Message In a Bottle

Message in a bottle 

nicholassparks.com

Hari ini, seperti hari weekend yang lainnya, aku baru selesai jogging dari jam 05.30 pagi, meregangkan beberapa bagian tubuh, sarapan , dan mandi. Aku kembali duduk di bangku di kamarku, melanjutkan imajinasi ku di Boston, di Willmington. Tentang kisah cinta dua insane manusia, Garret Blake & Theresa Osborne (atau bisa jadi tiga orang, ditambah seorang dari masa lalu Catherine).

Aku mulai membaca novel karangan Nicholas Sparks ini dari kamis malam  kemarin, ketika sudah tidak tau mau apa lagi, dan tiba-tiba pengen baca novel (novel ebook/pdf yang gak pernah tersentuh). Dan mataku  pada saat itu cuma tertuju ke “Message in a bottle”. Lalu, perjalanan  ke North Carolina pun dimulai malam  itu.

 Berikut sedikit Prolog nya:

The bottle was dropped overboard on a warm summer evening, a few hours before the rain began to fall. Like all bottles, it was fragile and would break if dropped a few feet from the ground. But when sealed properly and sent to sea, as this one was, it became one of the most seaworthy objects known to man. It could float safely through hurricanes or tropical storms, it could bob atop the most dangerous of riptides. It was, in a way, the ideal home for the message it carried inside, a message that had been sent to fulfill a promise.

Like that of all bottles left to the whim of the oceans, its course was unpredictable. Winds and

currents play large roles in any bottle’s direction; storms and debris may shift its course as well.

Occasionally a fishing net will snag a bottle and carry it a dozen miles in the opposite direction

in which it was headed. The result is that two bottles dropped simultaneously into the ocean

might end up a continent apart, or even on opposite sides of the globe. There is no way to predict

where a bottle might travel, and that is part of its mystery.

The most celebrated message ever sent concerned a young sailor in 1784, Chunosuke

Matsuyama, who was stranded on a coral reef, devoid  of food and water after his boat was

shipwrecked. Before his death, he carved the account of what had happened on a piece of wood,

then sealed the message in a bottle. In 1935, 150 years after it had been set afloat, it washed up

in the small seaside village in Japan where Matsuyama had been born.

The bottle that had been dropped on a warm summer evening, however, did not contain a message about a shipwreck, nor was it being used to chart the seas. But it did contain a message

that would change two people forever, two people who would otherwise never have met, and for

this reason it could be called a fated message. The bottle drifted back and forth for a few days—as if deciding where to go before choosing its course—and it finally washed up along the shore on a beach near Chatham.

And it was there, after 26 days and 738 miles, that it ended its journey.

Dan tepat pagi hari ini, aku berhasil menyelesaikan  membaca cerita ini (less than 2 days) yang sungguh rasanya terlalu cepat. Apalagi ini adalah Novel berbahasa Inggris pertama yang berhasil ku baca, mungkin alur ceritanya yang bikin ketagihan (page turner)? Tentu saja, karena nyatanya aku sampai gak makan (gak makan nasi + lauk) seharian cuma pentengin layar laptop, tenggelam ke dunia ku sendiri, tak peduli dengan yang lainnya (ah lebay). Dan yang pasti, karakter-karakter dalam cerita ini sulit dilupakan.

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Oke, secara keseluruhan cerita ini benar-benar bagus bagiku. Mengapa? Karena ceritanya jelas, tidak membingungkan (meski banyak pindah-pindah latar tempat), dan inti atau pesan dari cerita ini menyentuh banget cuy, berharga banget untuk kehidupan dan masuk akal aja.

Dalam cerita ini, ada dua tokoh (namun yang pasti hanya satu  tokoh utama), yaitu Theresa Osborne dan Garret Blake. 

Theresa merupakan seorang columnist pada Boston Times, sedangkan Garret Blake  adalah seorang instruktur selam di Wilmington (dia juga punya toko alat-alat selam). Dan seperti Prolog diatas tadi, suatu hari sebuah botol yang berisi surat, di lepasan ke lautan luas, dengan segala harapan didalamnya, dan terombang –ambing di Samudera, tidak terarah, dan akhirnya botol tersebut terdampar di pantai Chatham, dimana seorang wanita (Theresa) yang menemukan botol tersebut, pagi itu dibuat meneteskan air mata oleh isi surat didalamnya. Dan dari situ lah cerita panjang menuju sang penulis surat itu dimulai. Dan sebagai bocoran, si penulis surat itu adalah Garret Blake.

Cerita ini juga mengandung unsur komedi, seperti cerita khas dari Nicholas Sparks (ada lucu nya sih, tapi belakangan pasti mewek). Dan karakter lucu di cerita ini tentu si Deanne, wanita setengah baya yang sudah berumur 58 tahun, merupakan sahabat dekat Theresa. Theresa sendiri adalah seorang janda berusia 36 tahun, memiliki seorang anak bernama Kevin (12 tahun).

Di awal-awal cerita aku jadi penasaran sama si Penulis surat didalam botol itu, yang memang isi nya romantic plus menyedihkan. Dan Om Nicholas Sparks benar-bnear  merangkainya begitu rapih sehingga sulit bagiku untuk melewatkan setiap kata-kata. 

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Memang ada sedikit kesulitan pas awal, karena ini adalah novel bahasa Inggris, jadi agak capek (maksudnya harus menerjemahkan arti tiap kata dalam otak) sehingga cenderung aku bacanya lambat banget. Tapi kalo ada kata yang gak ngerti sama sekali, ya aku pake kamus. Namun yang menjadi ciri khas dari seorang Nicholas Sparks adalah kata-kata yang dipakai mudah di mengerti dan ringan, jadi aku rasa kalian juga akan bisa mengerti jalan ceritanya (iyalah, terus ngapain lagi?).

Oh ya, sebenarnya si Garret ini (bocoran juga) sering banget di ceramahi ayahnya *lol* karena sifatnya yang menurutku menyedihkan, dimana Garret masih belum bisa move on guys.

Dan berikut salah satu dari beberapa ceramah sang ayah, Mr. Jeb Blake:

“Sometimes, I swear you think I just fell off the turnip truck and bumbled through life without learning anything along the way. But I know exactly what you’re going through. You’ve gotten so caught up in being alone that you’re afraid of what might happen if you actually find someone else that can take you away from it.”

“I must have. Because when I look at you, I see myself, and to be honest, I’d rather see someone different. I’d like to see someone who learned that it’s okay to go on, that it’s okay to find someone that can make you happy. But right now, it’s like I’m looking in the mirror and seeing myself twenty years ago.”

Seperti kata Mr. Jeb, anak nya, si Garret memang menurut ku agak trauma gitu dan susah banget ngelepasin si Chaterine (siapa si Catherine? Nanti cari tahu sendiri deh) tapi dilain pihak juga, dia udah cinta mati sama Theresa (NO!, Garret bukan Playboy ya guys).

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Karakter yang paling aku suka yang pasti si Theresa dong, dia itu cerdas, rajin, Ibu yang baik dan penyayang, lover sejati juga sih. Dan mungkin saat dia tau bahwa Garret benar-benar exist, dia jadi tertantang untuk mencarinya (atas dukungan kuat dari Deanne), dan dia pun memulai petualangan tak terduga itu, 

She didn’t know exactly, but he did exist, and one of the things she had learned early in her life was that if you discovered something that made you tighten inside, you had better try to learn more about it. If you simply ignored the feeling, you would never know what might happen, and in many ways that was worse than finding out you were wrong in the first place. Because if you were wrong, you could go forward in your life without ever looking back over your shoulder and wondering what might have been.

Ada juga kutipan obrolan Theresa dan Deanne yang lucu, tapi memang sering terjadi *lol* 

“Don’t ‘Deanna’ me. You know the curiosity would  drive you crazy. It’s already driving me crazy.”

Kemudian banyak adegan cerita ini terekam di seputar pantai dan laut, dan mungkin ini salah satu suasana yang aku suka saat Theresa dan Garret sailing bareng:

“The only sounds now came from the sail as the

wind rippled through it and the water as Happenstance cut its way through the waves. She thought their voices sounded different from the way they had on the docks. Out here they sounded almost free, as if the open air would carry them forever”

Dan kembali ke Deanne yang juga sering ceramahi (memberi saran Bim) si Theresa haha. Ini part yang keren sih:

Deanna’s voice softened. “Theresa, I know there’s a part of you that believes you can change someone, but the reality is that you can’t. You can change yourself, and Garrett can change himself, but you can’t do it for him.”

“I know that—”

“But you don’t,” Deanna said, gently cutting her off. “Or if you do, you don’t want to see it that way. Your vision, as they say, has become clouded.”

Terus apa isi pesan dalam botolnya? Well, itu tentu rahasia, harus baca sendiri, karena pasti akan lebih ngena di hati. Ada banyak letter yang ditulis Garret (sumpah, si Garret pinter nulis), apalagi untuk Catherine. Tapi ini salah satu letter untuk Theresa (pas dekat-dekat ending L) dan aku jamin kalian juga pasti sedih, aku sendiri, ya ampun, nangis – nangis gak jelas dikamar *lol*

Dear Theresa,

Can you forgive me?

She laid the letter on the desk. Her throat ached, making it difficult to breathe. The overhead light was making a strange prism of her unbidden tears. She reached for some tissue and rubbed her eyes. Composing herself, she started again.

“Dear Theresa

Can you forgive me?

In a world that I seldom understand, there are winds of destiny that blow when we least expect them. Sometimes they gust with the fury of a hurricane, sometimes they barely fan one’s cheek.

But the winds cannot be denied, bringing as they often do a future that is impossible to ignore. You, my darling, are the wind that I did not anticipate, the wind that has gusted more strongly than I ever imagined possible. You are my destiny.

I was wrong, so wrong, to ignore what was obvious, and I beg your forgiveness. Like a cautious traveler, I tried to protect myself from the wind and lost my soul instead. I was a fool to ignore my destiny, but even fools have feelings, and I’ve come to realize that you are the most important thing that I have in this world.

I know I am not perfect. I’ve made more mistakes in the past few months than some make in a lifetime. I was wrong to have acted as I did when I found the letters, just as I was wrong to hide the truth about what I was going through with respect to my past. When I chased you as you drove down the street and again as I watched you leave from the airport, I knew I should have tried harder to stop you. But most of all, I was wrong to deny what was obvious in my heart: that I can’t go on without you.

You were right about everything. When we sat in my kitchen, I tried to deny the things you were saying, even though I knew they were true. Like a man who gazes only backward on a trip across the country, I ignored what lay ahead. I missed the beauty of a coming sunrise, the wonder of anticipation that makes life worthwhile. It was wrong of me to do that, a product of my confusion, and I wish I had come to understand that sooner.

Now, though, with my gaze fixed toward the future, I see your face and hear your voice, certain that this is the path I must follow. It is my deepest wish that you give me one more chance. As you might have guessed, I’m hoping that this bottle will work its magic, as it did once before, and somehow bring us back together. For the first few days after you left, I wanted to believe that I could go on as I always had. But I couldn’t. Every time I watched the sun go down, I thought of you. Every time I walked by the phone, I yearned to call. Even when I went sailing, I could only think of you and the wonderful times we had. I knew in my heart that my life would never be the same again. I wanted you back, more than I imagined possible, yet whenever I conjured you up, I kept hearing your words in our last conversation. No matter how much I loved you, I knew it wasn’t going to be possible unless we—both of us—were sure I would devote myself fully to the path that lay ahead. I continued to be troubled by these thoughts until late last night when the answer finally came to me. Hopefully, after I tell you about it, it will mean as much to you as it did to me:

In my dream, I saw myself on the beach with Catherine, in the same spot I took you after our lunch at Hank’s. It was bright in the sun, the rays reflecting brilliantly off the sand. As we walked alongside each other, she listened intently as I told her about you, about us, about the wonderful times we shared. Finally, after some hesitation, I admitted that I loved you, but that I felt guilty about it. She said nothing right away but simply kept walking until she finally turned to me and asked, “Why?”

“Because of you.”

Upon hearing my answer, she smiled at me with patient amusement, the way she used to before she died. “Oh, Garrett,” she finally said as she gently touched my face, “who do you think it was that brought the bottle to her? When I woke, I felt empty and alone. The dream did not comfort me. Rather, it made me ache inside because of what I had done to us, and I began to cry. When I finally pulled myself together, I knew what I had to do. With shaking hand, I wrote two letters: the one you’re holding in your hand right now, and one to Catherine, in which I finally said my good-bye. Today, I’m taking Happenstance out to send it to her, as I have with all the others. It will be my last letter— Catherine, in her own way, has told me to go on, and I have chosen to listen. Not only to her words, but also to the leanings of my heart that led me back to you.

Oh, Theresa, I am sorry, so very sorry, that I ever hurt you. I am coming to Boston next week with the hope that you find a way to forgive me. Maybe I’m too late now. I don’t know.

Theresa, I love you and always will. I am tired of being alone. I see children crying and laughing as they play in the sand, and I realize I want to have children with you. I want to watch Kevin as he grows into a man. I want to hold your hand and see you cry when he finally takes a bride, I want to kiss you when his dreams come true. I will move to Boston if you ask because I cannot go on this way. I am sick and sad without you. As I sit here in the kitchen, I am praying that you will let me come back to you, this time forever.

Garrett.”

Dan sebenarnya, isi letter ini sudah mewakili setiap masalah antara Garret dan Theresa. Garret bukan playboy yah guys, seperti yang sudah tertulis di letter itu, si Catherine sebenarnya sudah meninggal jauh sebelum itu, namun Garret berat mencoba cinta yang baru. But at least Garret pecinta sejati, dan kalian  pasti akan tau pas read it by yourself.

Dan sebagai penutup, dan ini part yang bikin aku sendiri harus  “tundukan kepala, sembunyikan kepala, menahan mata sebelah agar gak lepas, hidung mengembang-mengempis, mata kebanjiran, terus ada suara isak berat, rubbing my eyes”, pokoknya intinya sampe nangis se nangis – nangis nya (biarain mau bilang apa) dan emang sensasi ini yang paling aku tunggu, karena udah lama juga gak nangis *lol*, yuk dibaca surat Theresa untuk kekasihnya Garret:

“My Darling,

One year has passed since I sat with your father in the kitchen. It is late at night and though the

words are coming hard to me, I can’t escape the feeling that it’s time that I finally answer your

question. Of course I forgive you. I forgive you now, and I forgave you the moment I read your letter. In my heart, I had no other choice. Leaving you once was hard enough; to have done it a second time would have been impossible. I loved you too much to have let you go again. Though I’m still grieving over what might have been, I find myself thankful that you came into my life for even a short period of time. In the beginning, I’d assumed that we were somehow brought together to help you through your time of grief. Yet now, one year later, I’ve come to believe that it was the other way around. Ironically, I am in the same position you were, the first time we met. As I write, I am struggling with the ghost of someone I loved and lost. I now understand more fully the difficulties you were going through, and I realize how painful it must have been for you to move on. Sometimes my grief is overwhelming, and even though I understand that we will never see each other again, there is a part of me that wants to hold on to you forever. It would be easy for me to do that because loving someone else might diminish my memories of you. Yet, this is the paradox: Even though I miss you greatly, it’s because of you that I don’t dread the future. Because you were able to fall in love with me, you have given me hope, my darling. You taught me that it’s possible to move forward in life, no matter how terrible your grief. And in your own way, you’ve made me believe that true love cannot be denied.

Right now, I don’t think I’m ready, but this is my choice. Do not blame yourself. Because of you, I am hopeful that there will come a day when my sadness is replaced by something beautiful.

Because of you, I have the strength to go on.

I don’t know if spirits do indeed roam the world but even if they do, I will sense your presence

everywhere. When I listen to the ocean, it will be your whispers; when I see a dazzling sunset, it

will be your image in the sky. You are not gone forever, no matter who comes into my life. You

are standing with God, alongside my soul, helping to guide me toward a future that I cannot

predict.

This is not a good-bye, my darling, this is a thank-you. Thank you for coming into my life and giving me joy, thank you for loving me and receiving my love in return. Thank you for the memories I will cherish forever. But most of all, thank you for showing me that there will come a time when I can eventually let you go.

I love you,

Theresa”

After reading the letter for the last time, Theresa rolled it up and sealed it in the bottle. She turned it over a few times, knowing that her journey had come full circle. Finally, when she knew she could wait no longer, she threw it out as far as she could.

It was then that a strong wind picked up and the fog began to part. Theresa stood in silence and

stared at the bottle as it began to float out to sea. And even though she knew it was impossible,

she imagined that the bottle would never drift ashore. It would travel the world forever, drifting

by faraway places she herself would never see.

When the bottle vanished from sight a few minutes later, she started back to the car. Walking in

silence in the rain, Theresa smiled softly. She didn’t know when or where or if it would ever turn

up, but it didn’t really matter. Somehow she knew that Garrett would get the message.

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So, that’s all I got.

Cerita nya masih membekas di hati cuy. Dan akan terus ada.

Meski menurutku ini bukan happy ending (lah? Bukannya mereka baik-baik aja Bim?) dimana si tokoh Garret harus pergi untuk selama-lamanya (aku rasa isi letter terakhir membuat kita bisa paham), tapi ada hikmah yang penting di balik cerita ini guys. And to read this kind of story is something you should do,at least once in a lifetime! It’s worth it. 

Just a matter of imagination, aku berharap sosok Theresa Osborne benar-benar ada – begitu pula dengan Kevin dan Deanne. Sayang nya, semua ini tidak nyata, sayangnya ini cuma kisah fiksi. Tapi mungkin, ketika pergi kepantai lagi, aku akan mulai memperhatikan tiap sudut pasir dengan lebih seksama (hah?)

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Novel ini (dalam versi Bahasa Inggris) memiliki 177 lembar (gak termasuk kata sambutan dll karena punyaku dalam bentuk ebook) dan bisa menyelesaikannya dalam waktu kurang dari 2 hari, sungguh merupakan kepuasan tersendiri bagi ku. What a rewarding moment!

Kalau bisa ngasih bintang score, dari 5 bintang, aku akan kasih rate 4,9.                                         

This is masterpiece of Nicholas Sparks. And I’m looking forward  for another masterpieces.

Setelah membaca karya Nicholas Spars  “A Walk To Remember” dan  kemudian “Message in a bottle” aku bisa tau ciri khas dari nya, kebanyakan adalah cerita nya tentang kisah cinta yang pasti ada yang meninggal. Namun seperti A Walk To Remember juga, cerita ini akan membekas selamanya, dan  merubah cara pandang ku kemudian.

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NOTE:

Untuk menambah kesan dramatis dan melankolis yang didapat saat membaca ending cerita ini, aku menyarankan pasang earphone, terus putar music mellow  (terserah yang penting kalian suka), baca cerita nya sambil dengar lagunya, resapi setiap kata-katanya. Dan you’ll get the best out of it! Like I did. Karena aku pas baca sering dengar lagu dari Troye Sivan – Wild, aku jadi ngerasa bisa ingat kisah ini saat putar lagu itu.

 Apalagi didukung liriknya yang ‘agak’ cocok:

‘Cause there’s still too long to the weekend  (teringat waktu Garret berpikir mengapa weekend masih terlalu lama agar dia bisa bertemu Theresa)

Too long till I drown in your hands, too long since I’ve been a fool, Ohh

Leave this blue neighbourhood,

Never knew loving could hurt this good, Oh

And it drives me wild..

Dan lagu ini kayak cocok banget dah. Oke, sekian

Thanks untuk Garret Blake & Theresa Osborne – dan terlebih untuk sang penulis, Nicholas Sparks, kisah kalian akan selalu ada di hati ku (bicara ke diri sendiri). BS