HUMAN ACTS

Han Kang

The Gwangju Uprising was a bloody stepping stone on the struggling path toward democracy for South Korea. While the true number of casualties was forever occluded from history, the fictional death of a middle-school boy haunted the narratives of the novel, lamented and condemned the inhuman acts of unspeakable brutality. Some readers may find the distant, impersonal tone dominant almost throughout the novel disconcerting; however, dissociation may be the only survival method in the face of overwhelming traumas.

I noticed that the adjective “cold” appeared in the novel roughly three dozen times in all seven chapters with a multitude of connotation. The infamous uprising not only obliterated the death but also extinguished the flame of survivors’ hope for personal justice in the aftermath. The numbing effect therefore doomed the ones left behind with a lifetime of picking up the broken pieces of their shattered and perpetually tormented souls by the curse of memories and debilitating grief.

Have you heard about the Milgram experiment in which people abandoned their personal conscience to blindly obey authority? This chilling trait of human nature was responsible for recurring horrific crimes against humanity throughout our brief chronicle of mankind. Blessed be the heart of the courageous ones who choose to stand on the right-side history in opposition of mass obedience for oppression.

WONG KAR-WAI TRILOGY

Maggie Cheung

Years ago when my life was carried away on an unyielding wave of melancholy, I sometimes abandoned myself into the ethereal world of Mr. Wong's cinematography. I watched some of his movies multiple times alone and with different people, but I always pretended that it was my first time with each viewing experience. As time progresses, specific details of each movie blur away, and only vague remnants of feelings associated with certain scenes follow me until this day. By chance, I discovered a collection of dialogues that I wrote down for Days of Being Wild (1990), In The Mood For Love (2000), and 2046 (2004). I tried to remember why I took these notes, but the past is something I could barely see and completely out of my touch. As I reviewed the notes and struggled to find the reasons, fragments of scenes from each movie and the mood they induced within my psyche came rushing back as if promptly awakened from soporific oblivion.

SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE

Kurt Vonnegut

A near-dead person has the alleged ability to review the entirety of his life as he advances toward that blinding tunnel of light. This novel was the jumbled life assessment of somebody suffered from severe PTSD and traumatic brain injuries. Billy Pilgrim may think he traveled through time, but he may just as well flash back and forth within his own memory during the nano-second right before his death. Much like Dr. Crowe in the movie The Sixth Sense, Billy's version of reality made sense only to him in order to cope with horrific events in his life.

 As a reader, I love to tip-toe on the literary fence that any author planted between their land of fantasy and reality. I can choose to lean on the paradox of fourth-dimension venture of the Trafamadorian aliens or I can choose to blame Billy's experience on those cheap Kilgore Trout science fictions he read. This unambiguity underscored the religious argument of fate and free-will that Billy vigorously debated with the aliens. 

I like certain pieces and bits of this novel; I get the sentiments on war. the absurdity of death, and all the originality with which it was written. However, the fragmented novelty of it escaped my enjoyment and rendered me unable to read it the wholesome synthesizing way that the Trafamadorians read their novels. So it goes.

A LITTLE LIFE

Hanya Yanagihara

I could not handle the intense viscero-somatic reaction elicited from this harrowingly depressing novel. All suffering was blown up to a cosmic proportion, everything on a brighter side was permanently tainted with the sickest shade of abuse, loathing, and self-destruction. Extremism shoved this novel forward: everybody was either the perverted devil incarnation himself or Mother Teresa with a perpetual savior-complex and the holy patience of a thousand gods. The folks who did not fully fit those categories scrambled around in absolute bewilderment of whatever the bloody hell happened to Jude, the main character, whom was such a malignant magnet for evil that thoroughly nullified even the most restorative forces of love.

 I made the mistake of choosing this book for my bedtime reading, which repeatedly jolted me wide awake with damning disbelief and a distressing need to stand under a hot shower scrubbing myself vigorously with antiseptic soaps for hours. Hanya Yanagihara was a true voyeuristic sadist who masterfully juxtaposed elegance and depravity in her plot and characterization. However, dooming the folks having same sex relations is rather exploitative, no? Additionally, I can empathize with the needs to fix the damaged souls, but I also wanted to scream at a lot of people in this book that they ain’t no miracle workers, so please, let nature run its inevitable course.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME

André Aciman

"We belonged to each other, but had lived so far apart that we belonged to others now."

AVietnamese poet once wrote that "Life is beautiful only when love is unfinished." The love story in this book was beautifully unfinished in the sense that it never ended. Although Anciman unfolded Elio's coming of age with lavishing intensity, Elio was more than just a virile 17-year-old and Oliver was more than just a teenaged wet dream. The few weeks they spent together decorated their lives with colorful passion and enriched their souls even if they were never meant to be together.

One could quickly dismiss the affair as a summer fling fueled with the sultry sun and scenic landscapes of coastal Italy. Certainly, any perceivable barrier could dampen the most fiery of passion, blur the most vivid of memories, and condemn all romantic sentiments to melancholic razbliuto. The lasting spell of love cast on the two men in this book bridged the chasm of time and distance with its transformative power of becoming erotic, empathetic, platonic, or unconditional.

 To escape the lonely darkness, how would you choose to live? A fleeting minute of radiance or a lifetime of dimness? Elio was suggestively blinded by the past and wandering on in a twilight. However, as punishing as time and distance could be, they allowed the luminosity of his past to guide him onward with peace and a touch of healthy longing. Oliver was his first true love after all

DOCTOR COMIC - PART 5

Source: Rhymeswithorange

"I don’t think you are from around here because your English isn’t very good”

It was not the elderly patient with acute mental status change who made the statement during her brief moments of lucidity in the ER, it was her son who said that immediately after asking where I was from. As a response, normally I would share I was an immigrant who came here more than ten years ago. However, the way he looked at me and the tone of his voice completely caught me off guard. I just finished the discussion on the plan of care for his mother who was to be admitted and asked him what question he had for me when it dawned upon me the real reason why he asked, and the absurdity of it made me chuckle and excuse myself quickly from the room.

THE 7½ DEATHS OF EVELYN HARDCASTLE

Stuart Turton

Oh boy, Evelyn's murder was quite a theatrical spectacle complete with champagne, a band, and fireworks. What devil trickery of a mind came up with this idea amidst frenemies and merry-making?

Poisoning the bleak landscape of Blackheath manor was another murder exactly 19 years prior. The isolated gothic gloominess served as a perdition that spawned a deluge of dirty secrets, impending deaths, and a plethora of blackmailing materials to keep everybody's panties knotted into a desperate bunch of nervous perspiration. Nobody was reliable, and everybody was his or her worst enemy only secondary to a lurking serial killer and cunning competitor(s) to push the suspense of this twisted who-done-it over the edge .

 The multiple perspectives, twists, and turns commanded my undivided attention and kept me guessing the whole time. The concept was reminiscent of certain episodes of the science fiction anthology television series Black Mirror in its what-the-bloody-hell-just-happened factors; the execution was neatly planned, smartly intricate, curiously teasing with enough red-herrings to feel smart guessing, and somehow ended up a strangely cathartic tale of forgiveness and redemption. 

What a thrilling experience it was!