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Booker Hit List - Girish and Vimal (feat Syl and Srividya)
message 601:
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Gorab, TheGunman
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Oct 25, 2016 05:49AM
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More than the ..."
Yes.. indeed.
I could.empathise with Barbara the most though i didnot.like her.
If i were a character of the book I wouls be more.of a Barbara than a Sheba
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."
I too sensed the same. I think it was a very smart move to put in words everyone's worst fear :)
Sheba, except for the affair - is perfectly imperfect like all of us! She despises her daughter (and apologises), feels rebellious against her mother, grows indifferent to her husband.
In a sense, reality is a lot more mundane and scary i guess :)
If you ever have the stomach for it read Something Happened by Heller :)
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Nice to know that everyone liked the book. I made pretty slow progress last week, but loved every bit of whatever I read. At 45 %.
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Have just started this book. Am at about 12% and I am finding it dragging like anything...... :( Does this get better? Or am I in a stupid mood and chose this book at a stupid time! :(
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Okay.. then I am not the only one! Glad to hear that! :)
Yes, not much happens.. But I'm loving the strange prose full of gloom, sarcasm and irony. Kind of unusual in my usual reads. I think she has done a fantastic job so far of maintaining the gloom without getting obnoxious.
Manju wrote: "Am still stuck at 40%.-_-"No worries Manju, I'm crawling as well. At the rate I'm going, I'll keep this going until atleast next weekend.
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Sri, hope you complete the book over an evening coffee and then sleep it off :)
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what say for one last Booker this year - something from this year?
message 616:
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Em Lost In Books, EmLo is my Name, PIFM is my Game
(last edited Nov 03, 2016 08:14PM)
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Am done! Was done long back, actually! And Vimal, it was close to a coffee or something like that for me! :PHowever, I didn't like it at all. The whole concept or premise was so good that I expected a lot more from the author. I was disappointed with the way it was handled. Couldn't relate to the characters. Felt the scenes to be over the top and melodramatic, especially towards the end. Felt the whole thing to be a farce without any feelings. Even the anguish experienced by Sheba felt farcical.
I wanted more, so much more.....
Sorry guys but this book didn't do it for me! :(
Manju wrote: "nope, around 45%. going super slow with this one, blame it on the gloomy feeling. but will wrap it up this weekend."Actually the book didn't feel gloomy at all. I would have enjoyed it, if it could have made me feel something, even gloom and despair!
Girish wrote: "Vimal, Manju, Sri - Done?what say for one last Booker this year - something from this year?"
Am ready! Which one?
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Manju wrote: "its Girish who mentioned coffee.:P"Oops! So it is! I stand corrected. Girish - your wish came true... Not exactly a coffee but a couple of hours sure! :P
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1. The Sellout (winner obv)
2. Eileen
3. Hot Milk
4. His Bloody project
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What can you get your hands on Vimal? (will msg you details)
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I'm still at the half way mark with the scandal. Had got a compulsive urge to finish off Maadhorubagan last week(had kept it on for 2 months!), and utilized the urge. Will finish scandal next week.
I have Hot milk already, and can join in once I'm done with scandal. Placed a hold on Sellout and Eileen, but seeing where I am at the queue, I wouldn't be able to receive either of them this month.
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Hot Milk sounds fine! We will take it up soon after you finish Scandal.
Done with the Notes, and absolutely loved it! The last 25 % of the book where Barbara's loneliness is explored left me in total awe. What a writer! Glad to have read another good one in the 'B' list.Will start with Hot Milk when all are ready.
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I liked Barbara and the way she was handled by the author. Apart from empathizing with her, in many parts felt that she verbalized my feelings. I'm prone to frequent lonely bouts and that is how I feel about the world sometimes when I'm lonely, though I'm not a writer and may not be able to verbalize it as tersely as Heller through Barbara. And regarding anybody behaving in the same manner as Barbara, again I believe Zoe Heller summed it up nicely - Chance is everything. An enormous amount of vice, and virtue for that matter, is just a matter of circumstance.
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Yayy! Sort of guessed you would like it. Weirdly enough I think all the guys liked it and the women a little less so. Hot milk sometime after the next weekend or so.
For some odd reason my comments in this page seemed to be different from what I typed from mobile! :O
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Yayy! Sort of guessed you would like it. Weirdly enough I think all the guys liked it and the women a little less so. Hot milk sometime after the next weekend or so.
For some odd reason my comments in this page seemed to be different from what I typed from mobile! :O
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Barbara is everyone's worst fear and so it is very easy to empathise. I agree with Vimal on loneliness.
A few years ago, there was a phase, when I was single and travelling 8 cities a month for work. I used to be afflicted with acute bouts of loneliness. I used to feel a mixture of anger and self pity waking up in strange hotels and looking through phone contacts for someone to talk to. I remembered all of that reading Heller's narrative.
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Oops! So it is! I stand corrected. Girish - your wish came true... Not exactly a coffee but a couple of hours sure! :P"
That makes it a cold coffee at Coffee day :P
I had major problems with this book. The concept was beautiful but the way it was handled was truly not what I expected. It read as if it were out of a scandal sheet in a sleazy magazine. There was no depth in it. An older woman, a teacher, having an affair or a relationship with a much younger man or rather boy and that too her student; it needed depth. However, the way it was presented was as if it were just an off the cuff thing that happened.Sheba and her protege's feelings were never verbalised. I can understand that it was from Barbara's perspective and there was no other POV. That was my first grudge, there should have been something from Sheba's end or the boy's end. Being presented from Barbara's perspective, it lost a lot of emotional depth that could have otherwise been presented. It came off as a sleazy affair and nothing more. It was as if they just wanted to have sex and they had it. No feelings otherwise. An older woman in a marriage with a much older man wanting to get her jollies through her being attractive to a younger boy...that's as old a line as it can get.
She doesn't feel anything when she is kicked out of the house. Oh yes, there were the cliched display of emotions but again without depth. She doesn't like her daughter but there was no reason provided for this dislike. Was it because she was jealous of her daughter's youth or was it something else? No explanation from Sheba's side and as readers we have to guess. A problem area for me.
Coming to Barbara, she came across as a stuck up lady who had plenty of airs. While I could accept that, I couldn't accept how she went from 0 -100 on the jealousy factor for a woman who has just joined the team of teachers. She has barely spoken to her, barely acknowledged Sheba and yet she feels jealous when Sheba chooses Sue? Really? No explanation, no back story for Barbara, nothing and we have to accept that she is lonely and suddenly decides that Sheba can cure her loneliness?
I could understand pride or arrogance playing a role, where Barbara feels that every person who joins the school should bow down to her. If that is the case, my dislike is even more pronounced.
So she suddenly decides that she should be the most important person in Sheba's life and Sheba accepts her and takes her home, introduces her to everybody and also tells her about the boy? I won't do that to a person I don't know. I don't share secrets with people whom I have just met and I can't understand how anyone would do it. It isn't rational!
Was Sheba trying to gloat about the fact that a much younger boy is attracted to her? Was she trying to make Barbara feel insecure and inferior by sharing this with her? I don't know but I feel that's the case. Sheba was getting off her jollies by making Barbara feel small. In that case, Sheba can be portrayed as a wonderful negative character. However, the matter of depth still remains untended.
Let's take the boy now. Why was he attracted to Sheba? What was his motivation? Did he just get up one day and said let me try my chance with this new teacher and I shall get experience while she shall feel good. And then one day he decides to stop it all because I have humiliated this person enough or that there is no fun in humiliating her anymore? Was that all to that relationship or can we even call it a relationship?
Too many questions and too little depth. Just couldn't accept it...
Sorry for going on rambling... :)
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AMB Sri :)
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Girish wrote: "Srividya wrote: "I had major problems with this book. The concept was beautiful but the way it was handled was truly not what I expected. It read as if it were out of a scandal sheet in a sleazy ma..."What's AMB? :O :O
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Girish wrote: "lol.. that was impulsive.. AMB was a college moniker for "Alle Mere Bacche" to express sympathy :D"Oh like that!! Nah... I have already forgotten the book and the pain, onto the next one now! Hopefully Hot Milk doesn't disappoint! :P
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ROFLOL...advance laughter in a separate no one else considers it funny :P
Had a peek at Hot milk.. Prose seems sooper-simple, which suits my reading mood at the moment. Will start on Wed/Thursday.
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