Jostein Gaardner's Through A Glass, Darkly

This is my first attempt to review a book since after high school; hopefully I could come up with nice one. I have forgotten the technicalities of book reviews so this initial try and probably the few succeeding reviews, should I say, are “trial-and-error” writing experimentations until I come up with my own style. Basically, this first one is just what-goes-on-in-my-head-and-I-don’t-give-a-damn sort of thing.

Why do book reviews? I’m a self-confessed bookworm and I feel that my opinions on a particular book would be put into neurotic garbage if I share it only with myself.

Here it goes:

Book: Through A Glass, Darkly
Author: Jostein Gaarder

I came across this book through TMC’s book club. It’s a story of a terminally-ill girl, Cecilia and her personal contact with an angel named Ariel. Everybody in the household knew that she was dying, except Cecilia herself. Though the specific disease was not mentioned in the book, it was vividly clear that she became weaker as the day moved on.

The story started during the Christmas season, a few days before Christmas to be exact. Cecilia, through their annual celebrations, has had perfect images on how to spend Christmas with familys. She was eager to be part of the activities, even to the point of being stubborn. She knew what she wanted and demanded to the highest levels just to get it. Then she met Ariel, an angel far different from what Cecilia imagined angels to look like. This angel was totally fascinated with human life and he tried everything to extract information from Cecilia on how it feels like to live. On the other hand, Cecilia doubted the existence of Ariel and demanded for proofs of his divinity. They agreed to exchange information in the hope of helping each other understand the nature of their worlds.

As the days passed, their friendship became deeper. Though Cecilia became weaker day-by-day, her wisdom on heavenly persona and matters increased vastly, making her prepared to face her inevitable and soon-coming death.

Through A Glass, Darkly is a sad book about dying. It has a different view about divine life, though not totally absurd. Ariel, for example, was described as having no hair and wings. He looks like a child though he’s been around since Creation.

The setting and timing added to its gloomy plot. Who would want to have a dying family member on Christmas season? It was also winter when this story took place, signifying coldness and loneliness. These 2 winter characteristics could be metaphorically compared with death and dying.

Mystiques say that angels communicate with living people through sleep. One could view this as Ariel’s way of communicating with Cecilia. For one, every contact with Ariel happened when Cecilia suddenly awakened from sleep. The angel never showed himself to other members of the family. Lastly, whenever the Angel was around, Cecilia was jolly and strong, unlike when she was with her family.

I feel that the book came short in the end. If I would come up with my own ending, I would leave signs for Cecilia’s family that she is now peaceful, so they too could have peace of mind. There was no mention of the family during her time of death. It was just Cecilia, moving to the other side of the glass, never coming back.

I believe in what the author is trying to convey. Life is like looking through a glass. It is full of mysteries and we only have the slightest idea about it. We see things as it is, like staring at a window. For us to have a better understanding, we need to move to the other side. In this story, for us to get a better glimpse of life, we have to go to the other side of its glass – experience death and live in eternity.

I am not really fond of sad stories, but I found this book inspiring and insightful in a way or another. It's a good read for people into such kinds of novels. The words used are light and easy to understand making it recommendable even to children ages 9 and up.

I would give it 3.5 stars (5 is the highest, of course).

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I’m thinking of starting a TMC book club for nurses and other health care providers. What do you think Pauer? =D

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