"The Charm Buyers" Response
By Lila Kalick
Lillian Howan's novel, "The Charm Buyers," is breathtaking. I'm still spinning around from reading it, trying to sort through its tales of love, magic, truth and beauty; trying to remove my mind from the vivid setting of the Tahitian islands, while my body remains un-transported in my East Bay apartment.
As the novel progresses, we follow Marc Antoine Chen, the narrator, through his childhood/teenage years and then into his 20s. We hear about stories from his great grandmother A-tei who raised him, are embroiled in the difficult circumstances and constantly shifting landscape of his family dynamic, and navigate two intersecting love affairs he has with his cousin Marie-Laure and Aurore du Chatelet, a woman 20 years his senior from an aristocratic background.
Much of the book focuses on illusion: the illusion of love that Marc has difficulty navigating in his obsession with Aurore, the illusion of power and wealth that he emits but cannot live up to as the son of a wealthy owner of a pearl producing empire, and the illusion that the islands are a real paradise, given larger sociopolitical and cultural dynamics, and the backdrop of the nuclear testing on Mururoa.
All is not as it seems in this book, which helps us trust Marc's apathetic interpretations of the events around him, and helps us understand why he seems to fall into obvious traps. In setting up and reflecting these illusions to her readers, Howan prepares Marc as a reliable narrator. We see through our own fascination with all the beauty and magic around us in the context of this story, how Marc could get swept up in such things.
This is done, first and foremost, through the contrasting of Marc's romantic relationships with Marie-Laure and Aurore. His relationship with Marie-Laure is presented first, and it gives us context for how Marc knows a true and stable love with someone he knows and respects. This is contrasted with the feverish love he feels for Aurore. Later in the book, as he reflects on his ideas about magic and his experiences of love in a conversation with De Koning, he says, "You can't ever really know for sure if someone loves you. You feel it, but you can't prove it a hundred percent. I mean, maybe they're just fooling you. Or maybe they want you for other reasons. You never really know do you?" (pg. 249) I found this quote particularly important in the context of his developing journey. He questions everything, which makes me trust his even more.
Another expert way Howan includes this idea of illusion and reflection is by making Aurore a painter. Aurore's paintings present an alternative interpretation of life in Tahiti to what Marc sees and describes. This builds on another theme that she uses to create a reliable narrator, subjectivity. By underscoring the existence of subjectivity in all storytelling, the reader is reminded of the idea of multiple truths. This is turn makes Marc seem more reliable as a narrator, and the reader more prepared to accept multiple perspectives. Philipe MuSan's character drives this idea home with the following:
"'Truth is different for everyone,' said MuSan. 'Show me a hundred people and I'll show you a hundred different versions of what's true. A hundred different stories.'"(pg. 292)
We also see Marc's struggle with the illusion of wealth, power and beauty that comes from his parents' reputations and pasts. Through his narration we see how someone who outwardly could be considered privileged in every respect could feel disadvantaged in other ways. This become particularly poignant when he loses all his money and begins to live a more humble lifestyle.
Finally, in the illusion of the islands as a paradise, we see how the nuclear testing erodes the pristine environment of Papete and the once thriving economy there, creating a shaky political landscape, resulting in mysterious illnesses for the islands inhabitants, and sending a once high-flying Marc into poverty.
These themes of illusion and subjectivity help sweeps us up in the story and in the end make it easier follow one truth, Marc's, throughout. The ending similarly is left open to interpretation by the reader, leaving you at once again astounded by the multiple faces and realities of beauty, truth, love and magic presented in this tale and making you question your own thoughts about them. I am excited to read about how everyone was able to observe this book, because there's so much to unpack, and I feel any analysis I've been able to do is barely scratching the surface.
Lillian Howan's novel, "The Charm Buyers," is breathtaking. I'm still spinning around from reading it, trying to sort through its tales of love, magic, truth and beauty; trying to remove my mind from the vivid setting of the Tahitian islands, while my body remains un-transported in my East Bay apartment.
As the novel progresses, we follow Marc Antoine Chen, the narrator, through his childhood/teenage years and then into his 20s. We hear about stories from his great grandmother A-tei who raised him, are embroiled in the difficult circumstances and constantly shifting landscape of his family dynamic, and navigate two intersecting love affairs he has with his cousin Marie-Laure and Aurore du Chatelet, a woman 20 years his senior from an aristocratic background.
Much of the book focuses on illusion: the illusion of love that Marc has difficulty navigating in his obsession with Aurore, the illusion of power and wealth that he emits but cannot live up to as the son of a wealthy owner of a pearl producing empire, and the illusion that the islands are a real paradise, given larger sociopolitical and cultural dynamics, and the backdrop of the nuclear testing on Mururoa.
All is not as it seems in this book, which helps us trust Marc's apathetic interpretations of the events around him, and helps us understand why he seems to fall into obvious traps. In setting up and reflecting these illusions to her readers, Howan prepares Marc as a reliable narrator. We see through our own fascination with all the beauty and magic around us in the context of this story, how Marc could get swept up in such things.
This is done, first and foremost, through the contrasting of Marc's romantic relationships with Marie-Laure and Aurore. His relationship with Marie-Laure is presented first, and it gives us context for how Marc knows a true and stable love with someone he knows and respects. This is contrasted with the feverish love he feels for Aurore. Later in the book, as he reflects on his ideas about magic and his experiences of love in a conversation with De Koning, he says, "You can't ever really know for sure if someone loves you. You feel it, but you can't prove it a hundred percent. I mean, maybe they're just fooling you. Or maybe they want you for other reasons. You never really know do you?" (pg. 249) I found this quote particularly important in the context of his developing journey. He questions everything, which makes me trust his even more.
Another expert way Howan includes this idea of illusion and reflection is by making Aurore a painter. Aurore's paintings present an alternative interpretation of life in Tahiti to what Marc sees and describes. This builds on another theme that she uses to create a reliable narrator, subjectivity. By underscoring the existence of subjectivity in all storytelling, the reader is reminded of the idea of multiple truths. This is turn makes Marc seem more reliable as a narrator, and the reader more prepared to accept multiple perspectives. Philipe MuSan's character drives this idea home with the following:
"'Truth is different for everyone,' said MuSan. 'Show me a hundred people and I'll show you a hundred different versions of what's true. A hundred different stories.'"(pg. 292)
We also see Marc's struggle with the illusion of wealth, power and beauty that comes from his parents' reputations and pasts. Through his narration we see how someone who outwardly could be considered privileged in every respect could feel disadvantaged in other ways. This become particularly poignant when he loses all his money and begins to live a more humble lifestyle.
Finally, in the illusion of the islands as a paradise, we see how the nuclear testing erodes the pristine environment of Papete and the once thriving economy there, creating a shaky political landscape, resulting in mysterious illnesses for the islands inhabitants, and sending a once high-flying Marc into poverty.
These themes of illusion and subjectivity help sweeps us up in the story and in the end make it easier follow one truth, Marc's, throughout. The ending similarly is left open to interpretation by the reader, leaving you at once again astounded by the multiple faces and realities of beauty, truth, love and magic presented in this tale and making you question your own thoughts about them. I am excited to read about how everyone was able to observe this book, because there's so much to unpack, and I feel any analysis I've been able to do is barely scratching the surface.
I think your point about the existence of illusions in the novel serving to make Marc a reliable narrator is really interesting. The basis of the novel, from the beginning, seems to be that it is difficult to discern between lies and truth. After all, the novel's first line is, "The things you've heard about me - they're true, especially the lies." You know from the start that not everything is believable. I think another thing that lends to Marc being a reliable narrator is that he so often avoids telling us how he's feeling - although this ironically makes him a reliable narrator of his surroundings, while causing his own inner self to become unreliable.
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