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Watchmen by Alan Moore
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The mothership of graphic novels, the one which set a new trend a new genre even, Watchmen is one of the most talked about books (yes, not just a graphic novel, considering its length). It introduced the world to the dark side of the Superhero universe, a very dark side. It features heroes which are blood-thirsty killers, sexual fiends, highly intelligent sociopaths and what not. The graphic element is bold, vividly colored and gets to you in some scenes. Alan Moore has done a maddeningly brilliant job with the writing, some monologs and conversations so deep and depressingly profound that you have to reread them.
I have been hooked nowadays to gritty, realistic, depressing, pessimistic and beautifully ugly (if I can say so) stories nowadays. It may be a phase in reading life or it could be me, finding my genre; we'll see. These stories work for me, because in a daily life, we put on a mask on our face, which is politically correct, empathetic, optimistic and cheerful, which is not a bad thing, we need that mask to survive the ordeal that life can be sometimes. That being said, we also need a mirror to show us what things really are, what we really are, deep inside and what darkness we contain within us. It's not to screw with our head but to have an understanding, a realistic expectation from life and in my opinion, to survive sorrow and bleakness that life offers us frequently; To see darkness in the eye and have a wisdom to know that this is normal, this is ok, this is LIFE.
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My rating: 5 of 5 stars
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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.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I rarely read thrillers, but I had heard so much about this book and now a movie is coming out, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. This book consists of a very limited number of characters which is good for a newbie reader to understand. Author maintains the suspense till the end despite having so few characters. A particular thing I learned from this book is the protagonist need not be a strong, firm character. Author takes the worn out, drunk and (some may call it) a loser Rachel as the chief protagonist with equally important characters of Megan and Anna. All three characters are narrating the story and author being a lady, it feels more authentic and realistic to read all three women voices. Author has certainly played her strong points. Though the ending didn't match my expectation, it was already sky high, so no let down there. Although, me not being a staunch thrillers fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the book.
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