Literary Criticism (Novel)

One of the best novels that one could probably read is Richard Paul Evan's (author of Christmas Box which was adapted for a movie) "Finding Noel".  This is a novel written for his mother who passed away and this for him, is a remembrance of that woman. Thus, with such information, it is obvious that the novel tells a story of a "very special" woman as described by the author. The novel used first person point of view which made the message more personal as if the author is just speaking to a person alone. The synopsis is as follow:

"The Christmas season is supposed to be full of joy, but not for Mark Smart. Life had dealt him one body blow after another: he lost his scholarship and had to drop out of school; his beloved mother had died in a car crash; his girlfriend dumped him, and now, late on a snowy night in November, his car had broken down. Stumbling into a coffee house, he was looking for a phone to call a tow truck. What he found was a beautiful young woman with an unusual name who, through a simple act of kindness, changed his life forever.
Macy Wood had little memory of her birth parents, and memories she’d rather forget of her adopted home. A Christmas ornament inscribed with the word “Noel” was the only clue to the little sister she only vaguely remembered, a clue that would send her, and Mark on a journey to reclaim her past, and her family."


The cover, I admit, really catches my attention but then I'm not fond of reading novels. I stared at it for few minutes and started to wonder why is it titled FINDING NOEL. The way writers used titles really amaze me. In the case of this novel, I was just puzzled. At first I thought it's a mystery book but then the cover is just too good to support such dark idea. I started reading the synopsis and later found myself reading chapter one. The approach is like that of a diary which arouse my interest. As I went on reading, I never realized the time because I enjoyed every word that's written. I can't stop myself from reading it and I can't help myself to move on from one chapter to another as if I'm hypnotized. The storyline is very simple really. It just tells the story like that of an everyday boring reality but then the author managed to tickle people's imagination and there are a lot of things to be quoted----words of wisdom. Simplicity, I say is the most powerful technique of this piece. The words are easy to understand which would be perfect for everybody's taste.


The novel tells the story of a woman retold by the speaker, the main male character himself. He's actually telling the story of the woman he loved and his life as well. The author mentioned earlier on his notes that the story was based on a true-to-life of a woman whom he met. Therefore, I say that the author had a wonderful ability of using simple words in order for everybody to understand the meaning of the story. The sacrifices that the two characters had been through is really frustrating but realistic. The woman is considered "special" because despite of her bitter memories of childhood,  she managed to move on and at least live life to its best. However, her sorrowful childhood can't be hidden forever. Macy's line "No good day went unpaid for" reflects her memories of being separated from her sister and living a miserable life with her second family.


The main male character, Mark also has a sorrowful life being a black sheep on the eyes of his father whom he hated the most, a son without a mother, and a College drop-out. However, meeting Macy made him realized that there is still something beautiful about life. He realized that there are people who experienced worse than him but still managed to smile and look at life at its positive side. The meeting of the two characters led them into finding the long lost sister of Macy and the father who abandoned her. They helped each other by fixing the pieces of their life which were missing. 


Generally, the story revolves around the importance of having a Family---people who will always be there no matter what. This will be further supported by the main male character's lines, "I've come to know that our families are a canvas on which we paint our greatest hopes---imperfect and sloppy, for we are all amateurs at life, but if we do not focus too much on our mistakes, a miraculous picture emerges. And we learn that it's not the beauty of the image that warrants our gratitude---it's the chance to paint". 


I learned further from this novel that no matter what happens, everything will turn out right at the end. In this life, the courage to risk will let us discover the reasons on why things are happening to us the way they do.