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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (July 6, 2017)
JULY 6, 2017 // 3 SCRATCHPAD By ERICK BENGEL FOR COAST WEEKEND I fi nally got around to reading “The Mountain Shad- ow,” Gregory David Roberts’ long-promised sequel to his gorgeous 2003 debut novel, “Shantaram.” And, I regret to report, the book is so bad it almost makes me question my judgment of its predecessor. Indeed, it’s hard to accept that these books came from the same author. My copy of “Shantaram” — a gift from a good friend with good taste — sat in a box for six years. I had my reasons: The book is big (933 pages), the type small, and the opening passages hint at coast a preachy self-help exercise masquerading as literature — the sort of trendy twaddle that spiritual-but-not-religious readers use to add inches to their New Age collection. Even knowing it was the semi-autobiographical story of a Melbourne man, Lin, who had committed a series of armed robberies to feed his heroin habit and, after escaping from prison, lives as a fugitive in Bombay didn’t compel me to dig it out. But I was wrong to wait. “Shantaram” is an elegant, full-bodied epic that has earned its cult status — a book you need to read if only to witness its audacity. Set in the 1980s, the story INSIDE THIS ISSUE weekend CALENDAR COORDINATOR REBECCA HERREN ON THE COVER CONTRIBUTORS HEATHER DOUGLAS MARILYN GILBAUGH RYAN HUME BARBARA LLOYD McMICHAEL KAELIA NEAL See story on Page 10 14 COAST WEEKEND EDITOR ERICK BENGEL ADVERTISING MANAGER BETTY SMITH PHOTO BY COLIN MURPHEY 10 takes us from Indian slums and prisons, to the inner sanctum of Bombay’s mafi a, to the mountains of Afghan- istan during the war with the Soviets. It is a gritty, glorious meditation on co-existing communities and cultures, of pure evil and self-transcending love. You savor it slowly and mindfully, the way you savor a long banquet, because it is so rich and fulfi lling. Now comes “The Moun- tain Shadow,” released in 2015. It is exactly the book I feared the fi rst one would be: a pretentious slog, bloated with shallow Eastern-sounding aphorisms and heavy-handed symbolism (not to mention a white man’s well-meaning but arts & entertainment Actors take the stage during a rehearsal of “She Loves Me” by the Peninsula Association of Performing Artists. 4 ‘The Mountain Shadow’ a disappointing sequel THE ARTS ‘Shanghaied in Astoria’ New director brings play back to its roots FEATURE New items for publication consideration must be submitted by 10 a.m. Tuesday, one week and two days before publication. TO SUBMIT AN ITEM ‘She Loves Me’ Staged by Peninsula Association of Performing Artists DINING Mouth of the Columbia The Hot Box BBQ off ers luscious bite of pig FURTHER ENJOYMENT MUSIC CALENDAR ................... 5 SEE + DO .............................12-13 CROSSWORD ........................... 17 CW MARKETPLACE ......... 18, 19 GRAB BAG ................................ 22 To advertise in Coast Weekend, call 503-325-3211 or contact your local sales representative. © 2017 COAST WEEKEND Find it all online! CoastWeekend.com features full calendar listings, keyword search and easy sharing on social media. Phone: 503.325.3211 Ext. 217 or 800.781.3211 Fax: 503.325.6573 E-mail: editor@coastweekend.com Address: P.O.Box 210 • 949 Exchange St. Astoria, OR 97103 Coast Weekend is published every Thursday by the EO Media Group, all rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced without consent of the publisher. Coast Weekend appears weekly in The Daily Astorian and the Chinook Observer. condescending views of wom- en and the Third World). The story centers on Lin’s growing unease with his role in Bombay’s crime syndicate. Because he’s still running from the law, Lin can’t make a clean escape. With that dilemma unable to quickly resolve itself, Roberts allows the supporting characters’ subplots to spin the wheels, giving us nearly 900 pages of relationship drama and repetitive street violence, while our hero fondles his knives, talks to his motorcycle, and utters gems of wisdom such as: “Women have a psychic witchy spooky talking-to-the-dead way of knowing everything you think.” Worst of all, our favorite characters — including Didier, the fi ercely loyal comrade and openly gay killer; and Karla, the hauntingly beautiful pragmatist who knows she’s the smartest person in the room — have been reduced to shuffl ing on and offstage, like the cast of “Friends,” to offer Lin overwritten wisecracks and pseudo-philosophical advice. “The Mountain Shadow” is the second installment in a planned tetralogy (a prequel and fi nale are allegedly on the way). But devotees of Book 1 would be better off imagining their own “Shantaram” spin- offs. “The Mountain Shadow” is a book begging to be over- shadowed by fanfi ction. I was recently in a local bookstore and pulled a slick new edition of “Shantaram” from the shelf. The bookseller saw me thumbing through the pages. That’s a good book, he said. It is, I replied. Then I told him I was halfway through “The Mountain Shadow,” and it’s just awful. He concurred — and, in fact, had given up on the sequel. He allowed “Shantaram” to stand alone. I wish Roberts had done the same. Scratch Pad will occasion- ally serve as a platform for the editor’s refl ections on arts and culture. CW
