I'm reading a book called
Rascals in Paradise by James Michener and A. Grove Day. This book was published in 1957 and I'm surprised I'm just now discovering it. My daughter, Rachel, brought it to me from the Caribbean last summer. It's a non fiction account of the lives of some of the most amazing and nefarious people who lived their lives in the South Pacific. Pirates, mutineers, fortune hunters, or just people wanting to find a tropical paradise to while away the years. Here's one vignette I found in the introduction that I think relates to my previous post about creating our own narrative thereby our own reality.
"In the 1930's there was in Australia a learned gentleman who clearly foresaw that a great war was about to break over the world. He had no desire to participate in this foolish war, but he had to conclude from his studies that Europe was going to explode and that the resulting fires would involve Africa and much of Asia. With extraordinary clairvoyance he deduced that Australia, left unprotected because the military men were preoccupied with Europe, would surely become a temptation to Asia and would probably be overrun.
Wishing to avoid such a debacle, he spent considerable time in determining what course a sensible man should follow if he wanted to escape the onrushing cataclysm. He considered flight into the dead heart of Australia, but concluded that although he could probably hide out in that forbidding region, life without adequate water would be intolerable. Next he contemplated removal to America, but dismissed this as impractical in view of the certainty that America would also be involved in the war.
Finally, by a process of the most careful logic, he decided that his only secure refuge from the world's insanity lay on some tropical island. He reasoned, 'There I will find adequate water from the rains, food from the breadfruit and coconut trees, and fish from the lagoons. There will be safety from the airplanes which will be bombing important cities. And thanks to the missionaries, the natives will probably not eat me.'
Fortified with such conclusions, he studied the Pacific and narrowed his choice of islands to the one that offered every advantage: remoteness, security, a good life, and a storm cellar until the universal hurricane had subsided.
Thereupon, in the late summer of 1939, one week before Germany invaded Poland, this wise Australian fled to his particular South Pacific refuge. He went to the almost unknown island of Guadalcanal."
The Casual Vacancy is J.K. Rowling's first novel for adults. Ms. Rowling is an excellent writer and her characters have an authentic voice. She knows how to hook the reader into diving into the next chapter. It didn't take long to finish this book because it was such a pleasure to read. It takes place in a picturesque small town in England where life seems ideal among the cobble stone streets and quaint shops. The death of a town council member creates a "casual vacancy" and the attempt to fill the position sets off a struggle that reverberates throughout the community. One group of citizens conspire against another. Dysfunctional families come apart at the seams. Teenagers attempting to deal with the normal angst of adolescence are drawn into the adult drama. Read the book, you'll enjoy it.
