Letters

Dear God

Dear God,

There are twenty-six presents hidden in Connecticut homes today that were intended for those who died in Newtown to celebrate your upcoming birthday. These presents are unlikely to be returned for refund; they’ll more likely be hidden deeper, brought out on certain anniversaries to grieve, blame or regret until one day in the distant future somebody’s executor might donate them to a charity, unknowing of their provenience. It will most likely be a church charity you’ll be pleased to know, so maybe you could consider something in return. Continue reading →

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

the-perks-of-being-a-wallflower

This book is a refreshing departure from more regular coming-of-age stories both in style and approach. Stephen Chobsky takes a literary risk in requiring his readers to follow the narrative in epistolary mode – the central protagonist communicating entirely through his letters to an unnamed confidante. The risk pays off once the reader gets the cadence and language of the first-person writer and from there the voice becomes very natural for both the character and the story.

Clues like Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and the popular practice of boys making music ‘mix-tapes’ for girlfriends, put the action in the early nineties. The wallflower is Charlie, a mid-teen schoolboy without friends until he ventures to approach fellow students Samantha and her gay stepbrother Patrick. Continue reading →

An overdue letter.

Dear Vincent,

As we are unacquainted it is somewhat presumptuous of me to write this unsolicited letter. I felt compelled to do so following my visit to the Museé d’Orsay this afternoon, where I had the pleasure of viewing the gallery dedicated to you.

Like many of my generation, you were humanised for me in Don McLean’s 1971 tribute composition ‘Vincent’. The song described you, your tragic life and a number of your works, in particular ‘The Starry Night’ 1889 which has since become the most representational of your works worldwide.

Currently on display at d’Orsay is ‘Starry Night’ 1888, Continue reading →