Word: baly
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...lies, the messages he pens for his characters positively hum with bon mots. Formerly a critic for The New Yorker and author of a tome called The Music of the Spheres: Music, Science and the Natural Order of the Universe, James spent 1999 living in a bungalow in Bali observing what he calls the "fairy-dust world" that is expatriate life. The offspring of that year is a fun, slightly trashy novel that's quick and pleasurable to read, not least because it gives you the voyeur's thrill of trawling through all those private e-mails...
...though it seems to be little more than a confection, the novel provides a strangely haunting glimpse into the world of exquisite illusions that Bali was until so recently. For the rafts of foreigners who for decades have washed up on her shores, Bali before the bomb was innocent in the same way a Russ Meyer film is innocent?without self-reflection or guilt. "What I love about Bali," writes Joey, "is that you can do whatever the hell you want as long as you don't hurt anyone else." That was false then, and it's false now. Someone...
...TIME: But why set the story in Bali? James: Bali has this long tradition of people who come to the island and buy into this idea that it is the center of the universe. Balinese are such tolerant and kind-hearted people that sometimes people think there are never any problems. People come to Bali and lose rational perspective...
...TIME: Was Bali ever paradise? James: Bali has changed less than journalists are saying. People forget that there were bad things happening before. It may not be a bombing, but a flood or a riot. We tend to romanticize when we look back on any place and time. People forget all the bad stuff and only remember the exotic...
...TIME: Have you been back to Bali since Oct. 12? James: Yes. The people of Bali are in total denial. When they find out I'm a travel writer, they say, "Tell them it's safe. Tell them we had nothing to do with the bomb." It will take a couple of years for Bali to come back?assuming the security situation improves. But it's never wise to look too far ahead...