OTHELLO
< >< >I cannot speak enough of this content.
< >< >It stops me here; it is too much of joy.
(They kiss)
< >< >And this, and this, the greatest discords be
< >< >That e'er our hearts shall make!

My trainor looked at the book I held and asked me, "You're a romantic aren't you?"

I had to confess, and I did so with a slight nod. "Uh-huh"

I am a hopeless romantic. I know it's going to prove my ruin someday. But for now, it brings me the sweet delight in reading The Tragedy of Othello. It brought me some of the most powerful poetic professions of love I've ever read. And with them, the powerful insinuations, implications of pure abhorrence.

Shakespeare was a good writer and I suppose this isn't news to many. But this was the first Shakespeare I ever read, and I was delighted in my own discovery of the jewel that is Shakespeare's writing.

The play was about the general, Othello and his ultimate ruin brought by the cunning of his ancient Iago. Iago is resentful because Othello has declared the more refined and educated Cassio as his lieutenant. Because of this, Iago connives with Roderigo to have Cassio demoted. Roderigo helps Iago thinking Iago will help advance his interest in Desdemona, Othello's wife.

When Iago does get the lieutenancy, which happens early on in the play, Iago goes on to ruin Desdemona and Othello's marriage. He lies to Othello, saying Desdemona has been laying with Cassio. Ultimately, Cassio kills Desdemona. When he learns of Iago's deceit, he kills himself.

QUOTES:

IAGO: Virtue? A fig! Tis in our selves that we are thus or thus. Our bodies are our gardens, to which our wills are gardeners...

CASSIO: Reputation, reputation, reputation! O, I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself, and what remains is bestial.

IAGO: As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound. There is more sense in that than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and most false imposition, oft got without merit and lost without deserving. You have lost no reputation at all, unless you repute yourself such a loser.

CASSIO: O thou invisible spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee devil!

IAGO:
< >When devils will the blackest sin put on,
< >They do suggest at first whith heavenly shows,
< >As I do now.

IAGO:
< >How poor are they that have not patience!
< >What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

IAGO:
< >O beware, my lord, of jealousy!
< >It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock
< >The meat it feeds on.

IAGO:
< >Poor and content is rich, and rich enough;
< >But riches fineless is as poor as winter
< >To him that ever fears he shall be poor.

IAGO:
< >Trifles light as air
< >Are to the jealous confirmations strong
< >As proofs of holy writ.

This is the fourth Koontz novel I've read since False Memory early last year. He has me hooked.

The novel presents three storylines, and slowly shows how they are interrelated. I love the first part where Koontz writes about all three, one after another. Naomi Cain is murdered by her husband, Junior. Phimie White dies of childbirth and Joey Lampion dies in a car crash. In particular, there's a set of chapters with Junior Cain, Celestina White (Phimie's sister) and Agnes Lampion (Joey's wife) all in separate hospitals, playing out parallel stories.

Uncunningly, the story is about parallel universes. I think Koontz likes to write about seemingly weird topics - but with scientific bases. In this instance, he explains parallel universes by way of quantum physics. The last novel I read, he had talking monkeys, the result of scientific military experiments gone bad. I was initially turned off by such bizarre topics, but his writing is really good and I've learned to just look the other way, so to speak.

Having said that, I really didn't get the part about quantum physics. Hahaha. In addition, a powerful motivation in the story is Harrison White's sermon about Bartholomew, one of Jesus' disciples, who apparently showed, through his example, that little acts of kindness goes a long way, echoing through the universe, and so do acts of cruelty and evil. How Bartholomew did this, I do not know and the novel does not say much about what Bartholomew-from-the-Bible particularly did.

This novel is not as well-paced as Koontz other novels, a fact I wasn't so happy about. Nevertheless, it still provided some measure of suspense and intrigue, that allowed me to finish the story. I guess it's because it's one of his older novels. Idk.

The reason why it's called 'From The Corner of His Eye' isn't revealed until almost the end. Also, the little boy who sees from the corner of his eye really wasn't the main character. Junior Cain brought all three storylines together, and the novel follows him, his actions and his thoughts. So, I don't understand why it was titled so. But since I don't have a better alternative, I'll just let it be.

Quotes:

"As always in uncertainty, she asked herself what her mother would do in this situation. Grace, of infinite grace, unfailingly did precisely the needed thing, knew exactly the right words to console, to enlighten, to charm a smile out of even the miserable. Often, however, the needed thing involved no words, because in our journey we do so often feel abandoned, and we need only to be reassured that we are not alone."

"Sometimes Celestina marveled at how intimately and inextricably the tendrils of tragedy and joy were intertwined in the vine of life. Sorrow was often the root of future joy, and joy could be the seed of sorrow yet to come..."

"Of all the kindness we can do for one another, the most precious of all gifts - time - is not ours to give."