Η ιστορία της πορφυρής γκαζόζας, του Μυστικού Νησιού και των μυστηριωδών κατοίκων του, της αναζήτησης ενός Νορβηγού πατέρα — αυτοαποκαλούμενου Μπαλαντέρ — και του γιου του για να βρουν τον Άσο Κούπα τους, δηλαδή την μητέρα που έφυγε για να βρει τον εαυτό της στην Ελλάδα και μιας άλλης, πιο γνωστής μας αναζήτησης: αυτήν για την αλήθεια του ποιοι είμαστε, προς τα πού πάμε, γιατί, τι πραγματικά μετράει στην ζωή και όλα αυτά τα γνωστά.
Ο Jostein Gaarder για δεύτερη φορά (το ξέρω ότι έγραψε τον Κόσμο της Σοφίας δεύτερο, αλλά εγώ τον διάβασα πρώτο) αναρωτιέται για τον κόσμο και μας συνεπαίρνει με την φαντασία του με χαρακτηριστικά χαρούμενο, απλό, διαφωτιστικό και συγκινητικό τρόπο. Ο Gaarder ξαναήρθε να μου επιβεβαιώσει ότι η σοφία βρίσκεται στην απλότητα και στην ταπεινότητα προς τον κόσμο, που καλύτερα από κάθετι εκφράζει η παιδική περιέργεια, η οποία αργότερα δυστυχώς πεθαίνει, αφού συνηθίσουμε τον κόσμο. Όντως εγκληματικό, αν το σκεφτεί κανείς. Όπως λέει και ο Death στο Discworld: “Human beings make life so interesting. Do you know, that in a universe so full of wonders, they have managed to invent boredom”.
Το Μυστήριο της Τράπουλας είναι ένα βιβλίο πραγματικά για όλες τις ηλικίες. Ο πρωταγωνιστής, αν και θα μπορούσαμε να υποθέσουμε ότι οι πρωταγωνιστές είναι πολλοί με την ψυχή ενός, είναι μεν παιδί, όμως ο τρόπος με τον οποίο αντιμετωπίζει τα πράγματα ήταν έμπνευση. Ακόμα περισσότερο με ενέπνευσε ο πατέρας του Χανς Τόμας. Ενήλικας που ποτέ δεν σταματάει να αναρωτιέται για τον κόσμο, με προβλήματα αλκοολισμού, άφθονη αγάπη για τον γιο, την φιλοσοφία, την ναυτοσύνη και την woman that left him — εδώ σκάρωσε ολόκληρο ταξίδι με αυτοκίνητο από την Νορβηγία μέχρι την Ελλάδα για να την βρει. Θέλω κι εγώ τέτοιον μπαμπά, ή για να είμαι ρεαλιστικότερος, θέλω κι εγώ να γίνω τέτοιος μπαμπάς. Επίσης θέλω να ταξιδέψω στο Agder και στις Άλπεις, κάπου πιο κοντά στο Χωριό και πιο μακριά από το Interlaken. Γαμώτο.
Το όλο meta-narrative με τo Μυστικό Νησί, τους διαδόχους του Μυστικού και την Τράπουλα του Φρόντε ήταν μια ενδιαφέρουσα ιδέα, και μια ωδή στις γήινες ανθρώπινες απολαύσεις. Αν η υπόθεση με την τράπουλα ήταν λίγο καλύτερα τοποθετημένη (σε μερικά σημεία μου φάνηκε βεβιασμένη και μου έκοβε το ενδιαφέρον) τότε το βιβλίο μπορεί να άξιζε και το πέμπτο αστεράκι του. Τώρα που το σκέφτομαι όμως, ούτε η ιστορία του Χανς Τόμας και του πατέρα του από μόνη της θα ήταν αρκετή για να κρατήσει το ενδιαφέρον αν η μία ιστορία δεν έβαζε σιγά-σιγά όλα τα μυστήρια που προέκυπταν στην πορεία της άλλης σε μια τάξη και το αντίστροφο (κάτι που ποτέ δεν μπορείς να κάνεις με τα πραγματικά ερωτήματα της ζωής, but I digress). Το μόνο σίγουρο; Ποτέ δεν πρόκεται να ξαναπιάσω τράπουλα με τον ίδιο τρόπο. Και σίγουρα η έμπνευση του τραπουλο-ημερολογίου θα μου μείνει.
Πολλές φορές αναρωτήθηκα τι θα μπορούσε να αντιπροσωπεύει η πορφυρή γκαζόζα στην πραγματική ζωή. Παραισθησιογόνα ναρκωτικά ίσως; Άνετα θα μπορούσε να είναι κάτι τέτοιο. Και ναι, θέλω να δοκιμάσω γεύση κεράσι στον αγκώνα μου και βατόμουρο με λεμόνι στο αριστερό μου μεγάλο δάχτυλο του ποδιού! Όπως λένε όμως και στο βιβλίο… Αν δοκιμάσεις ό,τι έχει να δώσει η ζωή με μια γουλιά, γιατί μετά, στην τελική, να ζεις, αν όχι μόνο για να συνεχίσεις να πίνεις;
Βαθιά ερωτήματα. Αυτό το βιβλίο έχει πολλά, ακόμα και αν είναι καλά κρυμμένα στα χάρτια… Ασυνήθιστο, γιατί συνήθως ψάχνουμε στα χαρτιά για καλά κρυμμένες απαντήσεις.
Ευχαριστώ την Άλεξ που μου το δάνεισε. 🙂 Κάποτε είχαμε προσπαθήσει να διαβάσουμε αυτό το βιβλίο μαζί. Η προσπάθεια ήταν φυσικά καταδικασμένη. Έγραψα κι εγώ το όνομα μου στο πίσω μέρος του βιβλίου, 13 Μάρτηδες (μια οικογένεια του Μυστικού Νησιού 😉 ) μετά την τελευταία προσθήκη.
Last December had two full moons. Popularly, a second full moon in a single month is called a blue moon, even if that is not the correct definition (check here for more details). This moon rose on December 31st and set on January 1st. It was a full moon that connected two years. Or should I say, it connected two decades? I find it strangely symbolic that the last day of the year and decade just happened to be a full moon day… It was surreal going out to see the fireworks and having the huge light in the sky illuminating everything.
Somewhat obscure gaming reference FTW!
I will not treat the turn of the decade as time to contemplate change, look back or act as if starting today the world’s going to be different in some sort of way. It is still too early for us to even be able to say what the decade we just left behind us will be remembered for, let alone compare it with the fresh new one that’s just a signle day old. I will thus spare with the retrospective craze about how the past decade changed our lives. All I have to say on that is that every change made during this decade was sort of transitional… We ain’t seen nothing yet (sic).
My refusal to look back in sets of tens does not mean that I do not want to see what last year brought, however. It was certainly a full and interesting year for me. I’d like to take you to a sort of new year’s resolution I wrote last year, “More and Less of 2009”. This year’s “More and Less” will consist of all that I did not manage to do during 2009. I’ll give it a go:
More movies, more games, more languages, more activities, more biking, more photography, more people, more travelling, more new experiences, more love, more animals, more beauty, more cooking, more reading, more knowledge, more stars, more planets, more cleaning, more housekeeping, more real working, more specialisation, more subtitles, more cubimension, more music, more peace, more awareness, more spirituality, more science, more history, more dreams, more thoughts, more tea, more vegetables, more cake, more e-mails, more writing, more art, more friendliness, more phone calls, more letters, more enjoying the moment in the right way.
Less procrastinating, less shyness, less lazyness, less internet idleness, less msn, less stupid spending, less sleeping till the afternoon, less caffeine, less absent-mindedness.
These are my personal wishes for 2009.
Alex: You forgot more sex. And more anime. You forgot less facebook too. Less flies too! Yiek!Enloying the moment in a right way eh?..Dunno if you wishing this to yourself ooor you’re trying to tell me something…
More movies: I guess this is kind of a pass. I’m doing the whole kinimatografiki thing together with Garret, I’ve watched my fair share of movies in the past year… There’s definitely a lot more in my”want to see” list on Flixster, but is there anything out there really for which this can’t be said? I mean… not on my “want to see” list on Flixster, generally speaking…
Honourable mentions: Kubrick Month, District 9, Dogtooth, Some Like It Hot, The Shawshank Redemption, Inglourious Basterds
More games: Hmmm… my overall “games played” meter in 2009 is fairly similar to, if not lower than 2008’s. I did sign up for Game 2.0, which is good, but I feel that I haven’t played enough games that I’ve been aching to play. I’m up to the neck in music games, if that’s any development. I even got more of an acquired taste in strategies!
Honourable mentions: Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts&Bolts, Victoria, The Longest Journey, Modern Warfare 2, Peggle Nights, Luxor, StarCraft
More languages: My go at learning Japanese crashed and burned and I’ve made little progress with German…next question!! :/
More activities: That’s a check in many different ways.Theatriki, Kinimatografiki, Fotografiki, being out a lot, I have the distinct impression I’ve been pretty active, thank you!
More biking: um… R.I.P.
More photography: That’s a check as well! Just have a look at my Flickr for the results! :}
More people: Yes, met many new people this year but got to know few. This one’s up in the air as is always has and always will be I guess.
More travelling: Turkey, Peloponnese, Kerkyra, Rodos… Good, but I don’t think it can compare to 2008 in any way, many plans died out or haven’t been realised yet. But there’s much hope for 2010, I’ll tell you that.
More new experiences: Always on the lookout! Many experiences I shall cherish forever.
More love: That’s a tough one. I’ll say check, even though I’m not sure if everything I have in mind is aspects of love or something else entirely.
More animals: Does the army of cats on the watch outside my apartment count? 😛
More beauty: Just like new experiences, always looking for more!
More cooking: FAIL UNLIMITED! 🙁
More reading: Hmmm… I give this one a hearty check. In the past 12 months I read many books that I’ll remember for years to come. Coming in contact with Saramago, Gaarder and Mazower are no small matters.
More knowledge: Yes! I I owe this largely to Despina Catapoti for being the best prof ever and leading me to planes of gnosis I always wanted to visit but I wasn’t aware of. Cultural studies, postmodernism, philosophy were all redefined in my head. I feel like my mind has opened even more.
More stars: I don’t have a telescope… yet… but it’s been a fine astronomical year with many a starry sky and gazing alone or in good company.
More planets: If this is astrology (I don’t remember), I’m now feeling a bit mixed on the issue.
More cleaning/housekeeping: This has reached an all time low… For shame.
More real working: I made my first real money in 2009, which is great. Game 2.0 or my EAA Museum and other uni projects also count and I stand proud!
More specialisation: …hm… nah.
More subtitles: Yes indeed, I did some and I was paid for it. Moar plz.
More cubimension: Another healthy check and it’s getting better!
More music: Not many new bands came into my attention this year, but I’ve been listening to music, yay! 😛 Buying The Incident in Special Edition is something I’m not sure I regret yet.
More peace: No, I wasn’t in peace for much of last year. Good or bad? I cannot tell.
More awareness: Not very successsful, many a time did I let my wandering thoughts cloud my perception of the present. Not a good thing.
More spirituality: I’ve been trying to delve into the secrets of eastern philosophy… Tao and Physics is an excellent book on the subject, but Tao is so deep and mistifying I’m confused and left in awe at the same time. Somewhat healthy.
More science: Web Science Conference?! Hehe, well I’ve been reading some pop science books, if that counts…
More history: Yes yes! Playing Victoria, reading Mazower and looking into alternate histories, listening to Despina talk…
More dreams: After “Counting Sheep”, my take on sleep was briefly something completely different and new. Now I’ve somewhat subconsciously returned to my bad old take of “sleep cuts away from your waking time”… I must make it a point to follow some online lucid dreaming classes.
More thoughts: I’ve been thinking…
More tea: I got this huge bag of tea from Ayvalik (which cops mistook for half a kilo of weed…) and I still haven’t made any of it. Maybe I’m still recovering from the tea overload in Turkey. Or maybe my boiler is kaput. No wait, it is.
More vegetables: uh, I don’t think I’ve been eating any more or any less… I shoud make a habit of making salads a la mama though, they’re downright awesome.
More cake: fail. Or is it?
More e-mails: And all to the same handful of special someones as last year. Pah, no good. 😛
More writing: Judging from my surge of cubimension interest, that’s a positive.
More art: I’ve done my part. That collage for Alex and a lot of digital art tidbits… I know I can do better though.
More friendliness: Ithink I might be going well with this. Might.
More phone calls: and to whom, I wonder…But you know that I dislike phones!
More letters: I don’t think I wrote a signle one.
More enjoying the moment in the right way: I… think I got that one. Or maybe not. Or maybe both. Or maybe it’s too hard to tell as a rule. Or maybe I’m still trying to do it.
Less procrastinating: No one ever entirely gets away from this one… But it is the goal.
Less shyness: I’ve seen myself be very shy and very not shy. Soooo…
Less lazyness: I think I’m less lazy than usual. Yes.
Less internet idleness: Working on that one but I think I’ve made some progress.
Less MSN: Considerably.
Less stupid spending: …yes, but I still turn out with less money than I calculated. Maybe the definition of stupid has simply jumped around.
Less sleeping till the afternoon: …to which I’ll add: less going to sleep after dawn!
Less caffeine: HAH! Good one!
Less absent-mindedness: Hmmm. Yes.
More sex: Quantity-wise or quality-wise? It makes all the difference in the world.
Less Facebook: I managed to deactivate it. TOTAL SUCCESS!
More anime: Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of One Piece. But where’s my Cowboy Bebop?
Less flies: Less flies, I agree. And less cockroaches please!
Το μυστήριο της τράπουλας by Jostein Gaarder
