THE LITTLE PARIS BOOKSHOP

I had been very curious about this book ever since I got to know about it.The 'title' caught my eye and kept beckoning me to it.I thought it was impossible to go wrong with 'Paris' and 'Bookshop'and I was so sure this would be the perfect book to end this year with.So I thought it only appropriate to pick it up now.I do pick up books on a whim sometimes,without reading the blurb.I find myself falling in love with the cover or the title even before I know what the story is about.These sometimes end in utter and complete disasters and sometimes lead to an unexpected surprise.But the surprises are worth my time.They make me happy,put me in a better mood.But let me get to the point.This was one of 'those' books.

This is the story of a middle-aged bookseller,Jean Perdu who has a book barge moored on the River Seine.He calls it the 'Literary Apothecary' because he doesn't just sell books but prescribes them to his customers like a physician would dispense medication for various illnesses after an exact diagnoses of the persons state of mind.But he is unable to treat his own depression caused by the sudden disappearance of his great love twenty years ago.Her name is 'Manon',she comes from Provence and believes in living life in the moment.

Perdu lives in an apartment complex shared by an eclectic group of people.What triggers Perdu to re-examine his life and choices so far is prompted by the arrival of  Catherine ,a woman who is abandoned by her husband for a younger woman.When she moves in a flat opposite Perdus,he offers to give her a table as a kind neighbourly gesture because she is in need of furniture for her apartment.Perdu has kept the table in a room locked since Manon's disappearance along with his memories of their time together and opening that room brings back a deluge of memories.Moreover Catherine finds an unopened letter from Manon in the
drawer of the table and hands it over to Perdu.The letter and its contents sets everything in motion as Perdu grapples with guilt,loss and past memories.

He decides to unmoor his book barge and go and find Manon's village and put the past to rest.He is accompanied on this journey by an author facing a writers block after an unexpected first novel success.He is dealing with his own memories of a dysfuctional childhood.They in turn pick up two more passengers along the way,a Neapolitan cook who whips up the most delectable meals and an eccentric bookseller.

What happens on this journey?Is it possible to correct the past after decades?Is redemption even possible?

My Views:

I was hit harder by the year-end blues this time around and was in a particularly grouchy mood when I picked up this book. I under-estimated it a bit.I thought it would be similar to 'The storied life of A J Fikry',another book I had read at the beginning of the year and which spoke about a bookseller and books but the similarities ended there.This one turned out to be very emotionally demanding and took me longer than most books to read.What I didnt like about it was that it got too sentimental after a point,cloyingly so in parts and began to seem too fiction like and unreal.I couldnt connect too much with the characters,I had conflicting opinions regarding certain things but of course you can put that down to bias and I struggled a bit with the story.The emotional quotient was so high that I wanted to get it done with after a point.Now maybe that had something to do with the frame of mind I was in at the time but I find myself unable to deal with too much mush or sentimentality after a point.I really wanted to like this book more than I did.

Now lets come to the good part.I loved the lyrical prose and the language.It was sheer poetry in parts,I loved the book barge and the fact that Perdu could do a literary psychoanalysis and dispense books like medication.Read 200 pages of this book every night for the next three nights and you'll be cured.How cool is that!I loved it when he said that books are the only fixed point in an otherwise unpredictable world.In life,in love,after death.Books keep stupidity at bay!and of course I totally agreed with him when he said that 'Its well known that reading makes people impudent and tomorrows world is going to need some people who arent shy to speak their minds'.

I could empathize with him when he struggled to let go.I could understand the feeling that washes over you when you recognise that you havent got your whole life left to find out where you belong.What better time than the end of the year to mull over such thoughts!It pushed me a bit further down the abyss.But it also got me thinking.Dont we all have the sudden overwhelming inner thirst to seize life with both hands before time speeds past even faster.The futility of lost time.Of things we should have done because ultimately we really only regret the things that we didnt do.Did I tell you that this book is not as simple as it seems.It has the capacity to unsettle and overwhelm you.After all the talk about time passing us by these were some words which offered succour:

'All of us preserve time.We preserve the old versions of the people who have left us.And under our skin,under the layer of wrinkles and experience and laughter,we too are old versions of ourselves.Directly below the surface,we are our own former selves,the former child,the former lover,the former daughter'.

If you can get past the emotional aspect,this story is for those who believe in undying romance,second chances and who arent too shocked to discover that love doesnt need to be restricted to one person to be true.And of course the fact that everybody has an inner room where demons lurk.Only when we open it and face up to it are we truly free.

Read it if you are emotionally equipped to read it.


I rate it a 3 and a half out of 5.

and even though Ive started reading my next book,I think this one is the last for 2015 :)

THE BIBLIOPHILE'S CORNER IS TWO YEARS OLD!

It feels good to come back here and it has been two years since I created this space.Considering that I hardly ever persist with anything and give up too easily,this is indeed a feat!I never cease to amaze myself.
I know this blog is a bit unconventional and it doesnt really follow a standard format for the reviews.But thats the whole point of it.I write what I feel,how I feel,after Ive finished reading a book and I write almost immediately after having finished reading it ,so that nothing is ever an afterthought.

I was supposed to write another one today but im just half way through.Im going through something akin to a book slump,I have been reading but not as much as I would have liked to,but its December,its forgivable.

I have no idea if this blog has managed to connect to anyone out there but im hoping it has.I still havent found fellow bibliophiles along this journey but im sure ,someday I will.But largely this blog was about my journey with books and it will continue to be so.Did you know Bram Stoker dreamed up his Dracula all because of some crab salad?!Apparently he had eaten some rotten crab and contracted food poisoning.Between bouts of sickness he had his first dreams about the lord of the vampires and that marked the end of his creative slump.Is there some remedy for a reading slump?

Thats alright,I guess,I just have to wait.Everyone cant be like Bram Stoker!Getting rid of slumps just like that over food poisoning and dreaming up bestsellers!The rest of us do the best with what we have.

Its Christmas and even Im not feeling grouchy!Wasnt that a positive way to look at things?!

Im signing off with Hopes and Dreams of being a better person,doing better,reading more.
And wishing this coming year is even more fabulous for all of us.Merry Christmas!!

The Bibliophile

THE WOMAN WHO WALKED IN SUNSHINE

Sometimes books can be really demanding.They seek your undivided attention,leaving you with very little time to do anything else.My weekends are usually reserved for reading and consequently I hardly get any work done at all.This time around however I was looking to read something without investing too much of myself in it.

The No 1 Ladies Detective agency is a series Im very fond of.These books are an acquired taste.When I was first introduced to them several years ago,I was skeptical.However,I believe in giving every book a chance and I still remember the day I sat with the first book in the series and just like that I was hooked.This is the 16th instalment in the series and my 16th book as well.I must admit that these past months saw me checking time and again if the latest one was out and happily enough there it was on 27th October.I have written about one more book in this series here on  my blog.The rest were of course read before this blog was created.

This time around the story takes a rather unusual turn with Mma Ramotswe being packed off on a forced vacation by the tenacious Mma Makutsi.However Mma Ramotswe is ill at ease even though she reluctantly agrees to take time off.As a result she finds herself unable to relax and finds that peace is short-lived when she encounters a young trouble-maker named Samuel.But as she learns more about his story she feels the need to go out of her way and help this child in any way she can.

She is also concerned about Mma Makutsi not being able to handle the agency well in her absence.This is compounded by the fact that Mr Polopetsi secretly comes to her for help and tells her about a rather complicated case which he thinks is beyond Mma Makutsi's capacity.A well-respected Botswanan politician who is no longer alive is up for a major public honor and his reputation is being called into question by his rivals.His sister has contacted the agency to investigate these claims.However there is more to it than meets the eye.How this investigation changes a lot of things and viewpoints is what this story is all about.

My Views:

Alexander McCall Smith delivers every single time.At this point,I cannot say if I have grown more fond of the characters or the stories but these books will always have a very special place in my heart.I feel I read them just to know how the characters are doing.Its like meeting up with old friends after ages.And the titles are so charming----'The woman who walked in sunshine','Blue shoes and happiness'.Oh I could go on and on.They are simple stories and this is exactly why they are so endearing.They talk about simple things like the rain,the cattle,the blue skies,the land.Stuff which we have to be reminded of in our fast-paced world.Dont you just feel like escaping this world sometimes,go to a calm place where the mad frenzy cannot touch you.These books do just that,they manage to take me far from the madding crowd.They take me into a world I long to be in.Im an old soul,I often feel I dont belong here.

Smith finds a way to get all the characters together in each and every story.It might be a brief mention but it surely takes one back a long way.And of course,there are lessons to be learnt,sometimes they are obvious and sometimes very subtle.Sometimes we need to learn to trust and let go.We need to understand that everyone deserves to be treated with compassion.Mma Ramotswe is very selfless when it comes to helping the needy.In this story she rightly observes that "an act of selfishness,some small unkindess,could seem every bit as grave as a dreadful crime,the size of the secret said nothing about its weight on the soul".

A lot of things fall in place in the end.We learn that nobody is above human failings.

For fans of this series,there is also an interesting bit about Violet Sephotho,Mma Maktutsi's arch enemy.All this makes it a perfect read on a relaxed weekend.

I rate it a 4 out of 5.

PRETTY GIRLS

I'm always up for a good thriller.I like it even more when its fast paced.This book caught my attention while I was browsing lists for my next read.I wasnt disappointed.

The story tells us about how two estranged sisters come together to find the truth about a harrowing tragedy,twenty years earlier,that devastates their lives.

Claire and Lydias sister Julia just vanished from their lives without a trace.Despite doing everything within their capacity,the disappearance remains a mystery.One thing leads to another and everything changes within the family and the sisters havent spoken to each other for all these years and lead two very different lives.

Claire is the glamorous trophy wife of  an Atlanta millionaire while Lydia is a single mother struggling to make ends meet.However another disappearance of a teenage girl after all these years and the murder of a middle aged man opens a can of worms.The sisters ,bound together by shared loss ,unearth secrets that will shock,surprise and shatter lives.

My Views:

This book had me spellbound right from the word go.I have read thrillers but Karin Slaughter took this story to another level.It shocked me by the graphic violence and the utterly gripping plot.You better have a strong heart to stomach the gory detailing.The characters are well-developed and very believable.They have distinctly different personalities.

This story shows how a crime affects an entire family and how each member copes in different ways.Parts of this book got me very emotional,especially the fathers heartfelt letters to Julia.I normally dont use expletives but this saw me unleashing the worst expletives possible(in my mind) for the psychopath.The details of the horrific acts are very graphic and make you want to throw up.These get a bit repetitive towards the end but it just ends up building a fury in the reader making him want to know what is going to happen next.I had no idea that things like this actually happen in real life.The world just got sicker and perverse after reading this book.

The end was high intensity and satisfying.It couldnt have ended any other way.I see this one being made into a movie.This is easily the best psychological crime thriller I have read this year.

I rate it a 4 out of 5.

DROWN

I've been slacking.The end of the year has that effect on me.It makes me morose to think about all that I could have done and didnt.I also havent met my goal to read the set number of books this year and with just a month to go,it seems far from attainable now.However on the positive side,i've read a few very interesting books this year and although I have a huge TBR pile,I intend to slowly work my way through it.

The book Ive just finished reading is 'DROWN' by a Dominican American author Junot Diaz who won the 2008 Pulitzer prize for fiction.Diaz was born in Santo Domingo,the capital of the Dominican Republic and lived there till he immigrated with his family to New Jersey when he was six years old.DROWN is his debut short story collection.

The book has ten very different and interesting short stories which are largely autobiographical and portray his life in the Dominican Republic and later as an immigrant in New Jersey.These stories are connected to each other and have to be read in the order in which they are narrated rather than randomly picking any one.

My Views:
We read sometimes to enter another world and get a view into lives we otherwise would have never known to exist.This book offered me a glimpse into a completely different way of life and living.
The way people react to circumstances,the way their childhood is shaped,the way they turn out to be who they are is influenced largely by where they are coming from.Different lives,different stories.

There is a stark contrast between his homeland in Santo Domingo and life in NYC and New Jersey.The feelings of rootlesness,leaving a country and culture behind in hopes of attaining the great American dream and the emotional upheaval that comes with it, is a price every immigrant has to pay.These stories are written in a very raw and direct way,like how it actually happened,sometimes lewd and the effect of this kind of powerful writing is that it manages to pull you into his story and view it like your own.It succeeds in evoking emotions on either end of the spectrum.

I have mentioned my views about each story in brief. 

1.Ysrael: 

Tells the story of Yunior and his brother Rafa in the Dominican Republic,searching for a neighbourhood boy,Ysrael,whose face was bitten off and disfigured by a pig,causing him to wear a mask at all times.
This story to me was of a chidhood destroyed,when young boys grow lawlessly and quickly beyond their age,with noone to guide them or set a particular code of conduct.Rafa is wise beyond his years and has lost his childhood.They know they have to scrimp on food and a bus ride.Money is scarce.On the other hand it also talks about Ysraels hope of being called to America and get treated by doctors there.
And I also learnt a lot of Spanish swear and cuss words.

2.Fiesta,1980:

Tells us about a family party in the Bronx,hosted by Yuniors aunt.How the kids know that the father is two timing his mother with a Puerto Rican woman yet choose to be silent about it and Yuniors fondness for his mother who was always very compassionate and tolerant.We are also shown a very ugly side to his father who is strict to the point of madness.It was heartbreaking to read Yuniors attempts at overcoming his carsickness in the fear that it would annoy his belligerent father,who was more concerned about his brand new VW than about his son.The punishments meted out to the child are deplorable.He writes that they were 'imaginative'.Makes you wonder.

3.Aurora:

A very strange narrative.Talks about his life as a drug dealer and his romantic relationship with Aurora,a heroin addict.Complete futility was what this chapter meant to me.The inability to love or have a normal relationship.To not know what is 'normal' anymore.Drugs,their easy accessibilty and their capability to ruin lives.Yet the desire to hope somewhere which they know is just a dream.This was too hard to read.

4.Aguantando:

His need for a father he never knew.He writes that his father left for New York when he was four but 'since I couldnt remember a single moment with him,I excused him from all nine years of my life'.The mother's struggles with raising them up single handedly.Being sent off to live with different relatives when finances were bleak.His fathers empty promises of coming to fetch them.Missing a father who was never there and dreaming about his fathers visit which would eventually turn out very differently.

5.Drown:

Describes the narrators relationship with a close friend Beto and eventually falling out with him because of his sexual advances.Being betrayed in the most basic of relations.Living a life which makes your feel that nothing will ever shock you anymore.Sadness and Anger.

6.Boyfriend:

Yunior is dealing with his own heartbreak and simultaneously overhearing the ups and downs of a relationship between his neighbours through the walls.This was also about trying to see if he could establish some bond with the woman.I guess this story was about trying to move on after a break up.

7.Edison,New Jersey:

Yuniors time as a pool table delivery man with his partner Wayne.He is now world-weary with a lot of bottled up rage.We see the kind of person he turns out to be.But we know where he is coming from.It also marks the end of a romantic relationship.

8.How to date a Browngirl,Blackgirl,Whitegirl or Halfie:

Lots of advice on how to behave or act depending upon the ethnicity and social class of your date.Weird,Unemotional,Artificial,Screwed -up.

9.No Face:

Ysraels story from his own perspective and his long wait for the facial reconstruction surgery by Canadian Doctors.This was extremely sad to read.

10.Negocios:

After all that he told us about his father,this chapter at the end tries to redeem his father,by showing us what exactly Rafael went through after coming to the United States.His struggles with language,boarding,financial issues.Marrying an American to obtain citizenship.The gnawing guilt at leaving his family behind.The other womans point of view and realization.Too little...too late.

My only grouse was that a lot of spanish words are scattered liberally and it was difficult to discern the meanings of a few phrases.Apart from that ,the book is a very honest portrayal of a very fractured life.

I rate it a 3 and a half out of 5.

CAREER OF EVIL

Feels good to be back here!I have a very good explanation for why I wasn't around.I thought I could outdo myself and set my heart on reading three different books at the same time.Turns out to be not the best of ideas.But anyhow,the one I managed to read first gets written about first.

This is my third Cormoran Strike novel.I had read 'The Cuckoo's Calling' and 'The Silkworm' and developed a fondness for Strike,for his brooding and taciturn nature and also the ability to take the bull by the horns every single time.This time around the story starts a bit differently.

It begins with a severed leg being sent to his secretary Robin accompanied by the lyrics of a rock group called the Blue Oyster Cult.The lyrics are as weird as the crime is grisly.This immediately leads to wide spread media coverage and causes Strike to lose any business which would  come his way.They soon come to know that the killer is targeting Strike through Robin because Blue Oyster Cult is related to Strikes past.Having made more than a few enemies in his murky past,Strike immediately zeroes down to four possible suspects.Jeff Whittaker,his sadistic stepfather,who was acquitted of murdering Strike's mother.Noel Brockbank,a pedophile,who sexually assaulted his stepdaughter and managed to still run free despite Strikes efforts,Donald Laing,a sociopath who violently assaulted his wife and was sentenced to prison based on Strikes evidence and a gangster Malley,known for cutting off an enemy's penis.

Being unhappy with the way the case is being handled by the police,Strike and Robin take matters into their own hands.However the killer is brutal and relentless and time is running out.

My Views: 

This story started with a bang,just the way I like it.Each chapter begins with a weird and sinister quote from the 'thinking mans' heavy metal band(whatever that means) 'Blue Oyster Cult'.The serial killer,a necrophiliac,is an absolute psychopath with a fetish for sliced up body parts.He actually keeps them as trophies.The Strike-Robin magnetic appeal is as strong as ever.In fact the subtle undercurrents made up for a good read.

However as I proceeded further ,the story went all over the place.There were too many things going on sometimes,prostitution,drug abuse,pedophilia and the psycho killer was side-tracked.Too many mundane details thrown here and there which distracted me a bit from the main plot.

However its easy to hang in there and see where it is going.The killer made it interesting.Horrible but interesting.Lots of gruesome scenes when it comes to him though,involving maiming and mutilation.You have been warned.And there are chapters from his point of view as well,which are just too creepy and terrible.Takes us inside the mind of a fetishistic necrophiliac seeking revenge.

This story was Robin's to a major extent and we get to know the tough woman that she is.We are also given a glimpse into her traumatic past,which was briefly mentioned in the previous two books.The Strike-Robin chemistry was awesome as always and I wanted Mathew out of the way.He was pathetic as usual.There were some new interesting characters thrown in as well.

I pulled an all-nighter for this one,got a bit distracted in between but persisted till the end.And no I couldnt figure out who the killer was this time around.(the previous two books I had managed fairly well)This book is definitely more macabre than the previous two.How they get about identifying 'him' is very interesting.

Read it for Cormoran and Robin,they certainly seem like old friends to me now.The ending was pretty awesome.Cant wait to see how the next one begins!

I rate it a 4 out of 5.

AFTER YOU

Its been almost a fortnight since I last posted here.I have just finished reading 'After You',the sequel to Jojo Moyes's five million copy bestseller 'Me Before You'.

I had read 'Me Before You' a couple of years ago,before this blog existed but that story will always have a special place in my bookdom.

It told us about the relationship between a quadriplegic,Will Traynor and his carer,Louisa Clark and raised the controversial topic of Euthanasia (assisted dying).

It was such a compelling story with credible characters that I was swept into Will's world and really got so emotional that I wept.It is very rare that I am moved to tears after reading a book,but Will's story did that to me and that book got placed very high on my shelf.

So when I got to know that the sequel was out telling us about Louisa's journey,I couldnt help myself.

So, 'After you',begins about eighteen months later when Louisa Clark is trying to move on after losing the person she loved and is unable to make any real progress.She lives in London and is stuck in a job she hates.She doesnt have a life and at night she sits on her roof,drinking wine and drowning in grief.She walks on the ledge of the building ,something she has done several times before but not with the intention of harming herself.But this particular night,someone spooks her and she falls off the building.And that propels her into a new life.

She joins a  support group called 'The Moving On' circle which helps people deal with loss.She meets a new man,Sam,who happens to be the paramedic who is with her at the time of her fall.She reconnects with her family.But then someone unexpected from the past comes in her life and throws her off balance.

But is it really possible to move on after losing a person you loved?Can you build a life worth living?This book makes an attempt to answer these questions as it tells us about what happens to Louisa.

My Views

I am very skeptical when it comes to sequels.I think they really shouldnt be attempted and if they are the author better do an excellent job at it.'Me Before You',raised the bar of story telling to another level.I am still in love with Will.I feel nobody can measure up to him.He was flawed but he was oh so amazing at the same time.And I can never forget his story or how I felt days after reading it.But of course this was Louisas story.

I know we get to live just one life and sometimes it might be short.But there are times when there is an instant connection with a person.Time hardly matters.While sometimes you spend an entire lifetime together and yet hardly know the person beside you.One life,one love ,thats what I believe in.

Dealing with loss is the worst thing ever.Because life doesnt stop,time doesnt standstill.'Moving on',is the hardest thing ever.

We are all damaged people,with our own cross to bear,compelled to show a different side to the world outside because we know that nobody wants to be around grief.

Like Louisa says, 'Its like you become a dougnut instead of a bun'.If it were possible to see how unwhole we were for every suffering meted out by life,there would be millions of hollow people with smiles plastered on their faces wondering what else was in store.

But Louisa's journey was about wanting to move on.Of course,Sam couldnt match up to Will.They never do in real life as well.I didnt feel that kind of chemistry between them.But he made her feel good.He made her feel that she could be all that someone needed,that she could be someones reason for staying,that she could be enough.That was an essential part to healing.Of course,theres no denying that Louisa was/is a lovable character.

There was a bit about Wills parents and their life after divorce and a bit about Louisas parents which was not that engaging.Ok let me be honest,I didnt think it was needed at all.There were some parts which were rather dramatic.

I was not as involved in this book as I hoped I might get.It was good in parts but nothing can ever compare to 'Me Before You'.

I rate it a 3 out of 5.

ELIZABETH IS MISSING

This book was up there on the NYT bestseller list for quite some time.I was intrigued by the title and cover.
Finished reading it early morning today.Having 48 hours in a day would solve at least some of my problems but lets not get into that.

So coming back to the story...

Maud ,eighty one years old ,is slowly but surely losing her memory.However ,one thing she is sure about is that her friend Elizabeth is missing and in terrible danger despite everyone around being nonchalant about it.Maud doesnt trust Elizabeths son and is desperate to help her friend.However noone takes her seriously,neither her daughter nor her carers.So she decides to take things in her hands and get to the bottom of it.She knows that her memory is failing her and takes help of small handwritten notes which tell her what it is she is supposed to do.This obsession takes Maud deeper into the recesses of her mind where long forgotten memories suddenly come to the fore and lead her to the unsolved disapperance of her sister Sukey who vanished shortly after World War 2.

Sukey gets married to Frank against her fathers approval.Frank is a shady character who deals with black-market goods.Sukey is also friends with a boy named Douglas who she puts up as a lodger in her parents home.There is also a mad-woman who Sukey is terrified by.So the suspicion falls squarely on these three because Douglas seems to know much more than he is letting on.Frank disappears for a brief while and the mad woman always hangs around Sukeys house.Past muddles with the present and the result of this is something very unexpected .

My Views:

I have spent the past few days reading this book and before I begin to tell you how I felt about it, I need to applaud the author for giving us a story which is disturbing ,mind-boggling and impressive at the same time.This is one of the strangest books I have ever read.Strange because it is entirely narrated by Maud who is having a mental-illness.It is not spelt out in clear words about what it is that is making her lose her memory(Alzheimers/dementia) but living in her mind for the duration of this book was frustrating and scary.It requires a bit of an effort on the part of the reader to keep up with the memory loss and sudden moments of clarity because it alternated seamlessly between her past memories and the present and it gets to a point when you are left wondering about what is the truth and what is the memory.I got a bit obsessive when I was reading this book because I wanted to know what's happened.At the same time ,I found it confounding when her past and present memories muddle up.It is a wonderfully crafted plot and undoubtedly was very difficult to write.

I know how painful it can be to deal with patients having Alzheimers and how terribly frustrating it can be for their carers.This book just lets you see how living with Alzheimers can be first hand.It scared me.As it is,its so difficult to make sense of life when you have your wits about you.

It shows us how Mauds memory goes on a steady decline,but she is as feisty as ever.She knows what is happening to her but still wants to maintain her dignity and independence.I got a bit annoyed with her daughter and her carers for being overbearing,but they werent living in Mauds mind.How would they know what was really happening?It does get extremely difficult for carers in a situation like this.Noone takes her seriously because they know that she has no clue of whats happening around her,she cannot remember what happened a few second ago,she has no idea about who her carers are or how they land up at her place,she has her time mixed up.She confuses between the past and present.It gets to a point where she doesnt know who her daughter and granddaughter is.However such patients do have stark moments of clarity about events that occured many years into the past.

We think the whole mystery is about what happens to Elizabeth but maybe this obsession stems from some unresolved issues in her past.Maud is so perceptive that she tries to do things by keeping small notes in her pockets telling her what she should be doing.However they only muddle things up for her.Now ,what was frustrating to me was why the daughter doesnt talk about Elizabeth but that isnt a loophole either because it is mentioned later that they have had this discussion but Maud forgets to tell the reader that.There are lines like 'I pull up a sitting thing,for sitting on'--when she doesnt get the word 'chair' and just two lines down she says chair as if thats the most natural thing to do.You just have to deal with this way of narration throughout.

There is dark humor too in this book and times when you really dont know how to react.It is an accurate depiction of mental illness and just goes to show us that however worse we think the situation might be we need to have empathy and just not tell these people off.

But wait,didnt I tell you that you need to have a lot of patience while you read this book.There is an unexpected twist at the end and I didnt see it coming.

You learn something from each book and though I liked the mystery part of it,this one just taught me the meaning of treating someone having mental illness with all the dignity and care they deserve.I really hope they find a cure for Alzheimers soon.

Excellent for a debut.

I rate this book a 4 out of 5.

ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE

This book has been on the NY times bestseller list for as long as I can remember.I had it with me since some time now but hadnt got about reading it.I thought it was just another war novel until I picked it up a few days ago and was rendered completely speechless.

The story in brief.

Marie Laure lives with her father,a locksmith working in the museum of Natural history in Paris.She loses her eyesight when she is six and her father builds a perfect miniature of their neighbourhood so she can memorize it by touch and navigate her way home.She has a near-idyllic childhood for a few years when she spends her time with books and people who contribute greatly in teaching her.However this does not last forever and when she is twelve,the Nazis occupy Paris leaving them with no choice other than to flee to the walled city of Saint-Malo where her reclusive great-uncle lives.At the time of fleeing ,her father smuggles the world's most priceless jewel called the 'Sea of Flames' out of the city,on behalf of the museum.Unfortunately a German sergeant major is hot on its trail and will go to any lengths to acquire it.

In a parallel setting ,a young orphan boy Werner lives with his sister in a mining town in Germany.He is enchanted by a crude radio they find and soon becomes an expert at instinctively fixing and operating the instrument.This talent leads to him to gain admittance in the National Political Institutes of education(Schulpenforta), a boarding school for the elite.Werner sees this as the perfect opportunity to leave the mining town he detests.However he soon comes to realise that he has been sucked into a whirlpool at the cost of his intelligence and has to pay a high price.Werner travels through war-ridden zones and finally reaches Saint-Malo where his paths cross with Marie-Laure.

This story is about how their lives intersect in Nazi occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War 2.

My Views:

I have no idea why I waited so long to read this book.This was a page-turner right from the word go.I was completely enraptured with the exemplary lyrical prose and the descriptions which promptly re-created 1940's Germany,Paris and Saint-Malo right infront of my eyes.It managed to conjure up the most vivid images in my mind,first of the beautiful town,then of the carnage.However there was something weighing in my heart as I progressed with the story. This book manages to move the reader on an emotional level.

It was narrated with riveting flash-backs and flash-forwards and it kept me so engaged and involved that I had to fight the urge to turn a few pages ahead to reassure myself that everything was going to be alright.The characters lives kept me intrigued and the pace is fast.However what happy ending was I looking for at the end of a war?

A war leaves no-one undamaged.Werner,Volkheimer,Frederick were all victims of 'Hitler's Germany'.It is true that we as humans have characters that are never really completely black or white,but varying shades of grey.These children were brainwashed by Hitler and left with no option but to participate in his machinations.Not that this excuses whatever they did during the war,but their lives were not their own,as Frederick rightly points out in the story.But you must never sell your soul and not everyone is capable of doing that.It is also very easy to judge others but then you realise that they were just kids caught up in the movement and some probably didnt even completely realise what was going on.Sometimes we are left with no choice or forced to make choices that we normally wouldnt.

Marie Laure was a bright,perceptive young woman and how she finds her way through insurmountable odds was something amazing.I found myself rooting for her all the way.She probably teaches us that there is something greater than the gift of sight.She dreams in color.All the light we cannot see could mean different things to different people but to me it represented the need to keep faith with the help of a light which may not always be visible to our eyes.

My heart went out to both Marie Laure and Werner and also to Frederick,an innocent victim who stood up for what he believed.The relationships portrayed between the various characters is beautiful.This story was heart-breaking and amazing.There are countless passages so beautifully written that choosing one wouldnt be fair to the rest of them.

There was a parallel story running through about the 'Sea Of Flames' and that kept me interested as well without taking away much from the main plot.'That something so small could be so beautiful.Worth so much.Only the strongest people can turn away from feelings like that'----this was the line that stayed with me toward the end when Werner finally does what he did with it.

I thought the ending was very apt.It couldnt have ended any other way.

The 2014 Pulitzer was well deserved.

I loved this book and would not hesitate to read it a second time.Highly Recommended.

I rate it five STARS and the MOON :)

OUR MOON HAS BLOOD CLOTS

Just a few days back,I got to know about Nandita Haksar’s book titled ‘The Many Faces Of Kashmiri Nationalism -from the cold war to the present day’ which traces the history of Kashmiri Nationalism through the lives of a Pandit (Sampat Prakash)who became active in politics during the Cold war years and also through the eyes of a Kashmiri Muslim (Mohammad Afzal Guru)who became active in the early days of the Kashmir insurgency.

And my thoughts immediately went to ‘this’ unread book sitting on my shelf from way back and I thought ‘If not now-then when?’ and picked it up.I have just finished reading it.

This is the first-hand account of a Kashmiri Pandit ,Rahul Pandita about the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits.It is narrated as seen through the eyes of Rahul as a fourteen year old and as an adult and describes the way the move impacted the lives of the displaced Pandits from their homeland.The brutality of the torture and killings.The mass massacre.This heartwrenching story is about the violent ethnic cleansing of a community backed by Islamist Militants.About how they had to leave their homes in the valley,seek shelter in refugee camps and spend their lives in exile in their own country.This is a deeply personal story of history,home and loss.

My Views:

This story is the first person account by Rahul Pandita who speaks about his experiences as a Kashmiri pandit and his eventual forcible migration to Dehi in the 1990's.It is a heartbreaking account of a person being forced out of his home.The brutality and horrors they faced,how they were forced to live like refugees in inhuman conditions and forcibly driven out of their homes in the valley to Jammu and elsewhere.He recounts how his father and people from his fathers generation still call it Shahar and still speak of ties that bind them.

It was painful to read about the torture these people went through,constantly living in the shadow of fear.Fearing for their lives,something as basic as that.Watching helplessly as their homes were ruthlessly plundered and destroyed.Pandita says,'I am uprooted in my mind'.He tries to make some sense of home by taking snapshots of his house occupied by someone else,when he returns there years later as an adult.

Reading about all this makes me lose faith in the world.It makes me question everything and view every ‘good’ around me with suspicion and skepticism.

The mass massacres,rapes of innocent,helpless women,being bludgeoned to death,being forced to eat meat when they were non-meateaters,being shamed in public.Where is humanity?The highest form of desecration is an assault on the persons soul.What can be worse than that?And for what?Just because you belong to a different religion or ethnic group?

Pandita talks about how his mother often recalls his home as one with 22 rooms back in the valley.The desperation in her eyes,the hoping till her last breath to go back to that place she called home,that glimmer of hope in her eyes when she talks about it.Everything was too hard to contemplate.It seemed like one colossal mess.

He also goes on to say how the Pandit community have got a raw deal.Even now the funds for the resettlement have been siphoned somewhere else,leaving them in the lurch.

This is Panditas story and his point of view.It was harrowing to read and Im sure terrible to experience.

However Kashmir has been a contentious issue since a very long time.I believe that before anyone voices their opinion about anything they have to listen or be aware of the complete story.An event of such proportions must have surely been witnessed from multiple perspectives.There are two sides to every story and sometimes there may even be multiple points of view to consider before one makes an informed opinion/choice about what ones views are.My knowledge of the Kashmir issue is loosely based on the few newspaper articles Ive read or the news reports Ive viewed on television.Just scraps of information.Just a year back the Pandits demanding resettlement were in the news again.There were a few things I read here which conflicted with something Ive read elsewhere.So even though I strongly condemn the heinous killings and completely empathize with Kashmiri Pandits.I reserve judgement till I have read more and know more. Maybe its about time I pick up Nandita Haksars book.

THE COMPLETE MAUS

This graphic novel by American cartoonist Art Spiegelman won the 1992 Pulitzer prize and I have been relentlessly pursuing this book ever since I got to know about it.I kept badgering the librarians to get the book for me and suffered withering looks from them.Finally got my hands on it and I just spent the weekend reading it.I had thought it would be easy to read considering that it is a graphic novel but I was proven so wrong.This book was unsettling to say the least.

The complete Maus combines two parts of the story.Part 1,"My Father bleeds History"and Part 2,"And here my troubles began".It tells the complete story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife surviving the holocaust.It shows Art Spiegelman interviewing his father,Vladek about his experiences as a Polish jew and a holocaust survivor.However there's a difference,all the characters are represented as animals:Jews are mice,Germans are cats,Non-Jewish poles are pigs,Americans are dogs,French are frogs.This haunting story told by using graphics captures the horror of the holocaust in a way that has never been done before.It also explores the extent of the psychological impact an event of such proportions leaves on the survivors and their families.

My Views:

Nothing in life ever happens for a reason.There are never any rational explanations about why or how things happen the way they do.Nothing is ever right or wrong or good or bad.Everything is relative.Everything is random.There are no heroes,no villains.There is no after-life,no heaven,no hell.We live and we die,everything in between is optional and at the end nothing really matters at all.How else would you explain something as horrible and devastating as the Holocaust?I am always left disturbed when I read or watch a movie about the genocide of millions of Jews carried out by the Nazi regime during world war 2.I hadnt expected a graphic novel to talk about serious historical issues and evoke a reaction in the reader.I had to go over the pages and re-read them to take it all in.I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach as I turned each page.

I truly admired Vladeks spirit,enterprising nature and resourcefulness even in the face of extreme adversity.I cannot even begin to imagine what he endured and his ability to hang on to hope in the darkest of circumstances just goes on to prove his strength of character.However when you survive something of this magnitude,it just changes something in you.Vladek was a difficult man to live with and Art makes that very clear.He hasnt made him the hero of the story but has narrated it just as it was.He even goes on to tell us about his fathers prejudice towards African-Americans.When someone has been through hell and back, there is always a price to pay not only by the people who go through it but also by the people affected by it indirectly.Art is dealing with his own demons (survivors guilt)and tries to find some way of allaying this guilt in the form of a comic strip 'Prisoner on the Hell Planet' about his mothers suicide.However I dont think catharsis is even a possibility sometimes and you just have to live on hoping to come to terms with whatever it is that happens in life.This story is very emotional because it is so real.

The horrors of concentration camps,Auschwitz,Nuremberg,the bunkers,the zyklon B showers are too
grisly to even imagine.The use of allegory to depict characters as animals works effectively as cats are known to prey on mice.So jews being mice is an apt metaphor.It provokes us to think about nationalities,races and our judgemental views.

It is scary to think that we live in a world that has witnessed such tragedy.It is not easy to write a story about one's own family with such honesty and I think Spiegelman deserves all the credit for it.I went through a gamut of emotions while reading this book.It just manages to change something in the way you think about life.

I unreservedly rate it a 5 out of 5.

THE NIGHT CIRCUS

Do you believe in Magic?Im sure you would answer that with a smirk or a sneer and I wont really judge you for it.Life does make cynics of all of us.I resisted this book for the longest time for precisely the same reasons.However as luck would have it,I ended up picking it last week and have only just returned from one of the most beautiful adventures I ever hoped to go on.

The story in brief:

Le Cirque des Reves or The Circus of Dreams is a travelling circus which serves as the backdrop of this enthralling story.But this circus is unlike any other,it has an air of mystery surrounding it .It has no set schedule,appearing without warning and leaving without notice and it only opens at night.There are numerous tents with mesmerizing acts performed by the most accomplished of artists and everything is meticulous down to the last detail.In this Circus of Dreams,two illusionists trained by great Magicians belonging to different schools of thought have been magically bound to fight one another in a contest which will span their entire lives,until one of them wins.The magicians have created this contest for their own sense of power and are just using their two students as puppets.The circus serves as the arena where this magical duel takes place,however these young proteges are not given any rules to play by,they dont even know who their opponent is,they have been only told to best the other by creating the most complex shows and maintaining them.However competition eventually changes to admiration and then finally into Love.But a lot is at stake and choices involving a lot of other lives must be made.

My Views:

This book was unlike anything I have read so far.But there are rules to be followed when you are reading it.You cannot read it amid distractions.I was cooped up in a closed room with minimal noise for the entire duration I was reading this.Also you dont read a book like this just for the sake of reading it,you have to experience it and truly live inside it.It was an interactive book.Yes,it took me almost double the time it takes to read most books because I was left with no choice but to imagine everything,conjure it up in my minds eye.The vivid imagery and delicious descriptions left me craving for more.The rich imagination was so captivating that I had quite a time returning back to reality.There are good books and not so good books and there are books which you will remember for the rest of your life,as long as you will live.This was one of those for me.

Might I say that it was a wonderful assault on the senses!Charms,Talismans,Tatoos,Tarot of Marseilles,Fortune-tellers,Acrobats,Conjurers,Contortionists,Dancers,Fire artists,Chocolate mice,Caramel apples,Chocolate pop-corn,the ice garden,a sunken rose-garden,the wishing tree,the pool of tears where sorrows can be tossed like stones,the stargazer,I could just go on forever.I was enchanted!I also got to meet the Reveurs-the circus enthusiasts who seek each other out often spending hours discussing the minutest of details and when they depart ,they shake hands and embrace like old friends even if they have only just met,feeling bound to each other in ways only they can know.I loved every character in this story even more when I realised that each of them was there for a reason.Each had a part to play in the grand scheme of things.

This story was about the dark side of magic as well.However it was also about love and defying fate,about how anything can change at anytime because the future is never set in stone.
It was about permanence and endurance.About how people want to believe that magic is just clever deception,because (as the magician says at the end) 'to think it real would keep them up at night,afraid of their own existence'.

Sometimes we need to escape the real world and indulge the child in us.After all, Oscar Wilde has rightly said-

'A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight,and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world'  :)

I know this review doesnt do the book justice.All I can say is that I absolutely enjoyed reading it and cannot recommend it enough.It was Magical!

Needless to say 

I rate it a 5 out of 5.

NEVER LET ME GO

I know I am quite late in picking up this book.I usually keep away from reading dystopian fiction but somehow even before I realised what I was getting into,I found myself being swept in the flow and then there was no turning back.I hadnt read the book blurb but dont regret it.This book managed to change the way I think about dystopian fiction forever.I finished reading it last night.

This is a fictional story about three class-mates,Kathy,Tommy and Ruth living in a boarding school type of institution called Hailsham.Even though they seem to be having an ordinary childhood on the surface of it,there are mysterious rules and teachers constantly reminding them of how special they are and urging them to make art as if their life depended on it.Now years later,Kathy is a young woman,recounting the memories that made up her childhood at Hailsham.Ruth and Tommy have reentered her life and as she looks back at their shared past,she eventually comes to terms with the meaning of life and their shared fates.

My Views:
This story just blew me away.Kazuo Ishiguro is a brilliant story-teller with master-strokes up his sleeve.When I began reading this book,I was surprised at the pace it set,it just slows you down completely because it is narrated by Kathy in a very matter-of-fact way.I was aching with curiosity and kept wondering about what would really happen next.This went on for the first two parts and when I reached the last fifty or so pages of the last part,everything just began to fall in place and it hit me point blank in such a way that all the withheld emotions just came to the fore.Can you understand what I am talking about?This is powerful writing.Very Evocative.

The story is told by Kathy in a very strange manner.She tells you what happens first and then goes on to explain how it got to that point.This was how almost the entire story is narrated and you are reminded of events unfolding and you realise the significance of these events only later and begin to piece it together.I have come across people talking that way,they tell you an incident and later talk about something totally unconnected and then when you have almost forgotten about the incident they come back to it and say, 'Oh so that is where the incident fits in place'.So you realise that what actually takes place is much larger than that little detail which fits perfectly.I guess I am rambling but I cant think of a better way to say this.

So she talks about their days at Hailsham and how they were allowed to do normal things like playing and even encouraged to make art and listen to music and buy stuff using tokens.However you realise soon enough that somethings amiss and then comes the big reveal that this story is about a group of genetically engineerd or cloned children that are being exclusively bred as 'donors'.Their lives are set out for them,they become adults and then start donating vital organs.This is the only purpose of their lives.Everything is told in such a resigned way,that you want to walk up to Kathy and shake her and scream at her to do something about it.She keeps saying --'I dont know what it was like where you were' and you feel so helpless and so drawn to these children.

Can one imagine life like this.With not a shred of hope.Just living on with no real future,knowing the course our lives will take and knowing that whatever we are doing now is all going to be futile in the end.It is eerie if you think about it,makes me wonder if Ishiguro is implying that we as humans are perhaps also living by the rules set for us(societal norms)without questioning,just being pawns in someone else's game.Maybe we are living in a bigger version of Hailsham and are clueless about it and death is the only thing that binds us together.

The friendship between Kathy,Tommy and Ruth is beautiful.How Kathy connects them all together and holds on till the end ,tethered only to their shared fates will make you desperately wish for a happy ending.It talks about the meaning of art,love,bonding,betrayal.How art proves that you have a soul.How love has a proper time,a time that may be lost or missed.How nothing you do later can bring back what it once was.

Of course there were some things which were a little questionable like which organs they were donating because they spoke about four donations and nothing about cross-matching was ever mentioned.But then I think that even though the scientific basis is not a strong point of this novel,it is more about the emotional and personal world of the clones.

This story has moved me in ways I cannot really explain.I loved this book.I rate it a 4 and a half out of 5.