The Painted Alphabet : A Novel Based on a Balinese Tale by Diana Darling

Magic, depravity, spiritual ambition, sensuality and love The Painted Alphabet binds mythic and modern time together in a rich,  slyly suggestive novel based on an old Balinese epic poem.
 
Diana Darling, an American sculptor trained in Paris and Carraras, Italy, has lived in Bali for ten years  and speaks the language fluently. She has taken  an old Balinese  folk story in verse and retooled it as a fantasy that peers deeply into this exotic Southeast Asian culture.
 
Darling follows the adventures of two Balinese brothers, Siladri and Made Kerti, both of whom make very different choices in life. The central character, Siladri, fed up with evil and corruption, abandons his family to become an ascetic. Other protagonists include a bewitched girl who changes colors chameleon-like, a rich shaman who has been divorced seven times, and an old magician who talks with animals.
 
In a fresh and startling picture of Bali where witches coexist with tourists and talking animals  the novel explores a kaleidoscope of vanity, desire and the longing for goodness. The story swirls with supernatural warfare in which evil forces attempt to kidnap Siladri's niece.
 
Though the book’s characters represent moral principles, Darling resists drawing allegories, charging her first novel with a magic complexity and beautifully written prose that captures the enchantment and mystery of Balinese spiritual life. She liberally sprinkles the text with commentary about encroaching Western materialism - tourism, fast food, TV, music and film.
 
Lauded by the New Yorker  who wrote: “It is a dazzling little gem of a novel. Ms. Darling presents this odd mixture of the modern and the traditional with such ease and conviction that the book feels instantly timeless.”
 
The Painted Alphabet: A Novel Based on a Balinese Tale by Diana Darling, Tuttle Publishing 2001, ISBN 9625936432, paperback, 224 pages.
 
Available for Rp45,000 at Periplus Bookshops in the Bali Galleria and in the Matahari in Kuta, Warung Made in Seminyak, Ngurah Rai Airport (both international and domestic terminals), in Gramedia Bookstores, and in Ary’s, Ganesha and Periplus bookshops of Ubud.
 
For comments and suggestions, please write : pakbill2003@yahoo.com
Copyright@2005 PakBill
You can read all past articles of Toko Buku at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz