Michael Proust, on the trip, said: " The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes." Italo Calvino, however: "Arriving at each new city, the traveler finds his past that he did not know most of you: the foreignness of what you are no longer or not have more awaits you at the gate in strange places, not possession. "
While Charles Baudelaire: "But real travelers departing from and for just: hearts mild, similar to balloons that only moves if ever, they always say" Let's go, "and do not know why. Their desires are the shapes of clouds. "
Based on these beautiful, poetic, delicate and harmonious, but especially true, quotes of a certain caliber of people we all know, the affacciamoci book by Michael Zadoorian, TRAVELING formers.
Journey is Wrong a book that welcomes many subjects and capture them, almost presenting them in succession almost as a stop-motion, outlining through different strokes, different colors, different shades, depending on the accent with which deserve to be offered and transmitted to the reader.
There 'who considers him a travel book (and it undeniably is), there' who see it as a comedy but also bitter (and here I think it is difficult to deny) , who still sees it as a novel paradoxically dramatic training, which has much to want to teach.
The plot, in its structure, is linear and simple: a pair of octogenarians, very playful, free-range, hyperactive, mischievous, sparkling, decided that there is no 'time to lose: you must leave, take their Leisure Seeker old traveling companion when they were interminable 'young, and escape the most' far as possible from a life which is sadly leaving. We both are diagnosed with a serious disease and degenerative: John, Alzheimer's, she in a merciless cancer. Are they to be devoured by an incurable disease that afflicts them. And I'm fully aware. But decided not to bow to fate, at least not now, and so ' hastily prepare their flight across America. They have a choice so sudden, well-balanced, without fear, without hesitation, without skepticism, without hesitation. It looks like a typical juvenile behavior, anarchic, subversive, unconventional, impulsive. A sudden flight organized by a pair of octogenarians in search of a freedom to enjoy until the end, I decided to break away from their fate decided to wear, to attack with all their hearts to what little remains of their lives. It 's a philosophy, a belief, not a desperate attempt to recover everything' that is lost or not lived. Because they, in their extraordinary lives, have had it all.
John and Ella, holding hands, kissing, still think of sex, they see each other again in the eyes that flame of passion, desire and tenderness that has accompanied them since kids today in a long journey together and that you are still off.
journey, through, than with their old camper almost coast to coast, the United States, in their awesome size, in their frightening desolation in their colossal force, in their extraordinary variety of colors and landscapes . Suns, John, Ella, the campers, their illness ... and slides. Yes, because in every camp, where they stop, they set up a real cinema complete with a projector and screens, and we shoot up all the slides of their past. And their comments are the background music to view. And never mind if John, you forget the name of his wife but remember to detail moments, moments, unusual, seemingly irrelevant.
It passes through breathtaking panoramic views to mournful and desolate ghost town, a desert steppe where is the absolute silence to dominate and where the colors seem to be afflicted by a chronic depression, from paved roads or streets dirt on which the camper shows his age and his labors, through some fabulous camping, disturbing others in their sad look left up to the hotel (do not worry so much money available, we also invest in a huge suite) and restaurants to eat exactly the foods that should be avoided, especially if sick (hamburgers, french fries, alcohol, Pepsi by the gallon and so on).
Many meetings are born on the road, as expected. In fact, John and Ella will come across the street with hippies who want to drink with our grandmother and have slipped to look at the film of their projected life improvised on a video screen, which criminals attempt to rob them but are eventually driven out, kids 14 year olds already struggling with a daughter to care that are gently invited to a dinner in campers, and many other characters such as waitresses, hotel clerks , gas stations crossing their story still to tell, until the end of everything. The numerous slides take along, will add many more frames, new shots gradually worn down the street, as if seeking help desperately, but also with dignity and conscience, to stop time, to ensure that we should not worry about the "after".
Theirs is not a desperate flight, driven mad by fear of death that you want to avoid at all costs. Theirs is a desire, moving, to stay together, strongly united, to prove again what 'that since boys have never stopped to offer: unconditional love, great attention to each other, strong independence from other, hand in hand, a lot of laughter, understanding each other on the fly without the use of words, as determined by a character strong, resourceful, tough, determined. But perhaps the most proof 'that there may be great on this trip is a' other: the be still alive and mostly live TOGETHER. Because often we read between the lines and not in the book, perhaps the only true, great, terrible fear is the same: to remain alone, without the other, without the other. And here is that the matter would become excruciating. The very thought of such an eventuality, he sends them in crisis, blackouts.
It 's a book at times bitter, but full of hope, reflection on which to reason, to entr'actes hilarious, but also moving to tears. Reading their question and answer, I can immediately think of Raimondo Vianello and Sandra Mondaini. Who knows why.
even in the most 'painful, where John loses his memory, does not recognize his wife or himself, or when in the camper and his wife in the bathroom and part throttle dell'autogrill forgetting to have a wife on board, or in bed when it gets wet, and demonstrates the independence of a child, or full of pain when she chastely risk of falling to the ground and then implanted to stay in bed, there is a light that never fails to illuminate their journey. Miles and miles of anxiety, fear, certainty, comfort, confidence with a glance every now and then turned to a past which have given so much and they got the same. The children, worried of their flight, constantly anxious, desperate to convince them to retrace their steps, grandchildren, waiting to be pampered by their grandparents, all awaiting their return home. But they are directed towards the sea and from Disneyland and do not want to hear any reason which would prevent them from finishing the final draft of their life.
The absolute beauty of the book, I think, is that they are not to dominate the negative feelings such as anxiety, fear, sadness, despair, but on the contrary, chills emotional as love, the value a priceless smile and a look, a full consciousness of themselves and still be alive and strong, capable everything. Even and especially in a context in which the drama is in theory have to move the pieces, the disease. But no, they are to be imposed on drivers of their existence, or at least what remains of them, without being blackmailed, or impose or dominate from a fate that seems to have already decided the ending for them.
Life is lived only once, they understood very well and John Ella, who despite severe obstacles that are placed between them, continue to practice their little rituals like nothing had happened, to place strong , energy, full emotional involvement without brakes. The battery is running out for them but want to leverage what little energy remained that still feeds them to ward off any negative feelings, to keep a safe distance from easy regrets, and enjoy the height of their physical and mental what is given them.
seems to be a happy old age, a disease that there is' but with whom you can live with great clarity and intelligence. But there are moments of killing, all right, so 'as a non-acceptance of what will be, many questions will arise, especially on the end of it all without his sweetheart at his side. It 'a hymn to freedom, love, journey: and the mixture is born mixing these I would call a lot more 'than just the values \u200b\u200band beliefs, is the fundamental reason why life must be loved in every way and in spite of everything. And I forgot, is the number one reason why as a reader, all at an extraordinary council dispassionately read like this.
Finally we mention a better pill to Mark Twain: "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you did not do that for the ones you did. So give up the tops. Get away from the safe harbor. Take your sails with the winds. Explore. Dream. Discover. "
