Review: Poignant Paradox
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 22, 2012
Luke is a spirit between one life and the next, washing around in the sea of time and memory waiting for the moment when he is reborn. At the mercy of the whims of the current, he flows through his own life and the lives of others from his past life and future life on a bizarre train of feeling and thought (that seems a lot like my regular thinking patterns...eee). The moment that he longs for, his own rebirth, is approaching. He yearns for his mother, Astrid, who suffers through a painful life that he wished to be. His wish to be born as her child tipped the scales between her life and death and she survived. He then adds her experiences to his own in his drifting, joining her in her painful struggle through life until the moment of his birth.Don't worry. Thea explains right at the beginning of the book what "One Insular Tahiti" means.One Insular Tahiti is both beautiful and awful, comforting and repulsive, heartwarming and disgusting. Don't worry, it's supposed to be. Luke's life and Astrid's life are not lovely journeys through happy times. They suffer through some of the worst events and afflictions a person can endure. These sorrows make their joys all the sweeter.I don't believe in reincarnation myself, but I am always fascinated by other ideas about the afterlife. I can't help but compare my own beliefs to the beliefs portrayed by the author and imagine how the story would be different in my hands. The philosophy of life and death is very different from my own, but I could put myself in the place of the characters and see just why they believed the way they did.Thea's writing is vivid and gripping. I found myself itching to move on to Luke's birth, hoping as he did that the next chapter would be it. I joined him in his feeling of dread when he saw another awful epoch of his past life rush in again, and in his elation when he encountered moments of joy.These characters were so real that I wondered if they came from experience of  the author or someone she knows. Afflictions that I know nothing about, but wonder about, are explained in a moving manner. The writing really made me feel I had seen through someone else's eyes, understanding their feelings and motivations. I really liked that! It didn't change my beliefs, but it did make me feel I gained sympathy for others' perspectives.I really enjoyed One Insular Tahiti and I would highly recommend it to adults who are prepared for its depth and dark themes. (I received a free review copy of this book from the author.)