Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
If copying something is the highest form of flattery, then Jasper Jones is a tribute to Harper Lee's classic, To Kill a Mockingbird. There are many similarities. Children as innocents caught up in events bigger than themselves; a mysterious recluse who holds an important key to solving the mystery; a wise father; themes of racial tension…
There are also plenty of differences. Craig Silvey's novel is firmly Aussie, in idiom and tone, and self-deprecating humour. It is also an excellent portrayal of an Australian country town, with its fondness for tradition, its pompous official figures, its veneer of "civilisation", and a sense of brooding brutality fuelled by alcohol abuse.
I hope this description does not turn you off reading the novel, because there is fine writing here from an up-and-coming author. Silvey is in his mid 20s, and had already written a well-received novel, Rhubarb, by the time he was 19.
It is a book that will appeal to many audiences since it is a pseudo-biography (first-person and seemingly factual narrative), a crime/mystery to be solved, a domestic drama painfully played out, and a gentle adolescent romance.
Jasper Jones is a fabulous creation of fiction; a part-Aboriginal abandoned teen, street-wise beyond his years, he sees clearly while adults are confused and ineffective.
He knows too much about the seedier side of humanity, but also has an abiding hope, and a confidence in his own gifts, strength and determination.
He is matched for incandescence by the perky Jeffrey Lu: smart, witty, Vietnamese, indefatigable and a cricket tragic. In spite of being used and abused by those less talented and less intelligent, he also perseveres with an amazing resilience.
However the hero of the book is the narrator, Charlie Bucktin, a nerdy 13-year-old, dragged out of his comfort zone by witnessing a terrible secret. Once his naivete has been shattered he sees his family and the townspeople through a new lens. Much of the book is about Charlie trying to figure what is truth and what is fiction-making.
This world isn't right. It's small and it's nasty and it's lousy with sadness. Under every rock, hidden in every closet, shaken from every tree, it seems there's something horrible I don't want to see.
All this seriousness is lightened by some fabulous phrases and dialogue (ignoring the slightly puerile teen egdes), such as Jeffrey and Charlie's ongoing argument about whether or not Batman is a superhero:
Batman is just an eccentric billionaire with insomnia! He's a vigilante, not a superhero. Because he doesn't have superpowers. He just has a cool car and a handy belt.
However in the midst of the truth versus myth theme, Jasper and Charlie have a couple of conversations about the state of the world and the existence of God.
“What kind of lousy world is this? A world that kills parents and makes orphans of children and kicks away cricket balls and lies through its sharp teeth… Bugger it. There is nothing directing this stupid play. There can't be. If there is, He's a crueller bastard than they give Him credit for."
It's the argument thar God cannot be all-powerful and all-good because if he was all-powerful he would intervene, and since he doesn't, he can't be all-good. If he is all-good then he would intervene, and since he doesn't, he can't be all-powerful.
Jasper and Charlie are fairly convinced, after all the horror they have seen, that prayer and God and Jesus are just palliatives:
I guess it must be comforting to actually believe in God and Jesus and all that, it must fill in the spaces so you don't have to worry about it anymore. But it's a bit like closing a door when there's a cold draught, isn't it? It's still cold out there, it's just that you don't notice anymore because you're warm.
In the end it all comes down to what you have, and how good your heart is.
Perhaps Jasper and Charlie come to this conclusion because they have such poor parental role models, and they have been betrayed by all the authority figures in town. It is a pity that this secular postmodern perspective has become the creed for these two vulnerable boys in a story set in the 60s.
They do not return to the subject of God in spite of developments and growth in other areas. Perhaps their perspective changes through the course of events, but Charlie does not let us know.
However, in a book about a search for truth, about the need for forgiveness and grace, about the beauty of nature and the importance of relationships, God's presence is felt in spite of the silence.
