Dinner for Two - Mike Gayle

                                               Image Credit : Fantastic Fiction
“Dinner For Two” sounds like a totally romantic novel, isn’t it?  – ummm but it isn’t. The story is very simple, Dave, a music journalist is in his early 30s and all he wants right now in his perfect world is kids. He is married to Izzy again a journalist in a women’s fashion magazine. Both comfortably settled in their jobs and wanting to start a family get their first jolt about the fragility of existence when Izzy suffers a miscarriage.

Even as they are recovering from their loss, another tragedy strikes when Dave losses his job – the magazine he works for folds. Dave then takes up the first “proper” job that comes his way – that of “agony uncle” for a teen magazine. Under these circumstances a new “problem” walks into his life in the form of a teenage girl – Nicola. Nicola is Dave’s daughter from a one night fling he had had when on vacation years ago. Then on the story is fairly predictable.

This book apparently is meant to be funny, the blurb behind the book promises that. But I did not find it funny at all except maybe just a little smile here and a wide grin there – boy, am I more sedate than the British? And to think the story of this book is set in London!

The first half of the book is quite slow actually – it ambles along how Dave found Izzy and how Dave found his job with Louder (the magazine which folds) etc. And then there are these long descriptions about each of their friends and then their partners and just when you think you are done with the introductions it is time to introduce Izzy’s mother and then Dave’s parents.

I read this book a while ago because I wanted to read something ‘light’ after reading a series of very heavy stuff, hence I survived the sheer crap in the first half.  The second half gets interesting with all the emotional and morally right questions kicking in. How do I (Dave) break the news about Nicola to Izzy? I love Izzy but now I also love Nicola – what do I do? Is Nicola really my daughter like Fran (a colleague from the teen magazine) suspects? 

But all these questions turn out to be uncalled for really as the book ends on a disgustingly predictable note. The book is called “Dinner for Two” because Dave is either dining with Izzy or Nicola or once in a while with Fran.

The one “joke” I would like to point out is when among the two couple friends of Dave & Izzy, Dave finds out that the guy from one couple is secretly dating the girl from the other couple – serious lack of imagination, wouldn’t you agree?

Seriously, don’t expect any surprises in this book; better yet don’t waste your time on this book, you won’t miss anything you don’t know already.

Verdict: Miserable

Rating: 0/5 

Breaking Dawn : Stefanie Meyer

                                                   Image Credit : Fantastic Fiction

“...perfect piece of our forever”. Thus ends the last of the four part Twilight Saga series penned by Stephanie Meyer. I hate good byes... have always hated them. I don’t like saying goodbyes to even books. And so it was I had to reluctantly put the last book down so I could write this review and after that start off another exciting journey with another book.

Breaking Dawn starts with an elaborate wedding of Bella and Edward, their romantic honeymoon escapade on an island which is supposedly a gift by Carlisle (Edward’s vampire father) to Esme (Edward’s vampire mother) and aptly names Isle Esme. And before Bella is turned into a vampire herself and forever frozen at age 18, she gets pregnant with a mutant child who is half human and half vampire. The child grows at a furiously fast pace and within a few weeks (not months) she delivers this strange child with special abilities.

The child named Renesmee prefers to drink blood (the stored variety available in hospitals) rather than milk. This should typically gross us out. But with Stephenie’s remarkable penmanship it neither feel out of place nor gross.

Due to complications during Renesmee’s birth Bella almost dies, but thanks to Edward, he turns her into a vampire and thus she is saved – kept alive for all intents and purposes.

There is a lot of emotional pull in the book – Bella’s motherly feeling towards her daughter (who is still human and so a possible food material) and her love for her father who comes visting (who is also now food material because he is still human). Add to this, the fact that Jacob has “imprinted” Renesmee during Bella’s three day process of conversion to a vampire. Imprinting is a process where a male wolf marks his partner for like. So now although Bella has a daughter, her days with her is numbered, thanks to Renesmee still continuing to grow at a fast pace - AND she now has to accept her best friend as her son in law. The constant eddy of these convoluted emotions makes for an interesting read.

And interesting point to note here is – Stephanie Meyer very cleverly makes sure to keep the concept of “Family” whole and complete even within the Vampire-Human love story. And since Bella is the protagonist of this novel at the end of the series she comes across as the most powerful vampire present – even more powerful than the vampire royalty of Volturi. Complications do arise between the Volturi and the Cullen family, however it is the women (Alice and Bella mostly) who save the day instead of the men. By the end of this book – Edward does not have anything much to do except love Bella and Renesmee and take care of them. Although after the ‘complication’ and its resolution, I doubt Bella needs any looking after.

Did I like the book? Yes, I did for several reasons, one of them being the feminist aspect where the women have more power than the men around them not to manipulate the men but to find sensible resolutions to problems in life - but then again that’s just me. If you are the type who needs a closure, then read this book. If not, you can skip it, you shan’t lose much.

Verdict: Readable although heavy on emotions bordering on melodrama

Rating: 3/5 (much better than the earlier Eclipse)

Small Island : Andrea Levy

                                           Image Credit : JamaicaTravel&Culture
This will be my last review on this blog before I embark on a long-overdue, much-needed vacation. Trying to go on vacation itself has been so stressful I wonder if Laos will really be the panacea I am hoping it would be. A book will come along with me, of course, but before Laos, I went to Jamaica and England. Through Andrea Levy's marvelously readable Small Island. I had started reading this book last year, then found the story a bit dragging and had abandoned it. I picked it up again. Small Island just had too many rave reviews going for it, and I know how a mood can change a book, so I gave it a second coming.

The result was that I had to re-read 195 pages all over again as I had almost completely forgotten the story. I am glad I did. Andrea Levy is a masterful storyteller - I was gasping in awe at her skill with words. Who else can write in the voice of a Jamaican man, a Jamaican woman, a British woman, and a British man? And not make the reader feel like any is out of place? Only a special talent can speak so many voices so well. Small Island is told through the voices of Gilbert Joseph, a Jamaican trying to make his way in post-1940s London, Hortense, his wife, a fellow Jamaican, Queenie, a white Englishwoman and her husband, Bernard. At the heart of it, Levy tries to portray the extreme racism prevalent in the London of those times - darkie, nigger,  coon, coolie - were pretty common words, and the difficulties that immigrants faced in hostile society. Lingering in the backdrop but becoming a major part of it is World War II. Both Gilbert and Bernard serve in that great War and it has contrasting effects on both of them. And lest I forget, Small Island is also a love story. Not an overt Nicholas Sparks love story, but a gentle, touching rendering of love as most people know it - not a Bollywood version of it.

There were complex issues at stake here - but one of the most important themes to emerge from the novel was the relationship between Britain and her colonies. Or rather, former colonies. I found myself chuckling over many of the passages in the book that amplified this relationship. And it is so true - we studied more about British history, geography, and its culture than we did our own. As Gilbert wonders in the novel, every student in Jamaica could point out Britain on a map with his eyes closed. But ask an Englishman where Jamaica is? "Jamaica? Oh, isn't that in Africa?". Of all the characters, I think I found Bernard the most boring. It was his narrative that I was not really interested in. And the Japs in India? I am not sure but apart from Kohima and Imphal, the War did not penetrate the consciousness of most Indians then, although as subjects of Her Majesty, Indians were fighting alongside the British against the Japanese. But well, Andrea Levy must have done her research well, so it is just my memory at fault, perhaps.

I have one genuine grouse though - the ending! I wished that Hortense would know whose baby it was! It seemed unfair to the reader to be left wondering! In the end, Small Island is a wonderful read. Truly deserved all the awards it won.

Verdict : A brilliant artist at work. 


Rating: 4/5

Small Island was made into a BBC series, the preview of which you can watch here:

Eclipse : Stefanie Meyer

                                                     Image Credit : CMCSS
“Eclipse”, the third novel in the Twilight Saga series by Stephanie Meyer is sort of disappointing. After the surprisingly fresh “Twilight” and a racy "New Moon", the third book meanders through everyday conversations and everyday activities like having vampires around were banal everyday stuff.

The story moves on predictable lines with Bella (an ordinary human) and Edward (a vampire) further strengthening their love for each other after being separated for such a long while in the previous book. With Jacob Black (a werewolf) also making it clear to Bella that he too is in love with her, the story all but promises to be the typical triangular love story. To spice things up further, add a tinge of jealousy Edward feels towards Jacob because Bella still chooses to spend some time with her best friend (Jacob). At least initially so, until he gets over it and allows Bella to meet Jacob as often as she wants, even going to the extent of dropping her and picking her up between the werewolf and Vampire territory. Obviously so, because between the two Edward has to appear nobler if he has to win Bella... after all the best man gets to marry Bella - the protagonist of this story.

The few, again predictable, twists in the story are - how Victoria, the mate of James killed in the earlier book, attacks Bella with her troop of new-born vampires, and how they easily overcome that obstacle. And how Edward and Bella accidentally break the news that they are going to be married soon to Jacob. This of course terribly upsets Jacob as he was under the impression that he still had a chance to win Bella over; and so towards the end of the book the triangular love story is resolved and we readers know for sure which way the story is going.

But what is “not” predictable in this book is Bella extracting a promise from Edward that he will not be separated from her ever – even to fight the war of newborns-Victoria alliance versus the Cullen Vampires and werewolf alliance. How can a woman ask her man to be safe with her when his entire family is out fighting a battle to save her life? Of course this makes Bella feel guilty but she never gives in and ask Edward to fight along with his brothers and sisters. I just could not get this at all. Maybe it is the Indian social conditioning, the Indian psyche or just a woman thing, I don’t know. But it felt ridiculous with Edward Bella and for most parts even Jacob camping out high in the woods far away from the war going down below at the foot of the mountains. However, the saving grace was that although they were trying to keep away from war, war does find them in the form of Victoria correctly guessing that Bella is well hidden and surely Edward is with her.

And the other non-predictable thing for me in this book is Bella realizing she is in love with Jacob as well but also realizing that her love for Edward is far more than Jacob. I most definitely cannot connect to this part of the book. This made me wonder – what may have happened if Bella had met Jacob first under romantic circumstances AND when he had already morphed into a werewolf? Would she be more in love with her Jake than Edward? You see, this why Edward had to understand and get over his jealousy to be the better man among them...

Anyways, to answer the big question – Did I like the book? No, not really. But then it is no fun jumping to the fourth and final book without knowing what happened in the third book, right? So I read it... I am hoping the next book will be better as it is the finale of this saga. Also, now that Bella has agreed to marry Edward, I wonder what is lined up in the next book “Breaking Dawn”.

Oh, one other clever thing Stephanie Meyer does in this book is, she ends the book with an Epilogue from Jacob’s point of view. All along, the entire story is told from Bella’s point of view so it was a welcome change to see the story from another angle. Does this continue in the next
book? Wait till I read and tell you.

Verdict: Read it if you are planning on completing the series

Rating: 2/5

The Blue Star : Tony Earley

                                         Image Credit : The Blue Star
This was a last-minute purchase at the bookstore. I was drawn to the story that the jacket promised, and little did I know that the Blue Star is a sequel to Tony Earley's debut novel, Jim the Boy. Not that it mattered because the Blue Star is a quaint, old-worldly, gentle story that almost makes you wish that it is not 2010 but 1941 - a time when the world was confused yet stoic amidst the ravages of war, and love really held meaning for a 17-year old boy. After having taught 1000s of kids, I, at least, didn't come across many of them who loved their girl as passionately as Jim Glass does in the Blue Star. Not in the 21st century, certainly. I see more of today's kids near my workplace - with a cigarette in their hands, in their pockets, in their wallets, rolling marijuana like it was the next health supplement, and using the most wonderfully eloquent language to describe everything from their parents to their car to their classes to their teachers. That language is so eloquent it has only four words. Where do we find Jim Glass or Chrissie Steppe or Norma these days? Sigh.

Critics have variously described this as young-adult fiction, but I think an adult would just as well read it and love it. Jim is an evolving character and Tony Earley captures his teenage confusion perfectly. What I loved was Jim's shy adoration of Chrissie - their struggles to be together - and the strong ties that bind everyone together in a small town. The dialogue was witty at times, sentimental at other times, but always easy to read and fluid. The story moved along at quick pace, and I always found myself wanting to reach the next page. Does Jim win over Chrissie? Or will Norma come in the picture? What about the three uncles? What about the looming presence of the War? All these and more kept me turning page after page. When I reached the end, I looked at the page almost in disbelief and asked Earley, "What? No more?" Please, Mr Earley write more about Jim Glass. And I certainly am going to pick up Jim the Boy.

Don't miss this book if you are in the mood for something light, fun, sweet yet mature. It promises serious reading without making you feel you exercised your mind to hell.

Verdict : Lovable ol' book. 


Rating : 4/5



PS: Before anyone attacks me over my comments on today's kids, let it be known that I do not brand all of them as evil or bad or unworthy or whatever label you can tag them with. My comment has purely to do with personal observation formed on personal experience, and will only remain subjective at that, and is never intended to be a generalization.

And I can't resist - this has nothing to with a book but this wedding dance was one of the most-watched videos on You Tube last year. It is adorable, cute and really makes a wedding seem real fun!

The Year of Magical Thinking : Joan Didion

                                          Image Credit: Podularity
It's funny how you come across a book that you think means something, but turns out to be entirely different. I wanted the Year of Magical Thinking because I honestly thought it reveals through the heartrending nature of grief, the miraculous power of thought. And despite a fair number of dissatisfied readers on Shelfari, I was surprised to find nary a review that criticized the book.

Joan Didion wrote this memoir after the death of her husband, fellow writer, John Dunne. His death at the dinner table marked the beginning of what was to be a stressful year for Joan. At the same time her husband slumped over the dinner table, dying as a result of a massive cardiac arrest, her daughter lay in a hospital bed, in a medically induced coma after suffering a septic shock. Joan chronicles her thoughts as they grapple to cope with the way life can just be turned upside down and inside down in an instant. An instant, an instant is all it takes to change life as we know it, Joan keeps reminding.

Now, death is not a easy subject to write on. And certainly not the death of a loved one. Joan deserves credit for eloquently expressing in candid terms, her despair, shock and helplessness at the death of her husband. But for me, I found the book un-elevating. True, death is not meant to elevate but I found myself struggling with Joan's stream of consciousness technique, and her frequent trips to the past. There were too many dates, and too many characters who were just names, and nothing more. You were dragged back, there, and here all in one sentence, and it left me just disoriented. I was, simply, not interested. The book could have done less with memories about trips to Honolulu and more with the 'magical thinking' that we were promised. But alas! I could not find the magic. If thinking about the past is magical, then we are all leading very magical lives. Of course, I understand that losing a loved one usually throws you into memories you shared with that person - my grouse here has nothing to do with Didion's way of dealing with her grief - my grouse is only to do with the way such grief was expressed in this book. Perhaps it is the written matter but it left me cold.

Ultimately, I believe that because Joan Didion is such an acclaimed writer, and the topic she has chosen is so obviously sensitive, the Year of Magical Thinking escaped with far less criticism than it deserved.

Verdict : Fails to move me despite the heaviness of the topic. 


Rating : 2/5

White Teeth : Zadie Smith

                                                        Image Credit: Blogs.NYU
Expectations and the burdens it places on us! Zadie Smith's White Teeth was among the most talked about novels of the past decade. Although I don't care much if a book is popular or not before I decide to read it, I made the erroneous judgement that White Teeth simply must be superb considering the rave critical reviews it received. Ouch ouch ouch. I could have as well have hit my head with a hammer; that would have been so much more pleasing than reading this monstrous over-hyped tome.

White Teeth - how do I describe it? Perhaps Zadie Smith is trying to portray the immigrant experience, perhaps she is trying to portray a few London families, their children, and the angst of living amidst changing times. I have no idea what she was trying, honestly. The book begins promisingly enough with Archie slumped over his car steering wheel, hoping to whoosh into the gentle heavens. He, unfortunately, does not die. Unfortunate, for the poor reader, that is. He bumps into Clara, a Jamaican who had her teeth smashed out in an accident when she was riding with her boyfriend, Ryan. Well, they get married. Archie's best friend is Samad Iqbal. They go back a long way when they were manning a tank in Europe during World War 2. Samad marries Alsana - and incidentally, Samad is Bangladeshi. Even recounting all this hurts!

As the book rambles, we are taken into Clara's childhood, her extremely religious mother, Hortense, and her experiences with Ryan, who turns even more religious than Hortense. Just as I think maybe we get to know more about Clara, poof, her story disappears, and we are then taken through Samad's brief affair, the description of which, unfortunately, was not brief, and then the battles with the children begin. Samad has twins - Millat and Magid. Archie has a daughter, Irie. Everyone loves Millat, and I just could not fathom why. Millat is a doped out, messed up guy who cares for none, and yet you are apparently meant to like him. Magid is sent to Bangladesh for some inane reason. And oh gosh,  by now I was losing it.

This was Zadie Smith's first novel. I can't even begin to explain where I started to hate this. Was it when Smith brings in the Chalfens? Perhaps. But no, I think I hated this novel before it really began. And then, it never ended. But it never began for it to end. Tired of my review? You can understand exactly how tired I was of this novel. I am not the first. Anita Nair had enough of it here and so did Dan Schnieder, who called it a 'horrendously bad book.' I so agree with him. Rambling, confused, bloated plot with characters you can't care about - it was just a nightmare. I wanted to throw it away somewhere in the middle but then I have a friend who believes that bad books should not be abandoned - and each time I thought of dumping White Teeth, then I would be reminded of her look of utter disappointment, and the conversation that would follow. "Oh, here you go again, not giving a book time, adding one more to your to-be-read-sometime shelf, sigh, such a waste," and I would remember that, and pull through yet another torturous page. But really though : life is so short, time is so little, should we really waste it all by sloughing through such books simply because they MUST be read?

Verdict : HORRENDOUS


Rating : 0/5

New Moon

                                                  Image Credit : Knowledgeoman

I did not like it, I did not like it at all! True lovers should never be separated. (Err – yes this is the romantic me speaking). The eternal couple Edward and Bella from Twilight are separated for such a long time in this second instalment of Stephanie Meyer’s the Twilight Saga – New Moon – that I had half a mind to throw the book out of the window. Thankfully, I turned the page and Edward was safely returned to the story and the romantic me was quieted.

When you are in love, the love of your life becomes a Greek god or goddess. You end up thinking “ohh s/he is too good for me. Am I really worthy of him/her?” and with this little seed of doubt complications begin.

In “New Moon” Bella thinks Edward is too perfect for her. He is good at “everything”. He is beautiful, strong, fast, and musically talented and as if these weren’t enough he is immortal! Edward on the other hand, thinks Bella is too good for him. She is human, compassionate, fragile the very things that attracted him towards her. And he – he is such a monster! A bloodsucking one at that. Yes there is the option of making her like him, with just a tiny bite she could become like him – a vampire. And she has been begging him to make her like him too.

But Edward has major concerns with that, he does not want her to be eternally damned like him. He also does not see himself living beyond her lifetime. He intended to go “irritate” the Volturi – the vampire royalty who have the ability to kill other vampires.

Then again, Bella once wakes up from a horrific dream where she sees herself as a very old woman and Edward next to her is still 17. She just can’t reconcile herself to this image which may be a reality one day.

With all these thoughts churning in their minds how can there not be misunderstandings? Due to the slightest of misunderstandings, Edward breaks up with Bella thinking it is the best for her. Thinking she will get over him and be able to get on with her “human” life. Ah, but what does he know of the unbearable ache a lost love leaves behind?

Love is strong but it can be so fragile also. They say:

"Love is always patient and kind. It is never jealous. Love is never boastful or conceited. It is never rude or selfish. It does not take offense and is not resentful."

The very thing that ennobles love pains the human heart so much that it is worse than physical pain. Of course this does not mean that Edward’s pain of leaving Bella is any less just because he is a vampire.

“New Moon” is all about this separation of Edward and Bella so in love with each other. How they try to survive the separation and how they come right back to each other.

How can anyone ever forget one’s first love? No matter how many distractions come along the way, that first true love will always be special. However, unlike us everyday people who bury the wounds of our first love deep within our hearts, and move on to give a sense of normalcy for people around us; Edward and Bella with a little help from lady luck find each other again.

The beauty of this book is the very real descriptions of the aching heart – a lover’s lonely hell. It tends to drag a bit at a few places but yet readable. Bella feeling guilty for getting close to Jacob when Edward is gone, her feeling as if she were violating the very memories of the pure love she has for Edward – are beautifully described by Stephanie Meyer.

On the story front – Jacob Black, her best friend from the Indian reservation, a Quileute has turned into a werewolf – the arch enemy of Vampires. And at Forks, there are clearly drawn boundaries between vampire territory and werewolf territory based on an ancient treaty between them. Bella now finds herself straddling between these two worlds of werewolf and vampire. And also about the implications her decision to be a vampire will have not just on her life, but the larger group of vampires and werewolves around her. Until now, she has been friends with and in the good books of both parties but all that is about to change now (and this is what I am eager to find out from the next book “Eclipse”).

I would like to end with my favorite thoughts of Bella from this book. This is when she has just discovered Jacob Black is now capable of turning into a werewolf when he chooses:

What kind of a place was this? Could a world really exist where ancient legends went wandering around the borders of tiny insignificant towns facing down mythical monsters? Did this mean ever impossible fairy tale was grounded somewhere in absolute truth?

Verdict: If you read Twilight, don’t you want to read through?

Rating: 3/5

Twilight - Stephanie Meyer

Image Credit: Aria booksellers

Thank you Stephanie Meyer for reintroducing me to the art of reading. “Reading” the way it is meant to be, books should not be read it should devoured. Reading “Twilight” was like becoming a younger version of me. The version of me who – in the late afternoon after school when all the kids in the neighbourhood would be out playing, I would be looking for a good place to hide and finish reading a book. It is a wonderful feeling to be lost within a book, the kind of reading where you drop everything food, sleep etc, ignore the people around you and read, just read for the sheer joy of reading. That is what Stephanie Meyer’s first book in the Twilight Saga series did to me – I just could not put the book down.

Twilight does not convey a way of life nor a strong life changing or life affirming message which I usually find in some of the more serious books I have read. In fact Twilight is more like reading a Mills & Boons, the silent strong man falling in love with a fragile girl – except in Twilight you just need to replace the silent strong man with an incredibly strong and an incredibly beautiful vampire – Edward Cullen. And the fragile girl would be Bella Swan, a beautiful, uncoordinated (yes she is stumbling all the time) delicate 17 year old but with strong convictions and intuition.

The story follows the usual pattern of a typical love story – boy meets girl, boy hates girl - in this case obviously because she is his food; but eventually falls in love with that same girl. And the usual complications follow which tests their love for each other and how they come out the better from this experience.

Everything is typical in this book – Bella’s fears that she might do something inadvertently to awaken the monster within Edward, or her fear that this is all a dream and he will just disappear one morning. Or when invited to visit the Cullens’ her fear that she will not be accepted (instead of fearing that she may be eaten) – all of it, is what a typical teenager would fear for.

But what makes this book different say from a typical M&B is the sheer innocence of love, the kind of love that only teenagers are capable of. With stars in their eyes and their rose tinted glasses firmly in place they strongly believe everything will work out just fine. So what if your boyfriend happens to be a vampire and a part of him thirsts for your blood? He will find the will to overcome that thirst because Love can win over anything, even a bloodthirsty monster, right?

Edward, also a 17 year old (who has stayed a 17 year old for the past 90 years – go figure) has his own fears. As he tells Bella:

“I could kill you quite easily Bella, simply by accident ... I could reach out meaning to touch your face, and crush your skull by mistake...”

Poor Edward has to mind his manners all the time when he is around Bella which provides for some comic relief amidst all this hopeless romance.

Strange isn’t it, that it is these young beautiful people who bring joy and hope to humanity with their perfect bodies (you’ll never be as slim and perfect as you were when a teenager) and pure love are also the ones who bring fear - ask any parent of a teenage kid! They always worry that their kid will fall in love with the wrong type – I’d like to say one thing for such parents – relax s/he is not a vampire at least.

According to psychoanalysts, the reason why this book and the movie based on this book with the same name became so enormously popular is apparently because the vampire’s bite stands in for penetration. Teenage girls love the romance but it is the actual act of penetration that they fear the most. It is in this sense that Twilight is the perfect fairy tale for teenage girls. And of course it is popular among the boys because they see a perfect macho representation of themselves in Edward – the irresistible male albeit a vampire.

Did I like the book? This question requires clarification. The practical me loathed the book for its fantastical and impossible story but the hopeless romantic me fell for it hook line and sinker. Can’t wait to get started on “New Moon”, second book in this four part series.


Verdict: Hopeless romantic - go pick up the entire series, NOW!
Practical person – must read to know romance for what it truly is!

Rating: 4/5

A Far Country: Daniel Mason

Image Credit: Book cover from Randomhouse and below Daniel Mason from NY Times

“Once, towards the end of winter, Isabel saw a little boy wandering on the dusty road above town. He was covered with long glass-like hair, and he chirped when she approached him. A week later, she fell sick.”

This is one of the passages that remained in my mind long after I finished reading “A Far Country” by Daniel Mason. Once in a while you come across a book, which you can’t put down because the writing is so breathtaking. This is one such. I was hooked as soon as I began reading Isabel’s story set in a village, “they would one day name Saint Michael in the Cane.” The village lives on agriculture particularly sugarcane and Isabel’s father is a cane cutter. She is closest to her brother Isaias who is gentle and protective. One day, Isaias goes away to the city and does not return and there begins Isabel’s quest for her brother.

A Far Country has two clear parts – the first set in the village and the second in the city. Mason does not name the country where the city is located and this makes it reach out more to the reader. The passages of poverty and the descriptions of the lives of the migrants could be set anywhere from South America to South East Asia. However, the names of some of the villages and people gave me an impression that it favored South America more.

Isabel’s courage and determination to find Isaias takes her to the city where she lives with her cousin Manuela. This is where Isaias was last heard of to be working. But this is also where the book begins to wind down a bit in terms of the story. Granted Isabel’s aim is to find her brother but I felt a bit dragged down reading her exploits in the city. “Mostly,” though, “she lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling, watching the room fill with light and later with darkness.” That becomes the essence of the second half, which becomes as aimless as Isabel. The story also becomes a bit too abstract and there were some things I could not fathom.

However, the writing never swerves from its delicious vein. Although Mason is very young his prose shows an elevated thinking. Mason writes in such haunting and mesmerizing prose that I had to read some of the passages again. A Far Country is a surreal and lush mix of magical realism and wonder juxtaposed with some very real people. Migrants find a voice through his book and their hardships that include fighting off street gangs are well portrayed. Manuela points out after an especially trying day, “I know it looks easy, with the electricity and the shops and the wells, but in many ways it’s harder than Saint Michael. At least in Saint Michael you know which way your trouble’s coming from… In Saint Michael most of the killing’s done by God.”

Ultimately, we come to know of Isaias though I don’t want to reveal anything more of that. I would love to quote one more of my favorite passages here but that would give away the ending so I have to restrain myself. Instead I will just end with my most favorite passage:

“Is there any other answer? Any other explanation than my awe of you: a slope of cursive in a church register, a crackling of twigs beside me, a silent companion who cast me into the world by your belief that I was anything other than what I really am… That you are the single person in the world who makes me more than what everyone else sees: that you created me, that in your mind lives the person I wish to be.”


Verdict: If these passages have not made up your mind then nothing will!

Rating: 4/5

Interesting words learnt: Charqui, Manioc, Bromeliad, Verdigris

N.P. : Banana Yoshimoto

                                       Image Credit : Ulike
I love that name - Banana Yoshimoto. It makes me always wonder what the author may be like. What stories would she write? I didn't pick up the most famous of Banana Yoshimoto's books - Kitchen - as my foray into one of Japan's most famous writers but instead drew the quixotically name N.P. What is N.P.? Well, it is after an old song called "North Point." It is also the title of a short story by a noted Japanese writer Sarao Takase. This is all from the book, not what I am researching! And, incidentally, Banana Yoshimoto is just her pen name - her real name is Yoshimoto Mahoko.

Takase commits suicide shortly after writing this book and from the beginning of N.P., we are led into an atmosphere of sad melancholy (can melancholy be anything but sad, you may well ask? But melancholy of the deepest sort may be well be called so, don't you agree?). It is at a party with her boyfriend Shouji that the narrator, Kazami, meets Takase's twin children - Otohiko and Saki. Shouji is attempting a Japanese translation of Takase's short story, N.P., and Otohiko and Saki are his friends, helping in that endeavor. Fast forward a few years later - Shouji has committed suicide, and Kazami, a translator herself, meets Otohiko by chance. That leads on to Saki, and finally to the most troubled, disturbing character in the book - Sui. Now, it gets interesting. Sui is the daughter of Takase - her mother was one of the prostitutes who used to service him. And Sui was also Takase's lover. The knowledge that they were father and daughter perhaps prompted the writer to kill himself. But Sui is now also Otohiko - her step-brother's current girlfriend. They love each other - but is love enough if it has to cross society's strict boundaries of incest?

Into this web of passion, intrigue, drama and love is Kazami thrust into for a summer. She becomes friends with Saki but is irrepressibly drawn to Sui. You get the feeling as the novel progresses that they are all heading towards a doomsday type of disaster. There is no happiness for anyone here. No redemption, or so you feel, till the end when the novel allows in a faint glimpse of hope and laughter at this crazy ball called life we roll on. Yoshimoto herself says that in this novel she tried to present themes ranging from "lesbianism, love within the family, telepathy and empathy, the occult, religion, and so on." I would add "eccentric characters" to Banana's own description. None of the characters here are 'normal' as we define that term by. But that is precisely what made this novel engaging to me. Cast into a slithering mass of emotions, the reader only emerges a bit breathless in the end. Yet, happy really that " everything that had happened was shockingly beautiful, enough to make you crazy." I would not recommend this book for everyone. You need to be slightly crazed yourself to move through it, I feel. But I? I liked it well enough as it mows through the filth of human hypocrisy.

My favorite quote:

Sometimes the presence of a third person smooths everything out, and gives you the illusion that everything is as it should be.

And that is something I have felt often.

Verdict : Challenging Read.


Rating : 4/5

The Sound of the Mountain: Yasunari Kawabata

Image Credit: Bookrags

Soulmuser has already made a great beginning by reading a book in half an hour in a shop!

My last book of 2009 was Yasunari Kawabata’s “The Sound of the Mountain,” a gentle portrait of aging in a Japanese family. Kawabata tells the story of Shingo, a businessman who is in the process of aging and discovers tell tale signs everyday. He is ably supported by the cast of characters that include his philandering son Shuichi, his quiet daughter-in-law Kikuko and his wife Yasuko.

Kawabata artfully constructs a delicate novel filled with lush imagery that enhance aspects of the character.

“In Kamakura in the season of the cherry blossoms, the seven-hundredth anniversary of the Buddhist capital was being celebrated. The temple bell rang all through the day. There were times when Shingo could not hear it. Kikuko heard it, apparently, even when she was working or talking; but Shingo had to listen carefully.”

Aging is the prominent theme in the novel and very poignantly Kawabata portrays Shingo’s growing frustration at not being able to sleep, at his increasing forgetfulness and deafness. He finds a gentle companion in his daughter-in-law Kikuko with whom he is more comfortable talking than his wife. His feelings towards her swing between tenderness and romantic love, which he finds embarrassing. Kawabata has handled it so masterfully that it never becomes distasteful to read about the sensual thoughts of a 60 year old. Shingo fantasizes about his daughter-in-law, has no passion left for his wife, reprises memories of longing for Yasuko’s sister, lives with disappointment in his children and becomes frustrated with the mounting signs of senescence.

My only gripe is that it moved a bit slowly but that is more than fine considering that the characters, landscapes and themes in the book are so finely woven together making some wonderful reading. Kawabata is the first Japanese writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature and I would say he richly deserved it.

Verdict: Yes, read it.

Rating: 4/5

The Snow Goose and A Small Miracle : Paul Gellico

                                   Image Credit : Fantastic Fiction
I read Paul Gallico's wonderful little novella at the bookshop itself. When I wrote in my earlier post about wanting to read at least 50 books this year, I didn't expect to finish one on the very first day of the new year! But then, if this is how this year is gonna be, I like it already!

The Snow Goose and a Small Miracle are two short stories offered under one as a novella. The price of these 78 pages was Rs345. Too much to pay, I thought! So, I pulled a chair and finished reading it in less than half an hour. And lovely reading it was too! Paul Gallico received much acclaim for the Snow Goose, which was the sort of story that you would be really hard-hearted not to cry. Did I cry? No, I didn't, and that says a lot about me, doesn't it? But the Snow Goose tells in simple language the story of loneliness and how it can be redeemed by friendship.

Philip Rhayader is a painter, a lover of birds, a hunchback who fears that humanity would never accept his deformity, and leads a life of seclusion by the sea. Raising his beloved birds, he opens his door one day to find a small girl holding an injured bird. That is a Canada Goose, flown all the way from Canada to Essex. And here is where the magic begins. Rhayader, the girl and the goose form a golden friendship - each helping the other in ways too deep to illustrate in words. And the ending of this tale is what brings tears. Gallico packs sentiment, sweet melancholic sentiment into the end - and you are left with the feeling of incomparable isolation.

A Small Miracle was more simplistic - but I loved it, nevertheless. At the root of this story too is faith and love. Such love. Pepino, an orphan is ready to do anything to nurse his donkey back to health. And Pepino believes in one thing : never take no for an answer. Armed with that, and the fervent belief that St Francis' tomb would cure his beloved donkey, Pepino embarks on a mission that takes him all the way to the Pope himself in Rome, and proves in the end that great love can create great faith that can work not just small miracles, but big ones too. Touching, heartwarming, and beautiful.

Both the Snow Goose and a Small Miracle are often made available as an abridged childrens classic. If you are going to read this one, make sure you pick up the full-length one.

Verdict : Touching. Interesting start to the year!

Rating : 3/5