The Glamour - Christopher Priest

1 victim, 2 witnesses, and 3 statements, which side the story we should listen to.

The story was written backwards but it seemed the other way round. One of the characters, Richard suffered from amnesia, which he had lost partial of his memories. There were so many versions of his life, one from his hypnotised sections and the other from Sue. One happened in France and the other happened in the UK, which left me thinking which was the real version. When he started to believe Sue’s version, the intrusion came in when Richard found out Niall (Sue’s ex) knew everything about him, not simply “things” but his future. Everything suddenly became surreal. How could Niall know everything? Or he simply was just being schizophrenic.

"Wish you were here,” signed X. the post card from France.

Christopher Priest led us to a huge confusion. Especially the post cards, they appeared in the story 3 times featured 3 versions, First before the accident was sent by Richard, Second also before the accident was sent by Niall and third after the accident was sent by Richard. Again, which was the actual one?

"We all make fictions. Not one of us is what we seem. ... The urge to rewrite ourselves as real-seeming fictions is present in us all. In the glamour of our wishes we hope that our real selves will not be visible."

Once the narrator revealed what was the true meaning of ‘the glamour’, which was the invisibility of a person. It was like playing a jigsaw puzzle, pieces by pieces you assembled a world in front of you. When I tried to relate the whole idea of glamour to the world, it does make sense; people are always trying to hide things from each other, at home, at work, everything, and everywhere. People always hide the truth of themselves, which is why people switch on their invisible mode.

No matter you were invisible or not, people could still sense the differences. People knew you were hiding something. There is no absolute invisibility. Not knowing the truth doesn’t mean not aware of its authenticity.

It seemed like there was someone invisible behind me forcing me to turn the pages, pushing my head down. I just can’t stop myself thinking about the book. Christopher Priest really got the power to pull me into the story. This book was first published in 1984, more than 2 decades now, its actually timeless, it will captivate you within seconds.

Something Like Summer – Jay Bell

There is something unique about this book, which set it apart from its genre. Sometimes homosexual themed novels could be carried away by the idealistic life of a peaceful gay world or the protagonist always ended up with the hot cute guy or happily ever after endings. “Something like Summer” does fit into one of these shoes, however, unlike the others it presented in a more sophisticated way which takes us on a roller coaster ride.

Jay Bell takes us through Benjamin Bentley’s life. Ben came out when he was 14. Since then he had been with different curious guys, no one was really looking for long lasting love but just fooling around with him. Until one day he saw a cute jogger in his neighborhood and hoping one day they could be boyfriends. And of course life wasn’t always we hoped it was but life continued. So what happens?

The novel is broken down into 3 parts: one, high school, two, college and three, adulthood. Life is supposed to be full of surprises and dilemmas. Despite that the fact that sometimes it could be easily fit into those cheesy scenarios, then these relatable crossroads pulling you closer to Ben, feeling as helpless as Ben keep your fingers turning the pages urging your mind read faster than your actions. It would be a tough call for me, if I were Ben. I guess most of us would feel the same way too. It’s already difficult to forget your first love; it would be even harder if you have unsettled feelings for them. I kept asking myself when I was reading it, would I do the same? I love about this novel is that it kept me thinking throughout my read.

It’s really hard to run away from those stupid little mistakes we made, the real challenge is how we handle them. One wrong move could cost your entire relationship. And how strong your relationship is could also put into account. I don't know why I felt I was in Ben’s shoes, not that I have any similar happened to me. It’s the power of the author, how he decided to write about a life of a person, it feels like I was growing up with Ben. Sometime this kind of story would get a bit boring but not this one.

The story is a bit unexpected, not a bad ending nor a happy ending. I was dumbfounded and needed some time to take in what I have read, in a good way. Overall it became one of my all time favourites. And I have to say there aren’t many on that list. So I’m really impressed.