Holy Smoke : A Novel Paperback - 2000

Miramax Books, 2000. Near Fine. Sisters Anna and Jane Campion (the Australian directors responsible for suc h films as Loaded and The Piano) have collaborated on this intriguing thoug h rambling first novel. Twenty-year-old Ruth Baron is dragged back from Ind ia, where she has joined a bizarre cult, to her parent's home outside of Sy dney. Once there, her family forces her to undergo an intensive "exiting" p rocess meant to de-program her from the insidious influence of the cult's l eader, Chidaatma Baba. The expert recruited for the job is P.J. (John) Wate rs, a world-weary fellow in his mid-50s who flies in from New York and secl udes himself with the rebellious young woman for the three-day intensive tr eatment. At first, they circle each other suspiciously; John is aggressive, and Ruth fights him every step of the way. Soon, distrust gives way to a d angerous and undeniable mutual passion. Other characters in this heaving, b reathless novelARuth's vague, teary mother, older brothers and bumbling sis ter-in-lawAseem to function as clueless comic foils for the burgeoning inte nsity between Ruth and John. The authors successfully demonstrate the seduc tive pull of cults and are at their best when transforming Ruth's need for spiritual guidance into her psychosexual delirium. The narrative, told from the alternating points of view of John and Ruth, has a hazy, druggy qualit y, which is ambiguous and confusing. The fact that this tale is the book ve rsion of an upcoming film starring Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet contribut es to the reader's likely awareness that thenovel is a sketchy, early versi on of its more fitting cinematic manifestation.