Ocean morje, Alessandro Baricco

Almayer je počivališče, ki stoji na obali morja. V knjigi piše, da obala ni ne morje, ne kopno in ker ni ne eno, ne drugo, v resnici ne obstaja. Morda isto velja za počivališče, kdo ve. Počivališče upravljajo otroci, ki govorijo z glasom odraslih, kadar se jim tako zazdi, sedijo na okenskih policah in na splošno delujejo čudaški. Gostje so ravno tako nenavadni. Slikar išče kje se morje začne. Znanstvenik skuša ugotoviti kje se morje konča, poleg tega pa piše ljubezenska pisma ženski, ki je še ni spoznal. Dekle je z duhovnikom, ki piše molitve za vsako priložnost, prišlo, da bi jo morje ozdravilo skrivnostne bolezni. Žensko je mož poslal v to odročno počivališče, da bi jo ozdravil prešuštva. Mornar išče maščevanje. V sedmi sobi je moški, ki ga nihče ne vidi in nikoli ne pride iz sobe. Vsak je prišel na ta kraj z nekim namenom, z nekim vprašanjem, ki ga želi razrešiti. S to zgodbo se prepleta zgodba brodolomcev, ki doživljajo težke preizkušnje na splavu, ki ga na videz brezciljno nosi morje in spominja na Splav meduze Théodora Géricaulta.

Ocean morje je knjiga, o kateri ne vem točno kaj naj si mislim. Zelo lepo je napisana, atmosferična, na trenutke se bere kot poezija. V njej je ljubezen, odsotnost, iskanje, spomin, beg ... Polna je čudnih ljudi in dogodkov pa tudi odlomkov, ki zahtevajo domišljijo, da si jih človek predstavlja. Na primer tale: 

»Kakšen glas je imela tista ženska! Še leta potem so v Bad Hollnu govorili, da ga je bilo slišati, kot da bi nekdo z zvona zalučal klavir naravnost na grmado kristalnih lestencev.« 

Če je to neke vrste poetična oda morju, se mi je zdela fenomenalna. Drugače pa je z zgodbo o brodolomu, poravnavanju računov, o maščevanju, ki nekatere ljudi poveže in dogodke postavi na svoje mesto. To je del knjige, za katerega ne vem točno kaj bi si mislila. Kot, da bi bil pregrob za vso to poetičnost in hkrati obratno, morda je premalo odločen. Prav je, da je tam, saj bi bila brez tega dela zgodba preveč neoprijemljiva ali pa je niti ne bi bilo. Maščevanje je hudo, zob za zob. Po svoje me je presenetilo, čeprav me ne bi smelo, se mi zdi. Knjiga na različnih mestih vsebuje dogodke, ljudi in drobce informacij, ki vodijo k temu. Počivališče Almayer je tam zato, da se stvari postavijo na svoje mesto. Ko ga nihče več ne potrebuje, preneha obstajati. In potem se lahko vprašaš ali se je vse skupaj sploh zgodilo. Seveda se ni, samo knjiga je, kup zvezanega natisnjenega papirja. 

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Ocean Sea by Alessandro Baricco

Almayer is a coastal inn, somewhere far away. The book says the coast is neither sea, nor land, therefore it doesn't exist. Perhaps the same goes for the inn, who knows. The inn is run by a bunch of children. A girl talks with a grown up voice, when it suits her, a boy sits on a windowsill, all of them are a bit weird. The guests are unusual as well. A painter searches for the beginning of the sea so he can paint it. A scientist wants to know where it ends, while he writes love letters to a woman he has never met. A girl comes to the inn so that the sea would cure her of a mysterious illness. She is accompanied by a priest, who writes prayers for everything and everybody. A woman was sent to Almayer by her husband, hoping she would be cured of adultery. A sailor seeks revenge. At the end of a hallway, there is a room occupied by a man no one has seen. Each of them came with a purpose, with a question they try to resolve. Connected to them is a story about a shipwreck and a terrible ordeal the people went through. It reminded me of The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault.

Ocean Sea is a book which left me with mixed feelings. It's beautifully written, atmospheric, at times I read it like poetry. It deals with love, absence, searching, memory, escape ... It's full of weird people and events, as well as sentences demanding imagination if we want to picture them in our mind. If the book is sort of an ode to the sea, it's phenomenal. What left me confused was the story of the shipwreck, of setting the score, of revenge. It seemed to me this story came a bit too hard for the poetry of the book and perhaps it wasn't hard enough at the same time. However it connected some people and caused certain events to fall into their proper places. Without it the story would perhaps be too intangible or it wouldn't exist. Revenge is cruel, an eye for an eye. In a way it surprised me, although it shouldn't I guess. There are certain people, events and pieces of information all over the book leading to it. Almayer inn exists for the revenge to take place and for other things to find their places. After it's fulfilled it's purpose, the inn ceases to exist. And in the end I found myself wondering if the story really happened. Of course it didn't! It's just a book, a bunch of bound printed pages ...