I was randomly searching minimalism one day when I came
across Joshua Fields Millburn’s name and his novel, “As a Decade Fades”. He had
tweeted a specific line that resonated with me and I didn’t need convincing to
go online and order his book. When the
book arrived I could not put it down.
As a Decade Fades is an easy read. It is simple, yet
complicated. Jody’s story is our story
in many ways and it is not in some ways. The reader is hooked not by
extravagant use of words and complicated plots, but we are pulled in as we read
about real life experiences like our own.
There is a nice balance between humor and tragedy. There are
points in our lives where we question ourselves and the paths we’ve have
walked. Is it time for a detour?
“He wasn’t sure when it had happened, but one day he woke up
halfway between somewhere and nowhere and he was twenty-something and nearing
thirty as the decade faded.”
As I read “…Safety
inside the prison –freedom from freedom….” , I closed my book listening to
Chopin. I went back in time, remembering when I opened my one suitcase on a bed
of a settlement, temporary housing for refugees. I felt safe and optimistic
about my future, but sad knowing what I had left behind. A single suitcase on a
bed was loaded with tragic and triumphant stories. Jody’s story was my story.
Jody’s character keeps reminding himself to focus on the present
and leave the past behind. But we truly can never separate ourselves from our
pasts. “…how pointless this life might be without a past, and how miserable it
was with one.”
Falling While Sitting Down – “The boy did not want to
remember much about that Man, so he didn’t.” His childhood was filled with
various forms of abuse and trauma. He really did not have supervision or role
model of any kind growing up.“…the boy made friends with various elements of
certain fringe social blocs….but he never attempted to adapt to their tenets or
fully integrate into any one particular group…” I just wanted to reach out inside the book and
hold little Jody. Jody grew up like the rest of us with “…a duffle bag filled
with painful memories and future regrets.”
I love music, rain, solitude at times, I don’t sleep well most of the times, have had failed
relationships, lost people due to natural causes or suicide,….in so many ways
Jody is us and we are him. When he is sitting on the rooftop writing his songs
and thinking about the rain… that is the most beautiful part for me. “But
things hadn’t always been this way, and his life hadn’t always been held
together by trepidation and disdain and by the sum of what love wasn’t.” Or
when he writes for his mom, “People don’t know how to love the ones they love
until they disappear from their lives”. We all have lost people in our lives
and in that moment we can relate to Jody and what he is feeling.
Jody’s adult sex life is filled with extremely beautiful
young women that are described mostly as Caucasians, with blond hair, with
perfect slim bodies and FLAT STOMACHS! This is exactly what a patriarchal
society tells us a beautiful woman should look like! There is a brief reference where the author tries
to challenge society’s patriarchic view of women by posing this question: “How
come guys can have sex with all kinds of women and we’re considered manly or
whatever, but if a women has more than one partner, she’s a slut?” But the conversation that follows is of sex
humor and more misogynistic comments.
I found the speeding ticket part of the book extremely
funny. I got my first ever speeding
ticket last year when I was taking my sick child and myself to the doctor’s
office and was feeling miserable. The officer said: “Maam, you were going 78 in
50 Km zone!” All I could think was **** I wasn’t even blasting my favourite
song or rolling my window down and changing lanes. What a shitty way to get a
ticket! As a Decade Fades provides the reader with an experience that is very
personal. You’d think that was me! I did that or said that. The whole car ride
with the music and jokes was hilarious.
“Sometimes love is sad. Sometimes it drops your heart from a
great height and it shatters into a million tiny shards, and those shards are
sharp and painful.” And of course the story cannot be without love and
heartache. There are many simple but profound lines in the book that deal with
love and relationships and who we are.
Jody shows us that we are not perfect. We may have had a
rough childhood and many unpleasant experiences growing up and even throughout
our adult lives. That is the reality of life. We will face many struggles and
triumphs. As a Decade fades says it best: “Perhaps one must sit in the valley
to see the beauty of the mountaintop, to appreciate his ascent, to live a
purpose-filled life. And perhaps the key is to not live in the valley, but
rather, to be aware of why you were there and prepare for the journey ahead.”
I enjoyed reading As a Decade Fades as it reminded me I am
only human and I am entitled to make mistakes and to learn from them. It also
teaches us about hope and optimism, although I feel like I have to read a
follow up story to learn about Jody’s life in Ohio with the “Girl in the White
Summer Dress”.
“Lie by me, we can be alone together.
Lie to me, we can
believe these lies forever.”
