'The Black Rose Cat'

Veeraporn Nitiprapha's 'Memories of the Memories of the Black Rose Cat', พุทธศักราชอัสดงกับทรงจำของทรงจำของแมวกุหลาบดำ (published in 2018, which is stated as year 2561 ตุลาคม 2561 in the Thai calendar) is the second book that the friends gifted to me. I was happy because I can't quite get them in Singapore and I'd have to shop online to ship them in, which is the trend for book-buying these days. This is the most recent book by the author translated this year by Kong Rithdee. 

Set in the 1900s spanning the years of pre and post World War II till the 1970s, the story traces the beginnings of a now three-generation wealthy Sino-Thai family. A young boy named Tong who was born to farmers in rural China and was sent away to Siam, and became a successful rice trader. Tong married and settled down in Siam, but longed to return to his hometown in China one day. 

The narrator of the story seemed to be a boy named Dao. He heard all the stories from Grandma Sri (who is Jerdsri). Great-Grandfather Tong married Great Grandmother Sa-ngiem who is half-Mon and half-Teochew, and a great cook. By all accounts, it was a happy-enough marriage. They adopted one eldest son named Jongsawang, and Great-Grandma Sa-ngiem birthed another four in succession- Jarungsilp, Jerdsri, Jitsawai and Jarassang.  

As the way multi-generation families go, there will be in-fighting, scandals, pain, betrayal, allies and complex familial relationships, all of which make for melodrama. Men seemed to take second wives and mistresses like it was common. Women, of course had little social status in society or the community beyond keeping house and churning out good dishes from the kitchen to the dining table. 

Then there's this hint of a family curse of 'death by water'. It all seemed to have begun when Jarungsilp threw her baby boy into the river from postpartum depression and turned into a different woman after, and turned away from her husband, the family and the world. 

The event confirmed to Great-Grandpa Tong his conviction that his household had come under a curse that would condemn each and every family member to death by drowning. 

.....................

Since the day she let Ah Jung down, Jarungsilp never — for the rest of her life — permitted herself to be happy again. Not even for a day. Her animosity against the entire world was silent and irredeemable, and it resided in her heart until the day she died at the age of thirty-five, bent over with her head inside a water jar. The doctor said she must have fainted and drowned due to the irregular workings of her cancerous heart.

The family's children had loveless marriages, and led their spouses to their deaths, or well, outright killed them. Little Rapin was born to Jarassang, but lived as Jitsawai and Yeesun's son. This marriage broke Jongsawang's heart since he loved Yeesun but never said anything about it, and he left the family to make what he would of his own life as an odd-job laborer and a drunkard. Then Yeesun had a daughter Rarin, who isn't Jitsawai's, but Jongsawang's. My head exploded at this point. 

There was gambling, opium and The family lost its riches and one by one, its members died, by suicide, murder or by accident and frozen in an ice block. Nobody could carry on the glory of the family name or business, so to speak. There was indeed a pampered black cat named Black Rose. It belonged to Dao's mother, Rarin. His father is Rapin. Although they're cousins legally adopted by Jarassang, they technically don't have any blood relations. But at the end, it appeared that Jarassang's husband went nuts and killed Grandma Sri and Rarin. Jarssang also died. OMG This is such a tragic ending to the whole story. Whatever did the family do to deserve this? 

Dao's memory was hazy. After Mother, there was only him and Grandma Sri. And after Grandma Sri, it was just him, here and he couldn't remember when or how Grandma had left the story, and Mother had never told him anything when he asked. In fact, Mother had never told him anything at all. She only locked herself in slumber and silence. Something soft grazed his leg, a barely perceptible brush. It was Black Rose. Yes, Mother had locked herself in silence with this goddamn pussycat that was now swinging its little hips with a fine feline swagger as it entered the room. 

The final chapter blew my mind. I was like, Dao wasn't even born and the story was told from his in-utero perspective??! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN. Damn, this was good. The cat named Black Rose saw it all. She joined the family when Rarin was there. She was a witness to so much saga in the family. 

Hope flickers like a setting sun, but we hang on to it anyway.

แม้ว่าความหวังจะริบหรี่เหมือนแสงอาทิตย์อัสดงและไม่อาจคาดเดาได้ว่าจะไปถึงเป้าหมายเมื่อไหร่

แต่แค่เพียงแสงจางบางๆ นั้นก็พอแล้วที่จะทำให้สิ่งใหม่ ๆ งอกงามขึ้นมา