Sneha Jaiswal's Blog, page 274
January 26, 2021
The Gods Lie – Manga Review
Book number 9 this year – The Gods Lie by Kaori Ozaki. It’s a stand-alone Manga/Graphic Novel about Natsuro Nanao, a boy who loves football and who girls in his school avoid talking to. One day, a girl called Suzumura speaks to him and soon the two become friends.
It’s an interesting book that finishes too soon and has some weird little comic scenes that only the Japanese could insert in a kids Manga. Ozaki explores themes like toxic parenting, abandonment issues and it’s hard to believe that the protagonists are just a pair of pre-teen kids. Natsuro & Suzura’s feelings for each other escalates very quickly.
The author uses the classic trope of ‘opposites attract’, Natsuro is ambitious & wants to become an international football player, while all Suzumura wants is to be happily married when she grows up. However it is perhaps a common factor that strengthens their kinship – the fact that both of them are raised by single parents.
‘The Gods Lie’ is an uncanny mixture of childhood innocence and dark themes – a story about how children sometimes grow up quicker than their parents, pushed by circumstances and not choice. The ending is slightly tragic, but ends on a hopeful note. It’s an enjoyable read, but could have done with more pages and story.
Made a quick little sketch off the book after I was done reading.
January 24, 2021
Get a FREE Copy of Bad Town Kids
My debut contemporary fiction novel ‘Bad Town Kids’ is FREE for 12 hours across all kindle stores, so please grab a copy and leave a small review if you end up reading it. And just in case you were wondering – it is available for free for everybody and not just Kindle Unlimited subscribers.
The novel released on December 26, 2020 & made it to the Top 10 Amazon Bestsellers list under ‘Literature & Fiction’. Here’s an excerpt from the first Amazon review of the book, the reader had given it a five star –
Where do I start?
Wow
*whew*
I don’t read a lot of non-fantasy-genre books. I like my books to be neatly packaged with a couple of quests, the good and bad guys clearly identified, witty repartee galore and rounded off with all the nice folks getting their happy endings.
Bad Town Kids was NONE.OF.THAT.
Anita, Saira, Maadesh and Mokshit’s coming-of-age journey starts off soft — like ambling along a lazy, idyllic river — an innocent childhood, childish pranks, tall stories and scary-but-exciting discoveries. The author does not romanticize the Indian small-town setting with some Enid Blyton-esque picturization — Jaiswal firmly disabuses the reader of any such notions from the first sentence itself.
Then, my dear reader, the idyllic river of childhood crashes down as a wild and uncontrollable waterfall. The pace builds rapidly — scattered incidents that interlock in the end. The reality of Indian society — its patriarchy, toxicity, abuse — is conveyed in blunt, honest prose.
AMAZON REVIEWER
Full disclosure – the reviewer is a friend, but they had given my last book a 4 star rating, so even if there was some bias in their review, it doesn’t change the fact that they read the novel in one go and loved it.
If ‘Bad Town Kids’ sounds like something you would like to read get the free copy now. Kindle also allows you to email the ebook as a gift to your friends (they don’t have to know it’s free). And like I said earlier, reviews will be appreciated wholeheartedly, it means a LOT to independent writers like me. Dropping a few country-wise links –
Happy reading!
Eli Review – This Horror Film Cheats You
The only reason I managed to survive the 2017 horror film ‘Eli’ was due to the earnest performances of the cast. When I mean survive, I don’t mean a heart-attack from being scared, but from falling asleep.
Directed by Ciaran Foy, this film is the story of Eli, played by Charlie Shotwell, who suffers from a rare health condition that makes him develop severe rashes if he is exposed to ‘unsanitised air’. Basically, he is allergic to the world at large.
Things start to get bizarre when his parents take him to a remote ancient Bungalow, where a certain Doctor Horn can cure him. Classic horror trope – old large mansion in the middle of nowhere, with creepy things moving around. The first half is slow and made worse by the fact that Foy uses a lot of predictable jump scares.
However, what really creeps and worries the viewer are the brutal medical procedures little Eli is subjected to. Each time Eli is in a medical bed, you are at the edge of your seat with anxiety. Points to the director for managing to make us care about the protagonist.
‘Eli’ does have a great plot twist, but it comes too damn late, and by that time you feel cheated. Because throughout the course of the film you are sighing about the mundane tropes that take place, wondering why certain idiotic things are happening and then boom – you have a twist that’s absolutely unpredictable, but too short & too late. Some viewers will probably not even understand what the F happens in the end.
The makers should have foreshadowed the twist a little earlier and built the suspense in a different manner. It’s like reading Cinderella – but after she marries the prince, you find out she is actually the evil-stepmother, who somehow managed to lock Cinderella up, take her form & is the new princess of the kingdom. The story-telling needed more work and the special effects could have been better.
It’s a 5/10 from me.
January 23, 2021
The War That Saved My Life – Book Review
I started reading ‘The War That Saved My Life’ by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley after a late dinner and did not put the book down till I finished reading all of it by 3.50 AM! This historical novel set during World War II is a compelling tale of 11-year-old Ada Smith, who frees herself from the clutches of an abusive mother & learns to walk after crawling all her life.
It’s written lucidly and is narrated in first person by Ada, who starts by describing the squalid conditions in which they live in and how terribly her mother treats her – like a crippled dog confined to the four walls of their tiny flat. She isn’t allowed to go outside, not to school, not to church, not anywhere, because her mam (mom) is ashamed of the child. Ada manages to slip from her mother when the UK government decides to evacuate all children from London over fears of being bombed by Hitler.
Ada and her six-year-old brother Jamie are reluctantly taken in by an odd unmarried lady called Susan. How will the kids settle in with a woman who isn’t keen on having them and will Ada be able to fulfill her dream of riding a horse? Or will they find themselves in the claws of a negligent mother again? That forms the rest of the story.
Having lived a hard life with her mother, Ada is mature beyond her age and is almost like a mother figure to her brother Jamie. The author tenderly portrays the affection between the two siblings and their struggle to fit in a place they don’t belong. While with their mother in London, the siblings were starved, suppressed, dirty and almost savage-like, but life with Susan in Kent brings out the stark contrast between their poor past and their seemingly richer present.
What really struck a chord with me was the brilliant way in which the author narrates the crippling anxiety Ada suffers at various points due to her traumatic childhood. The little girl experiences panic attacks during stressful situations and the reader can feel the pangs of her fear. Her slow transformation from a shy guilt-ridden isolated child to a more confident girl is brought about beautifully.
This story is not just about the extraordinary courage of a young girl who was branded a ‘useless cripple’ all her life, it’s also about how the friends and family have the power to significantly shape our lives. Susan ended up being my favorite character, a Harvard-educated woman from a humble family, who refused to be chained by the shackles of marriage. Her character development from an elusive lady forced to take two kids under her wings, to becoming an almost ideal mother figure was heart-warming.
This novel had me hooked to every page and was easy to read, especially because there were limited characters, which meant less confusion. Towards the second-half, the story gets more exciting because the war efforts reach Ada’s region. There is a lot of blood, death, bombings and war rationing. A violent war is seamlessly merged with a 11-year-old child’s story.
“The War That Saved My Life” is very little about the larger war fought by nations, and more about the internal wars we wage against ourselves. The internal wars that stop us from reaching our full potential. Wars we must fight to win, to become who we really want to be.
It’s a 5/5 for me, for the sheer fact that I didn’t take a single break while reading this well woven tale.
January 22, 2021
Color Rush – Korean Series Review
Imagine only being able to see the world in shades of grey – that’s how everything appears to Choi Yeon Woo, the protagonist of the 2021 Korean mini-series ‘Color Rush’. Played by the handsome actor Yoo Jun, Yeon Woo is a ‘mono’ in the show, a label for people who suffer from a neurological colour blindness.
Adapted from a web novel of the same, viewers are explained that monos can see colors only when they come in contact with a certain someone, kind of like a soulmate, who are branded ‘probes’ in the series. So when a ‘mono’ meets a ‘probe’ for the first time, they experience a ‘colour rush’, an overwhelming onslaught of colors and life in all its shades. But when the probe is not around, they lose their ability to see colors again.
Directed by Park Sun Jae, ‘Colour Rush’ has just 8 episodes, some of which are just 16 minutes long. While the whole ‘Mono-Probe’ business sounds romantic, ‘Monos’ are portrayed as obsessive individuals in the series, who usually end up kidnapping/murdering their ‘probes’. So the hero Yeon Woo hopes that he never finds his ‘probe’, but fate has other plans. Woo meets his probe while still at school – an elusive student called ‘Go Yoo Han’ who is training to be a K-pop idol. The rest of the plot is about Woo trying to avoid Yoo Han & the heady ‘colour rush’ he gets when he’s around his ‘probe’; Go Yoo Han on his part tries hard to woo Woo. (Really wanted to write that)
The series felt slightly rushed and over-dramatic. Yeon Woo is a little too morose for a boy in his late teens & the character of Go Yoo Han doesn’t have any back-story, making him one-dimensional. Actor Heo Hyun Jun who plays Yoo Han wears a mask for most parts of the series and when he takes it off, he comes off as a smug siren. Also, the make-up team put a little more make-up than necessary on him. There’s no doubt that the lead pair is great too look at, but there’s very little chemistry between them. They don’t even come off as friends, just two strangers having one uncomfortable encounter after another. Forget potential lovers. However, there was one episode that’s shot creatively, where the two attend an art exhibition together & share some sweet moments. But that easy camaraderie fizzles out soon.
Mostly shot indoors, the screenplay is done quite well. The background score wasn’t very memorable, but blends just fine with the events. I quite liked the disco-kind of music that plays every-time Woo experiences a ‘colour rush’, it irked me a little when they changed it after a few episodes.
Since the story is quite interesting, ‘Colour Rush’ manages to hold the viewer’s interest and isn’t too bad for a one time watch. A major problem with the story was a sub-plot about Woo’s mom, who is a ‘mono’ too and goes missing. What really happened to her? We never find out. There is an interesting little twist towards the end of the climax, which felt slightly contrived. While it ends on a sweet note, it’s not as fun as some of its other Korean BL counterparts. I would give it a 6/10.
January 21, 2021
Slip & Slide Book Review – Quick Fun Read
The GoodReads book challenge for 2021 is going great for some of us. So far at least. I finished reading book number 7 for the year – titled ‘Slip & Slide’, the novella by G B Ralph is a sequel to his debut book ‘Duck & Dive’, a cute romantic comedy.
‘Duck & Dive’ was told from the perspective of the closeted Arthur, who tries to come out to his friends, but keeps fumbling from revealing the truth. ‘Slip & Slide’ is narrated by Gabriel, a struggling student who develops a crush on Arthur, but is wondering if dating someone new to the pride parade is worth the effort.
I really enjoyed the easy colloquial manner of story-telling by author Ralph, it’s relatable, like you are in a room having a conversation with a bunch of your own friends. A few new characters are introduced, including Gabriel’s flatmates who are younger and infuse some youthful energy to the story. Although Gabriel’s ‘intermittent flatmates’ Betty & Basil are way more likable. They are cats, and all of their mentions in the story might make you want to adopt cats.
What really makes ‘Slip & Slide’ fun to read is the fact that it’s sprinkled with romantic moments and ‘action’ *wink wink* throughout and you don’t have to wait till the climax for things to get exciting. Sure, some books are more fun when they save all the poking for the end, like desserts, but sometimes a few spoons of dessert in between the course of your meal is fun too. Like sipping a coke-float while having a burger. You know what I mean.
There is a lot of cooking going on in this book and the description are very point on. As an Indian, it was interesting to read about all the ingredients that go with making a meal worthy of a steamy date. Those who aren’t very fond of food might not find those bits as engrossing.
Gabriel and Arthur are quite adorable as two individuals who are just trying to figure out where their encounters might be heading. It’s nice to see the protagonists being honest about their feelings and not keeping their potential love interest guessing in circles about what is going on their mind. That trope is just annoying and author Ralph steers clear from it, giving readers a straightforward romantic tale.
I was able to finish the entire novella in almost one sitting and that’s the best part about ‘Slip & Slide’ – it’s engaging & breezy. It’s a 4/5 from me.
January 20, 2021
Strawberries & Ice-cream
Here is an Abstract as F post – how to make easy home-made strawberry ice-cream.
We had a “vegan haul” arrive at our place – vegan butter, vegan milk (cashew & oats milk), vegan mayo. I had also ordered three boxes of strawberries, which weren’t as sweet as I expected them to be. So I decided to make vegan strawberry ice-cream.
And it actually turned out to be pretty good. How did I make it?
+ Diced 400 grams of strawberries
+ Dumped it in the blender with 4 spoons sugar + two spoons vegan butter + 200 ml vegan milk
Mixed it all in the blender until it was one thick mixture. Left the mix in the fridge overnight. Broke it into chunks with a fork and blended them again. Froze it for the second time for 5 hours.
The result was this –
It was yum! You can replace the vegan ingredients with regular milk & butter. And I would suggest you use 8 spoons of sugar & 4 spoons melted butter. I prefer little sugar, so the ice-cream wasn’t as sweet as store brought ice-creams.
January 19, 2021
Letters To Jupiter – Poetry Book Review
Who doesn’t love simple poetry that reminds you of things the mind often ponders over when it finds the time to breathe alone?
“Letters To Jupiter” by Lotte Jean is a collection of poetry that descends into the internal turmoils of both the heart and body. It’s easy to read and doesn’t leave you scratching your head over cryptic lines that some poets take pleasure in penning down. That doesn’t mean Jean does not indulge in witticism and hidden meanings in this collection. A few things might be lost on readers who aren’t familiar with classics. For example, there is a poem that is inspired by a wildly popular Oscar Wilde story. If you haven’t read Wilde, you won’t get it.
The dominant theme through the book is self-love, although the Jean does delve into other issues, like existentialism, toxic relationships & broken families. I really enjoyed the ones that seemed more personal and had elements of the nature interspersed with the individual’s growth. The one titled ‘The Day I Lost The Sun & Saw The Moon’ was short but beautiful to read. Here are some of the first few lines –
take me to the river’s edge
Lotte Jean
let my soul
merge with the stream
and taste a reality
far different from my own
an ether of merging thoughts
of clarity
and
madness
moulding together.
Most of the poetry is free-style and there is no fixed metre or pattern to them. Some of them are very short, just one sentence spaced into a poem, the kinds that I like to label ‘insta poetry’, which I am not very fond of. But I’ve mentioned in an older poetry book review about how I am starkly aware of the popularity of such poems. So I think a lot of modern readers would enjoy them. Also, few of the poems are slightly repetitive and you’ll keep spotting the words ‘acid’, ‘fire’, ‘burn’ a lot.
Overall, ‘Letter to Jupiter’ is a lovely collection and is all about youth, despair, love and self-discovery. Read them a few times and you’ll get finding newer/deeper meanings to some of them.
January 18, 2021
Northern Lights – Graphic Novel Review
Finished reading book number 5 this year – Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. I read this magical graphic novel version adapted by Stephane Melchior, with some stunning artwork by Clement Oubrerie.
It follows the journey of the unruly but brave Lyra to the north to rescue children who’ve been abducted by ‘gobblers’. It’s a fascinating world of witches, shape-shifting animals & beer chugging armored bears. It felt like a mix of a lot of books. Lyra was projected as an orphan-child at the beginning and the arc reminded me of the works of Dickens. However far from the bleak world of Dickens’ classic novels, Northern Lights is bright, shiny and filled with colours.
In Pullman’s world, every human has a ‘daemon’, a creature that is perpetually with them, like a soul-animal. If the daemon is attacked, its human feels the pain too and vice-versa. Lyra is always up to some mischief or the other with her daemon and the two go on a journey to the end of the earth to find the evil ‘gobblers’ and free the innocent children kidnapped by them. She is gifted a golden compass that can answer any question, but very few can interpret the answers. Our protagonist however manages to crack the mystery of the compass and thus gets a lot of help in her perilous journey.
The most likable character in the book for me was the ‘drunkard’ bear called Lorek Byrnison, who is banished from his kingdom, despite being the heir to the throne. Despite being a giant animal, Byrnison’s character is almost human and very lovable. He in some ways in the true hero of the book, despite having a terrifying introduction.
Just one thing kept bothering me, and that was the motivations of the antagonist. All we know is that the villain is doing evil things, but what exactly spurs them on is never clear. I wish there was some more back-story or more space for us to understand the antagonist. There is quite some violence in the book and I think some of the themes are slightly dark for children. However it’s perfect for comic loving adults!
January 16, 2021
Tribhanga Movie Review – About The Moms We Don’t Talk About
Most mainstream Indian movies lead viewers to believe that mothers are symbols strength, solicitude and sacrifice – ready to give up everything, if it means keeping the family together. But the moms in the 2021 film ‘Tribhanga’ don’t exactly fit in the ‘Mother India’ mold. The film starts off with a writer (who has a married grand-daughter) day-drinking whiskey and recalling her life, which includes abandoning her husband to pursue her passion. Her kids hate her and prefer to call her by her first name.
A few seconds later, we see a resplendent Anu (Kajol), her daughter, draped in a beautiful blue saree, all ready to perform the classical Odishi dance, but not before she can take a few puffs to ease her nerves. It’s a clever juxtaposition of traditional mores and modern mannerisms. Kajol’s Anu is a famous actor and dancer, with an even more accomplished writer mom Nayan (Tanvi Azmi) and a rather docile daughter Masha (Mithila Palkar).
Anu leaves her dance midway to rush to the hospital, where her mother has been hospitalized. Nayan suffers a stroke while interacting with Milan (Kunaal Roy Kapur), a writer who is helping pen her biography. The story then flits between the present and past to explain the strained/stormy relationship between Nayan and Anu and how it unwittingly affects her daughter Masha too.
Director Renuka Shahane, who has also written the story, tells a gripping, emotional tale of three women, two of whom are fiercely independent and how their life choices haunt them to the end. ‘Tribhanga’ is a dance pose and literally means ‘three parts break’ (Wikipedia says so) and refers to three bends in the body – so as a viewer we are led to believe that the three protagonists will perhaps have equal share in the story. However, Kajol gets the most screen-time.
The much-loved actor turns out to be the only weak link in the film as far as the acting is concerned. While all the other actors slip pretty effortlessly into their roles, Kajol’s delivery is too exaggerated in some scenes. Her performance swings between over-dramatic to just right. It’s probably because the character seems a lot like the actor herself – bubbly, loud, spunky & outspoken. A lot of actors have often mused about how it’s much easier to play someone completely different than roles that are closer to their own traits. Kajol’s emotional scenes are poignant & spot on, but she overdoes the lighter fun scenes. Tanvi Azmi on the other hand looked every bit the troubled old writer she plays. Kunaal Roy Kapur’s role as the ‘shuddhh Hindi speaking’ biographer was a little caricature-like, yet fun to watch.
The cinematography captures all the changing moods of the film vividly, be it the somber hospital scenes or soirees from the past. There are a lot of fleeting little family scenes, both silly and serious, that would be relatable to a lot of people. And it was absolutely refreshing to see the spotlight on the internal struggles of women who choose a different life for themselves. The theme of sexual abuse is handled sensitively, yet done in a way to convey the heinous nature of the crime and the devastating impact it can have on the victim’s life. Not sure about other viewers, but I was delighted to see the protagonist Anu cuss away to glory, like a regular woman; she doesn’t hold back the ‘f’ bombs, or the even more explosive expletives that are available to us in the Hindi language.
Since the story is set in Mumbai, some dialogues are in Marathi and it adds to the authenticity of the tale. The only problem I had with the script was the unfair villainization of school teachers. It might seem like a trivial complaint, and despite a very brief scene, odious bullying by teachers actually plays a big part in pushing the plot forward. Which brings us to the pace of the film – with a 95 minute runtime, Tribhanga is cut well and flows smoothly. The climax ends in a bitter-sweet closure. It could’ve done with more story and screen-space for other actors. Also, the ending shot was very funny/silly/unnecessary. If you watch the film you’ll know what I mean.
It’s a 7/10 for me.
