Don't you see, said Father, that you are confusing fiction with facts, fiction does not create facts, fiction can come from facts, it can grow out of facts by compounding, transposing, augmenting, diminishing, or altering them in any way; but you must not confuse cause and effect, you must not confuse what really happened with what the story says happened, you must not lose your grasp on reality, that way madness lies.
I'm a pretty big nerd. I get excited about things like the finding of George Mallory's body, I love when 75 years of history is unfolded before my ver...moreI'm a pretty big nerd. I get excited about things like the finding of George Mallory's body, I love when 75 years of history is unfolded before my very eyes, I'm amazed anytime something so spectacular is so close. It seems like something that is so far removed from me and my life, but there it is - you can watch it on YouTube.
I'll admit that I knew the bare minimum about George Mallory before reading this book. Luckily the author is a pretty smart cookie with a gazillion degrees and a lot of thoughts and talent, because I learned a lot from this book. Not just about Mallory and his team, but also about Everest, the Great War, how the war affected the climbs, the state of India at the time, how that affected the climbs... it's like the knowledge Davis had about these topics wouldn't stop. At first I was a bit turned off because I had a little difficulty getting into the book; the first whatever pages involved information about people I didn't know and I couldn't understand why I needed to know. But it does all come together.
I feel like ass lately, so writing this review feels about as incredible as climbing Mt. Everest - imagining accomplishing a feat like climbing a mountain makes me throw up a little in my mouth.
Just... read this damn book, 'kay?
And now, because someone did this, watch this video, not because The Killers are great... but the video is a montage of images of Mallory and his teamsters. Some photographs in the montage are familiar to anyone who has read the book and has looked at the photographic inserts. But some were new to me and it sort of blew my brain a little.(less)
I picked this up as a companion read to A Suitable Boy to help me have a better understanding what happened in the years prior to when A Suitable Boy...moreI picked this up as a companion read to A Suitable Boy to help me have a better understanding what happened in the years prior to when A Suitable Boy takes place (1951). This didn't answer all of my questions, but it was a great start.
I'll say right up front that this is the glorified version of events. This is an easy book to read because it reads like literature. There are few (if any) dry parts here. The authors wrote of these accounts as if they were there rather than based on the first-hand accounts of actual people. At first I didn't realize how much research the authors put into this book until I reached the end and saw in the Notes just how many people they'd talked to and which (and how many) books they referenced. I can't tell you just how large my India TBR list just grew.
But the book is old. Published in the 1970s when many of the people discussed were still alive (like Mountbatten), it makes me wonder if the glorification and romanticization of the characters were due to the fact that a lot of those folks hadn't kicked it yet. Or did the authors really believe Mountbatten was as perfect as they wrote him?
While heavily factual, there's a lot of bias here. You can tell early on how the authors felt about Gandhi, or Hinduism, or a lot of the other issues. The British are good, why won't the Indians eat the cows if they're so freaking hungry, etc. etc. It was cringe-worthy at times. Going into the reading understanding the bias helped me eventually, though I didn't realize until later that Mountbatten was considered sort of an oaf (at least in other accounts) and I'm curious now to read other books along the same line to get a better feel for what went on. This was a good place to start, but like anything, things never come down to just one book.
The most interesting parts for me where the bits where they discussed how the borders were made between India and Pakistan, and how things were broken up. One would think it would be very simple, but there are so many complications that most of us cannot even imagine.
Back on p177: "Some of the bitterest arguments came over the books in India's libraries. Sets of the Encyclopedia Britannica were religiously divided up, alternate volumes to each dominion. Dictionaries were ripped in half with A to K going to India, the rest to Pakistan. Where only one copy of a book was available, the librarians were supposed to decide which dominion would have the greater natural interest in it. Some of those supposedly intelligent men actually came to blows arguing over which dominion had a greater natural interest in Alice in Wonderland and in Wuthering Heights."
I only have a vague recollection of reading Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, but considering I don't remember even one thing from that collection mak...moreI only have a vague recollection of reading Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies, but considering I don't remember even one thing from that collection makes me think that it really wasn't that great. I know people liked it, but clearly it did very little for me.
This collection of stories, though, was awesome.
I found each of the stories to be a touching look at how cultures interact with one another and what it means to be westernized. They're hard to read at times; at least for me as they deal a lot with family and how family changes, and so often that's something that makes me shut down and want to stop reading. I don't need those sorts of reminders while I read as well.
My only issue (and the reason this is 4 stars instead of 5) is Part Two: Hema and Kaushik. It threw off the entire book for me. It's not that those few stories weren't good, but they felt different than the stories in Part One. Additionally I felt the Hema and Kaushik stories might have been better in their own collection so they had their own space to grow and breathe.
I'm impressed with this collection though, enough so that now I finally want to read The Namesake which I hear is good, though the people who usually tell me that are the same people who liked her first story collection. But I'll check it out on my own and see what I think - after all, it did win her a Pulitzer.(less)
For Thanksgiving 2010 I spent the day finishing up Infinite Jest. For a while there I thought maybe I'd always try to finish up some sort of behemoth...moreFor Thanksgiving 2010 I spent the day finishing up Infinite Jest. For a while there I thought maybe I'd always try to finish up some sort of behemoth on Thanksgiving day, since the day to me means staying in my jammies and watching The Godfather on TV while I read. The food involved can easily be made while reading or the Boyfriend steps up and makes the yummies. But then last year I went with a a shorter book choice which I was able to read all on Thanksgiving. Boy, was that a mistake.
But then it so happened that I wasn't able to finish this book when I had anticipated (which was about a month ago), so it wound up getting to be close to Thanksgiving. Could I finish it off on Turkey Day? You challenging me??
Yeah, I finished it today. And it feels good. It's a different kind of feeling than what I experienced with Infinite Jest. A Suitable Boy is another whopper of a book, but even the parts I didn't necessarily understand still made more sense to me than most parts of Infinite Jest. Infinite Jest was work, albeit a fun flavor of work most of the time. A Suitable Boy felt like I was in a different country (hello, India!), totally immersed in the culture.
When I get right down to it, that's what I have loved about A Suitable Boy - the flavor dripping from each page. This isn't just a story; it's an experience. The reader experiences the music, the food, the costumes, the scents, the emotions, the politics, and the family dynamics. I can't remember the last time I read a book with so many layers. I started out reading this alongside Freedom at Midnight, hoping that book would help me understand some of the politics I didn't know much about going into it. And it did, probably more than I had originally expected.
At first my biggest question was why Seth decided to write a book about the Republic of India in 1952, when it seems the logical (maybe laziest? easiest?) starting point should have been 1947, during the Partition. But then a couple things became obvious to me. One was that 1952 was an important year too, it was an election year. Anyone who pays attention to politics in our own country knows just how important an election year is, and just how effing crazy everything gets. That's not exclusive just to the United States. Now imagine it's the first national election after gaining independence. Yeah, that sounds crazy-making.
The other thing that became obvious was what I read in the author bio at the beginning of the book (which, for some reason, I didn't read at first). Vikram Seth himself was born 1952. Now, maybe that's just a coincidence, but maybe it's not. Maybe Seth was writing his own personal history in these 1400+ pages. It's evident to me he poured his heart and soul into this work. Seems to me this was an important novel for him to write. Makes sense to me.
Somewhere in all this political turmoil and unrest is a love story, or a few different love stories. There's a huge genealogy here - the family tree at the beginning of the book helps considerably, but an understanding of the entire tree is not completely necessary in enjoying the book. The chapters flow by easily, it's not a difficult read, aside from the fact that the book itself breaks your wrists as you hold it. As one reads, the genealogy comes together on its own. My point is, don't stress about it.
I was most invested in Lata's story since that's where the title comes from and also I am a girl and sometimes find myself drawn towards other girls in literature. Lata and I have had completely different upbringings and family dynamics, but I can still relate to her on some level. She's an interesting character, and I believe she's the first woman in her family to have a sense of - and desire for - independence. Finding 'a suitable boy' and getting married is not her goal in life, not at this point. She's educated, going to college, she gets a part in a school play, she has some love interest(s), she's doing her own thing. She's doing her.
But society isn't ready for that. With all of the changes the society is going through, fully independent women is not quite where it is yet in 1952. Lata's family isn't thrilled with it and ultimately Lata needs to make a decision with how she will proceed.
Seth makes it all seem absolutely riveting. I don't know what else to say.
Rumor has it (although I think it's beyond rumor stage at this point) that Seth is working on a sequel, A Suitable Girl. If it's anything as wonderful as A Suitable Boy I think we're all in for a treat. If, however, as I fear, he's just banking on the popularity of A Suitable Boy... then it could be quite the loser and snoozer. But he's won me over with this one and I will be excited to see what comes next. And, because I'm a serious nerd, I hope it's as much a whopper of a book as this one.
"Oh, I don't know how it grew to be so long," said Amit. "I'm very undisciplined. But I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they're bad, they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they're good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of Middlemarch." (p 1370-71)
-I didn't understand all of it. I probably didn't understand even enough of it. -But that didn't really...moreHere are a few things I picked up along the way:
-I didn't understand all of it. I probably didn't understand even enough of it. -But that didn't really matter. All that stuff I didn't understand? Was written so beautifully and so interestingly that I just wanted to lie down and let Rushdie pour his words all over me. Which, erm, isn't meant to sound as sexual as it appears to be when I look at written that way. -There's this whole bit that involves butterflies that absolutely took my breath away. I could re-read that section over and over again and never get sick of it. I would like to write the whole section out in black Sharpie across my bedroom wall so I could stare at it every day. Alas, we rent and I'm not interested in painting over it before we move, so my walls will remain Sharpie-free. -A fatwa, huh? For this? That cracks me up and makes me mad all at the same time. But it makes one realize the power of the written word.
Next time someone tells you print is dead, or that fiction doesn't mean anything, remember that Rushdie's life was on the line for this book.(less)
I liked and disliked this book for all the same reasons:
* The story is slow to unfold. At first this was pure awesome because Mistry would drop these...moreI liked and disliked this book for all the same reasons:
* The story is slow to unfold. At first this was pure awesome because Mistry would drop these little hints that made me realize there was an incredible back story; but then as this continued it became repitious and frustrating. It also made it feel like so much of the text was really just filler.
* Interesting characters. I love interesting characters! But I quickly realized that there were so many different characters that they all began to feel like filler as well. They led to different storylines, which means the story winds up with many different little threads that should be tied up in the end. I'm positive one of the sons didn't even need to exist.
* Different storylines. As in anybody's life, there are many different threads, different relationships, different circumstances. That's what makes life interesting. Fiction can function in a similar way; but as stated above, too many different threads can be cumbersome, particularly if they don't come together or if they don't become resolved by the end. In this case, I'm not convinced they do.
I'm sure there's more, but frankly I'm bored with all that. I hoped for better, and was disappointed by the end because it all felt so inconclusive. There's a lot of sickness and death, but I wasn't able to wrap my mind around the purpose for it, though I'm sure there's an allegory or metaphor there somewhere that I'm failing to see because I got bored with the story. By the time the answers were revealed to us I didn't care anymore. That's unfortunate.
Still, I managed to find some quotes that I fully appreciated:
"One or two books at a time, and eventually I will have enough to fill that bookcase. It's all a family really needs. A small bookcaseful of the right books and you are set for life." (p 103)
"Always begins after the loss is complete, the remembering." (p 210)
And other stuff about it is pretty good. There's a character who paints a wall with different gods from different religions; I liked him. I don't know much about India's political tribulations over the years, and I know less about what was happening in the seventies when this story took place, but this was a nice insight into those issues.
I hear A Fine Balance is something special, so I will still make sure to read that.(less)
This is one of those books I've had on my shelf for... freaking-ever, but it's always just sort of been there for a rainy day. Like one of those days...moreThis is one of those books I've had on my shelf for... freaking-ever, but it's always just sort of been there for a rainy day. Like one of those days where you feel like reading the Lord of the Rings trilogy because you want a romping good time, but sadly, you've already read the Lord of the Rings trilogy and you're not really in the mood for the wordiness that is Tolkien anyway - you just want all the fun and adventure without all the work.
Okay, maybe I'm the only one who has waited to read this book for those reasons.
I've read some other things by Kaye, but they were specifically mysteries. I enjoyed them both - she took me to Zanzibar and Kenya and wrote about murders there and they were pretty exciting. I knew The Far Pavilions wouldn't be that same sort of excitement, but I figured since the book is about the same weight as I am that I'd find something exciting in the pages.
What I really found, sadly, was a lot of disappointment. There was some adventure, don't get me wrong. But there was so much between those moments of adventure that were not... so... adventurous, so my interest waned. A lot. I've been joking that the pavilions really are far, far away - they don't seem to make an appearance until the book is almost over, and that seems a really long time for them to show up since the title refers to them and all. I wanted them to get to the freaking Far Pavilions already, let's get on with it, oh my god, are they not there yet?
Clearly I needed a Valium while reading this one.
I see a lot of reviews raving about this book, and I feel really bad that I didn't manage to find it as charming as everyone said it was. But it wasn't 1189 pages of absolute horror. I was invested, occasionally, in Ash and Anjuli and their plight. The politics were vaguely interesting as well; as I've stated before (and likely will state again) I know very little about the Great Game, and I continue to feel I should know more about it before reading this sort of historical fiction - though I maintain I should be learning something as I go along, right?
But I really like M.M. Kaye. She was born in India and I think that's way evident in her writing in The Far Pavilions. Her love of the country practically drips off of every page and I totally respect that. However, this book was published in 1978 and is just as much of a love story as it is an adventurous historical bit of fiction. There are parts that are... well... saccharine, and I absolutely am not in a saccharine mood right now. Like this passage:
"Wally, who was always falling in and out of love, had been fond of quoting lines that some poet or other had written, to the effect that it was 'better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.' Well, Wally - and Tennyson, or whoever it was - had been right. It was better, infinitely better, to have loved Juli and lost her than not to have loved her at all. And if he did nothing worthwhile in the years ahead, life would still have been worth living because he had once loved and been loved by her..." (p 565)
(That being said, I really liked the character of Wally.)
I just couldn't quite shake the feeling I was reading a glorified romance novel, which is a real downer for me. I don't mind a little bit of loving in my literature, but I don't need sweeping romances. Especially when I'm picking up something that I expect to be more drama and excitement and fewer heaving bosoms.
Bottom line, it's just not what I had signed up for.
Interestingly at the back of the book is one of those advertisements for The Far Pavilions Picture Book - for just $7.95 this 9" x 11 1/8" "stunning visualization" of Kaye's epic could be yours. Includes selected photographs from the author's family albums and 32 color paintings by the author herself.
That actually sounds neat.
It just wasn't what I had wanted. And the pages multiplied every time I put it down. I seriously thought it would never end. I was ready to move on. Because I couldn't get images like the one below out of my mind. And the fact that the image below exists is proof that I'm not the only one who had those sorts of images in my mind while reading the book.
So let's just put on the back burner the fact that Kipling was a real a-hole in real life. He was, but I'm here to discuss his writing so that's what...moreSo let's just put on the back burner the fact that Kipling was a real a-hole in real life. He was, but I'm here to discuss his writing so that's what I'll do.
The title character, Kim, is not indeed Indian. That was the biggest preconceived notion I had. He was not Indian. He was the orphan son of an Irish soldier who had been stationed outside of India, and a poor woman. Kim lives a life similar to one as seen in the Disney version of Aladdin (now I'm really mixing things up) - begging, doing odd jobs, etc. Ultimately he befriends a Tibetan Lama (a monk to you and me, not one of these things) who is on a life journey to discover the legendary River of the Arrow. He invites Kim to come along with him, and before we know it he is on the journey of his life.
This story covers a lot of ground, from the plains to a school to the government to the mountains. I was tired after reading this just because I felt I had trudged along with Kim and the Lama the entire time.
Historically I was probably a bit lost. I don't know much about The Great Game which serves as the backdrop for the story. In fact, the realization I didn't know as much about the history as I would have liked to fully enjoy the novel makes me wonder how Kim is often considered a children's novel. But then, I suppose, like Huck Finn, it's a story that can be appreciated by young and older readers for the adventures and the excitement; but only by reading it perhaps again after more education does one truly capture the entire story.(less)
Oh, magical realism, how you plague me. I hate you, I love you, I hate you, I love you...
I give this four stars because Rushdie's skill with language...moreOh, magical realism, how you plague me. I hate you, I love you, I hate you, I love you...
I give this four stars because Rushdie's skill with language blows my effing mind, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend like I got the whole story. And that's okay. It's about India's independence from British colonialism (see, I'm not all dumb) which occurred at midnight on August 15, 1947 (that part was spelled out for me). The narrator, Saleem Sinai, was born exactly at midnight and winds up having telepathic powers linking him to other children born within that same hour on the same day - known as MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN. (Just seeing if you're keeping up here.)
You can't just sit down and read Rushdie. At least based on this one experience that's my opinion. You have to spend some time with him, maybe draw him out a little bit, swirl him around in your mouth like fine wine... er...
I enjoyed this and look forward to making my way through his other works, particularly The Ground Beneath Her Feet. My love-hate relationship with magical realism goes back quite a while and probably begins with my adoration of most things by Gabriel García Márquez, but then waned at some point, and picked up again with Caramelo and probably something else by Garcia Marquez again. Some things affect me more than others which is true in most literature, but specifically with magical realism. You can either do it or you can't. Rushdie apparently can.(less)
I'm not sure why I chose this book as my first Forster experience, but it certainly delivered.
The story takes place in fictional Chandrapore in India...moreI'm not sure why I chose this book as my first Forster experience, but it certainly delivered.
The story takes place in fictional Chandrapore in India during the British colonial invasion. Adela Quested and Mrs. Moore are both British visitors who desire a more hands-on experience in India. This curiosity and eagerness changed their lives forever. Fielding is a British headmaster at a government run Indian college who has befriended Indian Dr. Aziz. Aziz takes it upon himself to show the ladies a good time and takes them to the Marabar Caves, where they are separated for a period of time - incidentally just long enough for a boat-load of misunderstandings to occur. The experience is not what Adela had in mind, and fingers are pointed. During a time of heavy racial and cultural discrimination and prejudice, Aziz is put in a very difficult position and his friendship with Fielding and Mrs. Moore are forever altered.
I especially like that this is written by a British writer who clearly did not approve of the British experience in India. This book was his vessel to make his opinions known, and because of it is a novel that is still challenged on reading lists. The themes of racism and friendship, etc. are all fine and good, but really the overwhelming moral of this story is be careful of your accusations.(less)
You won't find Malgudi on any real map, but Narayan describes the people and the location with such skill that I often forgot that I was not being tra...moreYou won't find Malgudi on any real map, but Narayan describes the people and the location with such skill that I often forgot that I was not being transported to an authentic Indian city.
In Narayan's introduction he explains that in India "the writer has only to look out of the window to pick up a character and thereby a story." He accomplishes this thought exceptionally well and introduces a variety of different characters, from a wayward student to an astrologer. The majority of the early stories are shorter and are good to read before bed while the later stories are longer and are good to just embrace. Not all the stories resonated well with me, however, and I found myself going back and wondering if I missed anything important. I think I might enjoy a full novel by Narayan and plan to look into his other writing. I feel if his characters can be so vivid in short stories, then the characters of a full novel might be even more impressive.(less)
Before Tarzan there was Mowgli, lost in a jungle in India as a child and taken in by a family of wolves. He is raised by the animals of the jungle, an...moreBefore Tarzan there was Mowgli, lost in a jungle in India as a child and taken in by a family of wolves. He is raised by the animals of the jungle, and has adventures with them. He learns loyalty and devotion and the Jungle Law. Every small boy eventually grows up but, to pararphrase Kipling, his adult adventures are a different story. Written in 1894 and 1895 the two collections of adventure/jungle/wilderness stories are included in one volume. Mowgli and his stories are the vast majority, but there are other scenes and other stories included, such as "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi", about a small boy and his mongoose.
As usual Disney took Mowgli's stories from The Jungle Books and turned it into this cream-puff of a movie. Kipling's versions are a little darker as one might imagine, and have deeper undertones about the environment that are at best glazed over in the Disney cartoon.
Not the best stuff I've read recently, but it's good to finally be able ot mark it off my list. I would have liked to have heard less about Mowgli (which is Disney's fault for the overkill factor) and more about the Artic region as in Kipling's story, "Quiquern".(less)
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