Payal Dhar's Blog: Writer's Log, page 9

Review #18: The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Holocaust is a grim setting to base a children’s book in and it would be fair to say that such a book would have its job cut out to get history right. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas unfortunately doesn’t. The writing is simplistic, the characters are not believable, and its location in time and place isn’t credible.

Is calling it a “historical fable” instead of “historical fiction” enough to justify all of this? My opinion is no.

Full review here.

~PD

Review #17: The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner has been billed as the book every Hunger Games fan must read. As far as chilling set-ups go, this one is right up there—a mysterious glade where about 50 boys have been sent, each one wiped clean of his memories except his name. But outside the idyllic glade—where they have organized themselves into a community—is the Maze and at the end of the Maze is their only way out. The only problem is, it has been two years and no one’s found the exit yet.

Every day, the doors to the Maze open at dawn and designated Runners go out searching for a way out. Every single day. The only thing they know about the Maze is that it changes every day. And also that if you happen to get stuck in there after the doors close at sunset, you die. Till the new boy Thomas ends up out there. And everything changes.

Read the full review.

~PD

The 2014 Crossword Children’s Writing Award Shortlist

It was somewhat difficult not to give ourselves a pat on the back when author and columnist Nilanjana Roy called the 2014 Crossword Children’s Award shortlist ‘a triumph’ and that too ‘because none of the five books on the shortlist are earnest, preachy or are moral science lessons in disguise’. My fellow jury members, Samina Mishra and Shilpa Ranade, and I felt that this year’s shortlist was indeed a definite step forward in children’s writing in India. Significantly, for the first time, the role of illustrators was acknowledged in the making books for youngsters.

We had a rather easy time picking our shortlist—the five books that ended up on it were on each of our lists, and the winner too was a unanimous choice. The five books chosen for the shortlist stood out (for us) because they choose to question, experiment and have fun all at the same time. Briefly, here are our thoughts of each book.

Timmi in Tangles (Shals Mahajan; illustrated by
Shreya Sen)
Shilpa Ranade:

A word about the illustrations… so apt, and as unassuming as the writing in this charming book, I found the book quiet and unpretentious. And very real in a fun way, no dramatic tears and troubles, Timmi’s tangles are after all everyday ones with little twists where they run off into her own world of fantasy and imagination. The little pictures match the little world portrayed in the little book, while telling a big story. I felt this book stood out in the pile of books, without a shout. Timmi has been made all the more endearing by the childlike squiggly lines and blobs the illustrator chose to use to draw her and her world, and made with the same ease as the effortless storytelling, making both the image and the story unforgettable and entwined.

Samina Mishra:

I loved so many things about the book but the most important, I guess, were the understanding of childhood, with its easy coexistence of fantasy and reality, and the bringing to life in Indian children’s books, a family that defies stereotype.

Payal Dhar:

With YA and middle-grade fiction usually getting all the attention, Shals Mahajan’s Timmi in Tangles is a fresh and beautifully executed piece of writing for younger children. Shals manages to nail young Timmi’s voice perfectly and portrays her world beautifully; meanwhile, artist Shreya Sen plays a sterling role in bringing the stories to life with her illustrations. Whether it’s getting into scrapes, asserting herself or just wanting a hug from her mother, Timmi is a delightful and believable protagonist. Her non-traditional family situation is dealt with with a gentle yet matter-of-fact hand. Timmi fills a yawning gap in Indian children’s fiction—intelligent, throughful, responsible and entertaining writing for post-picture-book and pre-chapter-book generation.

Vanamala and the Cephalopod (Shalini Srinivasan; illustrated by Sebin Simon)
Shilpa Ranade:

Vanamala in its writing has very rich imagery and conjures up a magical, dark, undersea world of fables and the unfamiliar, making for riveting reading. The language is rich and lush and enjoyable and can be savoured, sometimes over again. It seemed to refer to a personal lived history with probably many references that one may not immediately decipher, making the book mysterious and layered and somewhat complex. I felt this book could allow for superb fantastical illustrations of hitherto unseen characters, unknown terrain, unfamiliar time spans, and add an even more magical aspect to the elements that make up the story. The images, as they are in the book, don’t match the heightened imagination of the writing.

Samina Mishra:

Really skilled writing that allows almost the entire story to unfold underwater. But the most striking thing is the plurality in the myth-making, especially important in these times where we are being pushed towards singular beliefs. Also, the fact that all the characters are shades of grey, grappling with or at least acknowledging what they recognize as their negative traits.

Payal Dhar:

This is an outstanding piece of work, combining some creative storytelling with a wildly imaginative story to tell. Shalini’s prose flows like a knife through butter as you accompany the young protagonist Vanamala into a crazy underwater world to save her sister whom she accidentally sold. The book’s mythological twist intertwined with Vanamala’s quest makes for an unusual and imaginative setting. A brilliant work by a debut novelist, and definitely an author one hopes to see much more of.

Adventures of Stoob: Testing Times (Samit Basu; illustrated by Sunaina Coelho)
Shilpa Ranade:

Had enjoyed Stoob! Much fun and ease in the writing.

Samina Mishra:

I loved that it’s an everyday school story set in the world that children in urban India inhabit today, rich with details. The book also reveals an understanding of children’s inner lives, not always shared with the adults around them, and how that often helps them to rise to the occasion when confronted by a crisis.

Payal Dhar:

Flawless writing, a terrific sense of humour and some wonderful supporting illustrations made The Adventures of Stoob: Testing Times a shortlist contender. Illustrator Sunaina Coelho pairs with writer Samit Basu to put this book together, the story of a 10-year-old boy who suddenly has to deal with exams. A mundane storyline made entertaining by some excellent execution. (Read my detailed review at Goodbooks.in.)

Flat-Track Bullies (Balaji Venkataraman)
Shilpa Ranade:

Flat Track Bullies is a truly entertaining, jam-packed, breathless coming-of-age verite account that is riveting for its innocent integrity and its refreshing point-of-view style personal narrative. It offers a close-up peek into the head of a growing boy on the verge of middle school and a ringside view of his everyday travails that refer strongly to specific locations and collective experiences. The language of the book is a spoken one, an intuitive voice in the head that is unrehearsed and pure and resonates with deep everyday reflections that are honest and edged with superlative humour.

Samina Mishra:

Stands out for its voice that is so rooted in the aspirational middle-class characters and contexts, rarely seen in English language books for children in India. It is not self-conscious about writing an English which is not ‘proper’ but which is appropriate for the context.

Payal Dhar:

Another impressive debut, Flat-Track Bullies is a portrayal of a preteen boy starting to find out a bit more about the world. Balaji Venkataraman not only found an inoffensive way to use a lot of swearing in his book, he also manages to portray middle-class urban Indian life from the point of view, and language, of a child so well that, apparently, there are schools that refuse to stock book in their library. Flat-Track Bullies feels a true portrayal of a coming-of-age story with no punches pulled, yet with none of the clichés that you would expect to find.

Susu Pals (written by Richa Jha; illustrated by Alicia Souza)
Shilpa Ranade:

Susu Pals was the only real image-driven book which I enjoyed for its nice size! Maybe wouldn’t be so much fun if it was smaller possibly. The drawings themselves did not have immediate character or atmosphere. I really think there should be many more picture books published.

Samina Mishra:

We have such few examples of picture books that work as picture books and not as illustrated books. The Susu Pals stands out for this—picture as narrative. It’s a simple story but the interplay of text and image makes it special.

Payal Dhar:

This was one of the few ‘true’ picture books in the 2014 list of books submitted for the award. Richa Jha and Alicia Souza tackle a subject for young children that is otherwise a favourite of young-adult novels—friendship and the complications thereof. This is done in a way (one hopes) young children will identify with and the ‘susu’ angle is a particularly intriguing choice. The intended readers will no doubt be delighted with it, though various adults have found issue with the makers of this book for bringing a perfectly normal everyday bodily function into focus. We, the children’s book jury, however, loved the idea.

~PD

Review #16: The Adventures of Stoob — Testing Times

Samit Basu’s The Adventures of Stoob: Testing Times is the first of what is clearly turning into an entertaining series. It sees Stoob and his friends hurtle into an ‘incredibly dangerous’ adventure featuring… wait for it… exams!

With only two months left for Stoob and his gang to be done and dusted with junior school forever, Mrs ‘T-Rex’ Khanna, the school principal, drops a bombshell: to prepare them better for their entry into middle school, all class tests hereby stand cancelled and instead they can have all the excitement of final examinations! Whoopee! Not.

Read the full review at Goodbooks.in. Review of book 2 here.

~PD

Review #16: The Adventures of Stoob—Testing Times

Samit Basu’s The Adventures of Stoob: Testing Times is the first of what is clearly turning into an entertaining series. It sees Stoob and his friends hurtle into an ‘incredibly dangerous’ adventure featuring… wait for it… exams!

With only two months left for Stoob and his gang to be done and dusted with junior school forever, Mrs ‘T-Rex’ Khanna, the school principal, drops a bombshell: to prepare them better for their entry into middle school, all class tests hereby stand cancelled and instead they can have all the excitement of final examinations! Whoopee! Not.

Read the full review at Goodbooks.in. Review of book 2 coming soon.

~PD

Review #15: Dead Simple

On the face of it, Peter James’ first Roy Grace novel, Dead Simple should be a rollicking crime novel. It is in some ways. A harmless stag-night prank—even though ‘harmless’ is a relative term when coffins are involved—goes horrifiying wrong when Michael Harrison ends up buried alive and the only people who know about his whereabouts are killed in a road accident.

Enter Detective Superintendent Roy Grace —’a man haunted by the shadow of his own missing wife,’ as the blurb informs us—taking on the reins of a missing persons enquiry that could turn into a murder enquiry at any moment. Add to the mix Grace’s propensity to seek out help from other-wordly entities, and you have an unusual set-up.

On the one hand Dead Simple is a live crime-thriller-meets-police-procedural; on the other… well, let’s just say it disappoints in places. The full review here.

~PD

Crossword Children’s Book Award 2014: Timmi in Tangles

Being asked to be on the jury panel for the 2014 Raymond Crossword Book Award 2014 for Children’s Writing was not only exciting, but also an immense responsibility. To evaluate the 60-odd books—including picture books and illustrated books, middle-grade and young adult novels, non-fiction and various others that bucked easy slotting—written and illustrated by contemporaries was a scary thought. A single award clubbing all ‘children’s’ books into one category was also immensely unfair, making the evaluation process tricky.

In the end, however, it was an easy decision. My fellow panelists, Shilpa Ranade and Samina Mishra, and I were agreed unamimously on this year’s winner, Timmi in Tangles by Shals Mahajan, illustrated by Shreya Sen.

Here is the citation note for the award, which explains why Timmi stands out in the crowd:

Writing for younger children is often seen as something ‘easy’, something that does not require too much of effort or care, something that anyone can do, something not challenging enough. But simple does not mean simplistic.

When we cast our mind back to our childhood, the chances are that our earliest memories are of the stories we heard and read, and made up. The early years are critical, formative years of our lives and the stories we hear can have a profound impact on how we see the world. So, in fact, telling stories to younger children requires extraordinary skill, and an ablity to represent a complex world in simple and engaging ways. It also brings with it an immense responsibility. And that is why Timmi in Tangles is such a remarkable book and a delightful surprise in this year’s collection.

In hir debut as a children’s writer, Shals Mahajan captures the child’s world and her imagination beautifully—the easy slipping between fantasy and reality, the need to assert and to have an opinion, and the important place of play as a child starts to make sense of the world she lives in. Shals does all this without ever losing the voice of Timmi, the young protagonist of the book. Rooted firmly in contemporary urban India, Timmi’s world reflects everyday experiences that resonate across myriad childhoods and at the same time creates room for representations that show us that the tangles in Timmi’s world are as much created by the grown-ups as by her. Timmi comes from a non-traditional family and that fact is presented in a matter-of-fact manner, challenging heteronormative settings in a gentle, positive way.

The quiet and unpretentious manner of the book is matched by the apt illustrations by Shreya Sen that are just as unassuming as the writing in this charming book. The little pictures match the little world portrayed in the little book, while telling a big story. Timmi has been made all the more endearing by the childlike squiggly lines and blobs the illustrator chose to use to draw her and her world. Made with the same ease as the effortless storytelling, the image and the words entwine to make the book unforgettable.

For all this and more, Timmi in Tangles is the deserved winner of this year’s award.

~Samina Mishra, Shilpa Ranade and Payal Dhar

~PD

Review #14: The Paying Guests

Sarah Waters makes no secret of the fact that she is “writing with a clear lesbian agenda”. Thus, it is no surprise that her latest, The Paying Guests, is a story of an illicit romance set in 1920s London.

When Frances Wray and her mother start taking in lodgers to supplement their meagre finances, the Barbers—Lilian and Leonard come into their lives. A secret love affair entwines with a murder investigation, complicating lives and questioning motives.

This is not Waters’ best book, perhaps entirely missable. But then reading tastes can be varied and it has been nominated for the Bailey’s Prize… Anyhow, full review here.

~PD

Reviews 12, 13: No. 9 on the Shade Card and Starcursed

Given the drop in the frequency of updates, it would be logical to assume that I’m being rather lazy. However, that is not true. In fact, I’ve been quite busy reviewing children’s fiction from India for Goodbooks. Two of my reviews went up in the past weeks.

No. 9 on the Shade Card (Kavitha Mandana)

At first look, it seems that No. 9 on the Shade Card is yet another book about teenage-angsty-type stuff about a protagonist born with the wrong skin colour (read “dark” in this fairness-obssessed society of ours). But if you go deeper, it surprises you:

There are many good things about Kavitha Mandana’s first YA novel, including that sports stories featuring girls are rare and No. 9 fills that gap commendably. Second, sexual harassment faced by young women is a subject often glossed over in teenage fiction. This book looks at it head-on, even though it is tackled in a far from satisfactory manner. Finally, the focus on relationships between siblings and its evolution from hostility to empathy and camaraderie is heartening.
Read the full review at Goodbooks.in

Starcursed (Nandini Bajpai)

The famous 12th-century mathematician Bhaskar II penned a well-known treatise on mathematics called Siddhanta Shiromani. This first of this four-part work was called Leelavati and some of the problems in the text were addressed to her. But who was this woman? Nobody seems to have an answer, except a reference by Akbar’s poet laureate Faizi, who speculated she might have been his daughter. The author of Starcursed, Nandini Bajpai, reimagines Leelavati’s story assuming this was true. She does so in a fictionalized account of a pair of star-crossed teenage lovers. So

yes, at one level, Starcursed is your common-or-garden teenage romance, with all the attendant drama of will-they-won’t-they-argh-why-don’t-they! But it is a beautifully drawn one, set in an unsettled twelfth-century India, charting the life of a determined young woman who makes her own choices. Even though the story has all the stereotypical tropes of a romance—most notably the tall, dark, handsome hero that the young girl swoons over—what is remarkable about it is that Leela is no damsel in distress, no victim of her circumstances.
Read the full review at Goodbooks.in

~PD

Review #11: Hitman Absolution

Hitman: Absolution continues the story of our favourite shiny-headed, barcoded and stony-faced assassin, Agent 47. The player takes on the role of this genetically-engineered killing machine to carry out a series of contracts—ahem, and we don’t mean the kind of contracts you and I usually sign. Mr 47 is skilled in all manner of grisly things, such as sneaking up undetected, throwing sharp things with grim precision and leaving the earth a few vile humans short without anybody realizing he’s been visiting.

Absolution is the fifth in the Hitman franchise and coming as it did six years after its predecessor Blood Money, there were a lot of expectations from it. Needless to say, though most 47-parched gamers loved it, there were those who found a lot to complain about. More on that later.

Absolution is a continuation from where the previous game Hitman: Blood Money left off. Diana Burnwood, 47’s handler, had sabotaged the Agency (the shadowy organization that hires 47 and probably others of his ilk) and exposed all the agents. 47 survived by shooting his way out of his own funeral and has now been contracted by the revamped Agency to assassinate Diana.

And thus begins another Hitman, this one being different in that unlike a series of unrelated assassinations for 47 to pull off, he is drawn deeper into a conspiracy that is disturbingly close to home. Had Diana really betrayed him? What is the new head of the Agency Benjamin Travis’s agenda? Who is Victoria, the mysterious teenager 47 must keep safe? There is a linear story arc that many fans of the series have complained about, and though it is a complex and well-developed narrative, one does tend to lose interest in the twists and turns by the time it draws to a close. That said, the immersive quality of the game is incredible. If your hardware can manage it, the graphics (and sound) are quite stunning and there is a cinematic quality to the gameplay. Even without ‘high’ settings, Absolution is a joy to play and don’t be surprised if you end up wasting a couple of hours just exploring your environment.

There are some gameplay changes, of course. Agent 47 now possesses what is called Instinct, which allows him to scan his surroundings for enemies and points/objects of interest, as well as predict enemy movement. It allows him to go into a slow-motion mode for precision shots called Point Shooting. It also helps him blend in. Blend-in is a welcome addition to the disguise system. Just donning a disguise doesn’t guarantee invisibility any more; people in the same job/profession will be suspicious of you and they will see through your disguise in a matter of seconds. Thus, you will need to use your Instinct to go undetected. Think that makes it all easy? Well, Instinct depletes as you use it (and only regenerates in Normal mode when you complete objectives and generally do anything a good assassin should do), so you need to use it judiciously.

As mentioned before, Absolution is supremely immersive. Walking around, hiding around a corner, shimying up on ledges, popping inside a handy cupboard—it all feels quite intuitive. The cover system has also changed—going in and out of cover with the press of the spacebar (I was playing on the PC), movement under cover, shooting or subduing victims from cover feels much more natural. The once-favourite sedative of those gamers who favoured Agent 47’s stealth approach is now history, but the good news is that our man now has a deadly subdue option to silently take down enemies. 47 may choose to just incapacitate the victim or go all the way and kill. Oh and this needs Instinct to carry out, so another reason to plan you use of it. As with most games, the AI tends to be somewhat moronic, but is still much improved from before. If 47 is spotted, matters can be contained by subduing eyewitnesses before an alarm is raised. 47 also has an option to pretend to surrender, lead an unsuspecting guard or cop to a quiet corner and take care of him.

The biggest hassle with Absolution is the lack of a save system. All you have are in-game checkpoints, but they only last as long as your gaming session. So if you end up making a teeny mistake—or a game glitch strikes just as you’ve spend half an hour creeping up on your victim—have fun doing it all all over again. The checkpoints too are not without bugs: I’ve had characters respawning or items disappearing, requiring me to restart entire levels. Fortunately, each mission is subdivided into sub-levels, which makes the lack of a save system a tiny bit less painful.

The abundance of empty bins and cupboards to conceal bodies—or for 47 to hide in—is a little too convenient. There are also gas canisters and proximity mines lying about with abandon in certaion locations, not to mention weapons. Speaking of weapons, 47’s trademark Silverballers only make an appearance mid-game. You’re also not able to choose weapons at the start of a mission. Neither of these made much of a difference to my stealth-based gameplay, however. As in the other Hitman games, you are free to choose your style of play: sneak about like a ghost or go in all guns blazing. However, a major grouse is that one of the missions forces you to use Point Shooting, which required a certain amount of desperate Googling to remember the correct commands.

Unlike many gamers out there, you’ll find no complaints from me abouts Absolution‘s single-player focus since I prefer solitary gaming. That said, it game is not free from the ubiquitous social networking of our current lives: at the end of every level not only are you given a score, but it is pitted against the average scores of players across the world and also in your region. There are also Challenges that add to your score—various achievements that are unlocked when you finish certain objectives including remaining undetected, the manner in which a target is eliminated, collecting evidence and so on. Which reminds me, every level has an ‘evidence’ tape, presumably incriminating 47 in some way, that can be collected for extra points. Side note: it is impossible to clear every challenge on a single playthrough.

In addition to the regular story mode of Absolution, there is also what is called the Contracts mode. This comprises player-created chapters played on any of the game’s existing levels, including a custom challenge and up to three targets for 47 to eliminate. This is a great way to revisit the scene and keep the game going once you’re done with it. Any player may create and share a Contract online, provided that they’re able to complete it themselves first.

In sum, Hitman: Absolution was a briliantly immersive, thoroughly enjoyable episode of getting into the skin of Agent 47 with his impeccable suit and shiny red tie. (Point of interest: he gouges out his barcode early in the game, so you get to see the back of his head with a bandaid on it instead of the familiar barcode.) It’s already been too long—almost three years, but it feels like an eternity—since Absolution has been out and word is that details of a new game will be revealed later in the year. I can hardly wait and have my fingers tightly crossed that we shall see more of Victoria in it.

RATING: 8/10

~PD