In Paul Zacharia’s “True Story of a Writer, a Philosopher and a Shape-Shifter,” prepare for a bizarre and thought-provoking journey into the absurdities of life, creation, and the human relationships.

There’s always something absurd, something eccentric in our lives. Paul Zacharia’s story is about that absurd and its connection to our lives. True Story of a Writer, a Philosopher and a Shape-shifter is not an easy tale to grasp. It’s layered with all that lies within us, outside of us, and all that is incomprehensible and a tad bit indecipherable. It is a revised edition of Zacharia’s debut novel in English, The Secret History of Compassion (published in 2019).

The plot revolves around a famous fiction writer, Lord Spider (who also pens under other names), his philosopher wife Rosi, and a shape-shifter JL Pillai. Lord Spider has been commissioned to write an essay on compassion for the revolutionary party, but non-fiction isn’t his style, so the writer seeks sex with his wife to grasp non-fiction. But Rosi isn’t willing, and Lord Spider’s solution lands in his study room in the form of hangman JL Pillai. And the fourth character is Brother Dog, who loves Rosi and whom Spider looks at with some suspicion, after all the beast probably doesn’t love him like he loves Rosi.

The story of a writer, philosopher, and shape-shifter is quite like The Teachings of Don Juan by Carlos Castaneda. The shamans moved in different worlds through their consciousness, changing shapes and forms to match their needs, connecting to animal spirits.

Zacharia’s book too handles the dichotomies of life in its own unique way. He addresses the complexity of different layers that make up a human being in a humorous manner. A professional hangman, Pillai revels in shifting shapes from a bird to a bat to fly through the world. A harbinger of death, yet a creative seeker, someone who reveres the celebrated Lord Spider. Shapeshifting as a crow, he has no qualms in staring through the bathroom window at Rosi while she is giving herself an oil massage. It doesn’t upset Spider either when he comes to know about it.

Rosi and Spider have a complacent and platonic relationship on one level, an intellectual one on another, and physical in another dimension. While Rosi isn’t always a willing bed partner, she is very happy to enter the world of shapeshifting with a kiss by Pillai, the bat. Spider, on the other hand, gets a bite, which Pillai convinces him is the better way. Zacharia makes us wonder if this has something to do with hidden feelings or softness due to gender difference.

The journey through old times, the concept of lost songs crying and touching hearts through air, Jesus changing shape to fly to their concert at the Valley of Songs, is perhaps a writer’s imagination reaching another level. However, the tale makes you think about the highs and lows, the in-betweens, and the flight of thoughts that take place through the process of creation and the journey of life.

Zacharia’s prose is catchy, and the unlikely collaboration of these three minds leading to a long essay on compassion is quite a feat. The whole tale is about the process of creation, through different experiences, ideologies, theologies, and talks. There is a cohesive result, and the last chapter is that complete essay.

More than the paradoxes, the dichotomies, the different dimensions, it is the language that captivates the reader. The realistic touches with references to songs we have hummed give it a contemporary 21st-century feel. The author also gives some touches about the creation of a book, such as word count, decoy endings, and the satirical touch through the example of Stalin-woman. There are lessons to be learned through the tale of the frog, the snake and the sleeper.

The novel also touches upon the political nuances of our times, the bootlicking and motivation that intellectual essays would be bringing, the lies that the hangman’s stories have, and the various ideologies and theologies that keep banging into each other.

Paul Zacharia, a master of novels, essays, children’s fiction, and travelogues, interlaces satire, humor, realism, and surrealistic views to create a tale that provokes you to re-read, for you might find something more the next time.

Paul Zacharia has written over 50 works in Malayalam, is a Distinguished Fellow of the Kerala Sahitya Akademi, and has also received the Kendra Sahitya Akademi and Kerala Sahitya Akademi awards.

Book Details
Publisher: Penguin
Language: ‎English
Paperback:‎ 256 pages
Price: INR 399
Buy here

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