Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Chucking the Dragon by Mark Wilde




Whoa! What a book. Firstly, I just love the whole design of the book. Secondly, Mark Wilde has kickass taste in music. Thirdly, this is some attention grabbing story.



A problem I have with some Sri Lankan books is that they have a nice story but they are told so badly that it ruins it for the reader. The story in Chucking the Dragon is not pretty: a young man who is preparing to attend the University of Colombo finds himself hooked on heroin. The son of privileged but somewhat indifferent parents, he ends up doing anything and everything to get money for his drug habit. In the West such stories are a dime a dozen, but here in Sri Lanka this is a first. And though many not want to think so, this could be the story of many young people today.



Written as an autobiography Mark Wilde takes you on a wild and bumpy journey that covers almost everything sordid - from being a rent boy, to drug overdoses, to painful withdrawel symptoms when Wilde wants to kick the habit - the reader is spared nothing. Wilde reflects the typical young arrogant university student attitude of having an opinion on everything, living life on the edge and hellbent on the road to disaster. The writing is edgy and sometimes x-rated, it pushes the boundaries of Sri Lankan English writing which I like. And let me hasten to add that I do not say because Wilde uses four letter words that his writing pushes the boundaries. I say it because his sentences trip on the tongue like a drug induced monologue. For much of the novel, Wilde stays in character.



Now what is this story about. Chucking the Dragon, is Wilde's tortured tale of kicking the heroin habit. Hence the title, with the dragon referring to heroin. But it begins when he is still an addict, with only other addicts as friends, having lost the love of his life, and at his first year at university. At uni he feels a misfit, so while other students are talking of careers and love affairs, he goes into the toilets to shoot up. He ends up almost dropping out but yet with minimal studying he does better than the regular students. Is Mark Wilde saying something about the standard of university education? Eventually, Wilde disillusioned with his life, decides to kick the habit by going cold turkey in a beach shack down south. However, after almost a year of being clean and renewing old friendships and lovers Wilde contemplates going back on the habit.



This is one of my must read books. If I have a criticism it is that some things didn't ring true. The title page says Mark Wilde is not his real name. The guy knows very little about Colombo University life and certainly doesn't know much about the difference of middle class or privileged Sri Lankan lives. Some situations are more suited to a Western landscape than here in Sri Lanka and the writing sounds squarely American. I would not be surprised if Mark Wilde the writer turns out to be an ex-pat kid or an international school product. The fact that he emphasizes he goes to Ananda makes it wierdly out of place, but that is a minor point. This is one novel where it doesnt really matter. For to tell you the truth, this is a tale that could be anywhere. For while admittedly the sense of place is somewhat lacking in this case who cares. It is one heck of a tale.

The Gratiaen Prize in neglecting to at least shortlist this novel (I am told it was available for sale at the Gratiaen shortlist so I am presuming it was submitted) reveals itself to be narrow minded and old fashioned. Sri Lankan writing in English needs to not only talk about villages and walauwas but reflect modern Sri Lankan life as well. Chucking the Dragon is one of the most original, thought provoking books that I have read written by a Sri Lankan in a long time. If the judges had been less prudish, perhaps they may have given this book the chance it should have got.

20 comments:

  1. yeah, bought the book at the Gratiaen short list event.Shocked it was left out after reading it but hope it does well here and maybe abroad, coz it does have the capacity to connect with anyone anywhere, i think

    - Jeevan

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  2. I don't know, but apart from the way Sam dresses it reminded me of the people at Colombo Uni when i was there. great layout and narration

    - Abeeth

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  3. "I would not be surprised if Mark Wilde the writer turns out to be an ex-pat kid or an international school product" how would you explain his understanding of social issues and his pro JVP stance?

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  4. What a compelling review! Even though there seems to be much to criticize about this book, I am impatient to read this book to come to my own conclusion.

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  5. I know his real name and who he is. He did go to Ananda. He never went to University, though.

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  6. How on earth do you know that???

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  7. He didnt go to uni?...hmm, but reading his descriptions of the Uni it sounds more like Kelaniya than Colombo...any thoughts?

    Abeeth

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  8. I agree with you Abeeth. However, I highly doubt that he wrote it based on his own experiences. I think that he may have got his information from several students and changed it up to make it appeal to the young, english-reading, westernized youth of Sri Lanka. The evidence for this are the quotations from popular songs and references to a load of pop culture. What does everyone else think?

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  9. I totally agree with the comment that the "Some situations are more suited to a Western landscape than here in Sri Lanka and the writing sounds squarely American"
    IT was the first thing that came to my mind when reading the book.. but it sounds more British than American... Mark Wilde is obsessed with describing everything in dollars... he calls three wheelers "Tuk Tuks" now no Undergraduate of Sri Lankan will use the term TUK TUK .... and there are several other indications too ...
    anyways the book is very radical ... one of the best novels to come from Sri Lanka ..

    Amaresh

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  10. hi,

    just discovered your blog, love it! where can I buy this book? more to the point, where can i buy to stock at the barefoot bookshop?
    it sounds wonderful.
    thanks so much for the review.

    kind regards.

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  11. i think the book is available at barefoot

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  12. will check on stocks then... thanks.

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  13. Damn, i have not seen this much comments on any book before

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  14. WHat most drew my attention was the author's evident disdain of the 'middle-classes' and his view that things like holding a job, amassing professional qualifications or having a family is categorised under 'middle-class activities'.

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  15. @Spaz: I don't think he considers any of these things 'bad.' what he criticizes is limiting 'life' for these things only. and i didn't see when he said having a family is bad

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  16. I just read the book and I must say it is absolutely fantastic. I think its a disgrace this book was left out of the Gratiaen awards because this book should have won it!

    Of all the "Sri Lit" books out in the past 10 years, there were two books that were completely different to the standard walauwa life, ethnic crisis, tsunami, war, abused women and human rights themes that our writers seem to focus on. One was "when life gives you lemons, make limoncello" and the other was "Chucking the dragon."

    Limoncello was written by a guy who lived overseas most of his life and worked as an english teacher and it basically takes the piss out of all the Italians. I thought it was absolutely hilarious. Chucking the Dragon was the other extreme with a gritty topic and was superbly written. For some reason I kept being reminded of the movie trainspotting when I was reading it.

    Whoever Mark Wilde, is, I think he should write more because he is an amazing talent. The mediocre writers who are media darlings like Ashok Ferry, Ameena Hussein and others should sit up and take notice because Mark Wilde is in a different league to all of them...

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  17. well this year's gratiaen seems to be worse. suicide club was short listed? i couldn't get past the first para.


    Btw, Wilde heavily quotes trainspotting and less than zero in the book.

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  18. Care to post an extract? One or two paragraphs, just to get a flavour of the writing?

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  19. I hated this book to start with, loathed it. But about halfway through I thought I'd figured it out. Perhaps this book was a brilliant satire on modern Sri Lankan life. Flailng into the 21st century, the country has abandoned it's rich history and clung to the coat-tails of western society, reciting pigeon English catch phrases, slogans and ideologies garishly and without shame. I assumed that 'Mark Wilde' had attempted to capture this by writing a book which contained almost no original ideas, dialogue, plot, character, themes, even character names. In fact if you want the short version of this book I would google "quotes+disillusionment" and you're get this book without all the enthusiastic adolescent graphic design.

    For shame Mark Wilde. The worst part was you had such a rich canvas - the premise of Chucking the Smoke was great; a Byron reading nihilist living in Colombo during the war - That's a great book already. Now you just need to learn how to write, instead of merely reference.

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  20. Just finished the book and I must say that the use of English is highly commendable but the use of words such as "ain't" is pretty unsuitable, based on Sri Lankan context. The author seems to be trying hard to portray himself as a sort of "rebel without a cause" and a modern day "Kurt Cobain". He just seems to be trying too hard to come off as a "Don't give a fuck, let the good times roll" sort of guy. I really do appreciate the in-depth review of this book.
    All in all, I felt that the book lacked depth. But once again, the use of the English language was very good indeed. But the book kinda left me wondering whether I want my money back!!

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