‘Crippled Hearts’ is Raj’s first full-length book. His previous efforts have been with poetry collections. The book does follow his previous, somewhat bleak brand of humor. As this involves his first character development, it is pretty amazing. It does touch on themes explored in Raj’s poetry, primarily that of American consumer culture, politics, multiple perspectives on the American dream, and various experiences of life disappointments.
Everything is told from the perspective of one Gerald Rao. Gerald doesn’t like people He states that over and over again. During the course of the book his insecurities are gradually explained. They are returned to again and again, showing how he grew into a deeply mistrustful, unhappy man.
The detail is extraordinary. I can’t call it a story as much as a voyeuristic look at some well-trusted journal. Anything you could possibly want to know about Gerald is here. Every thought is document. Every trip fully described in a near stream of consciousness. At times the amount of detail reflects Gerald’s gripe that his head is a collection of useless trivia and random tidbits of information.
Raj gives his book a maximal feel. By including all these details, he makes sure you get a sense of Gerald’s environment, upbringing, and mentality. With each new person he meets a new part of his psyche is revealed or reinforced. In some ways it reminds me of Jim Jarmusch’s “Broken Flowers”. Through these new encounters Gerald slowly grows and tries to change his behavior. Unlike Jim’s character though Gerald is considerably younger and less well off, possessing knowledge and skills that few people appear to appreciate around him.
Gerald is a shaggy dog character. The honestly he speaks to us with indicates a complete lack of decorum or basic political correctness. Essentially we’re seeing a pure form of a person, without any filters whatsoever. It is an extremely stark portrait. Gerald holds nothing back either. Crippled Hearts describes the world geometrically: with multiple dimensions involving interactions between politics, wealth, economics, and love. Oftentimes these mergers of so many ideas can feel dizzying. Plus, these ideas often parallel or complement each other, giving us a better sense of who Gerald really is, not just what he tells other people.
The cast of characters is even more daunting. Countless numbers of people go through Gerald’s life, each trying to tweak his life little by little. While we hear from Gerald about all of his dismissive comments about this or that feature about them, we slowly learn of the habits he picks up from them and his attempt to tone down his extreme cynicism. Our perception of him is only through his mind. This is often claustrophobic, particularly in the earlier section of the book where we appear to inhabit his mind.
It is a strange universe but compelling. Outlining every geographical location, down to the locals and architecture is rather stunning. And ultimately, Raj creates a believable character, one who feels like an actual, unfiltered human being.
0 comments:
Post a Comment