Review A Spot of Bother (Bintik Gatal)

A Spot of Bother (Bintik Gatal)

by Mark Haddon, Ferry Halim (Translator)

George Hall tak mengerti obsesi orang-orang modern untuk membicarakan segala hal. Rahasia kepuasan hati, menurutnya, terletak pada pengabaian terhadap banyak hal secara menyeluruh. Namun, ternyata beberapa hal dalam hidup ini tak bisa diabaikan, meskipun itu hanya sebuah “bintik gatal”.

Pada usia 57, George mempersiapkan diri menikmati masa pensiun yang nyaman. Ia membangun sebuah pondok di kebunnya, membaca novel-novel sejarah, dan menyimak musik jazz ringan. Namun, Katie, anak perempuannya yang pemberang, menyatakan akan menikah dengan Ray.

Keluarganya tak senang karena adik Katie, Jamie, melihat Ray memiliki sepasang tangan “tukang cekik”. Katie sebenarnya tak tahu pasti apakah ia sungguh mencintai Ray atau hanya menyukai perlakuan luar biasa pria itu terhadap anak Katie dari perkawinan sebelumnya, Jacob. Sementara, Jean ibunya merasa kesal dengan segala perdebatan tentang pernikahan itu yang mengganggu perselingkuhan usia senjanya dengan bekas kolega suaminya. Di sisi lain, kehidupan menyenangkan yang diciptakan Jamie hancur berkeping-keping saat ia gagal mengundang kekasih homoseksnya, Tony, ke acara pernikahan mengerikan tersebut.

Saat terabaikan di tengah suasana hiruk-pikuk itu, George menemukan luka ringan di pinggulnya dan diam-diam ia mulai kehilangan akal sehatnya ...

Kepiawaian Mark Haddon membuat A Spot of Bother ini mampu menghanyutkan pembaca dengan kisah unik tentang kehidupan masa kini dan suka duka cinta, dibumbui humor segar dan ketegangan.

Serambi 2008

Dessy: Ini kisah sebuah keluaga modern masa kini. Cerita tentang problema keluarga yang jika dicermati dengan bijak adalah cerminan rumit dan kompleknya kehidupan. Hubungan antara suami, istri, orang tua, anak, serta masuknya “orang lain” kedalam sebuah keluarga.

George
Suami dan ayah yang menghadapi masa sulit saat memasuki masa pensiun. Seorang lelaki yang biasa bekerja dan kemudian harus berdian diri dirumah, berdaptasi dengan cara mengurus kebun, membaca novel, mendengar music jazz dan hal-hal remeh lainnya, masalah klasik lelaki saat mereka kehilangan power-nya sebagai penguasa keluarga. Suatu hari ia menemukan sebuah benjolan berupa segumpal daging berbentuk bulat telur di pinggulnya. George berpikir ia menderita kanker. Ia mulai depresi dan mulai berlaku aneh. George adalah tipe lelaki yang tidak begitu suka berbicara, baginya hal itu tidak mengubah apapun. Menurutnya “Rahasia kepuasan hati terletak pada pengabaian terhadap banyak hal secara menyeluruh.” (hal.14)

Jeann
Seorang Istri dan ibu yang kecewa terhadap diri, anak-anak dan apa yang ia peroleh dari kehidupan berumah tangga. Perlakuan dingin suami yang kurang menaruh perhatian terhadap apapun yang ia lakukan, membuatnya merasa benar-benar diabaikan. Saat Jean memasuki puber kedua ia berselingkuh dengan mantan teman sekantor suaminya. Ia menjalin hubungan terlarang dengan David. Lelaki itu membuatnya merasa paling tahu tentang banyak hal, ia mau mendengarkan dan menaruh perhatian. Bagi Jean perselingkuhan tidak tampak terlalu mirip sebuah penghianatan. Saat George mulai pensiun tak sedikit pun terbersit dalam pikirannya bahwa suatu saat rahasianya akan terbongkar.

Katie
Putri sulung George dan Jean, Katie gagal mempertahankan perkawinannya yang telah menghasilkan seorang putri, ia becerai dan sedang menjalin hubungan dengan Lelaki yang tidak disukai oleh kedua orang tuanya. Katie sendiri tidak yakin dengan perasaan cintanya terhadapa Ray, walaupun demikian ia membutuhkan penopang hidup demi anak dan status sosial. Ia hanya tahu bahwa putrinya membutuhkan figure seorang ayah dan ia merasa nyaman tinggal bersama Ray, di rumahnya yang besar dan nyaman. Menjelang hari pernikahan saat semua mulai sibuk mengurus segala keperluan pesta calon pengantin wanita ini mulai stress, Ia berpikir untuk membatalkan pernikahan mereka.

Jamie
Si bungsu yang menyukai sesame jenis. Jamie mencintai seorang lelaki bernama Tony, namun ia tidak siap mengundangnya ke rencana pernikahan Katie, Ia tidak siap jika keluarganya harus menghadapi kenyataan bahwa putra mereka satu-satunya ternyata seorang homoseksual. Jamie berusaha berkompromi, hingga ia memutuskan harus mengahiri hubungannya dengan Toni. Jamie merasa terkurung dengan pendapat dan norma –norma masyarakat yang menolak hubungan antar sesama yang menurut kebanyakan orang masih merupakan hal yang ganjil. Namun ia tidak bisa menipu diri sendiri.

Penuh detail dengan pikiran –pikiran setiap tokoh, cerita mengalir dari satu karakter ke karakter yang lain, bergelut dengan problema yang mereka hadapi . Membawa pembaca masuk ke dalam pikiran masing-masing tokoh. Mark berusaha menggambarkan suatu masalah dilihat dari berbagai sudut pandang yang berbeda. Mark juga menampilkan humor-humor segar tentang kehidupan, ia juga menyelipkan berbagai referensi buku, musik, perlengkapan kehidupan modern yang menjadi gaya hidup manusia masa kini. Yang mungkin dipilih berdasarkan selera penulis.

Mark Haddon mencoba menyampaikan bahwa dalam membina sebuah keluarga ada banyak kepala yang mempunyai beraneka problema yang harus dilihat dari sudut pandang masing-masing. Tiap individu mempunyai masalah yang hanya bisa dipecahkan dari kacamata mereka sebagai pribadi yang komplek.

Seperti karya mark Haddon sebelumnya “The Curious incident of the Dog in the Night-Time”.buku ini kembali menyita perhatianku, dan memasukkan Mark Haddon kejajaran penulis yang buku-bukunya wajib untuk dimiliki. Selain menulis novel Ia juga telah menerbitkan beberapa kumpulan puisi.

Penulis: Mark Haddon

Penerbit: PT Serambi Ilmu Semesta

Penerjemah: Ferry Halim

Penyerasi: Sidik Nugraha

Cetakan I, April 2008

Risyiana: I bought this book because I was really fascinated with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Haddon's previous book, definitely one of my favorite ever in my book shelf.

I was so impressed with Haddon's way of delving and slipping into somebody else's head describing every single detail of thing that passes his brain, like what he did in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. It's like being inside a fast moving train that stopped every once in a while on several stations, scrutinizing every single detail, people after people, scenery after scenery only you know that all along is not your eyes you use to examine all those things. Fun and adventurous.

That was actually what I expected from this piece. It was described as the book about an old man trying to go insane politely. So I thought, okay, this might be interesting. Having really aware of Haddon's aptitude for such brain voyage thing. It might be really interesting to dive deep and see things from the turning insane old man's point of view. A rather inviting call for journey I must say.

I learned several things about the journey as the pages passed on, indeed. First, it was rather unwise to compare the trip of The Curious Incident with this one. Haddon‘s flair of describing one's state of mind beautifully is of course unquestionably still there, but one was seen from an asperger child's point of view, who saw things in a rather chaotic way, making the story's so gripping and fast-moving, superbly amusing. And the other was seen from the point of view of an old man... which made the slow-paced, rather lacklustre narrative was understandable... and forgivable.

As the pages moved on I can see that the slow-paced tell tale with the too real (in a sense of almost cliche) characters were intentional. Maybe that's how the old man sees the world around him, a bit too usual, nothing's larger than life itself. I suppose it's as one of Haddon's exploit to keep the story palpably flowing. And so it was, deliberately flowing in a slow stream. It’s really not ugly, Haddon’s just keeping his promise really well. Telling a story about an old man who’s trying to go insane politely. Though I would say, it’s rather too polite it almost shooed out the fun.

Patrick: I pretty much hated this book. It was the type of book that you read because you liked the author's other work, but it's so aggressively bad that it makes you reconsider whether or not you actually liked the author's previous work upon closer consideration.

So what was so bad about it? Well, for the one the characters simply didn't ring true. They all felt poorly sketched out, just a bunch of people having what Haddon would have you believe are constant epiphanies about their sad little lives. He writes in such a way that you can tell he wants the reader to think it's a stunning revelation that this character is having, when it's just another dull moment in a rather dull story. If I had a dollar for every time Haddon made a one sentence paragraph meant to reveal some larger truth about the character's personalities, I'd be a rich man. He also has a nasty habit of ending each "chapter" (there are well over 100 of them, most 2 pages or less) with some half-assed "cliff-hanger", something better suited to the James Pattersons and R.L. Stines of the world.

Haddon doesn't seem to understand his characters, and he doesn't seem to care to, either. He simply throws a jumble of people into awkward situations and has them (over)react like a bunch of unlikeable, selfish jerks and then comment to themselves that, perhaps, they are acting like unlikeable, selfish jerks who are overreacting to what are, in reality, fairly mundane situations. They're sad, selfish little people, yet Haddon seems to think they are endearing.

Finally, he ends the book fairly abruptly and with a neat little bow on top that doesn't suit it. Everything works out for everyone involved, yet no one seemed to learn anything or grow as people. They all ended exactly where they began with no growth whatsoever. I've heard people who are familiar with autism claim that Haddon's sketch of the child in 'A Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime' was actually woefully inaccurate and quite offensive, and seeing the way he handles his characters' problems in this story, I'm much more inclined to believe that. Just an awful, awful book. Haddon seems to think he's writing a British version of 'The Corrections', but he's painfully mistaken. I'll probably not read anything by Haddon again.

Uci: It's like rain in your wedding day

It's a free ride when you've already paid

It's a good advice that you just didn't take

and who would've thought...it figures

Ironic by Alanis Morisette

George Hall menjalani hidupnya tanpa neko-neko. Menikah, punya anak, punya rumah dan pekerjaan yang bagus, pokoknya segala hal yang sepatutnya dimiliki lelaki baik-baik. Namun memasuki masa pensiun, tiba-tiba berbagai masalah menjungkirbalikkan hidupnya yang sempurna. Putrinya Katie akan melangsungkan pernikahan kedua dengan lelaki yang menurut George dan Jean, istrinya, tidak selevel dengan Katie. Putra mereka Jamie akan membawa pacarnya Tony ke pernikahan tersebut, yang membuat George terpaksa harus mulai menerima kenyataan bahwa Jamie adalah seorang gay. Sebentuk daging tiba-tiba muncul di pinggul George, membuatnya depresi karena takut mati terserang kanker. Dan puncaknya, Jean berselingkuh dengan mantan rekan sekantor George. George pun mulai bertanya-tanya, apakah selama ini dia telah menyia-nyiakan waktunya, dengan tidak melakukan hal-hal yang disukainya, demi mengejar hidup yang aman. Sementara pernikahan putrinya sudah semakin dekat...

Rusuhnya persiapan pernikahan memang menarik dijadikan bahan cerita. Sejumlah film yang pernah saya tonton juga mengangkat tema serupa, seperti Father of the Bride, My Bestfriend's Wedding, Rachel Getting Married, dll. Walaupun tidak persis sama, tapi benang merahnya adalah berbagai masalah yang timbul menjelang hari pernikahan. Mungkin karena acara pernikahan sering kali menguras tenaga dan emosi, sehingga rawan mengundang pertengkaran, tangisan, pertemuan, pelarian, atau malah perpisahan.

Itu sebabnya meskipun dalam novel ini Mark Haddon masih punya 'daya magis' untuk menyihir pembaca seperti saya tetap terpaku menyimak halaman demi halaman sampai tuntas, namun tema yang diangkat tidak seunik The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

Di buku ini, Haddon sangat sabar memaparkan detail hari demi hari yang dilewati masing-masing tokoh. Ritual mandi atau makan sepulang dari kantor bisa dia jabarkan satu per satu tanpa kehilangan stamina. Bagi pembaca yang menunggu-nunggu aksi seru mungkin bisa mati bosan di tengah jalan :D Tapi untungnya Haddon masih menyisipkan lelucon-lelucon sarkastik di antara cerita, jadi cukup menghibur.

Yang jelas novel ini kembali membuat saya berpikir, apakah saya sebaiknya tetap hidup lurus-lurus saja seperti selama ini, atau mulai nekat mengejar semua yang ingin saya lakukan tapi tidak pernah berani saya lakukan? Hidup toh cuma sekali....

Hehehehehe

Review Luka dan Api Kehidupan

Luka dan Api Kehidupan

by Salman Rushdie, Yuliani Liputo (Goodreads Author) (Translator), Adi Toha (Goodreads Author) (Editor)

Rasyid Khalifa, sang pendongeng legendaris, pada suatu malam mendadak tertidur lelap dan tak pernah bangun lagi, seolah-olah dia berada dalam cengkeraman sang Raksasa Tidur. Demi membangunkan ayahnya dan menyelamatkannya dari sosok makhluk maut yang sedikit demi sedikit menyerap kehidupan sang ayah, Luka, bocah dua belas tahun, harus bertualang ke Negeri Dongeng dan mencuri Api Kehidupan.

Api Kehidupan tersimpan di Pusat Dongeng, di puncak Gunung Pengetahuan yang menjulang di atas Danau Kebijaksanaan, dan dijaga sangat ketat oleh Aalim, tiga penguasa Negeri Dongeng, beserta jajaran Dewa Berperilaku Buruk dari berbagai mitologi dan dongeng. Tak pernah ada yang berhasil mencuri Api Kehidupan dari mereka. Maka dimulailah petualangan dan pertarungan Luka dalam menghadapi rintangan demi rintangan, mengumpulkan nyawa, kehilangan nyawa, menaklukkan level demi level, selayak-nya permainan. Namun, ini bukanlah sekadar permainan, melain-kan penentuan hidup dan mati ayahnya.

Luka dan Api Kehidupan adalah kelanjutan kisah Harun dan Samudra Dongeng. Dalam kisah ini, Salman Rushdie menggabungkan unsur-unsur fantasi, mitologi, permainan kata, dan simbolisme ke dalam jalinan kisah yang menarik, cerdas, seru, dan jenaka. Novel ini layak dibaca oleh siapa saja sebagai bacaan sastra yang bermutu sekaligus dongeng yang indah dan memperkaya hidup.

Luka dan Api Kehidupan adalah kisah indah yang ditulis dengan sangat baik, penuh imajinasi, menakjubkan, dan luar biasa dalam caranya mem-bangun sebuah dongeng ajaib untuk anak-anak yang gemar bermain video game. Buku ini semacam jembatan antargenerasi yang luar biasa, ajaib, dan ditulis dari kedalaman hati.”

—Neil Gaiman, novelis fantasi kenamaan asal Inggris

“Sebuah buku yang mampu merangkul dan menyentuh pembacanya da-lam usia berapa pun, dari anak-anak sampai paruh baya, adalah buku langka sekaligus ajaib. Dan Salman Rushdie adalah pengarang langka sekaligus ajaib.”
—Michael Chabon, peraih Pulitzer Prize, Hugo Award, dan Nebula Award

Serambi 2011

Sica: Akhir tahun lalu, buku terbaru Salman Rushdie terbit juga. Judulnya Luka and The Fire of Life. Ceritanya cocok buat dikisahkan kembali kepada anak-anak. Karena memang Rusdhie sengaja menulis kisah ini untuk anaknya, Milan(13 tahun)

Kalau ada yang pernah membaca Haroun and the Sea of Stories (terbit 1990), nah buku terbaru Rusdhie ini memang sekuel kisah itu. Luka sendiri adalah adik Haroun, berbeda usia 18 tahun.Kini Luka, 12 tahun, harus menjalani petualangannya sendiri.

“You’ve reached the age at which people in this family cross the border into the magical world. It’s your turn for an adventure—yes, it’s finally here!” kata Haroun kepada adiknya.

Petualangan Luka bukan petualangan sederhana, tapi penuh keajaiban. Luka berpetualang dalam dunia dongeng ayahnya, si tukang cerita Rashid Kalifa yang bergelar The Shah of Blah! Kalifa tertidur, nyaris mati, dan Luka harus membangunkan kembali ayahnya dengan berpetualang di dalam dunia cerita Shah of Blah! --omong-omong, Rashid Kalifa yg tertidur lama itu cocok juga dengan kondisi Rushdie yang lama tak menulis buku semacam ini. Kisah Haroen dan Luka berjeda 20 tahun.

Ditemani dua piaraan istimewa, anjing bernama Bear dan beruang bernama Dog, Luka harus mencuri The Fire of Life demi menyelamatkan sang ayah. Dan begitu kita setuju berpetualang bersama Luka, semua tokoh dongeng yang pernah kita tahu, mudah sekali kita temui selama perjalanan itu. Plus, bertemu juga dengan 'hero' masa kini ala-ala terminator gitu. Plus....tukang sihir di dunia Harry Potter. Semuanya dicampur, jadi rada surealis gitu, berasa seperti nonton film Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus gitu deh.

Tentu saja, kisah-kisah dongeng klasik yang pernah kita tahu enggak mentah-mentah digelontorkan Rushdie begitu saja. Banyak twist-nya. Dongeng yang terus menerus diceritakan berulang kali bukan berarti harus selalu punya ending yang sama kan?

Dan Rusdhie pun terasa menyesuaikan kisahnya dengan situasi anak-anak sekarang yang akrab dengan play station. Dalam petualangannya, Luka bisa memencet tombol 'save' di setiap level. Jadi, kalau kelak ia gagal melewati rintangan pada level selanjutnya, Luka tidak perlu mengulang petualangannya dari awal. Hehehe..

Dari petualangan itu, Luka jadi belajar: dia tidak boleh serta merta mengikuti alur kisah dalam dunia dongeng ayahnya agar berhasil menuntaskan misi. Justru Luka harus menciptakan jalannya sendiri, berani memulai petualangannya sendiri, bahkan jika ia harus salah langkah dan mengulang lagi. Pesan yang manis, ya? :D

Aku suka buka ini.Tapi jika harus membandingkannya dengan kisah Haroen, aku lebih suka kisah Haroen, sedikit. :DAku juga suka ama mainan kata-katanya Rushdie. ---Jadi inget Arundhati Roy yang juga melakukan wordplay yang menarik dalam The God of Small Things.

Misalnya saat Luka bertemu dengan koloni tikus, Luka dan bos tikus berdiskusi tentang bagaimana koloni itu membentuk pemerintahannya. Luka tanya "Who choses the Over-Rat?". Si bos tikus menunjuk dirinya. '"It's known as being Over-Rat-ed." Got it? :D

Aku enggak tau, apa efek yang kudapatkan jika aku mengetahui kisah ini ketika masih bocah. Tapi membaca buku ini diusia 30-an, membuatku ingin menceritakan petulangan Luka (dan Haroen) kepada anak-anak kecil.. agar selera baca mereka bisa terselamatkan sejak dini. Hehehe

Cassandra: Luka and the Fire of Life is a modern day fairy tale, complete with evil monsters ( such as the Aalim) and beautiful, powerful women ( specifically, the Insultana of Ott). Rushdie does a masterful job of blending together the modern world and the traditional fairy tale, a feat that is mirrored in the character of Rashid, Luka's father and a professional storyteller, in his creation of the World of Magic. It is in this world, and not the real one where his father is dying, that Luka's adventure takes place.

The pacing of the novel is a bit slow in some spots, but moves quite quickly in others. It would appear that Rushdie allowed his fascination with the World of Magic that he created to distract him from time to time; rarely will one find a real 12-year-old who is as introspective as Luka. It does not help that there are only eight chapters. Splitting it up a bit would have made the slow spots seem less noticeable.

The novel is classified as young adult. Rushdie, however, has said that he hopes this novel“demolishes the boundary between ‘adult’ and ‘children’s’ literature.” I would say that he has done just that. Where he might have lost a younger reader in some of the mythological references or by sticking to closely to a traditional fairy tale format, he blends their world with that of the their parents by structuring the adventure as a video game, with levels to be completed and multiple lives to be lost. The blend is such that both generations are able to learn something about the other; children are given insight into the way their parents think, and parents are allowed to experience the wonder of the World of Magic in the same way their children do.

In my mind, this book is a perfect candidate for parents to read aloud to their children or vice versa.

Sajneesh: The book has been given a unique framework based on video games. It is a story of a little boy 'Luka' who travels through the 'World of Magic' in a quest to retrieve the 'Fire of Life' to save his storyteller father Rashid Khalifa who is the creator 'World of Magic'. In his quest 'Luka' has to finish 9 Levels with the limited lives available and at the end of every level there is a golden button to save the progress. Apart from this interesting framework, the author brings in questions of reality, questions of philosophy, questions of right and wrong. Though the presence of these questions is quite subtle, its interesting to see how 'Luka' thinks about them, always trying to recall what his dad thought him. This also brings out the strong relation between father and son and how important the role of stories is in today's world. Also, the usage of unique names for characters and puns intended gives the read a comical twist

Mary: This is a deliciously written book with a story you can sink into and drift along on. It is rich with mythological figures and tales, as well as many original characters directly from the author's imagination. Luka and the Fire of Life is whimsical and dreamy, even recalling Alice in Wonderland at certain points. I loved it when a little "white rabbit wearing a waistcoat and looking worriedly at a clock" popped up on the bank of the River of Time, for instance.
There are lots of issues broached that have a universal appeal as well, the main issue being the nature of time. In this book time is represented as a river flowing away from the mists of the past and toward the mists of the future. Luka wrestles with the idea of predestination: does the future already exist so that the course of the river follows a predetermined path? Or can our actions shape, even change, the river's flow? Luka is also told that "...if you want to travel up the River, Memory is the fuel you need." This is a very important concept to plant in the mind of a young reader to help him or her realize that memories are much more than the static remains of the past. Rather, they are the seeds of the future and memories are absolutely vital if a person is to grow and reap knowledge from prior experiences. Towards the end of Luka's journey he begins to reflect on something his father had said that before sounded like nonsense: time is not a constant marching forward, one precise second after another. Rather, it speeds up and slows down depending on what you are doing, and it does not mean the same thing to everybody as each person experiences life differently. There are several other issues presented to the reader for consideration, including whether tyranny is excusable or not if created and maintained in the name of respect, if exemption from consequences when following orders is acceptable or not, and how justifiable the sacrifice of innocents is, even if perceived as benefiting the greater good.

I love how thought-provoking this novel is, particularly for young readers, and that the author brings issues to the forefront that are not usually discussed in Young Adult literature. I also appreciate that he does not neatly resolve each issue, allowing the reader to come to his or her own conclusions.
The only problem a reader may run into is the fact that the story does move a little slowly. It is definitely a book you need to fully immerse yourself in and forget about the page numbers. Simply read it to enjoy the experience and the journey.

Ah yes, one more thing I'd like to share: my favorite passage... "Man is the Storytelling Animal, and...in Stories are his identity, his meaning, and his lifeblood. Do rats tell tales? Do porpoises have narrative purposes? Do elephants ele-phantasize? You know as well as I do that they do not. Man alone burns with books."

Vanessa: Okay. So. I was all ready to trash this book after, well, most of it. It is too cute by half. A dog named bear! A bear named dog! Like, shut up! I don't know. I really was finding it more silly and self-regarding than profound. And really, I think that is probably the right conclusion, ultimately. Especially as it enrages me when Rushdie reheats his old books to write a worse version of them. Like, why does he do this? I suppose this is why I am not a fiction writer. It seems like a tough gig. But it did annoy me in that I think doing a half-baked rehash of Haroun and the Sea of Stories somehow takes away from that book, which is a fairly fantastic little gem of a thing. That was a good book, Rushdie! Don't tread on its coattails! Anyway.

However. The themes of this book maybe resonated a lot with my life right now. Hi, goodreads random people! My maternal grandfather is ailing badly, and I do spend a not insignificant amount of time thinking about my own father's age and health. So these themes of wanting to find some supernatural way of saving us all from mortality and death, and especially your beloved but aging father. Well. It maybe made me cry on the lightrail on the way to work a few times. Good times! Anyway. I can't really recommend this book, as I found it objectively cloying and frustrating, but the last fifty pages did manage to sucker me in.

Edit: This was a quote that I liked. So I'm going to throw it up here.

"What an idea. Life is not a drip. Life is a flame. What do you imagine the sun is made of? Raindrops? I don't think so. Life is not wet, young man. Life burns."