Resolution irresolution

Whenever the New Year comes around, it seems like people just have to look at the year’s end as a demarcation date for doing a bunch of stuff that really should have already been part of our everyday routine or lifestyle. Guess it has to do with will power; or the date acting as some momentous start-off point for something we’ve vacillated or procrastinated on for years and years — and I kid you not, as I know of people who, year in and year out, come up with the same resolutions. And if that’s not an indication of just how resolved they (and me) are (or aren’t), then just put me in the box “Indecisive”... or is that Undecided? See what I mean?

A good example for this would be my quitting smoking. Here I am, and I can’t even remember if it’s the 10th year (or more) that I’ve dragged up this bogeyman resolution. With the best of intentions and marshalling all the will power I can muster, I buy that supposedly “one last pack” (or two), and think in terms of out-smoking any EDSA bus’ exhaust pipe until the stroke of midnight of Dec. 31. Yup, that’s been on each year’s list of resolutions for so long now, I think there are cobwebs surrounding it and it qualifies as an antique. And I am not alone! At one of the recent team-building sessions we had at ABS, Raul Manzano also made the requisite noises about quitting smoking, and then got agitated when the smoking lounge on the 14th floor was closed and he had to take his “cancer” break on another floor.

So this year, I’m sticking to resolutions I can really keep... and be proud about having accomplished come end of 2009! No backsliding for me on these ones. Like for instance, I resolve not to run over any of those motorcyclists who insist on driving on the leftmost lane, stay in the middle of the lane and act like they’re in Luneta or in the middle of the MMFF Parade of Stars! I drive daily from Makati to ABS in Quezon City and without fail, there are motorcyclists who insist that the left lane is for slow-moving vehicles. I wonder nga if there even is some kind of driving test for motorcyclists, or does the mere fact that they know how to put a helmet on their head qualify them to wreak havoc on our roads. And of course, if ever some accident would occur, and they figure in them, it’ll always be the fault of us, in cars, as they’re so brave and vulnerable on their motorcycles. You just can’t win on this one; and yet daily, I’m driven to madness with how they hog the leftmost lane. But I am sticking to my resolution and they will live in peace!

See, those are the kind of resolutions that make 2009 worth living! Now I swear there may have been one stick left in that “last pack” I got before Christmas; so if I just bend over and rummage through this trashcan... Happy New Year!!!

Real, hyper-real and surreal

The three novels today have vivid imagination interspersed with effective story-telling stamped on them. One deals with present-day India and the disconnect that exists between poverty and tradition on one hand, and the world of call centers and modernity on the other. The second novel is vintage Paul Auster, where one deals with worlds and alternate realities, and the blurring between the two. The last novel is a wonderful rendering of the New West, with snatches of magical realism in an American setting.

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga (Available at National Bookstore): Winner of this year’s Man Booker Prize, Adiga has come up trumps with this novel, a parable of sorts of modern India, of the contradictions and social tensions that lie within. Everyman Balram is our narrator, and from the outset, he declares himself a murderer and an entrepreneur, representative of all that is modern in today’s India, and yet steeped in the traditions of caste and poverty. While at times melodramatic, one can’t resist the conviction, energy and honesty that seep out from this first novel. Hired as a driver for the landed family that comes from his local village, Balram is a keen observer of the social fabric that’s being stretched and torn in the day-to-day living that is marked by corruption and venality. No one and nothing is spared in this indictment that’s filled with black humor and irony. This novel fully deserves the Booker it garnered.

Man in the Dark by Paul Auster (Available at National Bookstore): In typical Paul Auster fashion, plot is a labyrinthine exercise where stories and characters collide in literary fashion. We meet an old man convalescing at his home, with his daughter and granddaughter taking care of him. The granddaughter’s boyfriend has recently died in Iraq, and the man constantly slips between consciousness and dreaming. In his dream, there is an America where 9/11 never happened and there’s a civil war going on. Our dream hero, Owen, is recruited to murder the man who has brought this dream America into being — August Brill, the old man who is convalescing! This is a short novel and like some precarious high wire act, Auster pulls it off with nary a slip or misstep. There is his love of films, his penchant for playing with alternate realities, and our constant hide-and-seek with Truth.

Dead and Dying Angels by James A. Mangum (Available at Fully Booked): The first book of his planned Dos Cruces trilogy, this surreal novel of James A. Magnum is a film treatment just waiting to happen. Filled with larger- than-life characters, strong heroes and villains, it even has snatches of magical realism American-style. Jamey Maxwell is our fractured hero-figure. When we meet him, there’s a Smith & Wesson in his mouth and he blames the deal he made with God when he was nine years of age for driving him to suicide. After the death of his wife and two daughters, he moved to Dos Cruces, a desert town where angels and ghosts roam the streets as everyday occurrences. There’s a murder of a young girl and a simpleton who is blamed for the murder. There’s a trio of villains collectively called Los Diablos; and throughout, a tone of self-loathing and nihilistic humor that makes Maxwell such an intriguing “voice.”