Being There - Jerzy Kosinski

Title: Being There
Author: Jerzy Kosinski
Published: 2007 (first published on 1970)
Publisher: Grove Press
Number of Pages: 140

A modern classic now available from Grove Press, Being There is one of the most popular and significant works from a writer of international stature. It is the story of Chauncey Gardiner - Chance, an enigmatic but distinguished man who emerges from nowhere to become an heir to the throne of a Wall Street tycoon, a presidential policy adviser, and a media icon. Truly "a man without qualities," Chance's straightforward responses to popular concerns are heralded as visionary. But though everyone is quoting him, no one is sure what he's really saying. And filling in the blanks in his background proves impossible. Being There is a brilliantly satiric look at the unreality of American media culture that is, if anything, more trenchant now than ever.

You can read the opening and closing lines of the book at firstandlastlines blog.

Being There is the story of Chance, who's a gardener working for an old man. He doesn't have a family, he's never left the house his entire life, and all he does pretty much is tend the garden and watch TV. And then, after the man he works for dies, he has to move out because there are no records of him working there or living there or even existing at all. On his first day out, Chance is in a car accident and ends up living at the home of an ill, wealthy businessman. After that his life changes. 

The books is described as "a satiric look at the unreality of America's media culture," but I think this story could have pretty much taken place anywhere. As soon as he starts communicating with the outside world, people start making assumptions about Chance. As events unfold, he goes by what he knows about gardening and what he saw on TV, without ever lying to anyone. But, of course, people see what they want to see, and believe what they want to believe, and him not talking much about himself makes him even more irresistible.

As long as one didn't look at people, they did not exist. They began to exist, as on TV, when one turned one's eyes on them.

That's exactly what happens to Chance. All of a sudden, he's the right hand of the wealthy businessman, and even the president ends up quoting him in his speech. It really shows how people are fascinated by a few simple remarks just because they understood it the way they wanted to. Chance learning everything from TV and proceeding in real life according to what he "learned" from TV was a bit over the top in some parts... But when you look around and see people who want to be Carrie Bradshaw, try hard for it and believe it, it all makes sense. 

P.S. I found out Kosinski stole the idea from a 1920's Polish Novel called The Career of Nikodem Dyzma by  Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz. Although I haven't read this one, it doesn't make Being There any less great for me.

Kneller'ın Mutlu Kampçıları - Edgar Keret

Kneller'in Mutlu Kampçıları diye ben çevirdim kitabın ismini; farklı bir şekilde çevirilirse/çevirilmişse bana kızmayın sonra. Idefix'in yalancısıyım ama Türkçesi henüz yok kitabın anladığım kadarıyla. Türkçe'ye çevirilmiş kitaplarını buradan görebilirsiniz.

Kitap tanıtım yazısında 'garip, karanlık ve komik bir hikaye' olarak en iyi şekilde tarif edilmiş aslında. Özünde bir aşk hikayesi var ama bence onun etrafında dönen olaylar çok daha ilginç. Ana kahraman Mordy kendini öldürdükten sonra kendini intihar edenlerin dünyasında buluyor. Bizimkine oldukça benziyor bu dünya. Örnek vermek gerekirse bir farkı herkesin kendilerini öldürdükleri zamandan kalma izlerle dolaşması. Bazılarının vücudunda kurşun yaraları var halen...

Mordy bir bar keşfediyor ve orada Uzi diye bir adamla tanışıp arkadaş oluyor. Daha sonra Mordy büyük aşkı (ya da öyle olduğunu zannettiği) Desiree'nin de kendini öldürdüğünü ve onun bulunduğu dünyaya geldiğini öğreniyor. Bunun üzerine kızı bulmak için Uzi'yle birlikte arabaya binip yollara düşüyorlar. Seyahatlerinde de Keller'la tanışıyorlar.

Çok da fazla ayrıntı vermek istemiyorum çünkü o kadar minik ve herşeyin çabuk geliştiği bir kitap ki biraz daha anlatsam okumanın bir anlamı kalmayacak. Her bölüm en fazla dört sayfa ve hepsine Mordy kendini başka bir olayın içinde buluyor. Maceraları eğlenceli, özellikle arkadaşı Uzi bayağı güldürüyor insanı ancak bazen de kendinizi kötü hissediyorsunuz çünkü sonuçta bunlar kendilerini öldürmüş insanlar. Bizim dünyamızda ilk soru genelde ne iş yaptığımız oluyor. Mordy'nin dünyasında ise birbirlerine nasıl intihar ettiklerini soruyorlar. Farklı şekillerde yapan pek çok insan var ve nasıl yaptıklarına göre bazıları sinirleniyor nasıl olduğu sorulunca...

Bu kitaptan bana kalan mucizelerin beklemediğiniz anlarda gerçekleştiği oldu. Kardeşim Wristcutters filminin bu kitap baz alınarak yapıldığını söyledi ancak bir daha izlemem gerekecek çünkü hiç hatırlamıyorum filmi. Bu okuduğum ilk Edgar Keret kitabıydı ve kesinlikle diğer kitaplarını da okumak istiyorum.

Seksi kütüphaneciler!

Böyle bir takvimin eminim ki pek çok kadın versiyonu vardır ancak bu sefer erkekler iyi bir amaç için poz vermiş. 'Men of the Stacks' takviminde her ay için başka bir kütüphaneci var. Hem gözce hitap ediyor, hem de takvimden elde edilen tüm gelirler It Gets Better Project isimli, herkesin olduğu gibi kabullenildiği bir dünya için çalışan projeye gidiyor. Daha fazla bilgi ve diğer resimleri incelemek için Men of the Stacks websitesini ziyaret edebilirsiniz.

Kneller's Happy Campers by Edgar Keret

Title: Kneller's Happy Campers
Author: Edgar Keret
Published: 2009
Publisher: Chatto & Windus
Number of Pages: 86


"Kneller's Happy Campers" is a strange, dark but funny tale set in a world very much like our own but it's an afterlife populated by people who have killed themselves - many of them are young, and most of them bear the marks of their death...bullet wounds, broken necks...(those who have over-dosed are known as 'Juliets'). Mordy, our hero, discovers that his girlfriend from his life before has also 'offed' herself so he sets out to find her, and so follows a strange adventure...Full of the weird and wonderful characters, and the slightly surreal twist of events that we've come to expect from Etgar Keret, this novella is full of humour and comic flashes, but it is also wistful, longing for a better world and perfect love.

You can read the first and last lines of the book at the firstandlastlines blog. 

The blurb of the book really does explain what it is: "a strange, dark but funny tale." A love story, in essence, but there's a lot more than that in it. Mordy, after killing himself, find himself in the afterlife world, which really is a lot like ours. The difference is that people walk around baring the wounds of how they killed themselves, bullet holes in their bodies and such. At the bar he discovers, Mordy meets Uzi and they become friends. And then, when Mordy finds out the love of his life - or so he thinks - killed herself and ended up in the same world as his, he and Uzi go on a road trip to find her. That's also where they meet Keller.

I honestly don't want to go into too much detail because it's such a tiny book that I feel like I'll spoil a lot if I say more. In every chapter, which aren't more than four pages tops, Mordy finds himself in a different "pickle," if I may. His adventures are fun, especially his friend Uzi, but sometimes you feel weird for finding it funny because, you know, they killed themselves. Here, everyone wants to know what you know for a living, but in that world, they want to know how you did it. There are all sorts of people who did it in different ways, and some of them take it way too personally if asked how. Remind you of anybody? Exactly.

What I got from this book is "miracles happen when you least expect them," and I love it. Also, my sister has told me the movie Wristcutters was based on this book. I'll have to watch that again because it's been a long time since I did, and I can't honestly say I remember much of it. This was my first time reading an Edgar Keret book, and I definitely would like to read more of his work.

Hepimizin Ölüsü - Charlaine Harris

Kitap: Hepimizin Ölüzü (Sookie Stackhouse 7)
Yazar: Charlaine Harris
Basım yılı: 2011 (Türkiye)
Yayınevi: Artemiz Yayınları
Sayfa sayısı: 400

Tuhaf ve seksi garson kız Sookie Stackhouse’a kapılmamanın yolu yok. Bizi de al Sookie! Bizi de! HEPİMİZİN ÖLÜSÜ Louisianalı garson kız Sookie Stackhouse, şu sıralar potansiyel yeni sevgilisi, şekildeğiştiren Quinn ve giderek yaklaşan vampir zirvesiyle çok meşgul. New Orleans’ı sarsan fırtınada, üssü hasar gören Vampir Kraliçe Sophie-Anne kendisini devirmek isteyenlere karşı güçsüz durumda. Sookie’nin zirvedeki görevi Sophie-Anne’i desteklemek. Ancak çok geçmeden Sookie, vampir dünyasının derinliklerine çekilmeye başladığında bu görevin göründüğü kadar kolay olmadığını fark edecek.

Sookie Stackhouse serisinin 7'nci kitabının en ilgi çekici yanı Eric ve Sookie'nin ilişkisinin daha bir şekillenmeye başlamasıydı. Bu kitapların en önemli özelliği tabii ki Eric'in ortalarda dolanması ve bu bakımdan neler olacağını merak ediyorum. Ancak onun dışında söyleyecek fazla bir şeyim yok. Olaylar hep birbirini farklı şekillerde de olsa tekrar ediyormuş gibi geliyor. Tam bir şeyler durulmuş gibiyken ya bir vampir, ya da bir kurtadam etkinliği oluyor ve Sookie kendini ölümle burun buruna buluyor. Bir şekilde de diğer ana karakterlerle birlikte sıyrılıyor beladan. Yalnız kitapların en acayip yanı bazen baysalar da insanın 'n'olacak acaba?' diyerek meraklanması ve okumaya devam etmek istemesi. Bakalım bundan sonrası da tekrar mı olacak, yoksa bir şeyler değişecek mi?

Book Review: All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris

Title: All Together Dead (Sookie Stackhouse #7)
Author: Charlaine Harris
Published: May 1, 2007
Publisher: Ace
Number of Pages:323

Louisiana cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse has her hands full dealing with every sort of undead and paranormal creature imaginable. And after being betrayed by her longtime vampire love, Sookie must not only deal with a new man in her life-the shapeshifter Quinn-but also contend with the long-planned vampire summit.

The summit is a tense situation. The vampire queen of Louisiana is in a precarious position, her power base weakened by hurricane damage to New Orleans. And there are some vamps who would like to finish what nature started. Soon, Sookie must decide what side she'll stand with. And her choice may mean the difference between survival and all-out catastrophe.

The most interesting part of this book for me was the building of the relationship between Sookie and Eric. I'm excited to see where that goes, cos honestly, any scene with Eric in it is drool-worthy. Other than that, these books seem pretty much the same to me: as things start looking up, something goes down at a vampire or werewolf event. Sookie's always needed somewhere and seems to find herself in the middle of things. She somehow makes it through with the others. Nevertheless, Harris always leaves you wondering what's going to happen next, and that's something, no?