Thursday, June 20, 2019

Suresh de Silva's The Eternal Dark : Requiem



Oh where and where have this book not traveled with me! This picture is one I took in Dubai where I was reading it during a quiet moment. Several weeks later I was reading it in Galle, and then in Negombo and then on my commute to work.

Safe to say, this book has seen quite a bit.

Anyhoo,

When Suresh de Silva announced the launch of his book ‘The Eternal Dark :Requiem’ I think we all did a raised eyebrows ‘eh?’

An old manor, a weeping willow, ectoplasm, children who aren’t children, rats and grandfather clocks was all I personally got out of that introduction. Needless to say, this piqued my curiosity.
Six strangers, randomly chosen at a first glance are chosen to stay at an ancient manor for a period of one month. Each one is handsomely rewarded for this adventure. That is how the story begins. And that breathtaking cover! I'd have that on my skin as a tattoo any day. 

Let’s dive in shall we?

The ambiance

For an old school romantic such as myself, old gothic manors with a deep, dark history have a very strong appeal. This age old grand manor with its massive garden and elegant weeping willow up front, stone statues resembling children is the stuff of dreams and its happenings, the stuff of nightmares. Grandfather clocks that suddenly spring to life in tentacles and mouth-less children with doe like eyes with razor sharp teeth, mind-twisting orgies (yes, orgies) and people being possessed to the point of biting off their own fingers – this is heavy stuff people. Be prepared.
The ambiance is sweet, sweet music to this weird little heart of mine which loves and revels in all things dark and unusual. I love places with history and adore places that has their past stamped with stories. And here he is writing of an all-expense paid vacation in a sprawling gothic manor with so much history within it. In essence I believe Suresh is writing about my dream vacation!  
I fell in love with the manor. So much so I would have gladly raised my hand and volunteered to transform myself into the albino creature with a disturbing obsession of feeding the manor with human souls.  

The style

What I love the most about this piece is its visual and cinematic style that draws in your mind’s eye exactly what the author wants you to see. Mind you, this isn’t something that is unique to this book, it is Suresh’s style which is vividly portrayed even in his song lyrics. The extreme lucid imagery keeps you engrossed and enthralled that it’s difficult to get those images from out of your head even if you wanted to at a latter time. The images are a combination of beauty and the grotesque – we have a beautiful manor worthy of architectural adoration and then we have the gross and grisly juxtaposing against it. I also loved the juxtaposition of the resplendent rose and the tiny albino creature – again a beautiful contrast of beauty and beast.

When he describes the storm outside you can almost feel the turmoil in the air, that sinister feeling that something evil is brewing crawling on your skin. When he describes the wet and clammy mouthless children with teeth for their eyes, we feel the terror in our veins. This is something definitely to love in this book.

Suresh’s way of incorporating erratic flashbacks into the manor’s troubled past, the back and forth between the characters’ own dilemmas and the present havoc that is unfolding seems at once overwhelming and a little all over the place at first but then it all ties up so magnificently well in the end. The complex web is woven with subtle hints and omens of what is to come and it is also so well hidden that it is difficult to even discern that they were forebodings of things to come. It is through these flashbacks that we answer the most important question – why the manor became what it is, why each person is who they are, that light bulb moment that suddenly swoops upon you and gathers everything into a comprehensive bundle, not unlike your mother descending upon your chaotic room and gathering the dirty laundry into a basket and setting some method to the madness (Suresh, I am not calling you my mother, mind you). And even the apparent haphazardness of the writing style represents for me, the turmoil inside each and every character and also the storm brewing inside the manor itself. If it was a linear text like everybody expects it to be, it would not have had the desired effect.    

The research

It is evident that copious research has gone into this book. I love how Suresh draws parallels to Sri Lanka’s colonial past, drawing inspirational gems and pearls out of it and utilizing them to his advantage. Here’s a man who makes do with what he’s got. He has this breathtaking manner of yarning facts and fiction to the point that you are completely immersed in the very soul of the storyline. The flashbacks are vivid and descriptive and also serves the purpose of explaining why the manor became what it is – which eventually turns the manor into a character in itself, something I am yet to come across in a work of literature. For me, the flashbacks are an integral part of the work itself which pumps life blood into the storyline giving us readers more material to fuel our imaginations.

The characters

There are 6 main characters here, each of them well drawn out, well detailed and each with their own flaws and inconsistencies, just enough to make them unapologetically human. It is remarkable that Suresh hasn’t painted any of the characters white – each and every one of them have their special traits - which also happen to be their flaws for the most part which essentially decides their fate – which I think is a clever twist. We have Ranjit – the soft, fatherly architect, Keve – the macho crossfit trainer who is also an ad man, Afzel – the shady little tech wiz, Michelle – ex blogger and former beauty queen and Jeremy – Creative writer and adorably chaotic fellow. Out of the 6 Lady Nazira, the elegant psychic has to be my favorite – the silent and perhaps the physically weakest of them all who also ends up being the strongest of them all. I just love the grace with which she operates and the wisdom that she exudes, acting Mother Hen to them all.  
   
The language

Oh boy I love those wacky little swear lines! (kids, cover your eyes). “Fucking duckshit on a kebab”, “high as a satellite”, “what in the Saturn’s butt ring”, “shit on a kakki stick”, “Fucking badu banis” being some of my absolute favorite terms (which I am sure I, myself will be using at desperate times when it calls for elaborately graphic terms for describing my life in general when the proverbial shit hits the fan).

The only thing that irked me however, were the long, winding sentences which made it not exactly a light read. I like my sentences short and sweet, but that is of course, a personal preference.

The ending

For the pure fact that I love happy endings (yes even in horror. I'm a big fat softy yo) and this is not a happy ending or a closure which I would prefer next to a happy ending, I am saddened by the end. He could have maybe even killed all the characters off and given us that closure. But Suresh is not going to give us that closure now, is he? He wants to keep us hanging there just a little longer, have just the tiniest hope for the only characters who are left with whom we’ve developed a bond.

Aiyo. A wicked one the author is.

Bottom line – JUST READ IT. For people who love fantasy, gothic horror such as myself this is an extremely rewarding read that will guarantee you goosebumps and a bloody good time. It is also great in the sense that the Requiem is extremely thought provoking and you will find yourself entwined in philosophical threads that makes your think, question about everything you have taken for granted in your life. Read Eternal Dark: Requiem because you owe it to yourself. And I am the happiest that in a country and community that turns up its nose at horror writing, there is yet another gifted individual writing in that wonderfully twisted style that only a true horror fan would admire.

We need more horror writers in this country – especially like this one.