Nov 13, 2010 11:51 PM
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Imagine for a moment that in a single act of treachery your life turned to shambles, all your dreams vanished in thin air, and you are condemned to live a life of notoriety ever after. The moment which could have been the moment of your greatest joy turning into the moment when God decided to punish you for some crime which you could not recollect having committed. And it is not just your life; the life of the person whom you hold closest to the heart also is now nothing but an unbearable ordeal. Could you forgive somebody who is responsible for all these?
To do so is no doubt virtuous but then we are here dealing with mere human beings and not prophets. Thus, you will understand when the wronged lovers refuse to forgive the person responsible for their torment. At the same time you will also appreciate that the committer of the crime’s earnestness in search for redemption. Secretly you will hope for an outcome which will annihilate the pain on both the sides and you are hopeful because you are not at the mercy of reality where natural justice is so rare but in the hand of a master storyteller who has in his power to meet your latent demand.
Will he oblige you? Will the separated lovers manage a smile at the moment of their sweet reunion and the conscience of the criminal will at last let the later sleep peacefully after she has paid the price for her crime through tears and suffering? To tell this is to tell the trick on which Houdini’s enchantment rests and I would prefer the reader to find out the answer of his own.
There have been other stories of punishment and redemption and the one which immediately comes to my mind is ‘The Kite Runner’. However, except for the basic theme, the two cannot be compared. The two authors have entirely different ways to enthrall readers – while K. Hosseini prefers to shock and stun, I. McEwan guides us slowly to an enchanting world of suffering. While the former is gripping like a fast paced thriller, the latter slowly casts its web on you and gets you addicted.
As a reader I felt the author could and should have cut down the flab of the story to a great extent by choosing to take the story forward rather than providing details of the surroundings and circumstances. Accepted that to a lover of language such description has its own value, but for readers of slightly less refined taste like me, the provocation to skip a few paragraphs or pages were at times too tempting. However, the author did an admirable job in presenting the horror of war to us in its full gory which only confirms the old cliché’
“There never was a good war or bad peace”. *
However, I would have thought twice before recommending the book to all if not for its ending. In one of the most poignant last chapter I have ever come across, the author manages to touch our innermost chord of emotions and make us realize that even death followed by suffering is preferable to a life full of apparent success but bleeding conscience. The ending of the novel makes all the effort one makes in enduring the slowness precedes it worthwhile.
In conclusion let us pray to God that he may show his mercy by punishing us for our crimes rather than letting us off without it and denying us the ‘Atonement’**.
