Indian Readers discussion
Reading Progress 2023
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Girish's Booking Counter
Mod
Rating: 2/5
Review: It is a good thing the author seeks apology of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the dedications column. The story is too shallow to fit into the groove of Sherlock Holmes and yet we have a "mystery" that could have been solved by anyone.
When has Watson and Holmes ever relied on following the footsteps to solve a crime?! I mean, this is police work 101 and it takes Mr.Holmes and Watson excited enough to solve the "crime". The story is less of an ode and more of a let down to the great sleuth.
Size is the only advantage.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: Marathon man is a movie script under the guise of a book. While it has it's charm in the first half where the mystery builds up, the almost unforgivable ineptness of the "villians" takes away the effect.
Babe Levy is the marathon man, who imagines beating famous marathon runners who endure pain to achieve glory. He is also a history student on a personal mission to clear his father's reputation through research. When he falls in love head over heels with a girl of suspect origins, in comes Doc his brother with a mysterious profession. In parallel, there are killings of spies and agents in a post WWII US at the centre of which is the agent Scylla the rock. When Levy gets embroiled in the web of Nazi criminal on prowl in US and masks of people close to him, the book takes a turn into a survival and revenge story.
Al Pacino's brilliant series called Hunters on prime video tackled the uncovering and killing of Nazis who escaped to America and recovering what they had taken away. This book, with the similar core idea, becomes a bit unrealistic with Babe finding himself suddenly the target of Nazi torture and just because he could endure, becomes a hero - trivialising all those who perished. This books comes from a place of anger, with urge to avenge and a commentary on how trials are a waste of money and time - a sentiment you may justify but not recommend.
The parts I really liked where when Babe is not the hero - when he plans a brilliant move in his head only to fail miserably in execution. And hence when he does succeed - it does not fall in place as it should.
Still a good well paced read.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: There are books to be read at different stages of life when you are dealing with different emotions. This book is to be read when you feel lost and pointless with the living and it might just alter your thinking.
Dr.Victor, quite dispassionately, discusses his days in the Austwich and other concentration camps where things were reduced to the essence of survival. One expects the horrors to make the prisoners numb and resigned - but even there the individuals found their coping mechanism.
Logotheraphy as a practice helps people make sense, give a different perspective of a situation. Can you look at the bright and beautiful in the worst situation? If yes, will you be less likely or more likely to endure?
Loved the first part - the memoir which has been written with a very unique perspective. The second part, i don't claim to understand fully.
This book deserves a second read when it all comes to finding purpose.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: I found this 1946 book written mostly in form of table conversations among it's three main characters and slowly builds up to a chaotic end. Twelve year old Frankie is a lonely tomboy who is jealous of her brother's upcoming wedding. She is rambling and upset and decides her grand plan that she wants to accompany the couple on their honeymoon. She would do anything including changing her name and gender if it would help.
Her six year old cousin who shadows Frankie and is in the know of all her cousin's plan. The third member is Bernice, the maid and wisecracking mother figure who tries to assuage her ward's angst.
Found some of the first few conversations lively and funny. But then slowly, as the day nears, there is a sense of anxiety in the conversations that doesn't get rested. If there is ever more to the story, i think it is the complex emotions of a teenager and how adults are to handle the situation.
While the book itself was nice, I found the characters strained to fit to the plot. Like Bernice's guilt or the eventual fate of the couple. It is not a coming of age story, if that's what we expected.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review:Shantanu Naidu's short memoir of his journey so far with Mr.Ratan Tata is a warm little book that magnifies the great man through the eyes of a fan. Seeing someone through the lens of a fan is like looking at world through pink tinted glasses - like admiring the simplicity, in awe that he can drive his own car, epiphany when he allowed to take photos. We thrive on positive emotions and this book is more like feeds into it.
Maybe the age difference between Shantanu and me is not much, but I felt old reading this book. The audacity of youth to exercise an option to call at anytime or stay at the house (and lie to meet a personal friend). I personally loved the parts around his startup and the loneliness a B-School can make you feel. I also like the social construct that is emphasised in investing in startups and the sense of purpose. This to me, was the single biggest testimony to the man Mr.Ratan Tata.
When he joins his office after his MBA, the change in dynamics between the mentor and mentee is also illustrated well. He is your boss at the end of the day and hence a sort of official distances comes in from treating him like a friend. I would have loved to know Mr.Tata perspective of how he saw this young kid who was learning and he is ready to put his trust on. I have benefitted from working with some of the very best in the industry and mentored by some of the more compassionate people with strong values. As we grow and expected to do our bit for people, I often wonder how they did it.
A very warm read in which Mr.Ratan Tata's presence stands out and credit to the author to allow it to be without a sense of grandeur.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: “I was heavily involved on all fronts: with mountaineering outfitters, who oddly enough never fathomed the depths of my ignorance; possibly because they couldn’t conceive of anyone acquiring such a collection of equipment without knowing how to use it…”
Written in 1956, this travelogue is filled with self deprecatory humor and British wit that could often take away the focus from the magnitude of the trip undertaken across free Afghanistan. In the introduction by Evelyn Waugh, he notes how British would half kill themselves just to get away from Britain - an observation that left is chuckling, but then in retrospect made sense given the history.
Eric Newby is in Haute Couture for 10 years now and during one of the sales shows decides to quit his career when he receives a telegram from his friend to meet him in Nuristan. With knowing next to nothing about mountaineering or trekking, the two gentlemen get trained on the basics and then since he has quit his job and no turning back, he urges his friend to go on the trip immediately. What follows is a series of adventures and misadventures that is written in a humorous "Douglas Adamish" way - the highest praise I can muster.
Beyond the writing is the cultural relevance of one of the less understood terrain of Asia - Afghanistan before the Taliban came into being. The region of nomads and tribes who were living peacefully despite their differences in faith, food, religion and dressing(!). The observational difference between Kabul to Nuristan is a stuff of documentaries. The author also usefully adds snippets of history, myth and geography that is worth revisiting.
Since 1993 after the Taliban took over Afghanistan, the country has become closed and associated primarily with religious fanatism to the external world. This book tells a different story of friendly people who will risk their lives to host guests and go out of way to ensure your comfort - despite your best attempts to remain uncomfortable.
Mr.Newby wins your heart with the prose and the entire narrative feels like a fireside story over a drink. Understated, funny and an achievement.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: “What did love mean if it was doled out so carelessly, with no thought of consequence?”
"Love had vexed his mind, making him irritable and irrational. There was something in human affection that was at odds with reason, he thought, like a kind of mild insanity."
As a fictionalised biography of E.M.Forester, Damon Galgut surpasses every aspect of empathy in dwelling into the troubled, sad and lonely life of a closeted gentleman in the early 1900s. Ultimately the book explains how and why the author came to write A Passage to India, but that story is one that explores so many "taboos" and "judgements" - not just of homosexuality but also that of racial divides, societal conditioning and colonial.
When I read A Passage to India a couple of years ago, I wrote a raving review especially for the pro-Indian stance it had taken before independence and understanding of a different race. Here in the book, you know why, somehow altering the meaning of a book I loved. I am still conflicted if made it more or less meaningful.
It is 1912 and Morgan Forester is onboard SS Birmingham making his maiden visit to India to meet his beloved friend. Things don't go as planned and he ends up touring India and forming opinions of the rude British and the intelligent but prejudiced Indians. He forms the seed of a story that he wishes to write to showcase to the world his thoughts of India and hiding in it his hero based on his beloved. But in the span that it took to write this book - 12 years - he goes through an odyssey of forbidden loves and as he immolates alone in shamed and confusion, he understands himself more.
There are many pieces of past that goes into defining acts in future, but not all maybe relevant. That is how I felt about the Egypt phase as a Red cross officer which was beautifully written, but could have been trimmed. Galgut however wanted to go through the entire process and in the second time in India, gives characters a lot of depth including the minor characters.
This is a well cooked book and I am in awe with Galgut for pulling this off with so much sensitivity and caring. Perfect book for Pride month read.
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: “A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing the things men have always done. If a story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie. There is no rectitude whatsoever. There is no virtue. As a first rule of thumb, therefore, you can tell a true war story by its absolute and uncompromising allegiance to obscenity and evil.”
I finished the book and couldn't write a word. One of the most powerful commentaries on war I have read that leaves you feeling rattled. In Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, a mother rants off on an author for wanting to write a good war novel since it can be made into a movie with star heroes and kids will think wars are cool. So he wrote a book that cannot be made into a movie. This book -ironically made into a movie- chooses the path of being absolutely brutal.
It is not about the war, but the stories of people who were part of the war. Multiple stories about a platoon in Vietnam told from one of the squad that are as traumatic as they are real.
I loved the book despite the grimness since it added the gravitas to make one feel disgusted of wars:
- the weight of each piece of possession the squad carries is peppered with "the weight of memory and longing".
- the brutal deaths are joked about as the coping mechanism.
- Your first kill - people ask you to see the bright side that you now have ammos which could later kill you.
- People are less afraid of death than of showing their fear
Blurring the lines of fact and fiction are necessary to when memories are suppressed/erased due to obscenity and evil of a pointless war (all wars are pointless). Hence stories are used to save oneself. The last story that contrasts the tender death of a 9 year old due with the thousands killed in the war - it was genius writing.
This book is on par, if not better, with the likes of Catch-22, Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse five. Wish it were just fiction.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. You know how that tiresome neighbour catches you when you are just leaving for office and tells you all about his/her last vacation? The book felt like that, the first few chapters as the author, after her divorce, decides to buy an unkempt villa in Tuscany countryside with her new partner Ed. It talks about the negotiation, the corruption about her slow renovators etc. By this part, I was pissed enough to say, I don't care for your first world problems!
Then the house becomes a given and chapter after chapter she talks about great Italian food and selection of best wines. There are even recipes of dishes made in the countryside which tries to use fresh produce completely. She talks about the ingredients, how she tried growing them in her villa, including making wine and olive oil on her own which tastes the best cold pressed.
This part was fun and made me both hungry and longing for a good wine. The author also talks about coffee and how the natives are particular choosy about how they have it (Espresso with a lot of sugar that it becomes a dessert). There are holidays, trips planned and exploration of the various cities, towns and beaches in the region. There is also a talk of the religion and lifestyle - seen from the eyes of a "foreigner".
It does seem like a picture post card. But then, we started off on a bad note. Yet, I would like to read one copy of the book before I ever decide to visit this part of Italy.
Be prepared to go out to an Italian wine dinner after reading this book.
Mod
Rating: 2/5
Review: Historical fiction requires an arc that connects a significant event/artifact with human emotions. This book gave me the big "OK, so what?" kind of a sense since it is takes the most predictable no drama path.
Vermeer, Dutch master painter, is eccentric and slow. He does not let his ever burgeoning family near his art and entertains his patron's wishes to support his family. His mother in law wants him to paint faster and his wife is almost always distracted. In this family enters 16 year old Griet, as a maid after her father lost his sight and she needed to support the family.
Griet, the maid, enters the household and slowly starts understanding the dynamics between the people and the hierarchy of maids. She falls in love with the butcher's son Pieter while her sense of color and painting impresses Vermeer. He asks her to help him as an assistant and she enjoys mixing the colours from Linseed oil and ivory and even makes bold suggestions to better the painting.
When Vermeer's rich patron starts making advances towards her and Vermeer is badly in need of money, the mother in law and Vermeer decide to make her painting and sell it to him. While this must have insulted her, she seems excited enough to have him look at only her and gets attracted towards him and using her fiance as an outlet for her passion. They take great care not to let either families know about this arrangement since it could destroy her (i didn't understand why).
Finally, the pearl earrings do make an appearance and a dramatic finish is shown of nothing more than jealousy. There is nothing illicit happening and so I did not understand why this book mattered at all. It doesn't make some major flattery to Griet either and so it was a pretty flat book. I heard there is a movie too starring Scarlett Johanassen - I wonder what the fuss is all about.
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: A joyride of snarky comebacks and one-liners.
For once, the author's note offers the best review of the book "This is not a brooding symphony of a novel. It is a pop song. It's meant to be light and catchy, with three minute hooks and choruses for you to sing along with, and then you go on with your day, hopefully with a smile on your face. I had fun writing this and i needed to have fun writing this. We all need a pop song from time to time, particularly after a stretch or darkness." What self awareness about the work!
About the book, Jamie Gray gets fired from a food delivery app around COVID 19 lockdowns and starts delivering food when his last customer enlists him into KPS. Kaiju in KPS is basically nuclear powered Godzilla like creatures existing in a parallel universe - an entry for which is available from earth.
The team on duty is filled with scientists who want to preserve these mighty creatures without exploiting them. Except humans are self destructive like that and you have some a$$hole billionaires trying to bring them to earth.
Unlike Jurassic park, it dumbs down most concepts and makes fun of jargons. Pheromones as weapon and shield for various purposes is a cool concept except they are described in the yuckiest possible manner as a running joke. After a particularly intense rescue they give out funny awards over dinner.
The imagination is fertile for science fiction.
This is a book that doesn't take itself seriously despite the usual tropes. My first scalzi and what fun!
Highly recommended!
Mod
Rating: 2/5
Review: I am going out on a limb here to say this book is probably not for everybody or atleast not for all states of mind. Read at the right state of mind (or wrong) - this could offer some philosophy or life lessons - but for me this gave me a headache.
How do you become impatient with a book which advocates total patience and isolation? Maybe it doesn't advocate, it just about shows what a sad life it is away from people, immersed in books, finding no meaning in relationships and moping for the loss of a friend who committed suicide. The context of the Austrian revolution around the time of second world war - I didn't get much.
The protagonist is hard to like and even his sister/wife don't find redeeming qualities to him. And yet in his thoughts, he is an enlightened soul. His friend Carlos who decided to take his life, seems to feature more often in these pages. There are people who are socially challenged, but this is taking it to an extreme type of introversion that is borderline sociopathic.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: Seth Godin's The Dip reminded me of Calvin's prayer for "The strength to change what I can, the inability to accept what I can't and the incapacity to tell the difference".
The concept of things getting tougher after the initial excitement before you develop an expertise is ages old. Yet, Mr.Godin packages it nearly into graphs called The Dip, The Cul-de-sac and the cliff. All are retrospectively evident but the conversation around "Quitting" seemed overdone.
There is no one size fit all solution and neither are there silver bullets. Any person or organisation needs the awareness to introspect. Mr. Godin does get it right that most of them don't do anything proactively.
A short book whose core idea is a page long.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: This Chinese book is one of those silent thrillers that puts you in a comfort zone till it pulls the rug from under your feet. Maybe the fact that the main characters were all kids not more than 13 lulls you into being protective of them.
Zhang pushes his wealthy in-laws over the cliff and thinks he got away with a perfect murder. Except his act was caught in a video clip of Chaoyung and 2 runaway friends. When they decide to blackmail him for money, things take a nasty turn in a totally unexpected direction.
Without giving too much away, the book will horrify you multiple times and none of these times will seem out of order. The writing makes the twists appear organic and i was hoping for a thrilling finish.
The book is a good one sitting read.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: “The space in which we live should be for the person we are becoming now, not for the person we were in the past.”
Confession : I read this book only to shock my spouse (jaw drop) by spewing cleanliness advice. I am not the most organized person and have a "collector" personality. So this book was an anti-matter for me.
Having cleared that, this book was an interesting philosophy - an extension of how your environment defines you and the method to clean up. I loved some parts and found it could be useful way to declutter your space - like a well organized bookshelf. What I did not understand, because I could not relate, is the focus on discarding. I mean, people have bought it with money!
I also found some of the concepts very practical like saving warranty cards. This book, version two, can extend to organizing files on systems, photos in mobile phones and data in drives! Such simple to execute ideas that it wouldn't come to you for free.
I think this book will excite a lot of cleanliness freaks and may even help you when you are in a bad mind space. Worth a read as far as self improvement is concerned.
PS: Applied this to documents over last weekend - and found it relevant!
Mod
Ratings: 3/5
Review: Graphic novels, I find, are tough to rate based on the story. As far as art goes, this book does something new with Indian characters of Mahabharata - making them almost like Greek characters in appearance. The sense you get from reading this book is one of a very dark version of a novel.
Since it is the story of Mahabharata - even before the time of Vyasa - the book takes it's time in establishing lineage with known stories. What was a turn off for me was the colloquialism which could have been avoided. I mean, i don't want Dronacharya saying "Mesays" or people swearing at others as "Old Geezer" or "Fogey". The dissonance of an Indian epic in colloquial English was a bit scratchy.
I did know most of the tales already and so this take on the story did not add much. Plus, the art with changing times did not change much - shouldn't it given we see so much changes every decade? It's too easy to pass comments - but the work of art is surely of high class.
Maybe the intended audience is for generations not exposed to other versions of Mahabharata.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: “The true hero is flawed. The true test of a champion is not whether he can triumph, but whether he can overcome obstacles - preferably of his own making - in order to triumph.”
“The race is long - to finish first, first you must finish.”
“The sun rises every day. What is to love? Lock the sun in a box. Force the sun to overcome adversity in order to rise. Then we will cheer!"
I came across this book in another book where Mr.Ratan Tata recommends this book to a pet lover. My curiosity piqued, I picked this up not knowing what to expect and I like most of it.
Enzo the dog is the narrator who tells the moving story of resilience of his master Denny and makes quite a few observations about humans in general. It is a gamble that pays off - with the tone witty and humorous, the books ends up the classic underdog winning after seemingly unsurmountable odds.
Enzo is a big fan of racing and his master is an aspiring racer. When Denny gets married to Eve, Enzo grudgingly starts sharing his master's attention and when their daughter Zoe is born, he dedicates himself to be the jester and protector while watching TV all day long. His understanding of humans comes from watching dramas and his love for life comes from racing. Racing in the rain is all about not letting go when things are really bad and things do get really bad.
When Eve falls victim to brain cancer, her parents start a custody battle for Zoe and fake criminal charges get lodged on Denny. Through this all, he fights with enzo by his side, sometimes as a support and sometimes not letting him give up. The book is full of heart and you get a lump in your throat at places.
“I know this much about racing in the rain. I know it is about balance. It is about anticipation and patience... [it is also] about the mind! It is about owning one's body... It is about believing that you are not you; you are everything. And everything is you.”
An uplifting book to read if you are a dog-lover or a racing fan.
Mod
Rating: 2/5
Review: “Long reconciled to childlessness, she worries instead about barrenness of the brain”
Sometimes lyrical writing about another author's life may seem a rewarding experience to better understand their work. This book does not. It attempts to explain the life and times of Margaret Cavendish whose intellectual success in an extreme sexist environment of 17th century Tudor rule. Known as Mad Madge for her outspoken demenour and her reimaginig of the Blazing World, the book uses her POV to explore the anxieties and societal biases.
The phases of her life are capsuled into anecdotes and episodes that makes her seem insulated from the affairs of William Cavendish, her intellectual husband in exile. When he takes her as his second wife, his fortunes are dwindling and he is exiled. The bond between William and Margaret is shown as a healthy respect for each other's intellect - which I assume is creative license for the time.
The major complaint with the book is that it is dry and boring despite trying to tell the tale of the first woman to be invited to the Royal society. I guess, despite the same timeline, Hilary Mantel's Wolf hall world is far more exciting than the world of exiles and restorations. Plus trying to portray it is as feminism is a disservice.
Skip if you can.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: “...there are places that don't belong to geography but to time.”
Roma Tearne's first novel set in Sri Lanka easily approaches the "typical novel" that tries to paint two warring sides the same and have characters be impacted by them. What it misses is a voice that is fresh or a story that explores more of gray (which atleast one of the characters does)
Theo Samaraveera, a popular author, comes back to his country after his wife Anna dies. He takes a help Sugi, who soon becomes his friend and confidant and then meets this 17 year old girl, Nulani whose personal losses keep mounting. The first part shows Nulani's obsession with painting him and soon their friendship develop into something more complex and ultimately love.
When politics and language enter, the book suddenly becomes a story of survival and violence - the gory details that have now become standard addition to a Sri Lankan book. While one could predict the plot direction even before the author hints towards it, the book had too many characters to invest your energy into. The book becomes about Vikram a Tamil victim who is brainwashed into terrorism, meanders on to Sugi's promises and even tries to make the focus two of Theo's friends.
The book, according to me, tried to do too many things. I do admire the fact that she is able to do a George martin with her characters and also wonder what the point of slipping in so many references to mosquito.
An author you hope who could move on from the war.
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: “Reality is a fiction with an unlimited budget.”
What a brilliant literary puzzle! Hernan Diaz weaves a cerebral tale set in the 1920s New York just before the great depression and launches it to orbit with four different forms of writing. A novel, an autobiography, a memoir and diary entries - as the writing form grows more and more personal so does the fiction to truth element passing through self deception and image.
The first book is Bonds - a novel in 1937 by Harold Vanner. about a reclusive wall street billionaire and his philanthropic wife. He makes a lot of money and believed to have contributed to the the 1929 crash where he offloaded millions of shares short to make profit. The book traces the troubled relationship with his wife who is now no more and imagines a dramatic last phase of their relationship in a sanctuary in Switzerland.
The characters on whom the book is supposed to be based, Andrew and Mildred Bevel come to life in the next three chapters. Book two is the projected autobiography of Andrew Bevel written to challenge the novel and bring out the "truth". It is comparitively placid piece with explanation of what caused the crash and what happened to Mildred. There are empathetic moments and peek into a warmer relationship between the couple.
The third part is a memoir of the ghostwriter of the autobiography. This piece rattles you with parallel truths and self deceiving lies that went into the autobiography. The power of money and ideologies come to the fore and we see the importance of controlling the narrative. Invented realities become the truth and the search for the real Mildred is on.
The last part is sheer wonder! What I loved the most about this book is the probable reality of each chapter when it's narrated is never in question. You don't search for a mystery and there is surely a message here on written history (and why Indian school books want to control the leader narratives). As a reader it holds your attention unwaveringly and then rewards you. Not to mention powerful construction of sentences that hold your attention.
“My job is about being right. Always. If I’m ever wrong, I must make use of all my means and resources to bend and align reality according to my mistake so that it ceases to be a mistake.”
“Silence between two is always shared. But one of the two owns it and shares it with the other.”
“Every life is organized around a small number of events that either propel us or bring us to a grinding halt. We spend the years between these episodes benefiting or suffering from their consequences until the arrival of the next forceful moment. A man’s worth is established by the number of these defining circumstances he is able to create for himself. He need not always be successful, for there can be great honor in defeat. But he ought to be the main actor in the decisive scenes in his existence, whether they be epic or tragic.”
One of the best reads of the year!
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: ”Who knew being a heartless killing machine would present so many moral dilemmas?”
Your favorite murderbot is now running rogue to Miluu station. As it silently tries to hitch a ride to collect evidence against the GrayCris after it taps into a newsfeed, it stumbles onto blundering clueless humans trying to get themselves killed. Oh, not to mention an infuriatingly stupid pet robot - Miki.
Without Art the book takes it time to get settled with the other characters two Augmented human security consultants and the two humans are already in Miluu and SecBot is trying to stay hidden while watching sanctuary moon. But it has work to do and develops eyes everywhere by befriending Miki - who is eager to protect his humans. When the gang gets attacked and Miki asks for help, SecBot has to come out of hiding.
He invents a master Security consultant Ren so humans wont get scared. Same amount of sarcasm, but you can sense the tonal shift in the book after the kills in the previous book. I can imagine this entire series being made into a series on Netflix.
Fun, though not as engaging, installment.
Girish wrote: "Book 52: Under the Tuscan Sun: At Home in ItalyRating: 3/5
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. You know how that tiresome neighbour catches you when you are just leaving ..."
Waiting for your trip to Italy :D
I don't live in Tuscany, but Italy is wonderful in whatever region you go. And of course food is good everywhere!
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: I have mixed feelings about this book. You know how that tiresome neighbour catches you when you ar..."
It's on my bucket list! I will hope to carry a great book and good wine when I am meeting you there :D
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: What a perfect book for a readalong with your kid! My five year old was totally awestruck by the crazyness of the book (Splod is a favorite). The fact that the adult in me was as excited to know about the fantastical story and it's super cool illustrations makes this a Gaiman for all ages.
When the dad goes out to the store to get the milk comes late, the kids demand an answer. And so the dad starts narrating a sequence of events replete with time travelling, aliens, dinosaurs, wumpires and tribals. The teenage children ask questions in disbelief, but then the dad keeps accommodating their suspicions with a logical answer. In fact, I found the time travel usages more imaginative than anything I have come across till date.
The number of characters is on a higher side and this is forgivable given the convenient plot tool of temporal space movement. For the kid, it is exciting to meet so many different characters in the same story. I was surprised when she talked of Piranha or eye of the splod. And despite my thinking that she won't understand much of time travel - she seemed to grasp it much quicker much to my surprise! That is the beauty of illustrations.
Amazing reading experience.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review:"Disinformation, which is the same as lying but for some reason has a different name, is the top tactic in corporate negotiation/warfare."
Book four in the murderbot series finally brings the reunion with Dr.Mensah and the preservation. Loaded more with action and fighting than a solid storyline, i found this more of a necessary part than interesting.
The rescue operation was comparitively easier than the last 3 books which made it seem the author might be looking for new tricks. Plus with absence of ART or Mikki and more interaction with humans, the fun of AI systems conversation seemed diminished.
I still enjoyed it and hoping the rest of the series manage to retain the tautness of the first 3 books.
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: What it is to be humane is very different from just being human. These 12 short stories based on some wonderful people and compassion - can heal you and haunt you with a language that is in equal parts cathartic and causterising.
Jeyamohan writes like a man possessed. He switches the tamil to the land the story is set and create narrators who are in awe of the central character of each story. The stories take off slowly setting the canvas and in more than two-three stories we look forward to that one or two sentences that will make this entire work glow. They do not hold back the punches - in using language to hurt or console.
My favorite 3 stories were
1. Sottru Kanakku - The amazing story of Kettel Sahib who fed thousands of people free of cost without any expectation and how it transformed lives.
2. Olai Siluvai - Sommervel's missionary life and one of his student's finding God in service. This tale tore me apart in the last few pages.
3. Aram - The titular story on the power of words
There are two other stories which explains pain (peruvali as "mattharu thayir") and longing ("Thaabam") that speak to your heart of explaining something that is almost inexplicable. Giving words to emotions is an art like no other and Jeyamohan aced it.
This was a gifted book and I am glad I deserved this book. This book will go on to be one of my prized possessions.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: “And if you don’t know who you are, then look at all the possible versions of you, find the most impossible one, and become that.”
This historical fictional family tome covers an entire century and six generations in trying to make sense of today. Georgia, almost always clubbed under Russia/USSR due to it's chequered past, gets it's own history purged in the history of the great revolution and two wars. It loses it's identity and spark, much like the women in the story.
The story is narrated by Niza to her niece Brillka who has runaway from her home to Vienna. She narrates through eight books the stories of six generations in different points of the complex history and in a way, brings to light the culture of Georgia and it's obvious dissonance to the propaganda culture of manufactured truths.
We start with Stacia's story in Georgia where her father runs a chocolate factory and learns the cursed hot chocolate recipe which is an elixir for the soul but brings terrible bad luck. He shares the formula with Stasiya the day before her marriage to a Red Lieutenant who takes her to St.Peterburg. Her sister Christine, who marries a man in NKVD, is raped and becomes the mistress of a sexual predator to the head of NKVD(KGB). Her jealous husband tries to protect her by throwing acid on her face to make her unattractive. Such is the horror that get's perpetrated. Their generation's struggles are of making sense of the revolution.
The next generation Kosta, son of Stasia and Kitty, the famous singer sister form the bulk of the story. The older characters become protectors and philosophers seeing ghosts under trees or raising wayward children. Kosta's life with the Russian army is very different from Kitty's struggles. Their loyalty to the state is pitted on opposite sides as Kitty undergoes a personal tragedy that is devastating, at the hands of an agent of the state. Kosta's own life as he rises through ranks becomes one of being the alpha who always thinks he is right. Kitty also breaks her shackles and escapes Russia after a satisfying revenge with the aid of her brother's friend, Georgi Allani. After becoming a singer and denouncing the state, she can never come back and eventually fate makes her meet her agent Amy and the reclusive Fred.
The part about the wayward and brutal child Elene who grows up in neglect and proves a disappointment to her father is set in the cold war era. That story too has the characters of the family shaping things till she has two children Daria and the author Niza to two different fathers. Each generation seem to be cursed and yet, their lives are fulfilling potentials not known and recovers from adversities unique to the generation. Except of course the common thread of patriarchy and power. The book does not preach and yet is filled with hope.
This is a massive saga which is also addictive for it's size. Promising tome for a long haul.
Mod
Rating: 2/5
Review:The difference between a psychological thriller and a whodunnit has a lot to do with how involved the reader feels with the story. That way, this book is more of a police procedural than some thriller. Especially when you intentionally get distracted by characters and backstories.
Erica, finds her childhood friend Alex dead in a bathtub with her wrists slashed. It turns out to be a murder and I I don't know why, but the parents of Alex want her to write an article about her. Her ex-husband, her work friend and even old school teachers open up to her and tell her intimate things about Alex that they had no business knowing.
Officer Patrick also starts investigating the case as his closeness to Erica grows. He is good on logic but still has to bank on lucky breaks. He finds out lies after days because he connected something he heard - a trick that is used two times too many.
In the end, murder is about power or self preservation. The motive for this murder was so luke warm, I did not get the extents people went to to make it difficult to guess the murderer.
Okayish.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: This was not the book I thought it would be. Par for the course, since Chennai is not the same for two people who grew up in the same city during the same time.
Written during the lockdown when the city was brought to it's knees, the author tries to remember the Chennai he knew through various memories associated with the city as a healing process. There are vignettes of history of the city, but it is dominated by the writing circuit and the author's take on the struggles.
Some chapters had my full heart. There is one chapter that talks about the hillocks of Chennai and one on the work that is continuously ongoing from chrompet to Anna Salai. There was trivia about beef consumption and origin of Burma bazaar.
Most of the book I was comparing notes with the Chennai I knew, i grew up in and was trying to find resonance. The only chapters that I was able to relate to was Landmark books (meeting friends there and the occasional running into celebs) and one on the Devanar Pavanar library that saw me, on my low days.
Cities, standalone, don't have memories. It's the people and their stories that make them belong to a city. I liked the book.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: "Let me tell you about when I was a girl, our grandfather says."
So starts Ali Smith's charming commentary on fluidity of genders and politics of myths that require retelling. This book packs in all the word plays and verbal gymnastics that has become her trademark and yet feels stretched and borderline preachy. A( )musing - Write it if you find anything wrong (Ha!).
Two girls fall in love and the gender is incidental. This takes on the myth of Ovid's Iphis - a girl brought up as a boy. While doing so, it also takes on other (not known as) myths such as family construct, corporate ethics, women empowerment among others. The corporate giant Pure which is trying to make money of Scottish water represents the greedy entity and a rebel as a well meaning boy/girl is a deft little side battle.
The writing is playful and while the ideas are not convincing, they manage to come off the pages and make you acknowledge. Not the best, but that is because the bar is set so high!
Fun book.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: Troubled blood was a book that I skipped after the exhorbitant price it commanded (and nothing to do with the cancel culture). When I picked up the audiobook more than a year later, I almost did not remember the salient points of the Strike-Robin relationship.
From the point of view, this book was too long drawn to be a compact mystery. The fact that it is a cold case helps, but then if they had an year to solve it, it feels like an year you are still reading the story. All the zodiac explanations and the investigating cop on psychotic breakdown created far too many complications than the story required. The fact that there is a convicted serial killer who is the prime suspect also made for a needless storyline.
Having cribbed as much, I still found the thread of logic and good ol' detective work yielding results satisfying. Sure, there were was an eagerness to make it unguessable from the author, but then if it gets convincingly pulled off, you feel rewarded. The personal relationship between Robin and Strike is also teasingly slow, but then building the tension between lead pair for several seasons is the norm these days.
A good mystery that could have been sharper by a good editor.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: An Era of Darkness by Shashi Tharoor is a book that leaves you feeling like you are witnessing a debating competition and we are waiting for the other side to lay their arguments. No wonder hindsight is 20/20, but then the intent of the book seems to lament the era with an "if only the British didn't come.." narrative.
Most of the actual history like the Partition of Bengal, Jalianwala Bagh or the Muslim league positions are documented and verifiable. And hence it was in a way a nutshell presentation of the Raj from trade to freedom. The anecdotes, critique of the Raj from English nationals and some chapters like the economics of tea made for interesting reading. The cause of famines by the English's self serving attitude and the 1919 deferment of self Government were shocking if true.
The politician in Mr.Tharoor peeks in from time to time as he takes the case of the Government and even defends the reason for the distrust which made India wary of foreigners for 40 years after independence.
The problem I have with this book is primarily the one sided case presented. Mr.Tharoor does clarify towards the end that his intent was not to undo or fix a blame, but to make them own up (and maybe return the Kohinoor). The tone of lamentation however suggests something else.
Colonization was never meant to be an altruistic expedition and there would be no denouncement if it weren't exploitation. But to ascertain conscious and willful malice and vilifying may not be true either. Situation evolved from trading post to colonization and so did our sentiments towards the British.
76years after Independence - let us move on, maybe?
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: "Anyone who thinks machine intelligences don't have emotions needs to be in this very uncomfortable room right now.”
“You know that thing humans do where they think they’re being completely logical and they absolutely are not being logical at all, and on some level they know that, but can’t stop? Apparently it can happen to SecUnits, too.”
The network effect is the most fun book in this series so far - and that is saying something! As I wrote the review of the last installment I was worried things might get too templatised. And this book, proved it is possible to take it to a next level!
Our favorite SecBot is on a mission with Mensah's step daughter. Dealing with human emotions is irritating, but then Secbot is determined to endure this to keep the human associates (not friends, never friends) safe despite their stupidity. When the Murderbot gets kidnapped along with Amana by a rogue ship looking for the "weapon" and an intelligent transport module which poses a real threat to Secbot. The intelligent transport module is his old friend ART infected by alien remnant technology along with gray skinned hostile human targets that are trying to kill the murderbot.
The evolving EQs of the AI systems are fantastic and I just did not anticpate the brilliant strategy made by them to recover ART's research crew. Mind blowing concepts are explored in this book and the nerd in me was super thrilled by the developments. The fact that these characters hate feelings and yet are driven by them is fun to watch unfold. Also, did I mention the sarcasm levels are set to a new bar thanks to the banter between the two systems?
The book does drag a bit in the middle and some of the action heavy sequences are tough to follow, but then the book manages to keep you invested.
One word - Brilliant.
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: "Today we were unlucky," it said, "but remember, we only have to be lucky once. You have to be lucky always. Give Ireland peace, and there will be no war." said the IRA statement after the failed assassination attempt
This book based on the Brighton Hotel bombing in 1984 that almost killed Margaret Thatcher reads like a fiction. For the uninitiated, this is a treasure trove of information on the Irish resistance movement (Dubbed by the Brits as "The Troubles") and about the original Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher. The amount of research that has gone into this gives you a quick catchup on the whole political scene before it gets to the event.
Put together based on more than 800 interviews and police records, kudos to the author who has made it a coherent narrative. Something that is not established gets called out and hence the journalistic principles are upheld in this fast paced book. The background setting that establishes the various players is critical as it talks about the reason for dissent which was new to me.
Earlier in 1981 when Thatcher had to decide how to handle Northern Ireland, she takes a hard stance that to treat all resistance movement as criminal activities. This leads to belittling of the Irish sentiments and builds hatred. Politician Bobby Sands openly started threatening the British of repercussions and follows it by various factions setting off bombs across England.
At 2:54 am, a bomb concealed in room 629 of the Grand Hotel in Brighton more than 24 days ago gets detonated. The mastermind behind this bombing is the English division on IRA and the bomber Patrick Magee nicknamed Chancer. Magee has first hand experience of casual brutality in the streets of Belfast and almost non-chalantly participates in the movement as a sense of meaning to his otherwise crumbling personal life. His stubbornness to the cause makes him the most dangerous of the lot "I regret that people were killed; I don't regret the fact that I was involved in a struggle" said he in 2002 after his release.
The manhunt that was painstakingly manual in the absence of technology makes the arrest an improbable event. However, as the author explains it took a lot of luck good and bad to finally crack the case. Somehow none of the characters stand out despite the long drawn histories and their feelings.
The one person who stands tall in this entire book is Margaret Thatcher. There is a subtle admiration even by those who are trying to bring her down and political opponents. Her entire strategy, rise in politics after two losses, her response to the Irish problem and the almost superhuman response to the bombing make you admire the person! For me, this was the first account with her as a central character and I surely would want to read a bit more of her era and stories set in this era.
Riveting piece of non-fiction.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: If I survive you, longlisted for Booker Prize 2023, plays on racial identity through 8 interconnected short stories that borrows from stereotypes. As I started reading, I got reminded on the terrific booker winner Sellout by Paul Beaty. But then, the book decided to diverge into the domain of shock and family dramas.
A Jamaican family settled in Miami is navigating recession and racism. The parents have come to America to escape the violence of Kingston, but then they find themselves lost in the identity crises. The mom wants to go back to Jamaica and the dad has a new family founded on an infidelity. The sons Delano and Trelawny are plagued by the "Where are you from?" question and struggling to fit in with any of the groups!
What the author does really well is the use of the second person "you" to try to make the reader put him/her in the shoes of the character. Hence you see the absurdity of the situation and empathise with the times the brothers are pitted against each other. I felt those parts worked where the dramatic tension is built up through black stereotypes - like wearing a hoodie in a private complex. The geriatric housing scheme is a bit of ill-conceived but I see the appeal for the parties involved.
Overall, the book was ok. I am guessing this may be shortlisted, but then not something I would root to win. A strong debut.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
review: Pascali's Island borrows the template of an unreliable narrator and then converts it into a spy novel in the setting of WW1. The prose is crafty and wordy and it keeps you invested in the fate of the characters.
Basil Pascali has been the Ottoman's spy on a greek island for 20 years. He has been receiving the same monthly payments and there is no acknowledgement for his reports and he is almost paranoid that his cover is blown. This is his last report, as he calls it, and this journal entry starts with the arrival on an Englishman Mister Bowles on the island. The charming professorial man, might be more than what he appears to be on the surface. We get introduced to the German, the caliphate's representatives and the American who are on the island.
The narrative has a hold on you to see what the not-so-likeable Pascali is upto. There are passages that talks about the changing world politics and a general sense of distrust that has set in between people. The characters of Mr.Bowles is enigmatic and you almost feel sorry for Pascali for standing no-chance for his wile.
The ending, though predictable, might still surprise a few. An old-world novel that relies on words to entice.
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: "If you are a mother you are always to blame. If you did not give birth to them too slowly or too quickly, underfeed them, overfeed them, pick them up, set them down, push them forward, hold them back, love them too little or too much, you are to blame for their very existence. You loaded them with your own dodgy genetic package and sent them out into the world to deal with it's particular set of time bombs."
Pearl by Sian Hughes is that brilliantly written Irish tragedy that incorporates elements of folklore, culture and ditties. Marianne's mother has walked out on the family one night and never came back - leaving the child and father to take care of the baby brother. The effect of this disappearance, the unanswered questions of why and what have defined Marianne's life and she is still trying to make sense of it even as she becomes a mother and battles post partum depression.
Written as episodes from different points of life, the absence of the mother fills the pages - all life decisions, self destruction and healing amble down to her mother's disappearance. The sense-making parts grow with the age, but then fall agonizingly short. Some of the episodes hit you so hard like when the policeman asks the child her "where did you last see her?" she imagines she has lost her and all it matters is to remember where and she will find her mother. Or how she later describes this is 5th or 6th attempt at putting together what happened since her memory of it keeps changing and getting distorted.
There is also a medieval dream poem called "Pearl" whose interpretation stands as a metaphor which changes relevance and shape during her different stages. It stayed with me, how the missing "n" in her mother's copy of Pearl is a proof that her mother never found consolation.
The mental health discussions too are relevant and I found handled with utmost sensitivity. When she understands Edward, her father's, sacrifices or the symbol of the old house I found it voiced the unsaid realisations of adulthood. You worry if she will ever find closure, and I felt the ending was poignant.
Atmospheric and brilliant prose. I sure hope this makes it all the way.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: “She’s afraid of men and it’s simple, it’s rational, she’s afraid of men because men are frightening.”
"The truth about knights comes suddenly clear: the maidens were only an excuse. The dragon was the real business."
“Now that she no longer suffers from illusions, Rennie views her kind of honesty less as a virtue than a perversion, one from which she still suffers, true; like psoriasis and hemorrhoids, those other diseases typical of Griswold, it can be kept under control. Why make such things public? Her closet honesty is – there’s no doubt about it – a professional liability.”
Such a subtle scary book where the monsters are everyday men. Rianne, a freelance journalist, lands up in a banana republic as a means of escape from her crumbling life. She had recently had a partial masectomy following which her partner Jake walks out on her. Her doctor Daniel over whom she has developed a sort of love, is being a "gentleman" trying to do what is right for her. On top of that is a failed home invasion where the perpetrator was lying in wait with a rope to strangle her.
Move to the banana republic and she is dropped in right in the middle of their corrupt election with men spinning webs and calling shots. On the island she meets another woman Lora who is being used in the game. Every man in the island - Paul a danger junkie, Dr.Minnow the idealist, Alan - A religious nut everybody has a view on the role of the women, especially Rennie.
The non-linear narrative makes it a competition between the men with encounters on the island going right back to Jake and Daniel. What Dame Atwood does is to fix the POV of Rennie and parade in front of her different kinds of men and the threat they pose. Even in the end of a very dramatic last segment, she is approached by a suited gentleman asking her out for dinner. The truth of the observations is more hard hitting than fiction. Wielding the words as a sword, Ms.Atwood cuts fearlessly and wreacks havoc on pages.
One of the most crafty books written by a master storyteller!
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: “I could not tell where fiction became memory, and memory fiction”
Give a skillful author an interesting fact and she/he would spin a beautiful fiction that ticks all the boxes. Tan Twan Eng's The House of Doors is a story of immense depth based on true incidents.
Somerset Maugham "Willy" was an author who observed people too closely and added them in his stories. In 1926 he released a set of short stories called The Casuarina Tree which was based on his stay in Penang with his partner Gerald Haxton in 1920s. Following the publication Maugham was declared persona non grata among the British expats in Malay as he was felt to have betrayed confidences and used people without even changing the names in context of scandals.
There ends the bit of trivia. Tan Twan Eng narrates the story of their host - a middle aged couple Leslie and Robert who intrigue him during the stay. Through the seemingly parallel stories, some of which is supposed to have made it into the book, the hosts offer a lot many incredible anecdotes. But the core story is one that didn't make it - and therein the author gets the creativity to trudge through human emotions and behavior.
The book alternates between the narrative of Leslie and Willy. Leslie wants her story to be told from Penang 1910 which is filled with revelations and secrets. In the interest of not giving anything away, the book is set in the 1910s era where Malay was between the influences of England and China with Chinese expats and British expats were vying for support. The primary story of Lesie is set in Penang where a house of doors form a central role - tying in elements of oriental mysticism. There is also a murder by an English woman which makes it into the book in the form of a story called "Letters" which Leslie is supposed to have told Willy.
The fact that the story is extremely believable is all credit to the author. The period's approach towards homosexuality is handled without dwelling into shame. Plus the writing is beautiful. The description of the house of doors made me think of Monsters Inc comic but that aside - incredibly intriguing.
One of my favorites for the booker shortlist this year, if not the award.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: Elaine Feeney's strength is her prose which is not sufficient to redeem a predictable and weak story. Challenging the Irish societal constructs - patriarchy, suppression of sufferings and ridiculing the weak through a school master is not new. (Dead Poet's society, To Sir with love, Mohabbatein(?) just off the top of my head).
If someone is going to suggest - I missed the metaphors and what the currach means - the perpetual motion allegory - I get it. The book started with promise - of Jamie who takes everything quite literally finding safety in numbers and dream of building a perpetual motion machine. Having lost his mother during childbirth and bought up by his dad, Jamie gets bullied at his new school due to his social awkwardness and there is even a suggestion of falling prey to predator.
He spends more time with a broken teacher Tess Mahon who is going through failed IVF, a dead mother and a boorish husband on the ghost of a dead marriage. It almost seems like Jamie is rescuing Tess than the other way round. And then comes in the wood works teacher Tadhg Foley who becomes the common anchor to pull out Tess from her depression and give hope to Jamie.
The first person stream of consciousness narrative of Jamie is more profound as compared to Tess. The commentary on the culture through the community activity of building a boat - though filled with some good lines, failed to hold your interest. The book kept deteriorating from the promising start towards a template.
Did not work much for me - the only reprieve is that small size.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: “It was not just because he was old, and looked old to them, but because he was a pensioned ghost from the strange past, a pointless survivor, an old soldier of forgotten wars. A remnant, with a torn gansey for a soul.”
Sebastian Barry has managed to deliver a gloomy triggering jigsaw puzzle without any corner pieces. In retired policeman Tom Kettle, we find an extreme unreliable narrator who himself is not sure of what is happening, trying to piece together the fact and fictionalized memory after extreme trauma. The imagery of the Ireland is invoked like a merlin to keep the readers in a state of confusion.
Tom Kettle has retired 9 months ago and living in a space overlooking the Irish sea away from human contact. One day two of the younger colleagues reach out with a file to seek his inputs on an old investigation - a case linked to Tom. Over chapters of disturbing imagery of pedophilia by men of clergy, the book keeps shifting it's shape. Just when something seems to make sense, the narrator throws in a googly.
I found the book confusing, maybe not as much as the narrator, but still. We have a sense of what must have happened but then nothing is stamped with certainty nor closure. The visits by the dead in between real human interactions part feels like staring through a kaleidoscope - you are not sure which visits are the truth and which are delusional. Age of the character is an advantage that way.
While it is heartbreaking fiction, I feel the book is far from perfect. But then the interesting juxtapositions make this feel like a puzzle and hence I enjoyed trying to make sense. Not for those looking for a simple story.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: The core idea of the book is mind-blowing! Almost like a game, you can die only by natural causes - if you get murdered you reappear alive in your home, with no trace of the recent trauma. Hence there are agents who are legally authorised to kill you called dispatchers who save lives by killing you.
Tony Valdez is a licensed dispatcher who is very good at his job as an insurance appointee. But when his friend and fellow dispatcher disappears, he gets pulled into the investigation. Presenting some interesting dilemma and use cases for the core idea Scalzi manages to cover a lot of ground in a short book.
What did not work was the slight aimlessness of the structure. Once you have established the concept, taking different scenarios weaved in to establish the point makes it a bit repetitive. The fact that it has been made into a series means there are other concepts he wishes to explore which is exciting.
Read it for the idea.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
ReviewL “In my mind, the world is not reasonable, and can never be made reasonable. It is much more interesting than that.”
Martin McInnes writes an ambitious book that tries to explain the cycle of life. The sci-fi genre which he chooses is different from the pop song sci-fi of Andy Weir or the philosophical sci-fi of Ted Chiang. The book is more a borrowed concepts weaved into one dramatic story that is more like interstellar meets Sphere (Crichton).
Leigh, a marine microbiologist from Rotterdam, is called onto a deep sea project when some unexpected activity starts happening on a commercial route. Around the same time a probe developed by NASA that can break the space velocity gets developed and it is used as a trial in this case. An oval chasm that is more than depth of the deepest crater in the solar system gets discovered. Divers lose their sense of bearings once inside and they are forced to evacuate in a hurry.
The book then moves onto a detailed phase by phase preparation and space travel to the heliopause with some algae for self sustanance. The book touches on several aspects of the evolutionary theory in the meantime and leaves it sufficiently vague so that you don't understand what is the author upto. The book also dwells a lot on the personal life of Leigh, her bond with her sister, her mother's condition, childhood trauma etc - something that a sci-fi doesn't warrant. So at times you wonder if there is a point to all this - some explanation that ties everything together.
Sadly it doesn't. The book suffers from a newsreader approach to narration - facts without depth to emotions or the person's character arc. Also, it doodles on for long before it brings some surprises and comes with one of the most WTH endings in recent times.
I am not so sure it deserves to be on the booker shortlist. (And definitely not a climate change book)
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: History loves the winners and the heroes. In fact it loves them so much that all their faults are polished and any fault lines or self doubts are outrightly erased.
This retelling of Churchill's troubled ascendancy to power in the backdrop of German Blitzkrieg and his options are detailed out with a good amount of research. Having to rely on public records, it contradicts the authoritative narrative of historians and hence seems like a reconstruction. (Isn't that what historians do at best?)
I loved the book in it's human rawness and also the origin coming from understanding his great speeches was a lesson in communication. The rhetoric and repetition was a mind-blowing repetition that is lost to our sms generation.
Highly recommended to history buffs. Also, the fact that the book was the screenplay for the movie (and i watches Dunkirk movie before reading this book) - it makes for the cliched "the book is better".
Audiobook narration is also a big plus.
Mod
Rating: 2/5
REview: I guess this was bound to happen when you have written an high adrenaline book - to follow up with something luke warm and disappointing. This book lets down murder bot a bit.
A dead body is found at the station where murderbot and Mensah reached. The station security wants to first be sure it was not the murderbot's doing and then takes it's help to investigate the murder. The only complexity is that murderbot is not authorized to hack systems and should be fully on the right.
We meet more humans who are a real pain and soon the story moves towards a complex plot involving slaves and bounty hunters. There is no art or even a semi-cool companion in this episode.
I will give the benefit of doubt since it is very difficult to keep escalating and maintain the excitement.
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: A non-cerebral mystery that tries to be warm and fuzzy.
Vera Wong is a 60-something Chinese Tea-shop owner with too much time and too few business. She busies herself by spying on his son's social media activities after entertaining the one customer and complaining about kids these days.
When a dead body is found one morning and she gets let down by the police who did not bring the CSI, she decides she will investigate better. In the process, she withholds evidence, searches the body with gloves on and waits for the murder to show up as they revisit the scene. Four people show up - The widow, the brother, two fake reporters. Chinese mother can sniff out lies and she decides to entertain them, often making elaborate foods for them.
The "investigation" proceeds along with the usual secrets to hide by basically good people and not to mention the police being almost out of the picture. It's warm because the author obviously had no intention of making a dark plot. The different chinese teas also keeps visiting much like a brochure.
Time pass light read cut from the same fabric as richard osmon and yet a bit underwhelming.
PS: Why do we need so many old women investigating murder?
Mod
Rating: 3/5
Review: ".. I can't get my head around it if someone is dead they can be more alive than they are when they're actually like alive.."
'Lobotomic' claims Sara's little sister in the chapter without any full stops and sometimes it feels accurate. Welcome to Ali Smith's hotel world, a complex puzzle(?) Of five people in different stages of life and death centered around one hotel, an unfortunate accident and a night of generosity.
This was one of Ali Smith's less playful books that was bulging at the seams with the writer's restrained style. It was not as funny though the word play and imagination in parts can be mind blowing at times.
The first chapter narrated by a ghost Sara describes the death, her family in the aftermath and different alive people she encounters as a ghost. The last chapter is the next day with the same random people in a new day - point made.
Between these are stories of people at different points of time in future or present - in a sense Ali Smith bends time in all directions. There is a journalist who stayed at the hotel, a beggar who used to be outside the hotel, a receptionist at the hotel and Sara's sister - 4 very different women whose stories intersect with Sara's and the hotel's.
It's a show of prowess than a work of art.
Mod
Rating: 4/5
Review: “History is a silent record of people who did not know when to leave.”
“Sooner or later pain becomes too great for fear and when the people’s fear has gone the regime will have to go.”
This is a brilliant, no holds barred writing that leaves a mark. I finished the book and I was reminded of the visual of people running alongside the last plane leaving Afghanistan when Taliban took control. It takes a lot to uproot oneself from 'home' and more often than not, we believe, with all conviction that this shall pass. Sometimes it doesn't.
Paul Lynch creates a world close to reality. A new right wing totalitarian Government has come into power and is slowly assuming control by putting an end to trade unions. Larry gets picked up for investigation by the newly formed secret service and never returns. His wife Eilish along with her four children and a father on the brink of dementia are circling the downward spiral of a collapsing normal. This story contrasts the normal of a household setting with the uncertainty and chaos of the evolving situation. A character remarks 'Reality will be altered' while another says 'They are making up rules as they go'. Peaceful protests, rebellions, attacks and extortion - the escalation is scary.
This is one of the most subtle horror stories with you wanting to shake the character to run away. Her sister from Canada is pleading with her to escape and even involves an agency, but Eilish is living in hope her husband will return and her elder son will come back home looking for her. The spiral gives you one of the most gut wrenching stories which ends fittingly in a postcard like climax - a picture out of any documentary on today's international political crises.
What haunts you the most is that 8/10 times you would have taken the same decisions as Eilish. Hence the brilliance of the author comes to fore in creating circumstances that are evolving progressively. The characters - especially that of children who grow up prematurely when their father disappears - is done really well. Normal home conversations of teenage rebellion or even food preferences become magnified. I got reminded of Cormac Mcarthy's Road and the brilliant Milkman by Anna Burns which paint these pictures without breaking sweat.
For making people think about global situations from the point of view of ordinary people - this book deserves all the praise. If it wins the booker, I might be happy for the same.
Mod
Rating: 5/5
Review: The genre of thrillers is defined by books like these. Sujata's work written in 1983s before internet was a thing keeps you hooked till the very end (literally!).
Ganesh and Vasanth reach a village for due diligence of an estate from guardian to beneficiary. Except the beneficiary is an adolescents Leena who is tough to place with her weird swings. The Guardian tells them a chilling story of a family curse and haunting and as rational lawyers, they refuse to believe. Except when they see it with their own eyes and what chilling scenes!
Slowly, we find the book turn as a Ghost Vs Science explanation with the duo trying to explain the happening. Given we are almost 40 years ahead, it still gives you a good rational explanation with an absolute chilling end. The fact that both Ganesh and Vasanth are directly attacked and yet they keep going is a creative license. The police episodes don't add much value and I would assume they would have been more invested in the investigation than what happens in the book.
I've read a few books that works on the same concept - but none with the style of the master. Every "normal" theory to explain - the duo proposes and disproves it beyond suspicion. It also helps that the author keeps removing, quite violently, characters from the book (as hinted in the title).
A chilling mystery!
Indian Readers
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Rating: 5/5
Review: At school, I hated geography enough to consider the geography class a prison (and history a bore). So it's quite ironical that I enjoyed the logical arguments of geopolitics this book had to offer (and historical fiction/non-fiction are my staple). Mind you, this book is not to be consumed as a dissertation or research but rather an attempt at making sense of the evolving geopolitical situation.
When Russia annexed Crimea and waged war on Ukraine when the latter threatened to join NATO, it seemed like a rather raw exercise of power and bullying. But the author breaks down the importance of the event through Russian geography and the importance of not having an enemy base right next door. The last chapter on Arctic - the melting of ice caps making the resources like Oil accessible for power wars and exploitation is something I had never imagined.
I especially loved the chapter on China and India and Pakistan - two new super powers and one also rans. China's annexation of Tibet and the importance of kashmir were theorised in a way that made a lot of sense. What also entails is the success of strategies and alliances of each nation based on their own cultural constructs - for example why democracy would be bad for a nation like China or how Middle East will always be a power struggle due to a minority sect in power. The study on Mexico's drug route as a response to it's shared border with US was also a fun read.
Colonialism had made a scramble for resources a means of identity and nationalism. So the post colonial world, where the scramble for resources is partly replaced, by dependency and security, the role of geography in determining who your friends should be is enlightening.
Great piece of non-fiction.