Book reviews (no judgement though)

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2016

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler by Italo Calvino
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yes, there are some books you've heard a lot of hype about but don't live upto your expectations. This was one of them. This doesn't mean that it's a bad book as I'm no one to pass judgements towards books. What I may not like can be love of someone else.
So, what I liked about this book is obviously the narration style. The reader is the protagonist in this novel. The writer takes us on a journey to read a book 'If on a Winter's Night a Traveller'. We buy the book but there seems to be a problem in the book and so we go to replace it, but it starts a series of events where we stumble upon many books (or rather only beginnings of books) but are never able to complete any one of them.
This book might have been a try by the author to provide source for his stories which never went beyond intriguing beginnings. He elaborately has enticed the reader in reading all these unfinished stories. It sometimes reminded me of Vonnegut's style and insane logic of 'Catch-22'. All this was very interesting but there were patches in the book where I couldn't get much interested fully. There was heavy usage of complex words and phrases which seemed slightly out of place for this novel.
Overall, I liked the novel but I can't say I loved it. Maybe in future, if I reread it, the result maybe different.

View all my reviews

August 21, 2016

The Beat Goes On by Ian Rankin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though this book took me one month to finish, it doesn't mean it was boring. It was a conscious decision to read this book of short stories one story at a time. My initial impression of this book was that these are tales of a less impressive Sherlock Holmes but I eventually understood that not every detective has to be compared with Holmes because Holmes, though a lamppost in crime fiction, isn't the sole approach for detective work.
Ian Rankin introduced me to DI John Rebus, brilliant, irascible and endlessly frustrating to both his friends and his long-suffering bosses (according to back-cover info). Rebus is a character which eventually grows on you and is much more relatable than hot shots like Holmes. A particular short story 'Sunday' tells us more about private life of Rebus which is dark, dull in a cool way and very unhealthy. His drinking is legendary according to Indian standards or even global standards for that matter. He has no problems gulping down a pint or two while he's on duty. He's also an habitual smoker and thinks about quitting many times without any success.
I like how Rankin keeps Rebus grounded. His cases are not extraordinary but which give us an impression of respectable genius of his case solving techniques. This book is a leisure read with no extra strain on the brain. I like that once in a while. It makes for a great bedside read.

View all my reviews

August 16, 2016

Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I came across this book through a reader community I'm part of and heard a lot of praise. I bought it at an online sale but it shifted to the back of my TBR bookshelf which has grown to inordinate proportions. One day, I was watching BOOKRIOT's video which encouraged reading books by authors of colour. So, I decided to make it a habit to read those books more frequently and picked up this book.
After completing this book in two days, I was mesmerised by the depth of this novel. Without writing directly, it deals with two-face nature of human beings; without us realizing it. Everyone in the protagonist's direct family has a double nature with only an ideal face shown to general public, who revere them. Protagonist's father, a much respected man in the community is a tyrant, violent man and a religious fanatic. He hits them and feels sorry too as he's doing it for the lord. It is heart wrenching to read the conflicts going on in the protagonist's mind. She understands that her father hitting them is wrong but she's convinced after going through so much religious propaganda since childhood that he is doing it for their betterment only. It was like a complicated, domestic case of 'Stockholm Syndrome'.
I am very impressed with Adichie and her able writing style. I will e following her work in future too. I recommend this story of domestic abuse, religious fanaticism, attraction of western culture, delicate relations, adolescent attractions, regional problems and hard decisions to everyone.

View all my reviews

August 15, 2016

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sometimes after reading a book, when you sit to write a review, you wonder what I can write so that it won’t belittle the greatness of that book. Something of that sort is happening to me after reading this one. Finishing this 240 something page book in almost one sitting, I am left with a cauldron-full of emotions. Childhood, innocence, magic, harsh realities, way of life and deep philosophies in simplest of sentences; that’s what this book is made of. Neil Gaiman is a wizard of words. This will be the third book of his that I read and every time I am left at loss of words when reviewing the book. Some sentences just steal your heart. At “You don’t pass or fail at being a person dear!” I was holding my kindle and trying not to overflow with emotions. Another sentence which shuts you up is “death happened to her. Death happens to all of us.”
This is not a children’s book even though it may seem so, not exclusively. It contains some creepy and disturbing stuff which one can’t explain to a child properly. It is to be read in childhood and understood in adulthood. That’s the best I could describe this book.

View all my reviews

August 13, 2016

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's rare that I finish a book in a single day. I did it with this book. A writer who has written only two books is rare and that too half a century apart is even so! Harper Lee gives us an unexpected but very deserving sequel to her 'To kill a mockingbird' with Jean Louise of 26 years old as protagonist. Many things have changed in these years, some characters are gone, others are added to the narrative but the soul of this book is the same. You get the same feeling you had when you read 'To kill..'. The only necessary difference is you get to see this Maycomb county directly from an adult perspective as opposed to the case of 'To kill..' in which one had to interpret a child's observations. I loved this book; especially the climactic intellectual intercourse between Scout, Atticus Finch and Dr. Finch. Reading it in one sitting helped of course to stay with the characters. One can't help but get mesmerised by the dialogs and philosophies in this book.
"Every man's an island, Jean Louise, every man's a watchman, is his conscience."
"Our gods are remote from us, Jean Louise. They must never descend to human level."

View all my reviews

August 12, 2016

The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

One thing is for sure; Terry Pratchett is one of my favorite authors from now on. This must be my first sci-fi/fantasy/comedy novel. First of all, I was floored by the level of imagination used in this book and hence I can only imagine how a person can write more than forty odd novels around the theme of a disc shaped world. A man and the man is Terry Pratchett in this case, has to be maddeningly brilliant to have written what is written in this book. I finished almost 3/4th of the book today and I was not a bit strained. It was so entertaining that I postponed my work for this. With a basic premise of a disc shaped world on top the backs of four elephants on top of a gigantic turtle, this book introduces us to the world of magic and madness with various heard and unheard of fantastical characters popping in from time to time. I'm hooked on the discworld and intend to finish the whole series as well as its various branches. A must read for everyone who loves imagination!

View all my reviews

August 07, 2016

Cobalt Blue by Sachin Kundalkar
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I first heard about this book, I was surprised as well as ashamed of myself. The reason was that I heard about the English translation of the original Marathi (my mother tongue) 'Cobalt Blue'. I was little sad that I didn't know about this book which was published in 2006 until it was translated in English. So, I decided to read it in Marathi and ordered the book from 'Majestic Book Depot' in Mumbai, one of my favorite bookshops in Mumbai. 'Cobalt Blue' breaks the myth that "new-age and progressive books are not published in regional languages". This book very boldly discusses homo and bisexuality hidden in plain sights of our society and our incapability of accepting the freedom of choosing who you love. These so-called "different" people have to fight the battle with society and themselves every day. This story of Tanay, Anuja and their anonymous lover is very modern and fast paced. Many sentences are repeated for dramatic effect and they work.
There's still a long way to go for our society to open up towards freedom of sexuality but literature like this helps the movement. I need to increase my Marathi reading too as it contains gems like this book.

View all my reviews

August 04, 2016

Looking for Alaska by John Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It started with a kindle book which was on a freak sale; I didn't even like YA novels (so I thought) and it was an impulse buy (you know, when you buy books just because, you know!!) but boy, has this book opened my eyes! I had liked some YA movies like 'Perks of being a wallflower' and 'Me and Earl and the dying girl' but always thought YA books to be fodder for the inferior somehow. I couldn't be more wrong. This one created swirls of emotions I had always loved but current cynicism had forbidden. It is true that we grow bleaker and more cynical as we grow older but we are delusional as well. Books like these show you the softer side of life. Everyone has gone to school once upon a time and each one of us has had a crush on someone we thought was cute but not every crush ends up being 'happily forever', well, most of them don't. This book is an ode to those turbulent times of the journey from childhood to adulthood, first kisses (and blowjobs too!), that fluttery feeling in the heart, friendship, unbreakable bonds, introduction to vices of life, adolescent pain, breaking rules, love and most important of all, memories!

View all my reviews

August 01, 2016