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Touching Earth
Proverbially, second thoughts are the best. That’s not the case with second books, which tend to be a disappointment; often because the expectations born of the debut novel are rarely delivered in the second. Rani Manicka is no exception, though she is a writer of exceptional talent, and promise. Ethnic chic and exotica are the flavour of our times. So, there’s nothing wrong with writers exoticising their culture, as a setting for their stories, even if it is with an eye on the sales. Manicka’s first novel, The Rice Mother, published in 2002 was a runaway success and awarded the South East Asia and South Pacific Commonwealth Writers’ Prize in 2003. Amidst much acclaim, it was translated into several languages. Thus emerged another queen of the language from another former colony (Malaysia), to join the ranks of English novelists from this part of the world. That was a rich novel; ethnic and exotic too but a wonderful tale spanning four generations - their lives, loves and lusts woven with their beliefs, taboos, feelings. Not a dull patch in 468 pages.
I was not looking for a similar story. Nor am I squeamish about the "dreadfully sordid world" she explores in Touching Earth. It is the sordidness of the way she has gone about it: all detail and no depth. Tradition, myth, immigrants, sex, drugs and sleaze are a few of the elements patched together crudely to make up "A novel of innocence corrupted" as the cover spells it out for the benefit of those who might miss the point, if any. I couldn’t get through it, the overlong introduction of characters before she sets about her weaving of "the deadly web of decadence and sin". But there’s no telling when it comes to taste in books. Some may find ducks’ eggs tastier than caviar. If her first book’s
success saw her in the clouds, one can only hope that Manicka would
return to ground after this. She has the potential. It would be terrible
to see it wasted in tawdry tautological tosh. |
In contrast, Touching
Earth is 432 pages too long. The fault is mine, for going past
beyond the ‘Author’s Note’: "Dear Reader – If you have read
The Rice Mother and desire a similar story then I must, in
fairness, advise you to leave this book unread, for this is a dreadfully
sordid world you seek to enter".