The close relationship between humans and lower forms of animals was noted millennia before Charles Darwin found a primordial connection. The relationship broadened in Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book.
Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan Of The Apes was a popular series. The titular character of Crocodile Dundee has a way with crocodiles, not to mention a plethora of faithful dogs. Life Of Pi at the turn of the century, Spanish author Yann Martel matched a boy from India with a Bengal tiger, both adrift in a lifeboat following a typhoon.
As both were hungry the boy was at a disadvantage. But their shared plight makes them mutually sympathetic. Then, surprisingly, friends. Martel clearly researched big cats, dropping titbits of little known facts about tigers. I thought the screen adaptation fell short of the novel.
He penned works of fact and fiction since, The High Mountains Of Portugal closest to Pi in form. It is set in three periods — early 20th century, mid 20th century, late 20th century, with changes of venues. Tomas, the narrator, lives in Portugal. Wed 40 years to Maria. He opines that their son has a good job but no common sense.
Feeling stifled, Tomas has the family emigrate to Canada, more advanced than his homeland in every respect. Intelligent and industrious, he is noticed in high places and asked to stand for office. He’s elected a senator in the national government in Ottawa.
Maria succumbs to a stroke and Tomas can’t get over his grief. On a junket tour of Oklahoma, he visits a chimpanzee sanctuary and is fascinated by one. Renting Odo, (who clearly understands his new owner’s needs and wants — not sexual) they become inseparable, the author detailing how alike they are.
They have amusing adventures on planes and in hotels. In Portugal, the populace doesn’t know what to make of them. The dogs are quicker to accept them. Martel leaves the reader in no doubt that they love each other, expressed in hugs but not words, the end is sad albeit acceptable.
The High Mountains Of Portugal is both an adult’s drama and a children’s story. Most of all, people with pets will go for it. Still, there’s a difference. Owners hang on to pets until they die. Whereas with the likes of Odo, it is kindest to let them return to the wild.
Literary assembly line
There were conflicts in the 1920s and 1930s not big enough to be called world wars, but not small enough to be ignored by media. Us kids had a pretty good idea about Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia, the Japanese in China, the Spanish civil war. It was in the newspapers which we didn’t read, and on the radio newscast, which we did listen to, as they were on between our favourite serials.
Somebody got the idea of creating comic books for youngsters, each a barely affordable 10 cents during the Great Depression. The likes of Superman and Captain Marvel caught on. A number of us collected to trade them.
WWII became a problem in incredulity. Why didn’t the heroes take out Hitler and Tojo themselves? It was never explained satisfactorily, but they did manage to pulverise their armies and sink their navies. Alas, as we grew older our interest in collecting them petered out.
The comic books continued being printed, however, their sales price doubled. Much later there was an announcement that US$10,000 (349,000 baht) would be paid to those who had collected every issue. There were several winners. It pays to collect. Well, not always. I received nothing for my mid-age collection of stamps.
True collectors are a serious lot, not to say obsessed. Getting money isn’t their goal. Obtaining what money can buy is. Selfish, they mean to have the objects for themselves — not in a museum for the public to delight in them.
To this end, there are collectors who will steal, even kill for them.
Which is the theme of The Collector by prolific British author Nora Roberts. The invaluable objects are works of art created by Fabergé for the royal family of Russia. The wealthy collector and his blood thirsty hitwoman are killing people to get possession of them.
A woman housesitter and her artist fiancé observe one such murder and are determined to bring them to justice. How they go about it, with a lot of to’ing and fro’ing takes 486 pages.
With over 200 works of fiction to her credit. Nora Roberts is as efficient as Henry Ford’s auto assembly line. While not one of her multinational fans, this reviewer is in awe of her fertile imagination.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.