Click Here To Purchase Meant to Be: a novel

Author: Richard Alan

ISBN: 9780983695301

Publisher: Village Drummer Fiction

In Yiddish there is an expression, bashert which means destiny or meant to be and often it is used in the context of one's divinely foreordained spouse or soul-mate. It can also be used to express the seeming fate or destiny of an important event, friendship, or happening. The Swiss psychologist Carl Jung came up with the concept of Synchronicity wherein we have an experience of two or more events that are casually unrelated or unlikely to occur by chance, that we observe to occur together in a meaningful way. It is the synchronized occurrence or coincidence of events in life that have special meaning and the person best qualified to understand them is generally the one they occur to. Many of us, who have experienced these meaningful happenings, acknowledge them as a kind of personal guidance.

Latching onto the theme of bachert as his hook, Richard Alan's debut novel Meant to Be: A Novel focuses on the lives of Meyer and Joan, as well as members of three generations of their friends and family who experienced meaningful and perfect timing arrivals by the right person at the right place. It is an enchanting peek at how these family members perceived the signs pointing them in a specific direction and informing them that they indeed found their soul mates and paths that would lead to their ultimate personal destinies. Moreover, these bachert experiences were accepted as a guidance following their own truth, regardless of the consequences that may have occurred.

As the story unfolds, Meyer and Joan meet in a library in Iowa where Joan informs Meyer that she is just about to enter kindergarten in the fall to which Meyer responds that he is only four and he will not be attending kindergarten. Upon hearing this, Joan walks away muttering that she can't spend time with little kids. A few years later when both Meyer and Joan`s family move to a small suburb in Washington State, the two once again meet and for several years thereafter become very good friends. For Meyer, he could not exactly describe the connection between himself and Joan but as he states: ``for the first time in my life I felt a connection to a person that wasn't a relative.`` As the narrative progresses, it takes on a When Harry Met Sally feeling (remember the movie with Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan). In fact, when the couple reignite their friendship, after several years of going their own ways, Allan does use the following quote from this movie: "Once you know who you want to spend the rest of your life with....you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."  Interwoven into this engaging tale are the lives of various members of Meyer and Joan`s families, as well as some of their friends, that have likewise experienced this feeling of bachert -something that none can exactly put their fingers on as to why it happens, but they just know that it must be some divine intervention influencing their fate.

Although I enjoyed the ride reading Meant to Be: A Novel, I noticed during the journey that were several bumps along the way. For one, the narrative had a great deal of telling and very little showing. This is a work of fiction and thus neglecting to include details of sound, touch, taste, and smell does not contribute to the story's palpability, particularly if you are only relying on details of sight. Allan seems to identify too closely with the first person narrator and he takes for granted the vividness of the language his characters are using. The sentences became a recitation of I did this, she did that, etc and as a result the reading tended to become colorless and dreary. Other potholes along the way included a lack of development of the characters that would illustrate their multidimensional qualities, which is essential in moving the story along. However, that said, Alan has nonetheless woven a tender and heartwarming yarn that catches the essence of the concept of bashert and readers will no doubt be nudged to have a good look at their own lives where meant to be may have played a pivotal role.

Click Here To Read Norm's Interview With Richard Alan