Category: Uncategorized

Book Review 114
Name Of The Book : Fangirl
Author : Rainbow Rowell
Publisher : Pan MacMillan
Year : 2013
Category : Fiction

Blurb :

In Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl, Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life–and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Review :

Cath and Wren are identical twins, but their personalities are poles apart. Wren is an extrovert who wants to experience everything there is to experience at college while Cath is an introvert who wants to live in her world of fan fiction. The book focuses more on Cath than Wren. I liked an introvert protagonist who suffers from social anxiety. I could connect with the character of Cath. Her relationship with her roommate Reagan and her friend Levi is also very interesting. Their mom and dad separated when they were kids but it affects Wren and Cath differently. Wren is able to make peace with her mom’s decision to move on in life while Cath does not forgive easily and is fiercely protective of her dad and sister. This book shows how childhood trauma can have lasting effects on the personalities of the people. Cath writes Simon Snow fan fiction which is a copy of Harry Potter. I am not a huge fan of Harry Potter and I did not enjoy the Simon Snow excerpts. One very interesting character is Cath’s creative writing professor. I would have loved to know more about her. It is a cute young adult novel which will remind the reader what it was to be young and in college.

Rating : 4.7/5

Amazon Link :

https://www.amazon.com/Fangirl-Novel-Rainbow-Rowell/dp/1250030951

Book Review 113
Name Of The Book : Animal Farm
Author : George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair)
Publisher : Rupa Publications
Year : 2010
Category : Fiction/Classics

Blurb :

Manor Farm is like any other English farm, expect for a drunken owner, Mr Jones, incompetent workers and oppressed animals. Fed up with the ignorance of their human masters, the animals rise up in rebellion and take over the farm. Led by intellectually superior pigs like Snowball and Napoleon, the animals how to take charge of their destiny and remove the inequities of their lives. But as time passes, the realize that things aren’t happening quite as expected. Animal Farmis, one level, a simple story about barnyard animals. On a much deeper level, it is a savage political satire on corrupted ideals, misdirected revolutions and class conflict-themes as valid today as they were sixty years ago.

Review :

This book does not need any introduction and is rightly a classic as it is relevant today as it was when it was written. If I had not known that it was a political satire, I would never have thought that it was a metaphor. The story is extremely simple but it carries a lot of meaning. The language used is also simple and straight-forward. I really liked the songs in the story. The book is a sarcastic take on socialism. The humour is subtle but it does not fail to make its point. I did not expect a story about animals to be this interesting and carry such an important message. The book is a metaphor for the Russian Revolution. Most of the characters in the book are based on real people. Animalism refers to socialism. It shows how when people come to power, they forget their duties and are blinded by power.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

Rating : 5/5

Amazon Link :

https://www.amazon.in/Animal-Farm-George-Orwell/dp/812911612X

Book Review 112
Name Of The Book : Delhi Calm
Author : Vishwajyoti Ghosh
Publisher : Harper Collins Publishers India (a joint venture with The India Today Group)
Year : 2010
Category : Fiction/Graphic Novel

Blurb :

A graphic novel that re-imagines Delhi in the 1970s Imagine waking up one morning to learn that all your rights as a citizen are suspended this moment onwards. Imagine living the way the State tells you to-being told how, where and when to laugh, live or love. Imagine constant surveillance-all your acts, words, thoughts watched, all forms of expression subverted for the purpose of nation-building. ‘Work More, Talk Less’, yell microphones as you walk down the streets. But do not worry-Delhi is still calm. It is the India of the mid-1970s. Three young men with vastly different perspectives, but all dreaming of ‘change’, cross paths during this time. Do they sink as individuals or swim as a collective? Was William Penn right to say that ‘Democracy dies in the hearts of democrats, before it dies in the hands of a dictator’? Find out in Vishwajyoti Ghosh’s powerful graphic re-imagining of one of the most seminal moments in the history of Indian democracy.

Review :

I love graphic novels and that is why I picked up this book. It talks about life during the Emergency was declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. This book criticizes the Emergency period and those involved in it. The main characters of this book are VP, Master and Parvez who dream of a socialist democracy. The theme is very interesting and I was able to learn more about the Emergency Period. The illustrations were good but the sepia colour theme made it difficult to read the font at times. The author does not use the names of the politicians which made it a little confusing. I was also slightly confused between the narratives of the characters as the characters looked similar in drawing. The book would have been better with a clearer narration. Do give the book a try – it is quite informative and interesting.

Rating : 4/5

Amazon Link :

https://www.amazon.in/Delhi-Calm-Vishwajyoti-Ghosh/dp/8172239394

Book Review 111
Name Of The Book : Sometimes It Happens
Author : Karan Sharma
Publisher : Srishti Publishers
Year : 2019
Category : Fiction

Blurb :

What happens when two adults with a vast age difference fall in love? Gautam is a twenty-five-year-old upcoming professional and Roshni, a senior management member working in the same multinational bank. More than a decade apart in age, they cannot help but feel attracted towards each other. However, can two people with such a vast age difference be compatible? Sometimes It Happens explores the fun and turmoil as they fall in love, get laughed at by their friends and then develop cold feet, thinking about the repercussions their age difference could have on their relationship. They say love is blind. So, will two smart professionals decide to listen to their hearts or will they listen to their mind to avert what may be the biggest blunder of their lives?

Review :

This book brings to light a taboo usually prevalent in our society – a marriage where the wife is older than the husband. This book explores the pros and cons of such a relationship and how society plays a role in creating unnecessary problems due to their narrow mindedness. The story is a cliché and predictable but I still enjoyed it. The author has made a good attempt in writing about an uncommon subject.

Rating : 3.6/5

Amazon Link :

https://www.amazon.in/Sometimes-Happens-Karan-Sharma/dp/9387022471

Book Review 110
Name Of The Book : Seduction By Truth
Author : Mukul Kumar
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
Year : 2018
Category : Fiction

Blurb :

Shiva is handsome, an irresistible talker, well-off, lives in Delhi’s poshest suburb, is a
dutiful husband to the attractive Akriti and is a perfect father to their little son. So why is he the picture of disenchantment? Is it that not-so-uncommon human condition-boredom that sometimes accompanies fidelity-that haunts him? In Shiva’s case, the discovery that Akriti has already found distraction with someone else frees him to look for excitement on his own-but with a mind conflicted between dharma and desire. Which is the path that he will choose to walk on? Shiva embarks on a journey to empirically explore different options-the sexually vibrant Sana and Mary, to name a few-but at the end, winds up with more questions than he started out with. To confuse things further, Akriti continues to occupy a tender place in his heart-as a woman first and a wife later. A slice-of-life tale, which is part reality and part legend, Seduction by Truth dares the modern reader to solve civilization’s oldest puzzle-marriage.

Review :

I picked up this book without reading the blurb and the theme turned out to be quite unexpected. It is a story about adultery. This theme has been explored in a lot of books, where after many years of marriage, couples lose interest in their relationship and physical intimacy. In this book, Shiva finds out that his wife Akriti is cheating on him, but instead of confronting her, he too takes revenge by cheating on her. They both continue to live together only for the sake of their son. I liked how the character of Shiva uses different perspectives of history, mythology and philosophy to justify his actions. The perspective of the character is interesting but I don’t agree with it. Shiva was trying to just be vengeful instead of trying to handle the problem in a mature way. Sana and Mary too, choose the easy way out instead of confronting their problems. The justifications for the actions of the characters were more of excuses for their lack of pro-activeness. There was also a certain undertone of sexism in the book. The character of Akriti had a lot of scope but she was mentioned only in passing. I did not like the design of the cover. This book reminded me of ‘Adultery’ by Paulo Coelho which is a book that I did not enjoy as I could not agree with the course of action of the protagonist. Overall, I am not a fan of this theme so I did not enjoy this book much.

Rating : 3/5

Amazon Link :

https://www.amazon.in/Seduction-Truth-Mukul-Kumar/dp/9387457621

Book Review 109
Name Of The Book : Dark Blossom
Author : Neel Mullick
Publisher : Rupa Publications
Year : 2018
Category : Fiction

Blurb :

Sam returns home from a business trip a day before his son’s thirteenth birthday and is looking forward to being with his family, when his world is cruelly shattered in one fell swoop. Initially he thinks he can cope with the loss, but finally seeks the help of Cynthia, an experienced therapist, to regain his equipoise. What he does not know is that Cynthia herself is trying to cope with a debilitating divorce and the sinister shadow of her ex-husband over her daughter… What happens when doctor and patient find themselves in the same sinking boat? Moreover, when they are rowing in opposite directions – one clinging to the past, and the other unable to get rid of it! In the midst of it all is Lily, Cynthia’s daughter, who harbours a secret that has the power to explode the lives around her. Taut with tension and intensity, Dark Blossom is a glimpse of what lies under the surface of apparently ‘normal’ people.

Review :

The cover of this book itself is quite intriguing and made me want to pick it up. It starts off very well and the beginning is quite different. It addresses issues of trauma and mental health. These are two subjects that I like to read about. It also talks about another important issue – domestic violence. Throughout this book, there is an element of suspense which keeps the reader on their toes. I liked how we keep discovering new dimensions to the story as the book progresses. Halfway through the book, I thought I had figured out the plot and it was going to be a cliché. But the end took me by surprise. However, I did not enjoy the ending of the book. It was abrupt and I felt like it did not do justice to the plot. The theme of domestic violence is vast but the book did not explore it completely.

Rating : 3.7/5

Amazon Link :

https://www.amazon.in/Dark-Blossom-Neel-Mullick/dp/935333294X/

Book Review 108
Name Of The Book : Shambuka Rama : Three Tales Retold
Author : Mukunda Rao
Publisher : Harper Collins Publishers
Year : 2018
Category : Mythological Fiction

Blurb :

         Rama, Lakshmana and Sita chance upon Valmiki’s ashram in the forest. But what is the shudra Shambuka doing there? As Duryodhana lies dying on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, he reflects on all that brought the world to this pass, his guilt and that of his enemies, his loyalties and those of his friends and allies. As the story flashes back and forth on the last moments of the Great War, dharma and adharma merge and blur. In the forest, during the exile of the Pandavas, Bhima, married to Hidimba, compelled by his love for his son, Ghatotkacha, decides to stay back. Even his mother’s anger and his elder brother’s command will not sway him … Mukunda Rao tells three classic stories from the epics, shedding new light on them, illuminating corners that we haven’t looked at before. Shambuka Rama: Three Tales Retold is a powerful blend of spiritual search, philosophy and mythology.

Review :

          I love retellings from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; that is what made me pick up this book. There are three stories – two from the Mahabharata and one from the Ramayana. The theme of this book is the subjectivity of dharma and adharma. This is an excellent theme and has a lot of scope. However, I felt that the book did not live up to its expectations. Out of the three stories, the story of Bheema and Hidimbi is my favourite. The emotions are brought out well through the writing. In both the other stories, there is a kind of vagueness in the narration. Thus the writing is not powerful enough to create an impact. In the story of Rama, Lakshman and Sita, the plot drags unnecessarily and the charm is lost. The author goes back and forth between different incidents and it becomes very confusing. The idea of non-conformity and the dilemmas about dharma could have been better represented through crisp writing and better editing. If you want to pick up this book, do it for the story of Bheema and Hidimbi.

Rating : 3.2/5

Book Review 107
Name Of The Book : Fortune’s Soldier
Author : Alex Rutherford
Publisher : Hachette Book Publishing India
Year : 2018
Category : Historical Fiction

Blurb :

         It is 1744, and Nicholas Ballantyne, a young Scotsman dreaming of a life as laird of his ancestral estate finds himself quite unexpectedly on the Winchester, a ship bound for Hindustan, seeking to begin a new life as a ‘writer’ on the rolls of the British East India Company. On board, he meets the spirited and mercurial Robert Clive, determined – at whatever cost – to make a fortune in a land of opportunity. Over the years that follow, their friendship sees many twists and turns as Clive’s restless hunger for wealth and power takes him from being a clerk to a commander in the Company’s forces, masterminding plans to snuff out rival French interests in Hindustan and eventually leading the company forces to victory at Plassey, the prelude to nearly two centuries of foreign rule in Hindustan. Brilliantly crafted, and bringing to life the momentous events that shook India in the mid-eighteenth century, Fortune’s Soldier is an epic tale of a fascinating era by a master storyteller.

Review :

         This is the story of the East India Company and their reign in India. The book is a combination of real-life incidents and people and fictional ones. It is divided into five chapters spread across timelines. The main characters are Nicholas and Clive who are Englishmen in India and Tuhin Singh who is an Indian. Nicholas is sent to India and during his journey, he meets Clive and Braddock on the ship. They soon become good friends, but later Braddock turns against Nicholas. Historical fiction is a genre that I mostly avoid because they are usually slow in their pace of storytelling and heavily loaded with facts and figures which sometimes compromises on the plot. But this book was surprisingly different. Right from the beginning, the book had a good pace and I was easily drawn into it. It throws light on how the East India Company viewed India and the tactics they used to conquer different parts of the country. I have read accounts by Indian historians which are usually from the Indian point of view. The book highlights the similarities and differences between the society, people and culture of both places. Clive and Nicholas, though thick friends are poles apart. I really enjoyed the friendship between Clive and Nicholas and Nicholas and Tuhsin Singh. Lucia is another notable character. Though she appears only in a few chapters, she is an interesting and strong character. The battles that take place are explained well and we can picture them in our mind. I am glad that I picked up this book. If you like historical fiction, do pick up this well-written book.

Rating : 4.3/5

Book Review 106
Name Of The Book : Bestseller
Author : Ahmed Faiyaz
Publisher : Rupa Publications
Year : 2018
Category : Fiction

Blurb :

         Akshay Saxena, an out of work editor of a defunct literary magazine in the UK, is told to move to India for a year to help shore up the value of Kalim, an ailing Indian publisher. Akshay finds himself in a job where he has to do the impossible. Angus Lee, the new owner of Thomson Lee Books, wants at least five bestsellers in the coming year, failing which the business would be wound up. He has to find a way of making a success out of books he would never publish or would never even read. To complicate things further, he has to contend with motley crew of has – beens and misfits working for the publishing house as well as wannabe writers, dealing with their follies and derisive tactics, and battle his own affections for Zorah Kalim, the impulsive daughter of his former boss. Will he succeed in bringing out that one ‘bestseller’ from his publishing house? And what about his own life and love in office? Find out in this riveting read.

Review :

        When Akshay Mathur takes over Kalim Publications, it was close to being shut and nothing short of a miracle could prevent that. His efforts to create a balance between publishing classic literature and books that might create a connection with the common men, lead to hilarious moments. This book starts off at a really quick pace and soon, a lot of drama unfolds. I do not have direct exposure to the workings of a publishing firm, but as far as I can see from the outside, I think the depiction of the characters and the events are accurate. The author’s humour is on point and I caught myself laughing-out-loud at more than one occasion. Something that I did not like in the book is Zorah’s and Akshay’s romance in the book. It was sudden and seemed forced. Also, the chances of the incident with Anya being forgiven by Zorah so easily is unrealistic, given her character. The character of Zorah had a chance to be powerful and create an impact but like most of the female leads, she was reduced to Akshay’s assistant. There was a slight undertone of sexism at certain points of the book which could have been avoided. This is a breezy read and I really enjoyed the satire.

Rating : 4/5

Book Review 105
Name Of The Book : Ramayana versus Mahabharata – My Playful Comparison
Author : Devdutt Pattanaik
Publisher : Rupa Publications
Year : 2018
Category : Non-Fiction/Philosophy

Blurb :

         It is a popular belief that the Ramayana is idealistic, while the Mahabharata is realistic. Yet these two epics have identical building blocks, identical themes, and identical history. In this ground-breaking book, Devdutt Pattanaik, India’s most popular mythologist, explores the similarities and dissimilarities between the two epics in a ‘playful analysis’ accompanied by his signature illustrations. Whether it is the family structure, forest exile, or war, the comparison between the two epics proves a startling point – the Mahabharata is in fact a reaction to the events in the Ramayana. Ideas in this book are distributed over 56 chapters. In temple ritual, Vishnu is offered 8 different meals daily, different on all seven days of the week – 56 dishes in all. May each chapter serve as a mouth-watering offering to the Vishnu within you.

Review :

         This is the first book by Devdutt Pattanaik that I have completed. In the blurb of the book, the author has used a sort of Venn diagram to show the similarities and differences between the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. This really intrigued me and I was surprised that I had never observed them before. The book is divided into eight major sections – narration, family, rupture, exile, war, aftermath, retelling, wisdom. Within each section, there are chapters which give the details. This book has been organized extremely well and the depth with which Devdutt delves into each aspect shows his level of knowledge and eye for detail. The author has done extensive research and the observations are thought-provoking. One of my favourite sections of the book is ‘Retelling’, where the author talks about Buddhist and Jain retellings of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. I was surprised to learn about the various versions that exist and it was extremely informative. Though I do not completely agree with certain opinions of Devdutt Pattanaik, I enjoyed reading his perspective. Usually, his books have a lot of illustrations by him, but this book has very few maybe because he has already published illustrated books based on the Mahabharata and the Ramayana. A word needs to be put in about the cover. I loved the colour gradient and the simple and elegant design of the cover. If you want an in-depth analysis of the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, you should pick up this book and I am sure you’ll enjoy reading it.

Rating : 4.1/5