Froth on the Daydream by Boris Vian

 Metaphors and perspective is something that is taught through life lessons and sometimes by people close to us. This book teaches these lessons like second nature, students wouldn’t even realize the lesson has started even if the bell rang with this book. The way the book sails through the narrative and makes the reader learn how characters are and how they can even look alike people close to us and create perspective in daily metaphors is astonishing.

I read this book in Portuguese and the title is “Espuma dos Dias”. When I began reading it felt like another world like experience for, I couldn’t quite locate where he was or how he looked like however as the interactions appear I started to develop a picture not on the descriptions but on his way of being. Like when someone tells a story, and we can’t stop ourselves but to rethink of a similar event that occurred to us but with different people, places and times. This book was like eavesdropping on someone’s autobiography but based solely on how they feel and their feelings towards the people surrounding him. He was teaching me to be attentive to feelings and how to feel towards my dearest ones.

Now to talk about the characters, Colin was a dreamer, one with resources but never the final prize, love. He had friends who cared for him certainly but that is a different kind of love. Chick being one of his best friends is loved but his focus is looking for the resources which he lacks, money.

Eventually Colin does find his love in Chloe. She is light on his fingers, even though his money is slowly fading away with each new expense for this brand-new marriage, he is happy with Chloe. But unfortunately, Chloe falls ill and with each passing day death is one step closer to her bedside. Colin begins to work all to keep Chloe from departing but this is irrefutable, death comes knocking on her door.

Although Colin is the main character, his friends develop a world outside of just Colin. We see inside the relationship of Chick and his girlfriend Aly. Aly loves Chick and there could be no doubt about that, for whatever Chick has done wrong she is there by his side, however Chick is addicted to a certain author. His addiction is critical and radical, he starts from simple book collections and cut out pieces of newspaper to recordings of all of his lectures and seminars to the extreme of owning pieces of clothing that belonged to the author. This addiction has a price like all addictions do, and although Aly tries to kill the addiction by the root she comes to late for debts must be paid.

The ending of the book is a sad realization of how feelings control us. The book develops a perspective of the heart being in control and not the brain.