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April 10, 2005
Review of Rani Manicka's Touching Earth
This is Manicka’s 2nd novel, and it is heartening to see how strongly her writing voice has developed. She establishes herself as a true storyteller, and her narrative discursive style is imminently suitable to both her and her storyline. Manicka exoticises, but does so consciously, making no apology for it, managing to exoticise and retain the feeling of the exotic without hypocrisy.
In Touching Earth, Manicka introduces us to a fairly large cast of characters, from a multitude of geographical and cultural backgrounds, who meet each other in London in a location set aside specifically to house decadence and excess. Manicka spins a magical and fairy-tale world, which gradually becomes darker and more sinister and eventually, destructive and devouring. Some escape, some fall victim, and strong elements of drug abuse, materialism, and sex are incorporated throughout.
Each character is complex and attractive, and deeply flawed, which adds to rather than subtracts from their attractiveness. There are quite a number of protagonists, but the characters are methodically handled without being mechanical, and seldom does confusion arise for the reader. Each main character takes it in turn to have a speaking voice in a long chapter in the first half of the book, where they tell of their backgrounds and what brought them to their present day situations. In the 2nd half, the characters are identified by name as they speak, but speak/think in shorter sections, lending the semblance of a dialogue to the form of the novel, and reflecting the increasing interaction between them. The most central characters are the Balinese twins Nutan and Zeenat, with whom the story begins and ends.
In a curious twist, towards the end of the novel, Manicka herself appears in the story as one of the characters, interacting with some of the others, asking for their stories. Appearing as both creator and creation simultaneously is a literary device which has been handled with a light and even deft touch by Manicka, adding yet another layer or dimension to the complex tale.
It is a most readable novel although lengthy (432 pages as it appears in the Hodder and Stoughton edition), and very absorbing.
Posted by Lisa Lau at April 10, 2005 08:51 AM
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Posted by: Anonymous at April 10, 2005 08:51 AM
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