Did I mention that..im a huge fan of books and have quite a neat little collection myself?!.The last weekend after cursing the interminable Summer heat for the millionth time I decided to distract myself by reading something new.I feel I just cant pick up any book ,at any time of the day and read it.The setting has to be just right.
Its not like the monsoon when its pouring outside and you have this neat little gallery space open to let in the cool breeze with the amazing smell of wet earth,the bed and comforter ready and a steaming hot cup of chocolate.Now in this setting I can read any book,without prior contemplation.
This time however,it was a hot ,muggy afternoon with soaring temperatures.So it would have to be a light read.So I picked up DORK......and the rest as they say is ....History.I couldnt have been more pleased with myself for choosing right!
It is a fantastic book,totally hilarious and a mood-lifter.It tells the story of this bungling management graduate Robin 'Einstein' Varghese and how he manages to get in the most weird of situations and how efficiently he gets out of them.I read the book over the afternoon and it left me with a good feeling.Very few books can do that.Moreover even the ending couldnt have been more perfect.
Ive heard its the first book in a trilogy so now I will most certainely be reading DORK 2 and 3.Sidin Vadukut has written this book to much acclaim.He is a blogger too and blogs at http://www.whatay.com .So if you chance upon this book do not give it a miss.Definitely recommended.
When I picked this one up,i thought it was going to be yet another book about the Indian diaspora but as I kept turning its pages,I was pleasantly surprised.
The Prayer Room is a very engaging debut novel by Shanthi Sekaran.It tells the story of Vijaya (Viji),a small town tamil girl who is married to a foreigner for getting into a relationship with him and is packed off to London with a husband she barely knows.George her husband is equally clueless and we are told in the beginning of the story itself that "he had a habit of regretting his purchases".
It goes on to tell us of their journey from England ,to Sacramento,in America,where they decide to settle.Viji tries to adjust herself to her new life and also tries to keep a little of her old by having a small prayer room,where she keeps pictures of all those near to and no longer with her.She seeks solace by holding conversations with the people in the picture frames.George is also trudging on in life,wishing it were something else. Life of course doesnt stop amidst all this and twelve years and three kids later (triplets) Viji finds herself dissatisfied and questioning everything about her life.
She therefore packs her bags and goes off to India to find all her answers and this is where the story catches pace.What happens in India?Does she get her answers? and does she come back to her life in America? is what makes up for the rest of the book.
This story tells us about the need we all have at some point in our life to come to terms with what has happened,the need to make peace with ourselves.How sometimes there are a lot of things buried inside our soul and we just cannot stifle them any longer.How everything appears smooth on the surface but there are deep cracks within.About love,relationships,family,lasting bonds and duty.
I liked the book for its honest approach and beautiful prose.It is a page-turner and I could not guess what would happen next, until the end and that was what I liked most about it.
I wouldn't have known about this book,if a friend hadn't tweeted about it.I picked it up randomly because I was intrigued as the book by itself hadn't revealed much in terms of the plot.
I began reading it as soon as I got it home.It is written by Emma Donoghue.
It is a very different sort of a book as its narrated by a five year old kid.Everything is seen through his perspective.It takes a few pages down to realize what is actually happening and then the whole plot hits you.
A young woman imprisoned in a modified garden shed somewhere in America, regularly raped by her captor, but otherwise left alone, with enough food, a few books, a television. She becomes pregnant, gives birth and trains her son Jack to the best of her ability in a 12 ft by 12 ft room.Jack has no idea that anything at all exists outside “Room”: the sun and moon are God’s two faces, and Jack is always safe asleep in “Wardrobe” when “Old Nick” comes in through “Door”.Jack describes things as proper nouns, such as Room, Table and Rug as he does not know anything beyond this make believe world.The rest of the story describes how they both flee from their captor after years of staying cooped up in this cloistered existence and how they finally start a new life in the outside 'real' world.
I cannot say I liked this book as much as I was hoping I would.It left me with an eerie sort of feeling.I heard its based on the Elizabeth Fritzl case and when I looked it up,it sent a chill down my spine.To think that something as ghastly as that could have happened somewhere in this world!!
In the book however ,as much as the author has tried to build a story ,after a while you realize that its just another work of fiction you are reading and you see it as that.Its a little too hard to digest at times.
I did like the way the relationship between a mother and son has been portrayed but that's about it.I could not relate to a child narrating the story.It just didn't work for me.
Its one of those books short-listed for the Man Booker Prize,probably because its somewhat based on a real life story.It was just something very different from what Ive read before.Wouldn't rate it too high.
So...i have been reading.I just don't make the time to post reviews.That's going to change very soon.Its funny how every book I pick up has a small story attached with it.Its funny how every book i am hesitant to pick up at first ends up being the one I like the most.The same happened with Last Man in Tower.I had delayed picking up the book.Having read Adiga's 'The white Tiger' and his second book 'Between the assassinations'.....I wasn't too keen in reading this one.Not that I don't like his work.In fact The white tiger was an enjoyable read.However ' Between the assassinations' did not quite live up to my expectations.Also I had begun predicting his style of story telling.So when the book was first released I totally ignored it.Then there were reviews in newspapers which caught my attention.On my next visit to the bookstore I picked up the book and carefully scanned it,but put it back promptly as I had decided to not buy it.Then a few months passed and I was looking for something good to read on one of my trips out of town.Walking the streets in another city,I came across these street book hawkers and each one of them was waving Adiga's 'Last Man in tower' in my face.Now I dont believe in signs and all that stuff,so I walked past them too.The same day I stopped for lunch in a small cafe with a bookstore by the side and there at the entrance was the same book staring at me .I could not ignore it anymore and so picked it up and having nothing better to do in a different city I promptly began reading it.To my surprise I stopped only after finishing the book in two days.I loved it and that prompted me to write this small review.
Those of you who have read Adiga before would know that he never paints a rosy picture and prefers to tell the story as it is in all its gory details,he tells us about the India he observes.Last man in tower is about a housing co-operative in Mumbai called Vishram and its residents.Dharmen Shah, the property developer wants to redevelop it into a stack of luxury apartments.H0wever there is a group of residents in the building who look beyond Shahs lucrative offer and vehemently oppose the redevelopment plan.Shah is not a man to give up easily and tries every trick in his book to lure these people till each one of them slowly gives in.But one man remains unconvinced and holds on to his memories in the building and refuses to place a price on them and he is the retired teacher Yogesh Murthy and so he is the Last Man in tower.This story becomes a little darker towards the end . Adiga speaks about how money changes all equations.How all relationships,friendships crumble .How each resident has a story and a past which is a major factor in influencing their decisions.There are so many beautifully etched characters besides the residents of the building and as you read the book you become a part of their lives,standing by,watching the story unfold.
When I put down the book,I was left with mixed feelings but most of all it left me with a lingering feeling of reading a good story after a long time.
