, raped, fisted, gouged, beaten up" and thrown around like ragdolls by both their pimps and "clients"
Please try and catch this and share this with your friends, students, families and everyone else, men or women. Be wary though of sharing it with children because it would certainly kill their innocence (though there are children involved in the making of the story). The lovely Mira Sorvino plays the rookie Kate Morozov, herself from a family of Russian immigrants with skeletons in the cupboard, is obssessed with breaking an international organized crime in sex trade run by a well-heeled, educated, and sophisticated Russian with a Masters Degree in Computer science, Sergei Karpovich, who earns millions in extra income by dehumanising women and children.
You can find out more about the movie here
Doesn't this remind you of the ordeal of the "comfort women" during the Japanese occupation in 1940s?
Also, slavery takes other forms, and it is not just women who suffer, but men. Indenture slavery is something that is not alien to Malaysia's history, and even under the feudal days prior to the British's coming, the feudal Malay lords had been known to enslave aborigines and their "serfs". More on that later.
Here it goes
It was really hard on me, but I forced myself to sit through four hours of this feature film. It is not because it is boring or long. Even a person with short attention span like myself could not tear myself away from this riveting show. It is not just good script and good story line. It is a subject that is very close to my heart. The story about the lives of women (and children) living under oppressive and dehumanising condition. The story of sexual slavery.
When I first came across this DVD, I realised that I must buy it, and get a friend to sit with me through it. And that friend has to be a woman. So that's what we did. Two of us, watching this tale that make you want to break down and cry many times. And it is particularly painful for a woman to watch the way other women are being treated. If you are already cynical and bitter about men, this is one show that would make you even more cynical of those sweet-talking, dashing charming "knight of charming armour" who is merely impatient for the time when he can get his reward by making you fall in love with him.
I dont' want to give more details, which I suggest you read here
http://www.maynardije.org/columns/guests/051024_sextrafficking/
But what I'll say is that the scenes are very intensed. And it makes me extremely incensed when I read newspaper articles and you have callous reporters saying that these women are indulging in "immoral" activities whenever there's a raid and some of these sex slaves were arrested. Yes, there are some women who enter into the flesh trade "willingly", though if you ask me, they are more in the range of high-class escort who have a say about who they will service or not, and can choose their own hours and days off. Who have full economic control and power over their own body. And this is only at the tip of the icing, which is like perhaps less than 1% of the overall women involve in the flesh trade. Most of the other women, in the words of Helena, the Czech woman tricked and sold into the trade by her "boyfriend", they are "bent backwards, raped, fisted, gouged, beaten up" and thrown around like ragdolls by both their pimps and "clients"
Please try and catch this and share this with your friends, students, families and everyone else, men or women. Be wary though of sharing it with children because it would certainly kill their innocence (though there are children involved in the making of the story). The lovely Mira Sorvino plays the rookie Kate Morozov, herself from a family of Russian immigrants with skeletons in the cupboard, is obssessed with breaking an international organized crime in sex trade run by a well-heeled, educated, and sophisticated Russian with a Masters Degree in Computer science, Sergei Karpovich, who earns millions in extra income by dehumanising women and children.
You can find out more about the movie here
Doesn't this remind you of the ordeal of the "comfort women" during the Japanese occupation in 1940s?
Also, slavery takes other forms, and it is not just women who suffer, but men. Indenture slavery is something that is not alien to Malaysia's history, and even under the feudal days prior to the British's coming, the feudal Malay lords had been known to enslave aborigines and their "serfs". More on that later.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Writing the personal
PART 1
For me, a blog is a place where I spill all my thoughts, and indulge in sessions of utter unreason. In other words, I do not have to keep to very rigid structure of coherence, and whatever that crosses my mind, that will come out. This is where I allow the usual adherence to the following of an argument into a logical conclusion go into hibernation :D
As some good friends had once told me, my thoughts are all over the place. Someone once suggested that I might perhaps be afflicted with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). Another person, over lunch yesterday as we discussed a book project I am suppose to be working on now that the MA correction is over (yay, one milestone crossed!), suggested that I have the tendency to be 'derailed' in articulating my ideas and arguments. I think too many people in my life had been telling me that, including my boss, so it is about time I take a pro-active attitude towards it. Truth be told, I'm a lot better than before because of my experience in writing a MA thesis as well as working in advertising.
The problem with a multi-tasking personality like myself is sometimes, I lose the ability to really focus hard on something and look deeper into it. It's the Libran dilettante personality that I would need to shake off, if I really want to be successful in my goals. Instead of letting that risk-taker (though I think I've been a pretty mild risk-taker until recently, when I decided to let my prepondency to spontaneity and impulsiveness force me into something different)and restless soul in me be my bane, I should channel it into a positive energy that will allow me to contribute to both my own life and society.
PART II
Unlike some bloggers (except perhaps those writing in anonymity), I find it hard to lay bare my life for others to read. Namely, I won't write about my love life, my friends, what people say to me (specifically) or the goings-on in my work-life or in the social world I inhabit. Perhaps I might be able to do so in the safety of anonymity, but even then, I am still guarded about revealing all, and only people I trust will know that the person behind that pen-name is yours truly. That, should I need to write about it to exorcise any issues, is kept to a private journal read by none other but myself. In this particular blog, where I am known to my readers, especially those who know me personally, you will not get updates on my personal life, or that of the people around me. Occasionally, I do allude to them, but often in an impersonal way, mainly because I am very particular about my privacy and that of my friends. So what you read here would be the life of my mind, with occasional detours to the personal without revealing. In advertising, we say that it is saying it without naming it. (:
That reminds me, I think I should start reading up some books related to work since I've not been too bothered as I was busy preparing for a language test just earlier in the week, and had been so inundated with work-related projects. And then there were some issues with my computer connection.
Bon Soir!
For me, a blog is a place where I spill all my thoughts, and indulge in sessions of utter unreason. In other words, I do not have to keep to very rigid structure of coherence, and whatever that crosses my mind, that will come out. This is where I allow the usual adherence to the following of an argument into a logical conclusion go into hibernation :D
As some good friends had once told me, my thoughts are all over the place. Someone once suggested that I might perhaps be afflicted with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder). Another person, over lunch yesterday as we discussed a book project I am suppose to be working on now that the MA correction is over (yay, one milestone crossed!), suggested that I have the tendency to be 'derailed' in articulating my ideas and arguments. I think too many people in my life had been telling me that, including my boss, so it is about time I take a pro-active attitude towards it. Truth be told, I'm a lot better than before because of my experience in writing a MA thesis as well as working in advertising.
The problem with a multi-tasking personality like myself is sometimes, I lose the ability to really focus hard on something and look deeper into it. It's the Libran dilettante personality that I would need to shake off, if I really want to be successful in my goals. Instead of letting that risk-taker (though I think I've been a pretty mild risk-taker until recently, when I decided to let my prepondency to spontaneity and impulsiveness force me into something different)and restless soul in me be my bane, I should channel it into a positive energy that will allow me to contribute to both my own life and society.
PART II
Unlike some bloggers (except perhaps those writing in anonymity), I find it hard to lay bare my life for others to read. Namely, I won't write about my love life, my friends, what people say to me (specifically) or the goings-on in my work-life or in the social world I inhabit. Perhaps I might be able to do so in the safety of anonymity, but even then, I am still guarded about revealing all, and only people I trust will know that the person behind that pen-name is yours truly. That, should I need to write about it to exorcise any issues, is kept to a private journal read by none other but myself. In this particular blog, where I am known to my readers, especially those who know me personally, you will not get updates on my personal life, or that of the people around me. Occasionally, I do allude to them, but often in an impersonal way, mainly because I am very particular about my privacy and that of my friends. So what you read here would be the life of my mind, with occasional detours to the personal without revealing. In advertising, we say that it is saying it without naming it. (:
That reminds me, I think I should start reading up some books related to work since I've not been too bothered as I was busy preparing for a language test just earlier in the week, and had been so inundated with work-related projects. And then there were some issues with my computer connection.
Bon Soir!
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Getting that direction right
Big changes are coming my way as things that had been pending are finally moving on and resolving themselves, in one way or another. I would not say that everything is easily resolved at the moment, but it is great feeling to know that what had seemed like a process of extended anxiety, worry, frustrations and such negative images are beginning to dissipate as things take a more concrete form. Yes I do have many other issues pending but with the big ones moving forward, it becomes easier to get the rest rolling. What I need now is real time, for myself, to do just that. With work piling up, and the ability to just clear the thoughts to hammer away at the keyboard (now that's another issue I have to work on because my computer at home just died this morning :() and produce those stuff I'd been trying to find time to put together. This weekend will be spent mostly in putting in the finishing touches and revision to my thesis before the final submission, based on the reports of both my external and internal examiner. Yes, a lot of work just for an MA thesis, but well-justified when I can finally use it as a passport to the next turn ahead.
The month between now and Sept would be filled with turning points. Sept is when I will be able to make a firm decision of my direction for next year onwards. Before that, I need to lay the many ghosts of my past to rest. These next few months, perhaps until the end of the year, will be all about me, as well as the work I intend to do or am in the process of doing. Having started the ball rolling on working out personal issues that had haunted me, I will put new entries into that aspect of my life on hold until I am more than halfway to doing what I really need to get done, workwise, and tying up certain loose-ends.
Some might say that I'm taking an extreme route, but those who understand why I have to do it this way will see why I am doing it the way I do. Geddit? :D But at least, the crisis I've had been facing from all aspects, since perhaps late last year, are building up momentum towards a final resolution, and things feel positive, at the point, despite there being many little things going wrong that will try even the patience of a saint. I don't know why, but I am feeling more at peace and optimistic than I'd ever been in a long time. I don't know the reason. I have had my down moments, but somehow, they no longer seem so bad.
But I will be taking an entire week off sometime next month. With some things out of the way, I think I deserve that break. No idea where I'll be going yet but it will be within budget. A retreat for me to write and think about some other important things as well.
So I better get cracking with work so I can get into my boss's good books :D
Cheers all!
The month between now and Sept would be filled with turning points. Sept is when I will be able to make a firm decision of my direction for next year onwards. Before that, I need to lay the many ghosts of my past to rest. These next few months, perhaps until the end of the year, will be all about me, as well as the work I intend to do or am in the process of doing. Having started the ball rolling on working out personal issues that had haunted me, I will put new entries into that aspect of my life on hold until I am more than halfway to doing what I really need to get done, workwise, and tying up certain loose-ends.
Some might say that I'm taking an extreme route, but those who understand why I have to do it this way will see why I am doing it the way I do. Geddit? :D But at least, the crisis I've had been facing from all aspects, since perhaps late last year, are building up momentum towards a final resolution, and things feel positive, at the point, despite there being many little things going wrong that will try even the patience of a saint. I don't know why, but I am feeling more at peace and optimistic than I'd ever been in a long time. I don't know the reason. I have had my down moments, but somehow, they no longer seem so bad.
But I will be taking an entire week off sometime next month. With some things out of the way, I think I deserve that break. No idea where I'll be going yet but it will be within budget. A retreat for me to write and think about some other important things as well.
So I better get cracking with work so I can get into my boss's good books :D
Cheers all!
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Monday, June 19, 2006
La Deniere Weekend
La soir du Samedi, je recontre mon ami pour dîner à un restaurant. Il a été joue au golf avant ςa.
Friday, June 16, 2006
A good write-up on Pramoedya Ananta Toer at
http://www.kakiseni.com/articles/people/MDg3Mg.html
Can't post much now as work is inundating. :|
Can't post much now as work is inundating. :|
Thursday, June 15, 2006
Bad Science
I have recently begun to write again about science and technology, which had been my first love, and I still profess a strong affection for it. And it is also recently that I've started to read again the news and goings-on in the science world. And this is one cool column I would like to recommend to everyone :)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/
It speaks to the ordinary person, and allows a non-specialist, or a non-interested party to see the drama that goes on when science gets mixed up with pseudo-science.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/badscience/
It speaks to the ordinary person, and allows a non-specialist, or a non-interested party to see the drama that goes on when science gets mixed up with pseudo-science.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Now I know why
...my opening paragraphs are so very unenticing. (:
I've been attending a copywriter workshop at a small outfit in Kuala Lumpur, and while I've learnt quite a bit from the feedback, I've also learnt how to start analysing myself more stringently. The latter has to do with self-awareness more than anything else.
As my boss always says, and as my former senior writer also says, I have to be ever more brutal in editing every word and sentence, which I sometimes fail to do , due to a lack of consistent discipline. But if I can master the art of writing a piece that will capture attention, when the last thing you want to read in newspapers are advertisements (unless you are already interested in that particular product or category of product), it will help me even if I do other forms of writing. And I am beginning to be more observant of flaws that my own writing has. And it moves beyond grammar and sentence construction. It is so easy for me to write flabbily when I have not completely mastered the art of self-discipline.
So, even if your first draft is the outpourings of your soul and mind, the final draft has to be poised, well-groomed and crafted, without losing the soul and spirit of that story. Difficult to achieve eh? Somehow,learning how to be flexible will definitely stand me in good stead as I give flavour to my writing style, as well as to my characters.
I've also become more creative nowadays, and I think, copywriting can be a great stimulation tool, if used correctly. Now, I need to do more yoga to channel that inner resource more productively.
And if it seems I have said this all before, yeah I have, just rewriting it to remind myself. (:
I've been attending a copywriter workshop at a small outfit in Kuala Lumpur, and while I've learnt quite a bit from the feedback, I've also learnt how to start analysing myself more stringently. The latter has to do with self-awareness more than anything else.
As my boss always says, and as my former senior writer also says, I have to be ever more brutal in editing every word and sentence, which I sometimes fail to do , due to a lack of consistent discipline. But if I can master the art of writing a piece that will capture attention, when the last thing you want to read in newspapers are advertisements (unless you are already interested in that particular product or category of product), it will help me even if I do other forms of writing. And I am beginning to be more observant of flaws that my own writing has. And it moves beyond grammar and sentence construction. It is so easy for me to write flabbily when I have not completely mastered the art of self-discipline.
So, even if your first draft is the outpourings of your soul and mind, the final draft has to be poised, well-groomed and crafted, without losing the soul and spirit of that story. Difficult to achieve eh? Somehow,learning how to be flexible will definitely stand me in good stead as I give flavour to my writing style, as well as to my characters.
I've also become more creative nowadays, and I think, copywriting can be a great stimulation tool, if used correctly. Now, I need to do more yoga to channel that inner resource more productively.
And if it seems I have said this all before, yeah I have, just rewriting it to remind myself. (:
Friday, June 09, 2006
A little silver in the lining
Just when I thought that most things are going rather badly in my life, there are a few good things happening that I can look forward to, even though they are not quite going on in the way I'd envisioned, but still, they are still good things.
Firstly, just when I thought my creative spirit is in the dwindle, I've decided to explore another way of writing that might perhaps be another path around to what I've always wanted to achieve. Despite my frustrations many a times, I realised that what I have to go through right now is actually very good training ground, for me not only to sharpen the technical skills, but also to find my voice and spirit. In the noise of life, much has been buried, and the focus blurred. But by being forced to do what I have to do, I become more brutal with my thoughts, my ideas and the way I convey them. I also learn more about my limitations, about the skills I have or lack, about weaknesses that I can compensate for and strengths I can draw on.
One of my poems is going to be published, for the third time, but in a daily that is read by a large majority of the population of Malaysia, from the urban towns to the rural margins. I will not say more until the actual day itself. It is not very great but it is still an achievement of sorts. A little one at this point. In a way, it fulfilled a childhood dream that I had, though of course, being much older and wiser, I no longer have the same kind of excitement I would have had as a teenager, should that had happened then.
I am also beginning to realise the naivety with which I'd approached writing in the past, and how I'd written pieces without giving them the kind of thought I should have, or how I had been delusional in thinking that this particular kind of writing is considered good writing. By getting bumped and bruised, and keeping whatever bloated ego I have under control, and taking brutal criticism as a learning point, and being willing to see them through rather than push them under the carpet, I am beginning to find the location of my muse.
And I realise, I am not alone, for many others share the same harrowing path, but managed to come out triumphant.
There is another good news but that one I'll have to wait til the week after next to say anything more. (:
Firstly, just when I thought my creative spirit is in the dwindle, I've decided to explore another way of writing that might perhaps be another path around to what I've always wanted to achieve. Despite my frustrations many a times, I realised that what I have to go through right now is actually very good training ground, for me not only to sharpen the technical skills, but also to find my voice and spirit. In the noise of life, much has been buried, and the focus blurred. But by being forced to do what I have to do, I become more brutal with my thoughts, my ideas and the way I convey them. I also learn more about my limitations, about the skills I have or lack, about weaknesses that I can compensate for and strengths I can draw on.
One of my poems is going to be published, for the third time, but in a daily that is read by a large majority of the population of Malaysia, from the urban towns to the rural margins. I will not say more until the actual day itself. It is not very great but it is still an achievement of sorts. A little one at this point. In a way, it fulfilled a childhood dream that I had, though of course, being much older and wiser, I no longer have the same kind of excitement I would have had as a teenager, should that had happened then.
I am also beginning to realise the naivety with which I'd approached writing in the past, and how I'd written pieces without giving them the kind of thought I should have, or how I had been delusional in thinking that this particular kind of writing is considered good writing. By getting bumped and bruised, and keeping whatever bloated ego I have under control, and taking brutal criticism as a learning point, and being willing to see them through rather than push them under the carpet, I am beginning to find the location of my muse.
And I realise, I am not alone, for many others share the same harrowing path, but managed to come out triumphant.
There is another good news but that one I'll have to wait til the week after next to say anything more. (:
The Observations by Jane Harris
This is my version. I did pick up a mistake that I am glad that the sub-editor has spotted that, when I said "lived-in" instead of "live-in" *blush*
And I decided to use the past-tense because I wanted to tell it as an event of the past (as befitting a period piece, in my mind) though of course it is also ok to use the present tense, as is used in most feature articles nowadays (it's the fad and suppose to make the event more vivid and alive). So the review in The Star was rewritten into a present tense. Not by me though :)
Oh, and mine is the uncut version. So erm, if you want a simplified one, read the one in The Star. (:
Here it is if you want it
http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/6/9/lifebookshelf/14315989&sec=lifebookshelf
I daresay I'll love to read more of Jane Harris's work (:
More book reviews coming up as and when I have time to read. Now am reading a very intriguing non-fiction book that I will also review.
If anyone has got more review suggestions, I am all for it. The quirkier the better.
____________________________________________________________________________________
The Observations
By Jane Harris
Faber and Faber, Ltd (2006), 415 pages.
Review by Clarissa Lee
Set in the lowlands of Scotland sometime in the late nineteenth century, this period novel features an extraordinary story about people who would have been unmemorable under normal circumstances. But that is just it. The circumstances weren’t very normal, or at least, the narrator, a witty and highly intelligent servant girl who only learnt how to read and write in her early teens, had painted a very vivid picture of high farce and dark drama in humanity through the retelling of her short but bittersweet past.
Bessy (or Daisy, her actual given name) Buckley, wrote the story from the vantage view of more mature years (her late teens), begun her tale with her running away from Glasgow after having been evicted from the home of her sugar daddy by the sugar daddy’s estranged brother upon the former’s death. In making her way to Edinburgh, she chanced upon an estate by the name of Castle Haivers, which initially set her imagination afire, as well as the mistress of the land, whom she first saw chasing after a pig. The estate was where most of the action unfolded. Bessy, despite her tender years (she was around fourteen to sixteen) was not so innocent because her mother, Bridget, had forced her into the flesh trade when the latter was perhaps only around nine years of age. Yes, you might be shock to find that out as you read on, for, among the depraved acts her mother forced her to commit, was lesbian (incestuous) sex with the former just to meet the demands of paying customers who were oblivious of their relations. Though Bessy was very ashamed of her past, her strength of character and optimistic approach to whatever befell marked her as a survivor of the highest order. Despite her self-deriding comments that she was unexposed to the company of society, she had actually seen more of society than was good for her, and was robbed of innocence at a fairly young age.
Illiterate until she became the live-in lover (or as she puts it, “hearts companion”) of a wealthy but elderly Jewish businessman, her idyllic world was soon shattered and she had to look for a “position” elsewhere. A highly imaginative girl who was very fond of reading, she had a real head for words, being able to make up her own songs without much effort, only to find one of her efforts stolen by a tenant farmer with literary pretensions. Bessy, or Harris, had a real ear for idioms and turn of phrase, effortlessly interspersing in the colourful local dialects of the servants and working class with the more refined speech of the gentry. Bessy’s mistress, Arabella Reid, was writing a book about the servant class, and had thus undertook rather strange experiments with each of her maids that were simultaneously hilarious and disturbing to the persons ignorant of her purpose. Each of her maids had been instructed to keep a daily journal for her perusal and Bessy was no exception. Perhaps it was here that Bessy developed her first interest in writing. Despite her young age, Bessy had the uncanny knack of telling chaff from wheat in her dealings with the people around her.
Being a highly curious girl, as well as highly interested in her mistress’s doings, Bessy had stumbled upon the notes while her mistress was out for the night with the husband. After finding out the reasons behind Arabella’s strange behaviour, Bessy was crestfallen to find that the former had dug out a past that the latter preferred to conceal. Bessy also became enraged when she found that Arabella had thought her rather clingy and had thus noted down her (Arabella’s) intention of avoiding the former as much as she could. In discovering her mistress’s obsession with Nora, a maid who had died under mysterious circumstances, she found a way to exact her revenge, but with terrible consequences that changed both their lives forever.
I do not wish to spoil the thrill of the denouement in this exciting story by prematurely giving away the plot. Needless to say, the most intriguing character in the novel is the narrator herself. The care that had gone into the shaping of the narrator’s voice (with carefully planted grammatical, spelling and punctuation mistakes, and regular reversions to the colloquial tongue) and character made the story come to live for the reader, while simultaneously ingratiating him or her into the world of the characters without much authorial interference. Because Harris has placed Bessy as the voice of authority, it is therefore up to the reader to choose whether to believe her story or not.
In conclusion, I daresay that this novel is as much a critique on the kind of society that victimised women, one that want control of their sexuality yet cast them aside like used rags once their existence is considered too scandalous for patriarchal authority. It is unfortunate that women also became abusers of other women (even of their own kin), as shown in the example of Bessy and her Bridget. One cannot help thinking, were it not for her unfortunate circumstances that Bessy would had achieved much in life, had she been given the same access to education as a gentleman. Her prodigious memory, her acute perceptions, her ability to pick up instructions quickly, and her gift for composition, would had made her a renowned woman of letters.
It is also a story about madness caused by a helpless existence that had almost the flavour of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. But more importantly, it is a story about courage, love and loyalty that transcends the limitations of society and time.
(945 words)
And I decided to use the past-tense because I wanted to tell it as an event of the past (as befitting a period piece, in my mind) though of course it is also ok to use the present tense, as is used in most feature articles nowadays (it's the fad and suppose to make the event more vivid and alive). So the review in The Star was rewritten into a present tense. Not by me though :)
Oh, and mine is the uncut version. So erm, if you want a simplified one, read the one in The Star. (:
Here it is if you want it
http://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2006/6/9/lifebookshelf/14315989&sec=lifebookshelf
I daresay I'll love to read more of Jane Harris's work (:
More book reviews coming up as and when I have time to read. Now am reading a very intriguing non-fiction book that I will also review.
If anyone has got more review suggestions, I am all for it. The quirkier the better.
____________________________________________________________________________________
The Observations
By Jane Harris
Faber and Faber, Ltd (2006), 415 pages.
Review by Clarissa Lee
Set in the lowlands of Scotland sometime in the late nineteenth century, this period novel features an extraordinary story about people who would have been unmemorable under normal circumstances. But that is just it. The circumstances weren’t very normal, or at least, the narrator, a witty and highly intelligent servant girl who only learnt how to read and write in her early teens, had painted a very vivid picture of high farce and dark drama in humanity through the retelling of her short but bittersweet past.
Bessy (or Daisy, her actual given name) Buckley, wrote the story from the vantage view of more mature years (her late teens), begun her tale with her running away from Glasgow after having been evicted from the home of her sugar daddy by the sugar daddy’s estranged brother upon the former’s death. In making her way to Edinburgh, she chanced upon an estate by the name of Castle Haivers, which initially set her imagination afire, as well as the mistress of the land, whom she first saw chasing after a pig. The estate was where most of the action unfolded. Bessy, despite her tender years (she was around fourteen to sixteen) was not so innocent because her mother, Bridget, had forced her into the flesh trade when the latter was perhaps only around nine years of age. Yes, you might be shock to find that out as you read on, for, among the depraved acts her mother forced her to commit, was lesbian (incestuous) sex with the former just to meet the demands of paying customers who were oblivious of their relations. Though Bessy was very ashamed of her past, her strength of character and optimistic approach to whatever befell marked her as a survivor of the highest order. Despite her self-deriding comments that she was unexposed to the company of society, she had actually seen more of society than was good for her, and was robbed of innocence at a fairly young age.
Illiterate until she became the live-in lover (or as she puts it, “hearts companion”) of a wealthy but elderly Jewish businessman, her idyllic world was soon shattered and she had to look for a “position” elsewhere. A highly imaginative girl who was very fond of reading, she had a real head for words, being able to make up her own songs without much effort, only to find one of her efforts stolen by a tenant farmer with literary pretensions. Bessy, or Harris, had a real ear for idioms and turn of phrase, effortlessly interspersing in the colourful local dialects of the servants and working class with the more refined speech of the gentry. Bessy’s mistress, Arabella Reid, was writing a book about the servant class, and had thus undertook rather strange experiments with each of her maids that were simultaneously hilarious and disturbing to the persons ignorant of her purpose. Each of her maids had been instructed to keep a daily journal for her perusal and Bessy was no exception. Perhaps it was here that Bessy developed her first interest in writing. Despite her young age, Bessy had the uncanny knack of telling chaff from wheat in her dealings with the people around her.
Being a highly curious girl, as well as highly interested in her mistress’s doings, Bessy had stumbled upon the notes while her mistress was out for the night with the husband. After finding out the reasons behind Arabella’s strange behaviour, Bessy was crestfallen to find that the former had dug out a past that the latter preferred to conceal. Bessy also became enraged when she found that Arabella had thought her rather clingy and had thus noted down her (Arabella’s) intention of avoiding the former as much as she could. In discovering her mistress’s obsession with Nora, a maid who had died under mysterious circumstances, she found a way to exact her revenge, but with terrible consequences that changed both their lives forever.
I do not wish to spoil the thrill of the denouement in this exciting story by prematurely giving away the plot. Needless to say, the most intriguing character in the novel is the narrator herself. The care that had gone into the shaping of the narrator’s voice (with carefully planted grammatical, spelling and punctuation mistakes, and regular reversions to the colloquial tongue) and character made the story come to live for the reader, while simultaneously ingratiating him or her into the world of the characters without much authorial interference. Because Harris has placed Bessy as the voice of authority, it is therefore up to the reader to choose whether to believe her story or not.
In conclusion, I daresay that this novel is as much a critique on the kind of society that victimised women, one that want control of their sexuality yet cast them aside like used rags once their existence is considered too scandalous for patriarchal authority. It is unfortunate that women also became abusers of other women (even of their own kin), as shown in the example of Bessy and her Bridget. One cannot help thinking, were it not for her unfortunate circumstances that Bessy would had achieved much in life, had she been given the same access to education as a gentleman. Her prodigious memory, her acute perceptions, her ability to pick up instructions quickly, and her gift for composition, would had made her a renowned woman of letters.
It is also a story about madness caused by a helpless existence that had almost the flavour of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper. But more importantly, it is a story about courage, love and loyalty that transcends the limitations of society and time.
(945 words)
Finally
I can post on this blog, after a downtime of almost three days. Only problem is, I don't have time to say much, though I do have a lot to say.
Firstly, I've been doing a lot of thinking over the weekend (when I am not out or with someone or catching up on lost sleep) and am coming ever more closer to the direction I am going to take, whether in my personal life or my career (and my career spans everything from my day job to my vocation). I had begun on a writing project which I realise will soon take a better part of my freetime, and my thinking space. Which is fine, because as of now, I have very little desire to be socially active, and only crave the occasional company of people whose presence I enjoy and who are themselves a source of enriching experiences, without trying hard.
Apparently, the great Goenawan, poet laureate of Indonesia, will be in KL this week. I've read his works, thanks to a friend who first introduced him to me, and then another who loan me his collection of poetry. So anyone who is in KL should go meet the man himself, because, if I ever write Malay poetry, he is the example that I would most take. I will post the details in the News and Updates section.
And I will also post a review I did that came out in the Star. I prefer my own version, because I didn't really like the editing in the one published. My sentences seemed rather choppy and the fluidity lost. But I will post you the link, in case you prefer to read the newspaper's version. And for writers who want to learn the art of speaking while writing, this is a good and entertaining book to learn from.
Firstly, I've been doing a lot of thinking over the weekend (when I am not out or with someone or catching up on lost sleep) and am coming ever more closer to the direction I am going to take, whether in my personal life or my career (and my career spans everything from my day job to my vocation). I had begun on a writing project which I realise will soon take a better part of my freetime, and my thinking space. Which is fine, because as of now, I have very little desire to be socially active, and only crave the occasional company of people whose presence I enjoy and who are themselves a source of enriching experiences, without trying hard.
Apparently, the great Goenawan, poet laureate of Indonesia, will be in KL this week. I've read his works, thanks to a friend who first introduced him to me, and then another who loan me his collection of poetry. So anyone who is in KL should go meet the man himself, because, if I ever write Malay poetry, he is the example that I would most take. I will post the details in the News and Updates section.
And I will also post a review I did that came out in the Star. I prefer my own version, because I didn't really like the editing in the one published. My sentences seemed rather choppy and the fluidity lost. But I will post you the link, in case you prefer to read the newspaper's version. And for writers who want to learn the art of speaking while writing, this is a good and entertaining book to learn from.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
6.06.2006
Not enough six to make the 6666, that we will have to wait another 60 years. :D I'll be a haggard crone by then, if I am still alive at that time.
Anyway, pardon the shallow post but this is all I can think of at this point. So much work at work, especially now that I am the only copywriter (though there's an intern to help out). Arrghh
*hides head under sand*
Da World CUP is here. Ok, don't know why I'm excited about that but I sure am gonna catch some of the matches. My time to switch off into a different mode.
Anyway, pardon the shallow post but this is all I can think of at this point. So much work at work, especially now that I am the only copywriter (though there's an intern to help out). Arrghh
*hides head under sand*
Da World CUP is here. Ok, don't know why I'm excited about that but I sure am gonna catch some of the matches. My time to switch off into a different mode.
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