My
last blog post triggered an invitation from my friend to join a book club. The
book club has been in existence for the past 10 years and very systematically, one
of the members presents a book every month. Sounded interesting to me and I decided
to attend a couple of presentations before deciding to join.
After
attending 3 sessions, I was formally inducted into the Happy Book Club. I had been
designated to present a book in June. I was asked to do it in April or May, but
that was a peak period at work, so I preferred June. I had chosen the book “The
Moonstone” by Wilkie Collins. I had first read this book when I was still in
school and somehow the story stuck in my memory. Last year, I came across
another book by the same author and that’s when I decided to read it
again. I thoroughly enjoyed it and so, I
decided to share the same with the group.
The
first step was to re-read the entire book so as to figure out a strategy for
the presentation in less than 2 hours. I have a habit of reading books on
Kindle, so I underestimated the size of the book. I ordered a printed book and
got a shock when I saw the size of the book. There was no way I could read
significant chunk of the book. To give you an idea of the challenge involved,
here is an intro to the book.
The
Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British epistolary novel,
which means it is written as a series of letters. It is generally considered to
be the first detective novel, and it established many of the ground rules of
the modern detective novel.
The
Moonstone of the title is a diamond, not to be confused with the semi-precious
moonstone gem. It gained its name from its association with the Hindu god of
the moon, Chandra. It was said to be protected by hereditary guardians on the
orders of Vishnu, and to wax and wane in brilliance along with the light of the
moon.
Rachel
Verinder, a young English woman, inherits a large Indian diamond on her
eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt British army
officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious significance and
extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests have dedicated their lives to
recovering it. The story incorporates elements of the legendary origins of the
Hope Diamond (or perhaps the Orloff Diamond or the Koh-i-Noor diamond).
Rachel's eighteenth birthday is celebrated with a large party, at which the
guests include her cousin Franklin Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress
that evening for all to see, including some Indian jugglers who have called at
the house. Later that night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a
period of turmoil, unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. Told by
a series of narratives from some of the main characters, the complex plot
traces the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace
the stone and recover it.
Now,
how do I present such a long book, which is a detective novel in a summarized
manner, and that too, including all the significant events without missing any
links in the chain of detection? Whenever there is a problem, Google will show
the way…. I found chapter-wise summarized notes on the internet, that formed
the basis of my presentation. I had a starting point. Now, I had to tweak the
notes in such a manner as to leave out unnecessary bits, condense it further so
that I could hold the interest of the audience and complete the story in less
than 2 hours.
Being
a verbal faculty probably came to my rescue as I was comfortable with the
concept of para-summary. The biggest challenge was to sustain the audience
attention. I chose to read out the prologue, the epilogue and a description of
events related to the disappearance of the moonstone. For the rest of the
story, I used the summary notes. To my bewilderment, the entire group of 12
people managed to stay hooked on to the story, guessing, deliberating, debating
and commenting through the presentation. I was warned that there could be
interruptions, but being a teacher, I could manage that comfortably. All of
them praised my efforts and said that it did not look like a maiden
presentation at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and I am looking
forward to doing more presentations.
