Escapism with truth thrown in
Columnist John Nolte took on this theme in his first novel Borrowed Time, published this September. I bought it almost immediately and read it in two days. Then I proceeded to re-read it, savoring my favorite parts. I’m still re-reading chapters.
This is not a typical science fiction story, although the premise begins that way: a man born to a tribe of North American Indians, so ancient they predate all others we know about, learns he cannot die. Or rather – he dies, and then comes back, always to the same spot in the southwest desert.
We learn just enough about Joshua Mason’s life across the millennia to understand his frustration and fascination with the “All-at-Once” – Mason’s term for the stupendous amount and rate of change that took place in only the last 150 years of his existence. To him it seemed as if modernity hit “all-at-once” – the machines, the speed, the conveniences. His love of modern air-conditioning made this Southerner smile.
Not about the woo-woo
Mason is far wiser than most he meets today, who are never happy, never have enough, never stop to think how blessed they (and we) are. Written by a lesser author, you’d get the feel of a forced sermon. But Nolte is too good for that – Mason’s thoughts are woven into the book’s central plot: a love story. Nolte never hectors the reader.
Mason loves Doreen so fully that he gladly participates in their “secret” marriage. He spends 30 years as her handyman at the motel she runs on a back road bypassed by the interstate. Guests are so few no one realizes it is the same handyman over the years. How they cope is a blend of comedy and tragedy, especially after Doreen’s brain-damaged grandson comes to live with them. He is not just physically ill; the car accident warped his soul as well.
Their love story, and the people they meet over the years, are the reason I come back to the book. Even the evil characters in this book are painted in full, allowing us to realize why they act the way they do. Every time I came close to pitying a major antagonist, I realized that character’s choices made them the way they were.
Thankfully, there are a few in the book who are purely happy. And these people, Mason thinks, are the few he’d want to live forever. They are content. They make me think of Paul’s words:
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need.
Philippians 4:11b-12
Notes from Aunt Gem 