|
|
|
Friday, May 16, 2008 |
|
|
|
BOOK REVIEW |
|
The ultra-reliable
narrator |
|
A story told by a fictional autistic boy about real
adult problems
|
|
By Rome Jorge Lifestyle Editor
Mark Haddon’s novel The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, is a whodunit that isn’t.
Using the conventions of a detective story, the book has Christopher
Boone, a mathematically gifted autistic 15-year-old child, as both
protagonist and narrator. While he’s busy solving who killed his
neighbor’s dog, he reveals insights into his own condition,
expounds on philosophy and logic and unwittingly unravels the reader
the tangled emotional web that his parents have woven for—its
nuances completely oblivious to him.
Completely endearing,
entertaining and yet free of melodrama or over-sentimentality,
Haddon has spun a good story with words well chosen. The book
utilizes dramatic irony—wherein readers deduce more knowledge from
the narrator’s own words than the narrator can himself comprehend.
But instead of an unreliable narrator, Haddon has one that is
pathologically honest, psychologically incapable of perceiving
emotions in others and too young to appreciate the intricacies of
dysfunctional adult relationships. Masterfully, Haddon has crafted
flawed characters such as Boone’s parents with whom we empathize
nonetheless.
|
|
 Full
Story>>
|
|
|
|
|
O T H E R R E P O R T S
|
 |
|
|
|
|
It begins. Again
|
|
John Saul’s ‘Black Lightning’ explores the days
after an execution
|
|
“Today won’t end it. How will you feel, Anne?
When I’m dead, and it all starts again, how will you feel?”
|
|
Full
Story>>
|
|
|
|
|
Doing the right
thing
|
|
El Nido Resorts prove that it’s great to be
“green”
|
|
For island resorts, doing things the right way takes
more than the usual in terms of resources and programs. Case in
point: it is much easier to build and maintain a hotel-type
structure than strategically locate villas...
|
|
Full
Story>>
|
|
|
|
|
THE SCRIBE VIBE
By Libay Linsangan Cantor
|
|
If language eludes
you, don’t act deluded
|
|
As a lover of literature, I have no problem reading
English and Filipino texts. Each category entails a specific
discipline and artistry that I enjoy following. Over the years, I
have formulated a list of favorites...
|
|
Full
Story>>
|
|
|
|
|
HI! SOCIETY
By Becky Garcia
|
|
25 years at the
TOPP
|
|
TWENTY-FIVE years ago, my guru, George Sison, founded
the Temple of Prayer, Peace and Prosperity (TOPP) and I was one of
the very first who attended the three to four-times-a-week sessions.
|
|
Full
Story>>
|
|
|
|
|
PEOPLE
By Bob Garon
|
|
Storm clouds
|
|
There are moments in every man’s life when the sun
is suddenly obscured and storm clouds gather on the horizon, times
when everything seems to go wrong.
|
|
Full
Story>>
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
