More Seduction

Since posting about White Oleander, I've had similarly intoxicating experiences with two other books: Return of the Player and The Road. It must be the case that I'm open to literary seduction during this magical time of the year. As pointed out by a teacher last night, time gets suspended somehow between Christmas and New Year's. We're not quite through with the past year but we're not quite ready to start the new one. Rather than focus on my own life, I think, I prefer to dip into others' lives.

In addition to the readerly context, I think the three novels share some qualities which contributed to their power. All three have at their heart a journey through the heart of darkness. The protagonists look at the world at face "the horror" whether it's the barrel of a gun held by your foster parent, a murder or cannibals, yet somehow they hold on to their love and retain faith in the world around them. No matter what terrible things they are forced to confront, they push foward. As a reader, I also believed faith that the books would end with a glimmer of hope thanks to notes by critics, blurbs and the authors themselves. If I didn't have that belief, I don't think I would have been able to handle the desolation of the bleakest of the three (The Road).

To keep with theme of The Road (since that's the book that currently leading me down the road to ruin these days), the books shed light on that grass which pushes its way through cracks in the cement. In spite of the parking lot which paves over the garden, it's the garden which prevails. If a book supports this belief somehow, I'm hooked.