M

M is for 'Miu'.
Have you read any Murakami? Have you? His books have changed me for life. They have crept up to me on eerie and dark nights, his words have haunted me on seemingly normal days, and his characters... his men and women, his cats and telephones, they'll be a part of me for as long as I live and think. Miu is one of the three major characters in Sputnik Sweetheart. Sumire, the other girl, falls for Miu. They spend time together, lots of time. Sumire is an aspiring writer and K, the narrator, is in love with her. It is a triangle.
But then... then Sumire disappears. And comes back. Strange... strange; I mumble to myself, reading in the glow of a red lamp, rain drenching Delhi. Whenever it rains, I turn to Murakami. Something happened to Miu. Something that cant be told about here. Sputnik, the satellites, Violet, cruel... the ferris wheel, carnival, cruel. You must go now, go away...

from http://booksandstories.tumblr.com

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali, Long John Silver & Lisbeth

  

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction, that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday... 

L

L is for 'Long John Silver' & 'Lisbeth'.

I LOVE Silver. He's dashing, smart, charming, prudent, and handsome. He's the pirate in Treasure Island and probably the first dark guy I fell for... sigh. His relationship with the teenage boy protagonist Jim, is very interesting. At first, we do not know that Silver is leading a mutiny. For all we can tell, he's the regular good-spirited sailor with a parrot named after his ex-captain. He regales the whole lot with tales of his parrot's buccaneer background. Slowly, his dark side, his cunning is revealed. There are so many layers to the character of this man. Gorgeous.

Silver with his parrot called Captain Flint

Lisbeth is the very famous 'Girl with the Dragon Tattoo'. She is socially inept, has had an abusive childhood, and is a misanthrope. Yet, she's talented, courageous, has a photographic memory, and is very inspiring. Rooney Mara did a briiliant job of her image in the movie. She SHOULD have won the Oscar. I love intelligent women and I am attracted to dark creatures; no wonder I'm so fascinated by her. This trilogy is one bestseller that really deserves selling.

Rooney Mara as Lisbeth

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste, Kali

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction, that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

K

K is for ‘Kali’.

Kali is a form of Durga, a form of Parvati, from the Hindu mythology. She is said to be pitch black, aggressive, and ugly, terrifying. Her presence signifies death, carnage, and destruction. Even a vision of hers is considered ominous and her devotees worship her to pacify her.

The physical dynamics of the character has been retained in the seond book of the Shiva trilogy (The Secret of the Nagas) by Amish Tripathi. I’m not big on Indian authors; their English is at best halting and their vocabulary is limited. There are, of course, exceptions. But not this one. But that has been compensated for by the absolute hype created around religion and deities.

I’m not religious; but I liked Kali. She is ugly but is portrayed s a nice person. She is a Queen of a clan with a great personality and defined focus. She is deformed and has four hands and is dark; her clan is made of people with such and other deformities. And yet, I was attracted to her magnetic persona. Now the final book of the trilogy hasn’t released so I haven’t a clue if her character will turn out to be twisted. But I sure hope that doesn’t happen…

PS: This is a late post because K was a tough letter to draw out a character with.

Image courtesy: http://www.deviantart.com/

So far: Atticus, Beth, Cassius, Dumbledore, Estella, Francesca, Gandalf, Humbert, Ishmael, Jean-Baptiste

I'm writing every day of April for the A-to-Z April Blogging Challenge 2012. I'm writing of characters of fiction, that are immortal and touch hundreds of lives everyday...

J

J is for 'Jean-Baptiste Grenouille'.

This guy is the main character in 'Perfume'. If you've read the book or the Alan Rickman movie (I hear it's very good too), you already have shivers down your spine. Jean has a heightened sense of smell... he can discern the many different notes or undertones of smells. Of everybody and everything around him! This condition is a classic case of synaesthesia, where one form of sensory stimulus (here, sight or taste) is perceived as another smell).

Understandably, this socially inept and weird boy gets picked up for his gift by a perfumer. It was a good choice because Jean makes him very successful because he whips up new scents without any regard for process or protocol. But, like all twisted characters, he eventually embarks on a quest to make the best perfume of all... the book is replete with his dark ways of doing it. Eventually, he is caught for the multiple ruthless murders of young girls; the climax of the book when he is about to be hanged is brilliant. I relate to him because I relate a lot to the smells of things and people... not a good thing to relate to a psychopath!

Not connected, just my favourite poison... oops! I meant perfume.

I

I is for 'Ishmael'.

I fell in love with the novel 'Moby Dick' when I was eight. I was a goner from the first like 'Call me Ishmael'. As I grew up, the tale of the great white whale appeared to me with a hundred other thoughts, a ton of other mysteries. And with the knowledge of the Bible came the appreciation of the protagonist, a school teacher turned sailor, Ishmael.

Abraham and his wife Sarai (in religious history, of course) were unable to conceive. So, Sarai suggested using her Egyptian handmaid Hagar, as a surrogate. Thus, Ishmael was born. Years later, however, Sarai got pregnant and delivered a baby boy, Isaac. Driven by jealousy, she convinced her husband to drive away Hagar and Ishmael. They spent years in the desert and yet the boy was to become great. All of that would eventually lead to Moses. But I get carried away.

The plot of Moby Dick is symbolical. The cruel and madly driven captain of the ship Pequod, Captain Ahab, has only one aim in life, to kill the whale Moby Dick. Ishmael narrates the story and somewhere in the middle of the book,  he becomes omnipresent and almost able to read peoples' minds.

Illustration from an early edition of Moby Dick (from Wikipedia)

Moby Dick is a thrilling tale. It is one of those books that must be read as children and reread as adults.

H

H is for 'Humbert'.
I, for one, have a very different opinion of Lolita (read about it here). I hate Humbert too, not that I don't. But, I don't think he's gross. I mean, come on, Lola was a child, but she wasn't immature. She wasn't traumatised either. I am against abuse, but Humbert truly loved her. And love can never be limited by age. Sigh!
I have re-read Lolita twice, just to hate him like most other readers do, I have failed.

Lolita & Humbert (from the 1962 movie)

If you are reading this and haven't read the book, you should. This kind of novel is not written too often and Nabokov has worked true magic here. I Hate him, I don't Hate him too.

G

G is for ‘Gandalf’.

What a man! What a glorious wizard… I loved his character best in LOTR. Grey beard, flowing white robes, and a whole lot of wisdom. What I like best about him is that he is practical; he knows when exactly when he has to run! J I won’t say much about him because honestly, I read the book a long time ago and I don’t remember much of the finer details.

Der Berggeist, said to be Tolkein's inspiration for Gandalf (from Wikipedia)

G is also for Grandpa.

He is my hero and my inspiration. Today, it’s been a whole year since he was diagnosed with an inoperable tumour on his pancreas. Since then, he has had two major surgeries and countless minor procedures. He’s lost 40 kilos and needs help with his daily needs. And now he has good days and bad. His spirit is undaunted. He still keeps track of every minor event at my workplace and never fails to wish me luck. He will probably never be the same again physically, but to me, he represents the greatest wizard of all time!

Grandpa and I, 1991