Veena’s review of The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards by Kristopher Jansma
Adult Fiction published by Viking Adult 21 Mar 13
This novel reminds me of the stardust and tinsel of a Hollywood set which masks the fear, sweat, and tears that hide beneath the glamor. Hundreds of stories play behind the big screen that most of us never see or recognize. In grandiose style we sweep around the world, experiencing a gamut of emotions and experiences. It’s so hard to distinguish between fact and fiction that I truly feel like I had fallen through the rabbit hole and kept pinching myself to see if I would wake up.
In a rags-to-riches-and-back-to-rags theme, the key protagonist is a writer. He’s always lived in a world of dreams and can spin out a story to save the moment. I most enjoyed his witty repartee and his ability to think on his feet. How often have you thought of something clever after you fell on your face in the conversational lists? Our hero always has the the right spot-on comeback for the moment, whether it is the name he adopts or how he describes himself.
In college as he’s struggling to find and define himself, he finds his muse that confirms his desire and ambition to be a writer. The competitiveness sparks genius between two people who come from different strata of society. Julian McGann embodies everything the author aspires to: talent, wealth, family. In addition, Julian is best friends with beautiful, talented Evelyn who is everything the author aspires to win and hold. As the competition between the two escalates with each trying to outdo the other, such that they forget boundaries, before they realize it they are in dangerous waters.
As they mature our author seems to be somewhat content to hang on to Julian’s coattails and let Julian pay his way as they settle in New York. Two aspiring writers. Then jealousy comes into play again as Julian gets published and our author is left behind and, to boot, Evelyn, the love of his life, makes a rich society marriage. It is a bit confusing that she was looking to marry an Indian billionaire with elephants and henna and all the trappings and then later she was supposedly married ala Princess Grace style into European royalty. But I suppose that’s why it’s fiction and convoluted fiction at that.
After the falling out our author chooses to move on and tastes adventure outside the US, stepping into a college professor’s shoes and then moving on to Dubai to teach oil-rich sheikhs to where he begins to write term assignments for students, who find him the on the Internet, to fuel his extravagant lifestyle as he travels the world from one adventure to another. However, during this time, he’s lost his muse and he’s unable to write, until he meets an editor from the premier publishing house who published Julian’s book. She’s in search of Julian who’s disappeared and never has published another word. Perhaps Julian in his own way has lost his muse.
Then begins the homeward journey to where it all began, finding Julian and helping him into his second successful novel and trying to find himself and what’s truly important. I guess the end leaves one guessing. Do we really ever find ourselves or do we continue to reinvent as circumstances dictate? This is a very thought-provoking book if you really start to delve beneath the surface, and yet you can stay right on the surface and enjoy the wit and knit your eyebrows in confusion as you try to make sense of things. Welcome to the real world!
And in case you’re still wondering, it has nothing to do with leopards, except our intrepid author does meet one in Africa who takes a chunk out of him.
Grade:B
Summary:
Written in a voice that is open, honest, and extremely witty, “The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards” is an elegantly-constructed novel that takes readers around the world with its elusive narrator and his two friends: the talented but unstable Julian McGann and the beautiful actress, Evelyn Demont. Their journey of love and loss carries them to the rocky edge of the Grand Canyon, the posh hotels of Dubai, the crowded markets of Kumasi, and an abandoned Icelandic writer’s colony.
Check out the official book trailer on YouTube.
