Rollercoaster ride
SELINE AUGUSTINE
RICHARD M. ROTHMAN'S Intelligent Endings consists of a motley bunch of stories that evoke sadness and try to convince you that human nature is anything but beautiful. The characters that people the pages of the book are almost without exception those who inhabit the world of sleaze. Take for instance Robert who appears in more than two stories. Described as a mass murderer, in the very next sentence, he is made out to be the second most popular man in all United States.
Conning, manipulating and double-crossing — these are what the protagonists of the stories are good at. Along with the Judge in "The Exit Strategy", you want to ask: "man, hasn't enough backstabbing gone on already? Is there some sort of competition to see who can sink the lowest?"
The unrelieved pessimism that pervades the book bogs down the reader. "Redeemed" takes a swipe at religion. Confess-o-Matic is automated confession machine (ACM) to purvey pardons for a price. We are told that the average believer was simply fed up with Hail Mary's and Our Fathers and was happy to "pay, rather than pray". Will the hour produce the man, another Martin Luther, perhaps?
Author Rothman, an American diplomat presently posted in Mumbai, has, besides the dregs of society, served up a few modern technology-driven innovations like the Dream Machine — where the supercomputer brain transforms the dream brainwaves into cartoon images and Focussed Reincarnation (FM) — by which one can kill oneself and then turn into anything one wants such as a cat or dog as "suicide is old-fashioned and doesn't solve anything." There is a dash of humour in a few of the stories, but it borders on the sardonic kind.
In the second story, the grandfather props up a superhero and details his exploits to shore up the sagging courage of his little grandson, Nick. But the kid's responses are filled with images of aggression. Reason: too much of sugary cereal! Reminiscent of Roald Dahl, the twist in the tale comes at the end where grandpa plans to get a gun for Nicky to deal with the bully in school.
Sabatini in "Head of the Class" turns virtues on their head — neither honesty nor selflessness is to be sought. He lashes out against what he terms as middle class morality and urges his wards to be rid of guilt and fear. "Jake and the Apostles" goes along like a regular love story of a rich man trying to find a girl who'd like him per se and not for his riches, when you realise it is a hasty conclusion. Manipulation is all. A powerful tale is the Concentration camp-based "Living Doll", where the doll prised away from a protesting Jewish mother-child duo before they step into the gas chamber, is given to the ailing daughter of the German Commandant. The latter's child gets out of her sick bed but begins to talk in Yiddish. Divine retribution? Poignant stuff. New York-based artist Bill Negron has illustrated the stories.
Intelligent Endings; Richard M. Rothman, Rupa & Co, Rs. 295.
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