Book Review of The Four Lives of Robinson Appleson by Veronique Iswery Pasquet
Sometimes, we are lucky to have a beacon of luck bestowed upon us. What I mean here is that when we want to live a particular life, the life of our dreams, the way we want to, we seldom realize that this one might not just be one we have not gotten because of our karma; rather, it might be the “ripple” or the “carry forward” from the previous one. The Four Lives of Robinson Appleson by Veronique Iswery Pasquet is a brilliant fantasy roller coaster ride that will make you wonder at the kind of games Karma can get into to reach the level for all in totality.
“If I could but roll back one thing in life, it would be time and all the resulting consequences would occur themselves…”
Yes, the biggest game changer in our lives is time. The only constant that is variable at every instant is The quantum, which is the reason why events occur as they do. It is responsible for the entire trajectory of events that take place in one’s life and even later on, in the afterlife. Time is what makes a person do or undo things, if undoing is a term in the real sense.
Undoing what I am referring to here is karma. Confused? Well, let me explain. Imagine a person who was a rich king in their previous life. He chose to disregard and not consider the poor at all, treating them with such disdain and contempt that even the gods were frazzled. What do you think will transpire? Well, Karma is not the entity to be hoodwinked. The same king is turned into a pauper in his next life and has to go through the same cycle of pain and humiliation he chose to bestow upon others in his previous birth. Well, that is Karma for you. As leveraging, bringing all in totality as it can get.
You may be wondering why I am discussing these things today. My last read, “The Four Lives of Robinson Appleson,” by Veronique Iswery Pasquet, is fantasy fiction that compelled me to go back and think and reason out why things happen the way they do. A scintillating tale that peruses in-depth human nature and whether the totality or closure as I was speaking about earlier comes into fruition or not, the tale is centered around that idea.
The story revolves around Robinson and his four lives in different timelines: a Persian Prince, a Beverly Hills millionaire lad, a jaguar, and a Black woman. After every reincarnation, we see that there is a shift, a change of some sort, in Robinson as regards his entire persona. In each instance, he discovers and realizes that he loves the same woman, and along the way, he also finds out about his character traits such as cannibalism, his somewhat strange erotic fantasies, and most importantly, what has led him to this particular form of life this time.
A rigmarole of relationships and adventures, this one will keep you hooked right from the start as you buckle up and prepare to delve into each of Robinson’s earthly life pursuits, one by one. Whether it be him in Norman Appleson’s spoiled rich brat’s garb or the Jaguar from the African Savannah who eventually imbibes the true shift in his base persona, Veronique has subtly but surely engrained a phenomenal amount of adventure, emotion, thrill, fantasy, surrealism, magic, and at the same time,
You know that each time Robinson changes garb, genders, forms, and lives, there is a fresh perspective that Veronique tries to invoke in the tale, ensuring that not only do we stay at the main plot but also get an idea of how, as eccentric as it may appear, we humans are conditioned in a uniquely strange manner, and we tend to move, or rather transcend, to other hues, moving from older paradigms to embracing newer ones, in the process discovering the strange journeys of “nine lives,” as we refer to the whole process of reincarnation and re-birth.
Not only has she incorporated magical surrealism brilliantly, but there was every emotion I could think of, right from love, loss, lust, and heartbreak to even the themes of cannibalism, which were depicted by her in great detail in the plot.
A good book for fans of fantasy, go for it if you want to read something refreshing and a magically splendid piece of tale. Grab your copy now!
So, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts on this one. Stay tuned with us right here at Booxoul, Asia’s best book review and lifestyle blog, for the latest and hottest trends in the fields of entertainment, travel, fun, finance, fashion, lifestyle, tech, and gadgets, as well as all things bookish.
Adios Amigos!