Those Who Judge Must Take All Aspects

I Eat My Heart Out Alone.

A Good Novel Is One That Shows The Complexity Of Individuals, And Creates Enough Space For All These Characters To Have A Voice; In This Way A Novel Is Called Democratic - Not That It Advocates Democracy But That By Nature It Is So. Empathy Lies At The Heart Of Gatsby, Like So Many Other Great Novels - The Biggest Sin Is To Be Blind To Others' Problems And Pains. Not Seeing Them Means Denying Their Existence.

Once Evil Is Individualized, Becoming Part Of Everyday Life, The Way Of Resisting It Also Becomes Individual. How Does The Soul Survive? Is The Essential Question. And The Response Is: Through Love And Imagination.

Imagine You Are Walking Down A Leafy Path...the Sun Is Receding, And You Are Walking Alone, Caressed By The Breezy Light Of The Late Afternoon. Then Suddenly, You Feel A Large Drop On Your Right Arm. Is It Raining? You Look Up. The Sky Is Still Deceptively Sunny...seconds Later Another Drop. Then, With The Sun Still Perched In The Sky, You Are Drenched In A Shower Of Rain. This Is How Memories Invade Me, Abruptly And Unexpectedly.

The Novels Were An Escape From Reality In The Sense That We Could Marvel At Their Beauty And Perfection. Curiously, The Novels We Escaped Into Led Us Finally To Question And Prod Our Own Realities, About Which We Felt So Helplessly Speechless.