Point of No Return [Paperback]

Andre Vltchek (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2005

Point of No Return shows the world through the eyes of a war correspondent, visiting places that are rarely covered by the mainstream media, offering provocative points of view about the pitiful state of today's world, its disparities and scandalous post-colonial arrangement - including global market fundamentalism and neo-conservative culture that are overthrowing democratic principals that humanity has fought for over the centuries. The narrator of Point of No Return struggles to document many of these crises and scandals, all the while trying to sort out his complicated life - including his love for a possibly unreachable woman, and the level of his personal involvement in the stories he covers. By the end of the novel, he has gone all the way, in his personal, professional, and political life as well. This global novel vividly describes reality, the state of the world, and the grievances and hopes of people the world over.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

An Interview With Andre Vltchek

To what extent do the attacks of 9-11 factor into your novel — Point of No Return? 9-11 was a shock to all of us. Time to reflect, to re-think our position in the world as well as the position of the United States. I added the 9-11 chapter and some references to 9-11 to the Point of No Return after initially drafting the novel; I just had to; it seemed to be relevant - no way out of it. Without it, my novel didn't seem to be complete.

You have written that you hope your novel "gets people thinking." About what, in particular? About the state of the world in which we are all living. Politicians and economists are blurring the whole picture. Sometimes it seems that the course of development can't be changed. In reality it can be.... And the global picture is very simple. A small group of historically aggressive nations is still ruling the world. The economic system which it promotes has nothing to do with humanism; with solidarity, compassion, willingness to share. We have billions of people rotting in gutters all over the world. Hundreds of millions of people dying from curable or at least controllable diseases. The rich world is still plundering the rest of the planet; stealing raw materials, employing people for a pittance.... If poor nations resist, the rich world stages coups or something worse.... And it is all legitimized through the United Nations which were sidelined, made truly impotent.... It is so obvious, as Chomsky likes to say.

How is religion treated in Point of No Return? Why does one of the characters in the novel ask, "What color is God?" How is religion an issue today? Religion teaches submission. It has always been the best ally of the status quo. Almost any oppressive government or movement in the past and present has chosen religion as its pillar. It helps to decompose reason.... You see, religions feel they don't have to prove anything. "You just have to believe," they say. Can any decent society be based on that?

How is America, or "America in the world," portrayed in Point of No Return? In my novel I try to show America as I know it.... From Manhattan. It's my America; it's where I spent so many years and it's where I learned so much: good and bad. My feelings towards America - towards the United States - are very complex, almost schizophrenic. I am shocked by its performance in the world arena, by its compassionless social policies. I can't live there, anymore, as it is becoming too controlled, too uniformed. I am not kidding, I really feel more free in some god-forsaken place in South America than in New York.... On the other hand, there are so many things which I miss and admire there. I feel that I am living in exile, but America is still my home; maybe my imaginary home. I miss the stories and storytellers, I miss the music: jazz and blues, even Tejano music from Texas. I miss activism and the enthusiasm of American people; their natural gift to push the limits. But it is so confusing.... On one hand, Americans live in denial, consuming stupid propaganda, advertisements, brainless films.... On the other hand, nowhere else have I met so many people that I can trust. I can still trust a person's word or handshake there. --- Commentary on Andre Vltchek's work: "Andre Vltchek tells us about a world that few know, even when they think they do. ... That is because he tells the truth, vividly, with a keen sense of history, and with a perceptive eye that sees past surfaces to reality. The range of his commentary is remarkable, its isights no less so...". - Noam Chomsky "To incorporate into fiction political and social reality that wrenches lives and to honestly and passionately reveal true causes, which is to say, to convey true and useful information and yet also tell a vivid and moving story, is no easy task. ... Andre Vltchek has lived in and incorporates in his work a world beyond most people's experiences that nonetheless contours how we all can live. Read him for the story. Read him for the style. Read him for the insight." -Michael Albert, ZNet "Andre Vltchek's work has the incredible capacity of helping one break free from the culture of denial. His ability to translate reality into fiction is stunningly original and very personal. His work shocks you while at the same time reconnects you with the political realities of today.Wisdom can only from a clear understanding of the past and some brutal honesty. This is the purpose of Andre's political novels." - Anuradha Mittal, The Oakland Institute

From the Author

"Are serious topics in novels going to be openly ridiculed and described as outdated? Is it already happening? Are readers going to accept this approach? Are we novelists really expected to become entertainers, clowns, even liars? Are we supposed to forget about all those great novels written in the past? Or are we going to swim with all our strength against the powerful mainstream? I don't think we have much choice. If we float, if we would allow ourselves to be carried by this current, we will end up in the land of irrelevance, oblivion, and shame."

-Andre Vltchek

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Mainstay Press (December 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0977459004
• ISBN-13: 978-0977459001
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,971,297 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Viva la revolucion!, July 13, 2007

By 

Wolfgang B. Sperlich - See all my reviews

This review is from: Point of No Return (Paperback)

This novel - endorsed by none other than Noam Chomsky - certainly does wonders in political consciousness raising. The first person narrator takes on the mantle of a war correspondent who traverses the world, trying to establish a semblance of the truth, in a world that is dominated by what a great political novelist long before Vltchek - George Orwell - has termed `newspeak', a world manipulated by big brother media corporations, dedicated only to greed and profit, where war is peace, where political dissent is punished by marginalization and alienation in the West, and worse - by death - in countries where the Western powers demand unyielding obedience. Our war correspondent and main protagonist, Karel, covers places of conflict such as Indonesia, Timor, the Palestine and Peru where he has one of his semi-residential bases. He writes for a magazine in New York. There the editor is at the end of his tether for supporting his motley crew of dissident journalists (including an Italian philosopher and womanizer), but as the plot reaches the climax with two of his writers - Karel and the Italian - exclusively embedded in a fictional war situation somewhere in South America, the editor finally gets his money's worth, especially as his reporters nearly get killed in action, fighting for the rebels. Set in the historical realm of post 9-11, the US military later launch a large scale attack on the hapless South American country that has been taken over by a revolutionary government. In this also as yet fictional battle, "two large South American countries" come to the aid of the invaded country. Others join within minutes. Will South and Central America unite against the aggressors from the North? Will this herald the long awaited downfall of the US oligarchs?

The reader is left to ponder these questions of global survival. Along the way the reader also gets involved in Karel's personal life and his love interests. At first he is akin to the sailor who has a woman in every port. Things take a tragic turn when in Lima his best friend's girlfriend becomes his, and she gets killed in a bungled action to blow up a bridge. Karel then meets his match in the shape of a Japanese journalist - married with child - who provides a home, the first he's ever had. Happy together at last on a far-away island in Japan, he receives a call from his old comrade Filipe, now a Minister of Defense, asking his old friend Karel to do the honorable thing and cover the ensuing war against the US - the mother of all wars? Karel cannot refuse history in the making. "I'm coming" he says.

The moral of the story is that we all should be prepared for history in the making, and that we all should make a stand in the hour of need, prepared to sacrifice our personal happiness, prepared to support the defenders of liberty, equality and fraternity. Scary thoughts in practice but ever so uplifting when in the realm of well written political fiction. Here the pen is mightier than the sword - as it always should be!

Note: The reviewer is author of NOAM CHOMSKY (Reaktion Books, 2006)