The concept of collaboratively writing a novel, that is by multiple people together, is not new, especially that in the age of the internet, the technical part involved in such a project is quite straightforward. To exemplify this, I’ll mention just two successful online projects: A Million Penguins (completed) and Glypho (ongoing).
Chester’s Magic Island is another collaborative novel writing project, with the exception that it was put together in a more traditional way: not online, but on paper. It was written in 1997 by Section 6 of the English IV course at the Institute of English Language Education (now Graduate School of English) from Assumption University in Bangkok. Many years later, in 2005, the editors of the novel, William Denmark and Robert Miles from the same university, had the novel published at Assumption University Press.
Chester’s Magic Island is the second book in the collective novel writing series called “The Turnabout Series.” The other titles include Family Business (2004), Grafted Pine Tree (2004) and From Atikarn’s Diary (2007). In the introduction to the series, William Denmark explains that the name of the series came from the student’s desire “to use their English to ‘write back’” and create their own worlds.
As expected, the reader would not approach any of the novels in the series for their literary qualities, but rather from curiosity. Chester’s Magic Island is structured in thirty short chapters, each written by a different student, mostly Thais (if not all). What the reader expects from such a work of fiction is to get a glimpse into the Asian students’ mind and try to understand the way they view the world around them.
Chester’s Magic Island has a fairly good start as it concentrates on the life of Pol and Sri, two youngsters from rural Thailand. The narrative follows their rise into social status and wealth as they leave the poor village where they were born to go and work in Bangkok and then the USA. While abroad, the focus of the story moves on Chester, their baby boy, and his experiences in the USA. On their return to Thailand, Chester is sent to an international school in Bangkok where, as primary school student, he befriends Tom.
When Tom is killed in a robbery, Chester withdraws into isolation and depression. Three years later he is moved to another international school where he makes friends with Christine, a girl in his class. Until this point the novel had a decent structure, promising a bildungsroman with its focus on the psychological and moral growth of Chester. By now the reader wishes to know what will happen to Chester as he further develops his relationship with Christine and grows from a child to a teenager and eventually an adult.
Unfortunately, this fail proof storyline is dropped in the favor of a trip to a magic island. Although the main idea of all the adventures and challenges Chester is involved into while on the magic island is to strengthen his character, the story makes a tedious read. Chester’s arrival on the magic island means the start of a new friendship with Leo, a fantasy animal that looks like a lion, has wings and can speak. Chester and Leo embark on a journey to the center of the island where, allegedly, there’s a monster. This monster had killed Leo’s family and only after they find the courage to kill him can Chester return home.
On their journey, Chester and Leo meet a score of talking animals, plants and what not, all of which pose a challenge to the two travelers. Many of chapters have obvious influences from well-known books for children, such as Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver’s Travels and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
The genre of the novel shifts almost from one chapter to the other, thus creating a frustrating read. Elements of fantasy, fairy tales, and fables are to be found at various times within the text. When Chester and Leo finally find the monster’s cave they realize that things are not what they seem. This is maybe the novel’s biggest flaw: it lacks a well planned story line. It seems that the authors of the chapters remembered very little of what had been previously written and constructed their chapter plots from scratch. After over one hundred pages of annoying (mis)adventures, Chester eventually finds his way back to the real world.
Now, there is no question that the student-writers put a lot of effort into writing their novel and for that they must be congratulated. I guess the biggest reward for their work was the publication of their novel into a real book. What I feel compelled to criticize is the poor editing of the novel. A lack of narrative structure, endless repetition (sleep, find food, eat, walk, get lost), awkward language, and the absence of an overall vision made me spend three days on a thin book that usually takes me no more than a day to read.
One would think that, in the twelve years that passed between the completion of the novel and its publication, the editors had enough time to improve the narrative so that it would make a smooth read. It is then no surprise that the undergraduate students find the novel difficult and, as one of the lecturers who teach the novels in The Turnabout Series admitted, they find it hard to connect to.
The last pages of the novel are dedicated to other titles from Assumption University Press, but I feel that what is missing is a brief presentation of the student-writers themselves. After all, they are the stars of this collective writing project!
