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

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