“I can’t stop thinking about you.” Powerful words, that. Among all the treasures in that box, I was particularly taken by this one: And there is Al, Min’s friend, the one who has absolutely no opinion about things that truly matter. Slaterton is a basketball star with all the good looks, self-entitled, dense spirit that come with the entire package. It is really unwrapping the whys hows whens that make up the jeweled tears in this box. It is clear from the beginning that this unlikely romance between Min Green and Ed Slaterton is doomed. It is filled with well-intentioned promises, hopeful tomorrows, and golden keys that could open absolutely no doors (nor windows for that matter). Maybe not tangible ones that we can hold in its crumbling, mouldy, paper-foldness – but one that we can smell and touch in our mind’s eye, a snapshot in space. It has taken hold of me – because we all have boxes like this. Yet despite my self-confessed cynicism and sharp tongue, this box speaks to me like no other. As if children, taxes, bills, mortgage, an entire history of togetherness do not enter the picture. It glimmers.Ī Box Full of Heartache. Do you have a box of treasure like this? Aptly-labeled ‘Fragile’ with the fresh wide-eyed, burning-with-naivete tag: You either have the feeling or you don’t. Yet if one truly opens oneself up to the experience and take this trip along with Handler, I assure you that there are glimpses of such staggering heartbreaking genius (allusions to Dave Eggers here), sparkles of pain masked in filmy obscurity, windows of absolute raw truths trapped in rolling credits – one has to grasp it lest it is blown through the wind or shredded into little pieces or added into the box it is ‘dumped’ forever. I could imagine that others may roll their eyes or even be exhausted by the codes heaped upon codes upon seemingly-private jokes of which the reader is hardly privy to. There are a great many allusions to movies and actors and actresses and strange scenes and bottles of Pensieri and other exotic tidbits that exist only in Daniel Handler’s inventive mind and brought to life so vividly through Maira Kalman’s artwork. Before I start waxing lyrical about this book, be warned that this is not a book for everyone. I am ‘arty’ perhaps like Min Green, the “Stargirl” of this brilliant book.
Asian Festival of Children’s Content (AFCC).Literary Voyage Around The World Reading Challenge 2018.#WomenReadWomen2019 (A Year Of Women Reading Women) Reading Progress.#ReadIntl2020 (Year Of International Literature) Reading Progress.#DecolonizeBookshelves2022 Reading Progress.#DecolonizeReading2023 Reading Progress.
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