Spontaneous Musings

Per Wales suggestion, I watched BooK TV on CSPAN this Sunday - Khaled Hosseini, the writer of The Kite Runner gave a brief talk then answered questions from the audience. The talk was mostly autobiographical - he told us how his family fled Afganistan in the early 1980s, just as the Soviet Union was invading. Which was rather interesting, I suppose - but depicted far better in his book. After all if writers could just tell you their stories, orally, what would be the point of writing fiction about them? The Kite Runner is a fictional novel, but like all the best lies, (yes, all fiction is lies told well, no one ever told you that? Course I'm equally skeptical of non-fiction, but that is another story) is based on kernals of truth. There is something to be said for writing what you know. IF you attempt to write what you know nothing about, do no research, and just whing it - people will see through you. They'll see the lie. If you don't believe in your story or your words who else will? If you don't know all the ins and out of it, the twists and turns, then the reader/listener will see through you. (Sorry tangent, plus overselling my point again. Smacks self.).

But what stuck in my head, were three things Khaled said during the Q&A period.

1. In response to a question about the meaning of a pomegrant metaphor in The Kite Runner:

I've been reading a lot of fiction lately, partly as a response to reading so many medical texts to become a doctor. It's almost a relief to be able to get back to it. At any rate, fiction is an interactive experience.
You are seeing the actions of the characters through your own point of view. And the metaphors.
Whenever I think about asking the author about a metaphor, I decide not to, hesitate, because I'm a little afraid of his answer. That he'll say something like "oh I just came up with it watching someone eat a pomegrant on the subway and thought it looked cool." Most of the time the author may not know what he meant or intended let alone remembers. So asking them, takes away from my experience with the book. I'm disappointed. So, I've learned that I really don't want to know. So to answer your question - it's what you thought it was. That's your experience - reading the novel. (Not exact, the gist - I can't transcribe worth shit but that's the kernal of what I remember)

2. In response to a question about his novel becoming a movie:

I've seen the script and it was rather good. But I was astonished how much of the book didn't and couldn't make it into the film. But as the filmmaker told me, Mr. Forrester, "The adaptation process of novel to movie is a lot like vandalism. You have to vandalize the book in order to make a movie out of it." Not all of it can go in.

Interesting...

Still fascinated by Lost - each episode is better than the last one. This week's focused on two of my favorite characters, Jin and Sun. It also introduced a couple of new characters played by actors who are long-time favorites - Cynthia Watros and Michelle Rodriquez (also seen in episodes 2 and 3). Lost was in desperate need of strong female characters and it's gotten two in the form of Watros and Rodriquez. Two actresses who are good in just about anything they pop up in. I adore the format of Lost, the flashbacks that tell me why the characters feel the way they do, and the feeling that each character is struggling to figure out who they are and how they fit in.

hankat said an interesting thing about the character Lock in her journal, which I identified on a personal level. She stated that Lock seemed to be convinced he was found, and wondered how many times he had to utter, but this wasn't supposed to happen this way until he realizes that he needs to find himself and it is a continuous process. I went, oh, yes, now that's interesting.

A note on my interest in Lost, I'm not interested in the plot points or metaphors so much as the characters and their journeys. I don't tape the show to rewatch and remember very little of the smaller details. I just watch enthralled with the characters and their emotional journeys - which I currently identify with. The other reason, I adore Lost is that it is an ensemble show. There is no true lead. This past week, we got no more than brief cameos from Jack, Lock and Kate. And it's clear that any character could be offed at any time. Also, I more or less enjoy all the characters.