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The Travel Writer
Simone Lazaroo's exquisite novel encompasses irreconcilable desire and the meaning of love and fidelity in its story of four generations of the de Sequeira family.
London, 1985. Ghislaine de Sequeira lies in a hospital. Once an obituary writer in Malacca, she had practised eloquence in the face of death for years. But now she is dying, and it is her bereft daughter Isabelle's turn to articulate the meaning of life at its end.
Isabelle tries to stem her grief by seeking solace in her writing tutor and piecing together the story of her mother's post-war Malaccan life and her desire for the travel writer, a man who alters the course of both women's lives irrevocably.
London, 1985. Ghislaine de Sequeira lies in a hospital. Once an obituary writer in Malacca, she had practised eloquence in the face of death for years. But now she is dying, and it is her bereft daughter Isabelle's turn to articulate the meaning of life at its end.
Isabelle tries to stem her grief by seeking solace in her writing tutor and piecing together the story of her mother's post-war Malaccan life and her desire for the travel writer, a man who alters the course of both women's lives irrevocably.
310 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 25, 2013
It seems strangely appropriate in the wake of Anzac Day which Australians claim as a defining event in Australian identity, to discover a book which explores steps towards identity in post-colonial Southeast Asia. Simone Lazaroo, in The Travel Writer (2006) tells a compelling story of Eurasian women and their search for love in a world where they are neither one thing nor the other.
Advised by her (most unsatisfactory) English expat lover to see the Warner Brothers adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s The Letter where, he says, she will recognise herself, here is Ghislaine at the cinema in Malacca:
No dogs, durian, areca or patai nut allowed inside, the sign proclaimed in black lettering, in English, Malay, Cantonese and Tamil.
She bought herself an orangeade from the lugubrious Malay man behind the counter and took it into the rustling twilight of the theatre. She sat on a canvas chair behind the more expensive padded seats preferred by the expatriates. The audience unwrapped ingeniously parcelled food. She had brought her own wrapped durian sweets, their flavour and odour contained by cellophane and sugar.
The heads of the tall expatriates in front of her obscured her view. Behind her, the Malay, Tamil and Chinese labourers and servants chattered to one another on their hard wooden benches. (p. 231)
The labourers and servants are free to laugh scornfully at the risible depiction of Bette Davis as the Eurasian adulteress, but Ghislaine is constrained by dignity and shame…
The Travel Writer is such an interesting book, and Lazaroo is a writer of great sensual power. Whether she is writing about her characters in grey and gloomy London or in the lush land-and-city-scapes of Malaysia’s ‘Historic State’, she brings colour, texture and aroma to almost every page. And the story is captivating…
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/04/28/th...
Advised by her (most unsatisfactory) English expat lover to see the Warner Brothers adaptation of Somerset Maugham’s The Letter where, he says, she will recognise herself, here is Ghislaine at the cinema in Malacca:
No dogs, durian, areca or patai nut allowed inside, the sign proclaimed in black lettering, in English, Malay, Cantonese and Tamil.
She bought herself an orangeade from the lugubrious Malay man behind the counter and took it into the rustling twilight of the theatre. She sat on a canvas chair behind the more expensive padded seats preferred by the expatriates. The audience unwrapped ingeniously parcelled food. She had brought her own wrapped durian sweets, their flavour and odour contained by cellophane and sugar.
The heads of the tall expatriates in front of her obscured her view. Behind her, the Malay, Tamil and Chinese labourers and servants chattered to one another on their hard wooden benches. (p. 231)
The labourers and servants are free to laugh scornfully at the risible depiction of Bette Davis as the Eurasian adulteress, but Ghislaine is constrained by dignity and shame…
The Travel Writer is such an interesting book, and Lazaroo is a writer of great sensual power. Whether she is writing about her characters in grey and gloomy London or in the lush land-and-city-scapes of Malaysia’s ‘Historic State’, she brings colour, texture and aroma to almost every page. And the story is captivating…
To read the rest of my review please visit http://anzlitlovers.com/2013/04/28/th...
February 1, 2010
Rating: 3.75 out of 5
I found ‘The Travel Writer’ when I was browsing the Singapore Literature section in the library. The cover as well as the summary appealed a lot to me. Set in Malacca (Malaysia) this is a story of 3 generation of women-grandmother, mother and the daughter. This is not a structured book though. It does not follow a time line. The story of the grandmother is not very detailed but the stories of the mother-Ghislaine and the daughter-Isabelle are alternated in chapters.
Ghislaine, as a teenager, is so desperate to escape her surroundings and to explore the world that she gets involved with men who are totally wrong for her. She is looking for an escape from her grief in the form of love. She chases a dream all her life.
Isabelle, living in London, although is very different conditions from her mother, is still looking for the same thing. Love and acceptance.
Simone Lazaroo’s writing is excellent. She writes with a depth, understanding and intelligence that is very rare.
–> In the jungle near home some varieties of Orchids are pollinated by male insects who mistake their colouring and shape for female insects anatomy, my mother had told me as she watered the garden. Flowering is possible despite false love. Remember this.
–> There she was, falling open at the words her lover had marked in her as he undid her page by page, exposing her spine, leaving only this bad translation of her flapping in the wind.
I loved the first half of the book, but after some time the book got very depressing and sad, so much that I could feel the sadness affecting my mood and I wanted to finish the book as soon as possible. It also does not have a definite plot which could help you turn the pages. I’m not sure that’s a complain but too much melancholy does not work for me.
All in all, I would say I like the book and I loved the writing. I would love to read another book by Simone Lazaroo.
First posted at http://violetcrush.wordpress.com/2010...
I found ‘The Travel Writer’ when I was browsing the Singapore Literature section in the library. The cover as well as the summary appealed a lot to me. Set in Malacca (Malaysia) this is a story of 3 generation of women-grandmother, mother and the daughter. This is not a structured book though. It does not follow a time line. The story of the grandmother is not very detailed but the stories of the mother-Ghislaine and the daughter-Isabelle are alternated in chapters.
Ghislaine, as a teenager, is so desperate to escape her surroundings and to explore the world that she gets involved with men who are totally wrong for her. She is looking for an escape from her grief in the form of love. She chases a dream all her life.
Isabelle, living in London, although is very different conditions from her mother, is still looking for the same thing. Love and acceptance.
Simone Lazaroo’s writing is excellent. She writes with a depth, understanding and intelligence that is very rare.
–> In the jungle near home some varieties of Orchids are pollinated by male insects who mistake their colouring and shape for female insects anatomy, my mother had told me as she watered the garden. Flowering is possible despite false love. Remember this.
–> There she was, falling open at the words her lover had marked in her as he undid her page by page, exposing her spine, leaving only this bad translation of her flapping in the wind.
I loved the first half of the book, but after some time the book got very depressing and sad, so much that I could feel the sadness affecting my mood and I wanted to finish the book as soon as possible. It also does not have a definite plot which could help you turn the pages. I’m not sure that’s a complain but too much melancholy does not work for me.
All in all, I would say I like the book and I loved the writing. I would love to read another book by Simone Lazaroo.
First posted at http://violetcrush.wordpress.com/2010...
June 27, 2009
This story of mother Ghislaine and daughter Isabelle crosses back and forward between London and Malacca, and across generations. Superb writing.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews