Book reviews (no judgement though)

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway My rating: 4 of 5 stars Why would you end it as you did Hemingway? It ripped my heart apart. The whole book was sweet things and innocent talk (apart from war details) and then it ends like a building coming down in an earthquake. I was engrossed in the book and I felt like I personally lost something. I understood what I was wondering while reading this book the whole time; What makes Hemingway such a great writer? What's so special about him? The book seemed a normal account of a war and a lovestory on sidelines. It was only after finishing I understood. He keeps you unaware of any tragedy which might be possible and then hits you with the most tragic, sad ending. No explanations given, no consolance offered. Though, I felt extremely sad at the end, I understood that grief is one of the strongest emotions and most effective in literature, I guess. All the greatest stories have tragic element and they are great beacause we relate to it som...

Games Indians Play: Why We Are the Way We Are by V. Raghunathan My rating: 5 of 5 stars Having studied game theory in my first term of MBA made this book an exciting read. V Raghunathan has done a quiet detailed research on the reasons of Indians breaking rules, though I must say, the author, at times takes a very defensive stance, about his views not being the only right view, which again is a sign of modesty as well as badgering off any possible controversies. I admired how he connected Gita with game theory. Any Indian can connect with the examples author has given in this book about rule-breaking that takes place publicly. I remembered times when I had broken rules very casually, not even feeling wrong about it. Author has kept the language very simple making numbers appear as minimally possible. Overall, this book, a concoction of logic, satire, irony, critic and traditions is an orgasmic read for any intellectual. View all my reviews

Catch 22 is a brilliant work by Joseph Heller, who describes an intellectual's nightmare. He describes a dystopian World War 2 in a way that makes us crack with laughter as well as pity those few characters abiding by logic in a world of irrational behaviours. It is satirical tale of Yossarian, who understands the futility of war and sees no logic in sacrificing his life for this bloodbath. It depicts his unsuccessful attempts of running away from war, some of which are so hilarious that I had to stop reading to laugh it off. Every character created by Heller is a masterpiece. Milo Minderbinder, a management guy's horror; I was laughing and admiring Heller's ability to distort logic when he depicts Milo's supply chain management and then every other character agrees with Milo just because they don't understand it. So many other characters like Orr, Hungry Joe, Major Major Major Major (yes, that's a name of a character), Nately's whore, Chaplain, Colonel Cat...

I felt like I have to write the review for this book right away as I didn't want to risk my emotions subsiding with time. Jhumpa Lahiri has written the heart wrenching story of a family perfect in every way, getting completely destroyed by set of events. Lahiri shows how less we control our lives and how much events, people surrounding us, close to us, affect our soul. Somethings are broken and cannot be healed. Sometimes, we have to accept our ugly, dark side even if our dearest won't understand it and we have to accept the path our life takes after those choices. Sometimes, our closest people are the one's we hate most. The amount of poignancy in this book is so great that I wanted to cry for Udayan, Gauri, Subhash, Bela, Mr and Mrs Mitra. Literature like this is the reason people are able to experience many lives, their pain, happiness and reasons. Kudos to Ms Lahiri.

Consider the Lobster and Other Essays by David Foster Wallace My rating: 3 of 5 stars I started this book (my first DFW) with so much optimism only to be left puzzled at the end about my liking towards him. First chapter, big red son, was a huge disappointment as he made a porn industry awards' event sound boring to me. Couple another chapters went by with me trying not to fall asleep while reading. Till now, i was hugely disappointed. But then came 'how tracy austin..', 'up simba', and 'consider the lobster'. I enjoyed them with fair interest. At the end, I came to conclusion that DFW is undoubtedly one of the most gifted authors, but he writes mostly on american backdrop, which I am not very aware of. I could see that this man has immense intellect but there are some barriers among us. I am glad I finished the book despite being bored at initial chapters. I must say, I am not ready to read another DFW just yet, but read I will. For that, I will have...