May 05, 2010

How strange to have a paper love.

Yesterday afternoon, I started reading my newly-bought copy of the Griffin and Sabine trilogy.

In the middle of the second book, Sabine's Notebook, I put it down, feeling reluctant to finish it.
Have you ever read a book that was so good, you didn't want it to end? It felt like that. The correspondence of Griffin and Sabine was so incredible that I dreaded every turn of the page that brought me closer to the end.

Ceremonial Spinning Top. One of Sabine's postcards.

To really understand why I'm completely and utterly in love with this book, you have to read it. The entire mail correspondence is written on beautifully drawn postcards and letters that you actually, physically take out of their envelopes.

If that's not enough for you to read the book, then let me tell you their extraordinary story. Sorry for the spoilers, though.

Griffin Moss is an artist who suddenly receives a postcard from a stranger who seems to know everything about his artwork. The stranger introduces herself as Sabine, and tells him that she could see what he is painting and drawing.
Their correspondence eventually unfolds into a romance as two strangers become intertwined through art.

Griffin finds that Sabine is the missing piece of his life, that she has somehow completes him, that she alleviates his loneliness. However, there seems to be a mysterious force that keeps them apart. Every single attempt they make at meeting failed—one attempt resulted in Griffin's near-death.

Drinking Like a Fish. One of Griffin Moss' postcards.

The book doesn't explain why their destinies are seemingly intertwined and why they are unable to meet. That's the beauty of this mystery—you, the reader, are left with a sense of wonderment.

This afternoon, I unwillingly finished reading all three books. And you know what? Even though I'd read it before, I'm still left with that same sense of loss as when I read it the first time.

Oh, and the title of this blog? Griffin Moss said that in one of his letters to Sabine Strohem. :">

SPOILER ALERT:
I'd like to think that Griffin and Sabine ended up together, and I think I have reason to think so, because the last postcard said "we"—meaning it wasn't just Sabine who was writing.

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