THE
VIEW FROM SATURDAY
by
E.L.
KONIGSBURG
If I remember correctly,
this was the first book by E.L. Konigsburg which I read. After that I was
hooked and immediately felt like going out to buy her books. Unfortunately, it
wasn’t easy to find her books in local bookstores at that time so what I have today is from
online stores and from Kinokuniya in Kuala Lumpur.
 |
| My copy of The View from Saturday |
This book was a gift from my
cousin, Lilaine, who had bought it from a used bookshop in K.L. Before that, I
had never heard of E.L. Konigsburg. The year was 2002. I am very glad she made
this introduction. To date, I have collected 12 titles.
The View from Saturday is
about 4 children, Noah, Nadia, Ethan and Julian. They call themselves “The
Souls”. All 4 are quite like kindred spirits (a term conveniently borrowed from
“Anne of Green Gables”) and attend 6th grade in the same school. The
story starts with The Souls representing their school at the Academic Bowl. Their
team is the youngest, the others being 7th and 8th
graders but they still manage to answer the questions based on their past
experiences which are narrated individually in subsequent chapters. So the
chapters go to and fro between the questions posed at the Academic Bowl and the
stories each child narrates. To me, this is part of the book’s charm and
succeeds in keeping the reader’s attention.
Even though this is
classified as children’s fiction and I was already a full grown adult when I
read it, there were lots of little nuggets of information which I found
interesting. Yes, we never ever stop learning, even from children’s stories.
For example, in Noah’s
story, these were the interesting bits:-
What
a B & B letter is
What
a retirement village in the USA is like
How
to correctly fill a fountain pen (6 steps!)
A
dental hygienist is a “profession” by itself (I have never heard of people
describing themselves as a “dental hygienist” in Malaysia)
§
One of my favourite lines
was “The ballpoint pen has been the
single biggest factor in the decline of Western Civilization. It makes the
written word cheap, fast and totally without character.” – Tillie Nachman
Nadia’s story is titled “Nadia tells of turtle love” and is my
favourite one among all. Along the way, we find out that Nadia is related
through marriage to Noah and that her parents are divorced. My favourite parts
are about the turtles themselves and how turtle conservation is managed and
organised in Florida. In Malaysia, we have sea turtles coming on land to lay
eggs too but over the years their numbers have dwindled drastically due to
ignorance and sporadic conservation efforts. So, this part is special to me. Nadia’s
father initially feels nervous and awkward as he doesn’t know what to do with
her when she comes to spend part of her holidays with him after the divorce.
Nadia on her part, feels resentful for certain changes in her life and also
that she has had to move to another state with her mom. In a way, she blames it
on her grandfather’s new wife, Margaret, who also happens to be Ethan’s
grandmother (a fact which she doesn’t discover till much later and which makes
her mad!). But when the new turtle hatchlings are threatened due to a storm,
Nadia puts aside her resentment and does her part in saving them after her
grandfather’s makes a special plea. During that course, Nadia comes to terms
with her new custody arrangement between her parents and accepts the reality of
commuting in the coming years.
“The
following places in New York State are associated with women famous in American
history. I shall name the place; you are required to tell me why it is
important and name the woman associated with that place. ……The place names are
Seneca Falls, Homer, Rochester and Auburn”
“Ethan
Potter would know all four parts. Yes, yes, yes and yes.”
Ethan
Explains the B and B Inn is Ethan Potter’s story and that
enables him to answer the question posed at the Academic Bowl.
Ok, I won’t go into further
details on Ethan and Julian’s story because that would be a spoiler for anyone
who hasn’t read the book yet. Suffice to say, with the supporting characters of
Mrs. Eva Olinski (their paraplegic teacher) and Mr. Singh (Julian’s father),
this book, to quote the review of the Publisher’s Weekly on the jacket is
“Glowing with humour and dusted with magic”.
I also appreciate the last 2
pages of the book where the writer sets out the Fifteen Questions with Thirty
Six Answers. These were the questions posed at the Academic Bowl. In case you
are wondering about the answers to Ethan’s questions, here they are:-
Seneca
Falls
Elizabeth
Cady Stanton
Called
the first women’s rights convention here in 1848.
Homer
Amelia
Jenks Bloomer
Was
born here, was editor of LILY, a paper devoted to women’s rights and
temperance. She wore a short skirt and full trousers whenever she lectured, and
they became known as the Bloomer costume or bloomers.
Rochester
Susan
B. Anthony
Led
a group of women to the polls here in 1872 to test the right of women to vote.
She was arrested, tried and sentenced to a fine.
Auburn
Harriet
Tubman
One
of the most successful conductors of the underground railroad, she lived here
for many years.
To find out more about E.L. Konigsburg, check out this link from wikipedia here
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