If Tomorrow Comes: Book Review by Farheen Aziz

Well I had promised myself that I will live upto the great PWC English Department Tradition of the Fortnightly Book Review!

So, here goes.

I haven’t really read a new book for reviewing, but what’s new in not having read a new book? :P I’d still write a review.. and will also miss Shahala Madams’ marking my review notebook (mostly with a perfect 6! :D :D)

Now.

Ques.: Apply two literary theories (in very short) you have read on the novel you have selected for reviewing.

If Tomorrow Comes by Sidney Sheldon

Sidney Sheldon is one of the best and most widely read writers of the 20^th century genre of thriller fiction. Being a white American novelist his race consciousness has manifested itself in the novel. An element of racial superiority is evident when E. Littlechap, the black woman, remarks about Tracy, the protagonist, a white American female “You got class. I ain’t come across many decent things in my life. You are one of ‘em”. The absence of blacks from the novel, which virtually travels to a larger part of the world and the stereotypical representation when present (like the character of Littlechap in the prison) lays bare the colonial ideologies of the novelist.

The protagonist of the novel is a self dependent, self made strong woman who outwits her male counterparts and revenges the death of her mother single handedly. We read the novel from her point of view. So far as the character of Tracy is concerned, Sheldon will be lauded by the feminists, but apart from her, the female characters in general are always at the margins (there are actually no important female characters in the novel except Littlechap and Tracy) and stereotyped as seductress and to be won over by a piece  of jewellery. The novel, thus, can be said to share the anti-feminist perspective, if ever so, unconsciously. By a mysterious absence of women, except in shops or as the arm candies of power yielding men, the novel blurs its very focus, the presentation of powerful woman in a ‘man’s’ world.

The novel can be compared with Steig Larson’s Millennium Trilogy. Tracy and Salander (the female protagonist of Larson) are much alike and yet very different characters. Tracy craves for a man’s love, even after being dumped by his betrothed. She hopes that her man will come to ‘save’ her, going against the society which he values so much. Even the ‘happy’ ending of the novel is reached when she finds her true love in J. Salander, on the other hand is a more realistic character. There is no fairy tale happy ending for her, she does not believe in one. She does not respond to any promise of a ‘safe’ life, is not lured by a man’s love or care, is fiercely independent and self made. Physical intimacy is a biological need for her, shorn of any emotional connect, whatsoever. The fact that Blomkvist (a male) comes to her rescue does not mean that she needs to be ‘protected’ or ‘saved’(she has saved his life more than once). On the contrary, Blomkvist is the one who is ‘scared’, both because of the condition he finds her in and of losing her. Salander is the straightforward woman who, hardened by the childhood experiences of an unstable family life (she tried to kill her father when she was 12) never shows any emotion, and even after she has had her revenge and starts leading a ‘normal’ (by her standards) life, she is the same woman: enjoying outwitting others, living her life on her own terms and NOT locating herself in the arms of a beloved. By making Blomkvist long for Salander’s companionship coupled with Salander’s easy attitude towards him and in not giving the ending a ‘happily ever after’ feel, Larson debunks the myth that a ‘happy’ life must a stable one (especially the one with a partner). Larson has portrayed Salander like other writers generally portray a ‘stereotypical’ male character (Read, a ‘better’, superior form of human life). Larson, we can conclude, has risen above the general practice of straitjacketing male and female characters. Salander, thus, is any person, not a ‘male’ or a ‘female’. This kind of a conscious attempt, handled meticulously, ensures that Larson has made a woman the true protagonist of the novel, in the spirit and not just for namesakes. A brave attempt by Larson which, perhaps due to his historical positioning, Sheldon could not make!

 This has crossed the word limit. But, then this isnt the first time I crossed it :P

Thank Yu so much for reading.!

No SR to mark me on this, though L

/farheen