Bookworm Deluxe : Glass Cathedral

I just had a revelation while clearing my bookshelf trying to find "Sophie's World". I realised that I have six shelves of books on the main bookcase at the second floor hallway, another three shelves of books in the study room, and yet another two shelves of books on the study table in my room. And these are all storybooks (which includes novels, comics, and compilations), not academic textbooks.

Which got me suddenly reflecting that since I have such a vast collection ranging from Shakespeare to classics to contemporary to comics to horror to fantasy to romance to adventure to crime, why have I not posted a single book review? And since I notice that not many people I know actually read, why do I not take the initiative and introduce a book? Sonic posts his music reviews at times, K will post his movie reviews, so why do I not start off with book reviews?

Besides, I was (still am) an English major. There are so many interesting and controversial books which I have studied, all the way from upper secondary English Literature, so why do I not review them and share my thoughts at the same time? Thus I have decided to try to post one or two book reviews every week. They will be categorised under "Bookworm Deluxe". And yes, some of the reviews will include Shakespeare works.

I came across this long-lost book written by local author Andrew Koh. The title is "Glass Cathedral". This was one of my Literature texts back in NIE when I was doing a module on Singapore writers. The joy of doing Literature - you get to actually read a storybook and claim you are studying, and half your textbooks are storybooks! Anyway, we studied Andrew Koh, Catherine Lim (still my favourite local author), and local poets Boey Kim Cheng and Dr Alfaan Sa'at.

Since there are so many good local writers, somehow why do these writers not able to break into the worldwide market and make a living just by writing? And I am talking about real writers who write real good English with not a trace of local colloqualism. Why can J K Rowling be so famous just because of her story of the boy wizard who tries his best to save the world from the dark lord?

But I guess local writers still base their stories on locals, with a bit of local slang peppered here and there, thus not many foreigners can relate to our slang. (Read Sonic's post on the difference between "chop" and "stamp" and you will understand what I mean.) So books by local authors will still be considered as "bad English" if it is sold overseas.

I chose to start with this book firstly because it is very Singaporean in its context; secondly it is on English Literature and religion which I can relate to; and thirdly, it talks on the question of homosexuality, which is a fast growing trend.

The gist of the story is that two university English undergraduates, Colin and James, are in a gay relationship. Colin is the typical heartlander, staying in a three-room flat in a typical HDB estate, while James is the rich man's youngest son, who stays in one of those big houses that have koi ponds, big gardens and a swimming pool, and with a room that is even bigger than Colin's entire flat. Both are Catholics but go to different churches. They study, club and hang out together, but Colin will spend every Friday night at James' place where they will indulge in some homosexual love-making.

Colin has a childhood friend called Norbert, who had just been ordained as a priest. He is the type of priest that will venture into brothels to visit prostitutes not to do the act, but to pray for them. But Norbert is gay. He as much as confessed he had been in love with Colin since young, but Colin took him to be only a brother.

Colin and James had a mutual friend, a girl called Rani, who sort of suspected their relationship but kept mum about it. James bought Colin a pen but lied to Rani and his mum that he bought it for a girl called "Rose". Anyway the story goes that Colin confessed everything to Rani and James was so angry that he wanted a break in their relationship.

Father Norbert was found visiting brothels and caused a scandal. Catholics in his church spread rumours about him having mistresses, sleeping with prostitutes, seducing young boys and sexually abusing them, and he was stripped of his priesthood as a result. The story ended with Colin and James ending their relationship, Norbert entering teaching, and he and Colin saw James actually holding hands with a pretty girl.

Andrew Koh is both very frank yet controversial in his writing. He brought up lots of points regarding religion and homosexuality and the ugliness of man. The book started off with the sentence, "English. That was where I met him", and ended up with the same sentence after James and his girlfriend passed by Colin and Norbert. How significant!

There was no indication of Colin's homosexuality until the third chapter, but in the first few pages, the author dropped hints here and there. Despite all the girls in the tutoral class, Colin chose to keep his eyes on James, observing his hair, the way he answered questions and his dressing, like how a guy will scout out a girl he likes. Then the next chapter brings us to how Colin imagining James in the buff, since he works out a lot.

And the book stereotyped Catholics as being "running after images of Mary, saying the rosary morning, noon and evening, believe that Jesus is really real in the bread and wine and that the Pope is infallible". I do not believe Catholics do that. In fact those I know do not!

And James' house is very typical Singaporean as that it has traces of staunch Christian beliefs like the statue of Bernadette and the Virgin Mary, yet there are bonsai plants and "good luck" carps around, like a fusion of Christianity and Chinese beliefs so dominant in most Chinese homes.

The one interesting point that was being made was when James and Colin were discussing about love and relationships, James brought up that heterosexual and homosexual relationships are no different, so you either have a girlfriend or a boyfriend, do not need to feel squeamish and just come off it and admit one is gay.

There is even an explanation on masturbation about how it is self-abuse, and that the injunction in monogamous marriages is defined as the union between a man and a woman, so masturbation violates this injunction in a fundamental manner. Thus, homosexuality, as according to the Bible, is a mortal sin, a terrible disorder, but as long as there is no carnal knowledge, being attracted to someone of the same sex is just platonic friendship.

But actually most guys I know do masturbate. As what my friend said, it is very normal and a sort of growing up for the guy to get rid of aching loins. And homosexuality is very subjective. What is gay? Happy and joyful. An ironic meaning for what it stands for. But people can be happy and joyful in a homosexual relationship; in that case, why do couples in heterosexual relationships not declare they are gay? Are they not happy and joyful then?

Colin and James' courtship is just like a normal heterosexual courtship of a guy and a girl. Dressing up extra nice to impress the date, calling up in the middle of the night and getting so excited when he agress to go out, blushing in the presence of your loved one, waking up at 7:00am to get ready for a 10:00am date, etc. As one reads on, one cannot help but feel that they are two normal people in a normal relationship, albeit both are of the same sex.

Norbert being heart-broken when he found out about James and Colin's relationship reminds me of the rejection of unrequited love by the object of affection. He is very human in this aspect. Most people may not realise this, but priests are also humans who do sin and make mistakes (ok I may get struck by thunder and lightning soon), but priests are still highly-respectable as they actually give up their entire lives dedicated to the service of God. They do try to lead as godly a life as possible.

The relationship has ups and downs as well, just like a normal relationship. Colin is depicted as the "female", the more submissive one, the one who cries more, the one who is more sensitive and emotional. James is the "guy" guy, the more domineering one. And the break-up is like a typical break-up of an insecure and noncommital guy to a girlfriend when he wants to end things.

At the end of the book, one can draw conclusions that James may have already been two-timing Colin, probably with the pretty girl whom my classmate guessed that she may be the real Rose. That is why the excuse that comes with the break-up is a weak excuse, the typical "I want to concentrate on my studies and you can find someone better" excuse so blatantly used by guys when they want to ditch a girl.

Besides all these, the book also delves on the narrow-mindedness of people. Just because Norbert was seen going into a brothel by one member of the Parish, tales spread like wildfire. It shows the typical Singaporean mentality that people do not look at bigger pictures when seeing things. After all, what may seem on the surface may not necessary be true, but human nature is such that gossip thrives on scandals, be they true or false.

I remember slamming this book when it first came out. I wrote an entire essay on how I slam homosexuality and controversy in the religion, and how priests should be perfect and not even think of love and relationships. But upon reflection, I began to see the bigger picture that every character in the book and every sequence of events truly reflect real situations and real people.

Perhaps this is why this book is such a good read, as locals can relate, and the characters, despite their confused sexuality status, are still very human and face normal problems humans face - problems like relationships, friendship, the struggle in doing the right thing over the wrong thing. And it is even more eye-catching as it talks about a gay relationship being able to function as a normal heterosexual relationship. I believe this book will not be half as interesting if the characters are of a guy and a girl, with a typical boy-girl relationship and third party situation.