Brilliance

I finished 'Grotesque'!

Some books that I come across - they're not worth reading. It may sound harsh but I'm only saying it like it is. Some books do not have a proper plot, a proper message, or even a decent style, and when you've just paid RM40 for it, you'd really be wanting to kill the author for not knowing what he or she was doing in the first place. Books like these are not very often found, but once, since I was feeling generous and wanted to give a new author a chance, I bought this book for quite a sum and then I forced myself to glue my eyes to its pages until I finished it. It felt as if the author was just taking her reader for a ride, sometimes with incessant descriptions that have no purpose at all. The ending was even worse - it wasn't even a proper ending. It was just as if the author didn't like her book either, so she decided to go ahead and wrap it up immediately.

'Grotesque' is another book altogether - it's one of the best, one of the elites. It's supposed to be translated from Japanese, and I caught myself trying to imagine what a particular phrase would sound like in Mandarin (I figured it was the only language I knew that came close to Japanese). The story is so brilliant that I wonder if the English version is better than the Japanese, or if the original version could possibly be greater. 

WARNING: Spoilers after this!

If you have not read the book but wish to read it, or if you do not want to know about the story for personal reasons, or if you don't wish to listen to ramblings of yours truly, please stop reading this NOW. 

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This story deals with a number of taboo topics that are not easily relayed to all readers alike. It portrays jealousy in its rawest form, the epic hatred that stems from overwhelming envy, the 'kiasu' attitude that grips certain societies, cruelty that begets severe consequences, the lengths some women stoop to just to feel a sense of worth, the twisted perspective of one-sided point of views, the lofty question of what we all work so hard towards, the complexity of incest minds, the puzzling ridges of mind control and the intricacy that different cultures/looks/skin colour/race entail. 

It's absolutely brilliant. If you are hoping to read it, here's a note: It's vivid. Feelings, incidents - they are all described in exceptional detail. But if you are really going to read it, don't listen to a word I say here - it will only make the surprises become anticipated twists, and there goes the joy of reading it all. 

The Times described it as 'Cool, angry and stylish.' From what I've read, that line summarizes it all, but I'll add one word to it:

Brilliant.