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www.thevillagenews.co.za
10 March 2021
MY BOOKS
What's new in review Compiled by Hedda Mittner
Two eagerly anticipated books that were released on 2 March and can now be found on the shelves of local book stores are Klara and the Sun by Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro and Beyond Order, Jordan B Peterson’s sequel to 12 Rules for Life, both published by Penguin Random House. Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro Hailed as another masterpiece, Klara and the Sun is Ishiguro’s eight novel, and his first since he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2017. In this brilliant novel, the author of Never Let Me Go and the Booker Prize-winning The Remains of the Day expands on the theme of what it means to be human, exploring loneliness, faith, sacrifice, love and loyalty through the eyes of an android with exceptional observational qualities. It tells the story of Klara, an AF – Artificial Friend – who watches carefully the behaviour of those who come into the store to browse, and of those who pass on the street outside. Programmed to understand humans and serve their needs, this solar-powered android is also capable of human emotions. “I believe I have many feelings,” says Klara. “The more I observe, the more feelings become available to me.” The solar-powered AFs are bought by parents as companions for their lonely, anxious, home-schooled teenage children in this futuristic world (which feels eerily like our present), and Klara remains hopeful that a customer will soon choose her. When she is finally chosen by a frail 14-year-old girl, Josie, Klara is taken home by Josie and her mother to live with them in their home in the countryside, where she has to
learn to navigate unfamiliar and confusing terrain. Through Klara’s beguilingly simple android mind, with its peculiar mix of intelligence and naivety, Ishiguro explores the fundamental question of what it means to love. In Alex Preston’s review in The Guardian he writes: …“the narrative of Klara and the Sun is energised by the friction between two different types of love: one that is selfish, overprotective and anxious, and one that is generous, open and benevolent. It feels like a message for all of us as we go about our drearily circumscribed days.” Klara and the Sun is a thrilling book that offers a look at our changing world through the eyes of an unforgettable narrator, and one that makes us feel afresh the beauty and fragility of our humanity. In its award citation in 2017, the Nobel committee described Ishiguro’s books as “novels of great emotional force” and said he has “uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.” About the author Kazuo Ishiguro was born in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1954 and moved to Britain at the age of five. His previous works of fiction have earned him many honours around the world. His work has been
translated into over 50 languages, and The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, both made into acclaimed films, have each sold more than 2 million copies. He was given a knighthood in 2018 for Services to Literature. Ishiguro studied creative writing at the University of East Anglia, going on to publish his first novel, A Pale View of the Hills, in 1982. He has been a full-time writer ever since. According to the Academy, the themes of “memory, time and self-delusion” weave through his work, particularly in The Remains of the Day, which won Ishiguro the Booker prize in 1989 and was adapted into a film starring Anthony Hopkins as the duty-obsessed butler, Stevens. Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Jordan B Peterson In 12 Rules for Life, which has sold over 5 million copies around the world, acclaimed public thinker and clinical psychologist, Jordan B Peterson offered an antidote to the chaos in our lives: eternal truths applied to modern anxieties. His insights have helped millions of readers and resonated powerfully around the world. Now, in this long-awaited sequel, Peterson goes further and delivers twelve more lifesaving principles for resisting the exhausting toll that our desire to
order the world inevitably takes; showing us that part of life's meaning comes from reaching out into the domain beyond what we know, and adapting to an ever-transforming world. In a time when the human will increasingly imposes itself over every sphere of life – from our social structures to our emotional states – Peterson warns that too much security is dangerous. What’s more, he offers strategies for overcoming the cultural, scientific, and psychological forces causing us to tend toward tyranny, and teaches us how to rely instead on our instinct to find meaning and purpose, even – and especially – when we find ourselves powerless. While an excess of chaos threatens us with uncertainty, an excess of order leads to a lack of curiosity and creative vitality. Beyond Order calls on us to balance the two fundamental principles of reality – order and chaos – and reveals the profound meaning that can be found on the path that divides them. In times of instability and suffering,
Peterson reminds us that there are sources of strength on which we can all draw: insights borrowed from psychology, philosophy, and humanity's greatest myths and stories. Drawing on the hard-won truths of ancient wisdom, as well as deeply personal lessons from his own life and clinical practice, Peterson offers twelve new principles to guide readers towards a more courageous, truthful and meaningful life. About the Author After working for decades as a clinical psychologist and a professor at Harvard and the University of Toronto, Peterson has become one of the world’s most influential public intellectuals. His YouTube videos and podcasts have gathered a worldwide audience of hundreds of millions, and his global book tour reached more than 250 000 people in major cities across the globe. With his students and colleagues, he has published more than 100 scientific papers, and his 1999 book Maps of Meaning revolutionised the psychology of religion. He lives in Toronto, Ontario with his family.
LOVE A LITTLE LOCAL
Zama lekker in Sandbaai! A re you one of the many people who have noticed the intriguing little building on the Sandbaai common, right opposite the Sandbaai Superette? Is it a tiny home, or maybe an office pod? you may have wondered. Well, actually it’s a bit of both! Richnard Marais and Jurie-Jan Swart are two young locals who have decided to pool their talents and partner in a new business venture. Jurie-Jan, who hails from Stanford and manufactures bespoke furniture, has channelled his interest in architecture into designing and building this small modular home as another cost-effective alternative to the growing popularity of container homes. Of course, it could also be used for office space or a small business –
and that is exactly what the partners are hoping to do with this one.
On the one hand it showcases Jurie-Jan’s craftsmanship in designing and building pods (or ‘tiny homes’), and on the other, he and Richnard are hoping to open a coffee shop here on the ground that they’ve purchased. Not just any old coffee shop, mind you, but a modular drive-through one where you don’t even have to get out of your car. As far as they are aware, it will be the first of its kind anywhere in the country. The interior has already been kitted out to serve their brand, Zama Coffee, to customers, and they are just waiting for the necessary permissions to open
shop. Richnard and his wife, Charlize, who spent several years teaching in South Korea, say they wanted to return to Hermanus to give back to the community. All of them had grown up here and matriculated from Hermanus High School. “Young people often leave Hermanus to go and do something cool in the city but we decided that we wanted to do it here,” says Richnard, “because it’s Zama lekker in Hermanus!” By the way, the Zulu word ‘Zama’ means to try your luck or take a shot at fortune – a most appropriate name for this innovative venture. Watch this space to see when Zama Coffee will be open. – Hedda Mittner
Jurie-Jan Swart and Richnard Marais are the owners of this attractive little pod in Sandbaai, where they are hoping to open the first drivethrough coffee bar in the Overstrand. PHOTO: Taylum Meyer
