Monday 26 December 2016

My 2016 Reads...



Montage of my 2016 Reads

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
The Girl Who Drank the Moon
Striking Back: The 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and Israel's Deadly Response
Dork: The Incredible Adventures of Robin 'Einstein' Varghese
Peter Pan
Hot Milk
Confess
Shakespeare's Wife
The Home and the World
The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street
Matilda
Twenties Girl
Destiny of Shattered Dreams
The Wedding Girl
84, Charing Cross Road
Raven Song
River Out of Eden: A Darwinian View of Life
Truly Madly Guilty
சிலிகான்புரம் [Siliconpuram]
Fortunately, the Milk


Kru's favorite books »

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Raven Song (Inoki's Game #1) by I.A. Ashcroft




**I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

My Rating: precisely 3.5 stars.


This is a dystopian, post-apocalyptic novel peppered judiciously with elements of magic and mutation. The city is New York rebuilt under a Coalition government, after an extensive nuclear war that burnt the world for 100 years.

Jackson is a full-time businessman and a part-time smuggler, struggling to make decent money, haunted by disturbing dreams and hallucinations of ravens while also is gifted (cursed?) with strange magical powers. Dr. Anna Mathews, who worked in Las Vegas for Falcon, wakes up after 100 years duly recovered from a box located at a cargo site, emitting radioactive energy at alarming rate. The circumstances in which they meet, the mystery shrouding their past and the magical journey they take together forms the rest of the plot.

The book is full of twists with guardians turning perpetrators, foes turning out to be friends lost at childhood, suspects turning to be friends, what sounds real turns out to be hallucination and vice versa. The past of Jackson is exposed a little at a time, his shared past with Tony, what happened to his memories after that, his adoption later and so on are not completely revealed, probably because this is part of the series.

I am not a great fan of Fantasy and Magic, and very few appeal to me, that way this is not my kind of book. After reading almost 15% of the book I had no clue what is happening until Anna turns up and it sort of makes the story interesting.

Jackson doesn’t come across like a strong protagonist (except at one event which I do not want to reveal in my review for fear of spoiler) and that was a big letdown, maybe he will come across as a stronger power in the books to follow. On the contrary Anna acts like she always knew she had these occult powers in her and uses them like a pro. Tony’s story that probably could have been more detailed is not given its due, and ends up a huge disappointment.

Saturday 29 October 2016

1Q84 (1Q84 #1-3) by Haruki Murakami, Jay Rubin (Translation)

During the course of reading this book, I developed an addiction to black coffee, something I never wanted to taste, it was as devious an addiction as 3 or 4 cups a day, it is highly devious for me considering that I am very strict about food and beverages. The addiction luckily waned off after I completed the book, but after more than a week of completing the book as I want to write the review, the first thing that I did was make myself a cup of strong black coffee.

Reading Murakami is the most lovable thing to do. It is a laid back affair, events move musically, reading feels like a dance in trance heart swaying to the rhythm, and unlike my normal self I don’t bother about time or the ending. This is one reason I have reservations over picking his book, like it's a sinful indulgence.

Coming to 1Q84, I found this different from his other books, the proceedings were fast, too fast in fact. Chapters alternate between Tengo and Aomame in the first 2 books, Ushikawa adds his part to the third book. There are repetitions, probably because of the serialization, as a recap to strongly emphasize certain facts, that said there were also times the flow felt stagnant. Tamaru was the character I loved the most, Ushikawa's chapters were the ones I wished ended fast. Some knots remain unsolved and I have no qualms about it, in fact that is how I loved it.

The central plot is a love story with a mystical theme, an ode to Orwell's classic 1984, but it is rich with insights into some wonderful works of art, literature and personalities like Orwell, Hemingway, Chekov and Proust. These anecdotes enrich the reading experience, typical of Murakami. I strongly feel Murakami's references to the Masters has a tinge of unparalleled reverence to it.

The weirdness quotient was a bit high and there were times when I couldn’t control my laughter, also times when I just wanted to drop the book and go look at the moon wondering whether time really moves in a straight line. The love of Aomame and Tengo started at zero in my mind and slowly but steadily grew into a very intense one, and magically made me feel satiated and heave a sigh at the end, dissolving all the doubts and adverse thoughts that were looming large, converting them to 5 stars.

Monday 18 April 2016

The Curse of Damini - Debajani Mohanty

A wonderful story that addresses most women issues from our freedom struggle to the present day, the backdrop being Bengal. Most of the historical events, social evils and changes in society during the course of the period have been very vividly brought out.The rationale behind the occurrences that are viewed as results of the curse are explained in the closing chapter. The author has tried to be open-minded and presented a balanced view of the position of women in our society.

The book ends on a positive note.

Friday 1 April 2016

She - Ekla cholo re by Santosh Avvannavar

I received this book in exchange for a review. I would like to thank the author for the same. The simplest review for She would be - It's about a She in a He.

It's a novella or maybe a long-short-story running to a little over 50 pages, quite concise and to the point. I would have appreciated a sharper edit and a little more grammatically correct text given a slick storyline and the short length of the text.

The story is set in the 90s, and sounds like some of the real life stories in newspapers and magazines. A He in a She or a She in a He need not necessarily mean a transgender. Science has already defined that every he is a part she, in that he inherits his x from his mother, and every she is a part he, inheriting an x from her Father.

'She' specifically views confusions arising out of gender stereotyping and sexual preference through the eyes of a transgender. The story ends on a positive note on the lines of Tagore's poem Ekla cholo re which is part of the title too. My view - confusions rule when the need to be accepted as we really are, feels primary and peace sets in the moment we realize that it is our acceptance of what we are, that matters most.

If they answer not to your call walk alone
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou unlucky one,
open your mind and speak out alone.

If they turn away, and desert you when crossing the wilderness,
O thou unlucky one,
trample the thorns under thy tread,
and along the blood-lined track travel alone.

If they shut doors and do not hold up the light when the night is troubled with storm,
O thou unlucky one,
with the thunder flame of pain ignite your own heart,
and let it burn alone.


Monday 28 March 2016

Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert

The lead character Emma finds life very boring in spite of eventually marrying the man she falls in love with. Flaubert’s debut novel explores in a third person narrative how far she goes in search of romance and passion that she found only in books or rather imagined.

Each of her romantic escapades brings to fore the oft-repeated question, can true love exist ever? Rodolphe lures and manipulates her purely for her beauty, and is very soon bored with her idealization, and plots an emotional excuse to not elope with her. Leon garners a thought about courting other interesting women, and Emma just remains an option. The emotional confusions of Emma on her infidelity, the passion she tries to control and which in turn ends up devouring her peace are so thornily described, that her character comes across as that of a highly stupid and stupefied woman.

The novel starts introducing Charles and ends with his demise, making him the main character while Emma's introduction and demise falls in between though she is the title character. There is a mild confusion on whom the title refers since the first part has in it Charles’s mother and his first wife, both addressed as Madame Bovary. 

Charles is spoilt by Sr Madame Bovary who marries him to the much elder widow Heloise Dubuc who is more controlling and constantly nagging. Charles is smitten by Emma while Heloise is still alive, and so drifts away. But before he starts his affair, Heloise loses her inheritance and dies, making it easy for him to marry Emma. Charles probably grows into a completely dull person due to the overpowering influence of Madame Bovary Sr and his first wife, the other Madame Bovary, and end up uninteresting to Emma. Nevertheless, Charles tries to take his first wife's side when she loses her inheritance though weakly. He mourns her death. His love for Emma and blind trust in her are subtly outlined and his feelings when he realizes that he has indeed been cheated towards the end sounds tragic.

A great classic and obviously a good read. But I couldn't find any strong reason for Emma to so swiftly drift away from Charles and find him so boring the very next chapter after she falls in love with him and marries him! Too quick for such a long text with protracted descriptions about almost everything from flowers to fountains.

Friday 26 February 2016

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri



There are totally eight short stories in this collection, organized as five in part one and 3 in part two. Every time I completed a story, I wondered if that was the best story of the collection. They get better and better, and the second part with all the three stories interconnected, and yet stand separated ended up being the Grand Finale!

The title story is about the daughter-dad bonding, and made such a beautiful start. It was very nostalgic and took me back to days of my pregnancy, and my Dad. Most Indian stories trace the relationship with the dad as either too formal (authors my age or older) or too informal (younger authors). 

In this case too it is too formal, and kept me wondering how I would be responding to my Dad during each of the encounters. Dad is the only person I contradict often, sometimes even just for the sake of contradicting, and the man takes it like a compliment. 

The book moves on to the story of a married woman’s relationship with a stranger, who ends up just another stranger, onto the story of a couple who eventually lose their intimacy after kids and makes it up for it in a school, to the sister who fosters guilt about her brother’s addiction and onto the guy who gets into a tangle with his roomies breakup. 

The second part is more like a novella with three chapters. One with her story of him, and the other with his story and memoir of her, and finally ending up with his disappearance or a mysterious appearance(?). 

I loved Ms. Lahiri’s Lowland, and her style gets better with short stories. I just can’t find a better word to express my emotions, and would rather say that this is the best book that I have read this year, and I am a bundle of emotions this minute. <3

Friday 19 February 2016

Waves in the sky by Rakhi Jayashankar


I received a copy of this book in exchange for a review, and I was only eager to. The front cover was in itself a nice choice that evokes interest. And I loved the Author's note too.

A glimpse into the life of six girls as they move from their teens to thirties, Waves in the sky is a coming of age tale set somewhere between 2000 and now. Coming from Chennai, and having done my schooling and graduation during those days of zero-social networking, it was a sweet nostalgic trip down memory lane for me.

This is a murder mystery with surprises around every corner. The narration is simple, neat and every knot comes undone at the proper time keeping the reader hooked throughout. With six girls playing the main characters, the author has raised every possible women issue and tried to keep it emotionally balanced with lighter moments of romance and humor wherever possible.

The story does feel very crowded, what with six main characters and so many issues to be handled. It was difficult to keep in mind the who-is-who initially though as the story proceeds it doesn’t sound that difficult due to the neat portrayal of the characters. 

But what stumped me was every incident that happens interconnects  with every other character. Maybe that was what the author planned or desired, to give a ripple effect, but then it happens quite often that they become too predictable and it turns out cliche. In fact at one particular place, the museum meet to be specific, it sounded unnecessary. Also the edit could have been better. 

Nevertheless with too many subplots and characters, the author definitely needs to be applauded for weaving them all together neatly and holding the reader's attention with a pace that never slackens and keeping the mystery element intact till the last page. The book has definitely come out well, and quite captivating to the end. It was a fast read for me as I got curioser and curioser!

Marked as Canaries #1, I am eagerly looking forward to the series J