Review: Season of Crimson Blossoms by Abubakar Adam Ibrahim

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are some stories that are doomed from the beginning. And I knew it to be true for this book. I think that is the only reason i took a little more time with the book.

The book is about the affair of an old divorcee Binta and the very young local thug Reza. It is a story of how this one relationship affects their family and their own life. The writing style of the book is very straightforward. There is no fancy poetic feel to the prose but it is rather rustic and it works best to add charm to the setting. The characters are so much detailed and engaging. Though the story moves a little back and forth , it never loses interest. The book shows the history of the city and the political landscape as it progresses with the personal stories about marriages, courtship and the web of extended families.

Such a brilliant story telling and absolutely heart breaking end. I really wanted it to end differently for Binta and I will remember her story for a long time.

View all my reviews

All Signs Lead Back to You by Aniesha Brahma

Every time Aniesha writes a book / story , I feel so happy knowing that it will heal my soul whenever I decide to read it. Of course , getting a review copy is one of the pleasures that keeps this blog alive. I have read all of her books and one thing that shines about her writing is the way she makes everyday stories special. Not just for the characters, but also for the readers.

It takes so much brilliance to show that there is a love story at every where we look with love and care for the feelings. And if you think teenage romance is so different from the way we love at later age , you do not know love at all. Be at any age , people make stupid mistakes and some brave choices every time there is heart involved. This is a tale of friends and lovers and how we switch between two , 'cause friends can be soulmates too !

Afraid of the future and being hurt , Diya Rai breaks up with Ashwin , hurting him not for the loss of love but more for the friendship that they shared. For both Diya and Ashwin , they were the most suitable person in the whole world - opposites and yet inseparable for the whole time they were together in school. Diya, the sensitive girl with a hurtful past found strength in Ashwin and later in Nina , her new best friend in college. Nina later becomes her strength and guide when Ashwin and Diya meet again , but refuse to have anything to do with each other's life.

I liked Nina and felt Diya was little too stupid for my taste. Ashwin is adorable and charming most times but it is the other two characters that deserved more than being caricatures in this drama.

Overall , A lovely sweet read. Do give it a chance to heal you when you feel low some day.

My rating : 3.5/5

Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan

Some stories wrap you , trap you in them so hard that no matter how hard you find it to accept the direction it flows, you let it be. There is tragedy ,sorrow and harsh times outlined in each chapter of the book but what it details best is how it impacts real people, people who leave their footprints in the history of a place , a mention in stories passed to generations. I have read this one with a pace and interest unmatched for many books in this genre. This lengthy novel begins with most unusual birth and death - the famous prostitute Dewi Ayu dies two weeks after giving birth to her fourth daughter Beauty. The story then goes back in time since Dewi was a teenage girl,introducing the culture, history and life of Indonesia in the backdrop of World War. We meet the men in Dewi's life , her daughters and the men in their lives, some overlapping multiple generations. Dewi later returns from the grave to know her daughter Beauty and of lives she had left behind. Here the book actually became most interesting for me, mixing paranormal in the already epic tale. I was turned off a little with all the incest and rape but the writing and the story did not let me leave this at any time. The writer has done a good job to make it a part of the whole saga and not some unwanted diversion from the main story. The people portrayed here have basic instinct of survival and possession, of business and lust, of love and the hurt in the path seeking it.

My rating : 4/5

A Scandalous Proposition by M.M.George

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A SCANDALOUS PROPOSITION: General Fiction, YA, Indirom

AUTHOR (Bio from Indireads): M.M. George is the pen name of Mimmy Jain. Mimmy lives in London and edits stuffy academic books and journals when she is not dreaming up frothy romances. Mimmy has been writing as far back as she can remember. She won her first national award for writing in the International Year of the Child, at the tender age of 14.

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She had her first romantic story published around the same time in a national magazine. For many years, she wrote a humor column, which was published under various names in India Week, The Financial Express and National Review. As Mimmy Jain, she has been a mainstream Indian journalist for the last 27 years and has worked in senior positions at publications such as The Economic Times,The Times of India, The Financial Express and Mint.

BOOK(S): A Scandalous Proposition  is her debut e-novel.

SYNOPSIS:

When Ranbir Dewan offers to make small-town girl Mira Talwar his mistress for six months, she is shocked 

and refuses outright. But fate has other plans for them. Will the sensual attraction Ranbir and Mira share 

mature into something more substantial?

EXCERPT: 

She blushed and tried to bring her hand down, but her dupatta was caught in her earring. She pulled at it impatiently, but it refused to budge. She was just about to tear it away recklessly, when she heard the scrape of a chair and then felt his warm breath on her neck as a long finger extricated the flimsy material from the little bell in her ear. She closed her eyes to quell the thudding that started suddenly in her heart.

“You still haven’t learnt how to get yourself out of sticky situations, have you?” said a soft voice in her ear. She shivered suddenly as Ranbir caught hold of her hand, forcing her back against him, his fingers rubbing softly on the sensitive skin of her inner wrist. “These are the Dewans you are tangling with, Mira. Be very careful.”

MSM Speaks: Ah! After a long time, I read a book of this genre, Chick-lit that is. And let's just say "A Scandalous Proposition" is a fantastic mixture of Fifty Shades of Grey, Ekta Kapoor's Family Saga and some invisible background Hindi music. I mean this in a good way, don't be judgmental, you! It is a tiny package of handful of pages and works like a charm. 

Mira comes to New Delhi to find a job with her mother and younger sister, Reema and finds herself in a sticky position hard enough to extricate herself from. Unpredictably, she does find a way out of it, only to land in another hot boiling soup cooked by Mr. Ranbir Dewan - touted to be the hottest bachelor, who is also a heart breaker. But he cannot ignore Mira, the one who wears shimmering earrings and bangles that would irritate the hell out of him, but also fill his silence with music. He finds himself irresistibly attracted to her and despite her initial apprehensiveness and hostility, she reciprocates like dew drops, not in earnest. 

Not all is birds and bees with them though, mind you! They have very real issues to deal with, their sister and brother respectively who have got themselves into trouble, together. Now it is on these seemingly polar magnets to reconcile the situation and work their way around the scandalous proposition which Ranbir gives to Mira, who like any dignified woman, declined. But somewhere deep down her heart, she finds herself imagining the forbidden prospect. Ranbir's and Mira's journey beyond the physical attraction is worth a read. Totally mazedar read!!!!! MSM Recommends!! 

You can get the e-book here at Indireads

Boomtown, by Aditya Mukherjee

About the author:

Aditya Mukherjee, an alumnus of IIM Bangalore, works for a management consulting firm in Delhi. This is his debut novel.

Thoughts from cover and blurb:

It could be good, or it could be boring. It depends on how the narration is. The cover page design is very beautiful, and right on the idea (no pun intended) put forth by the blurb.

My thoughts on the book:

I’m a self-confessed foodie! I can’t cook to save my life possibly, but I like being in the kitchen, I like seeing food shows like Masterchef and I like imagining the aroma of the foods that I can only see on the screen! So this book, with a young chef in Jaaved trying to innovate on traditional recipes right in the prologue, got off to the right start as far as I’m concerned. You could almost imagine the scene, the effort that Jaaved was putting in, his nervousness and his care. You could feel his heart racing, wondering if he would be found out, and his heart in his mouth moment when the doors open asking for the chef who made the dish!

Enter Jacob James (JJ)! Plump, short and from a rich family, he finds the slight difference in Jaaved’s dish to the traditional recipe and his venture starts there. JJ would mostly not wow you with his character… he’s careless, reckless, unemotional to the extreme at times, but he’s determined. He’s determined to chase a goal, or a dream, or maybe it was just a spur of the moment idea, and open a chain of restaurants. But he can’t do it alone, and his first recruit is Jaaved, grandson of a famous hotelier.

He needs someone who can do the talking, the presentations, the (ermm…) work! He finds his old classmate Karthik Roy, who’s very recently been fired from his software company, and convinces him to join his team. Karthik is the sweet, silent, innocent fella who tries to, but can’t say no to JJ. Or maybe it’s just the convincing skills of JJ, whatever, I’ll leave that to you to figure out.

The last of the entrepreneurs is Sheetal, who already manages a successful restaurant and after thinking on JJ’s proposal for awhile, agrees to join the venture. She’s a single mom, hard working, very business minded and hard on the decisions. She’s also sweet to those people she cares about, and honest as well.

The novel is a light read. And it works, works really well I feel. Language is easy to follow, the narration makes it very easy to imagine and the characters are true to who they are supposed to be. I’m no entrepreneur, but this felt the real deal, because it doesn’t just start with an idea for a restaurant, and voila, they make their dreams come true in the next chapter. It had the essence of business. The rejection of their ideas, their decision to give their lives a backseat and start pursuing that dream, to begin somewhere so they can show the disbelievers they can reach somewhere, how they handle the politics in their venture, the difficulties in getting the right combination to success! Everything is there! There’s a little romance thrown in the works too, and it works because it doesn’t overwhelm the actual plot of the book. There’s a family drama too, with the society’s idea of what’s great as a career and what’s not playing a part. I enjoyed this very much, and I feel it was a brilliant debut. It goes into my favorites list and to-be-read-again bookshelf! Kudos!

I’m still wondering about the title though… why is this novel called Boomtown?!

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Rating: 4.75 stars!

Book details:
Title: Boomtown
Author: Aditya Mukherjee
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 978-81-291-2407-4
Publishers: Rupa Publishers
Price: INR. 295

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Reviewed by Leo

Shared with

1. First Reads Challenge at b00kr3vi3ws
2. Indian Quills Review Challenge at The Tales Pensieve

This was reviewed for Rupa Publishers, who I thank for the review copy. No other payment was taken for this review.

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Cough Syrup Surrealism by Tharun James Jimani

Sometimes, it just happens that a book appeals to you, not because of the plot or the blurb, but the title. Surrealism is a big concept in itself, that combined with a simple thing like cough syrup piqued my interest. The blurb of the book had me a little confused with the usage of the word depressive, but the idea of an imaginary friend and such definitely got my attention further and I felt it would be an interesting read, which it was.

What Tharun does is take some uncomfortable topics for Indian writers (atleast, they usually are) like sex and drugs and mix it with a family drama, which I am sure quite a few of us might relate to, with parental pressure and dreams and the emotional atyachar that happens. I think those emotions that one undergoes during that phase have been beautifully brought out. What also appealed to me was the philosophy that’s spread through the book, mostly coming from Mao or Paloma or Sania, and almost always directed at Charlie. Somehow, it just fit. Charlie’s confusion between emotions… is he in love, or is it just a crush, should he tell Paloma about it etc. also comes out nicely. Even the thoughts as he is under the influence of drugs also is done justice, that unsurity and memory lapses etc. are quite clear through the narration.

I think the timelines in the various Facebook statuses is confusing. Though innovative and reflective of the time and trends during that time, it didn’t work as well as it could have maybe. Another small error I could catch was that the couple watch Kal Ho Na Ho movie in the theater in 2006, whereas the movie released in late 2003, and it wouldn’t have been in theaters at that particular time. Sania’s facebook names are spelt differently in places (though that may not be an error per se) and I don’t know, trend or no, if kids added parents and aunts etc. to Gtalk and Facebook those days, especially when you are living a second life that the family might be unaware of. Didn't quite understand the ending either (like it was all a figment of Charlie's imagination or something. Not sure)

I think this is one of those books that few may like and few may not. I liked it for the most part, but it isn’t something I’d read completely again. Maybe just go to the philosophy, which was what appealed to me most. Overall, a decent debut, and I would read his future novels as well, when they come.

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My Rating: 7.25 on 10

Book Details:
Title: Cough Syrup Surrealism
Author: Tharun James Jimani
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 978-81-7234-452-8
Publishers: Fingerprint Publishing
Price: INR. 250

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Reviewed by Leo

Shared with First Reads Challenge at b00k r3vi3ws and Indian Quills Reading Challenge at The Tales Pensieve.

Reviewed for Fingerprint Publishing, to whom I offer thanks for the review copy

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There was no one at the Bus Stop by Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay

Thanks to prolific translator, Arunava Sinha, I am learning to be a Bengali all over again. Sinha has translated a number of books by some of the most famous names in contemporary Bengali literature. Thanks to him, 'probashi' (expat) Bengalis like me are getting to savour the wonderful literature Bengal has had to offer in the last few decades. I grew up hearing my mother wax eloquent about writers like Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay, Sunil Ganguly, Bani Basu, Sankar and others and they were always a world away... until now. Sinha's long list of translations include wildly popular novels, short stories, young adult fiction, and children's stories so far.  I also hear he's also translating some poetry. He has opened many wonderful doors to my mother tongue, one of which is this novella 'There was no one at the Bus Stop' by Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay.

In the middle of a fact-heavy sociological book that I'm dragging my feet, I needed to read something light. So I picked up the slimmest volume from my to-be-read pile of books on my flight to Goa. I didn't realise just how much weight the pages of a book can bear. Although I finished the book in less than two hours, 'Bus Stop' was anything but light.

Set in Kolkata the 70s, 'Bus Stop' is a simple enough story of an extra marital affair. However, it is the sea of emotions that the protagonists experience that drowns you with them. Debashish, a impudent man in his middle age is in love with Trina, a woman he knew as a girl. Freshly widowed, Debashish feels little or nothing about his late wife, but his young son, Robi has many of his heartstrings. Trina is ageing gracefully, with two adolescent children and a husband who cares more about his garden than his wife. A chance meeting brings them together and sows the seeds of desire in Debashish's heart. A melancholy Trina, squarely ignored by her family, gets drawn to him too.

The plot unfolds in a single day marked by two momentous decisions taken by the protagonists. Debashish is compelled to leave his son with his sister for a 'better' upbringing, while Trina, spurned by her family, leaves her home and goes to Debashish, hoping to reach some conclusion about her life. However, they are unable to savour their togetherness plagued by guilt and wrongdoing. It's a love that never will be.

 It is in portraying these evocative feelings that Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay's genius lies. The author's language is shorn of frills, yet amazingly lyrical in places. There are clever suggestions and plenty to read between the lines. There is none of the melodrama to express overwhelming emotions, nor explicitness to express intimacy that we see so much of in today's 'literature'. Understated, yet hard-hitting are adjectives that best describe the author's style. All I can say is that I flew through the book with lumps in my throat. Read it for Bangla literature. Read it for an insight on the beautiful and complex nature of human relationships.

ISBN: 978-0-142-06773-3
Author: Sirshendu Mukhopadhyay
Genre: Fiction
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Penguin India
Pages: 121
Rating: 3.5/5

The Redeemers, by Suresh Taneja

About the author:
Suresh Taneja is a chartered accountant by profession. He published his first book, “We Can Pull It Off” and this book is an improved version of that. He wishes more youth read it, and believes that the youth have a very important role to play in the development of India.

My thoughts on the cover design:
It feels casual, like a light read is implied. Gives out a projection of excitement and enthusiasm.

My impressions from the blurb:
Well, if Suresh’s belief is that youth should play a part in the country’s future, the novel seems to be a reflection of that. A story of youth who have set out to make a change.

My review:
Well, we begin at a time in the future, 2030 to be exact, where things have turned on their head. There is a young Indian ambassador to the US, and India is the leading superpower in the world. Indian companies have become THE brand abroad and such. We’re introduced to a closely knit group of four friends and their families, who are currently holidaying in the United States. This group (G4) are part of the initial revolution that changed India and got them to where they are now. Chapter by chapter from this point, we are taken back and forth in time to see what started it all, and how the change came about.

This book is inspiring, and calls for action from the youth to battle and conquer corruption that has taken over our country, and left it, as rightfully said on the blurb, in a shameful state. It tells us that small things and prompt thinking can help bring about that change, as shown when young Yuvika’s prompt thinking prevents her family from being unjustly accused and charged with murder. It also tells us change might not happen overnight, but working toward it can make it more possible that we feel it is now, to implement the good ideas we might have for changing the nation is also important. Lastly, it also shows we need to have dreams and believe in them, and we should be given that space to believe in them rather than other dreams pushed in, so they become true.

On the downside, editing lacked. A major mistake was Kolkata being spelt with a double t. It is in the future and by that time, another t might be added for all I know, but felt very odd. It also was very off-putting to read the sentences like “G4 initiated discussion with G3” or “G6 wished in chorus” etc. To show that all of the group said it felt wrong. Perhaps it might have been better to put it like one of them wished and the other followed in chorus, or one by one. And also, though they are known as a group like the parents together as G6, fathers alone as G3 and the four of them as G4, just using the group names felt seriously strange. Similarly with the discussion, when political parties was discussed. Names to the parties brings a more realistic feel to it. Things like India’s state of domination in 2030, with us lending huge amount of money to the Americans felt nice, but to be frank, it also felt unrealistic given the pace of development we are currently at. One suggestion from my side is that rather than starting out with India as a fully developed, global superpower, what might have been more apt is for the story to start in the present and go along from there till 2030. That, and being narrated from the point of view of G4 members, like one chapter from Yuvika, the next from Vikram etc., might have made it more effective and touching, rather than starting out with all is fine and narrating the past to their already awestruck children.

The Redeemers is a feel good story that leaves us wondering if we are asking the right questions and how the onus is on us to ask the right ones and be the stepping stone for change.

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My rating: 3.25 Stars

Book details:
Title: The Redeemers
Author: Suresh Taneja
ISBN: 978-93-82473-39-8
Genre: Fiction/Drama
Publishers: Leadstart / Frog Books
Price: INR. 145

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Reviewed by Leo

Shared with:
1. First Reads at b00k r3vi3ws
2. Indian Quills at The Tales Pensieve

This was an author-requested review. I thank Suresh Taneja for the review copy.

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Dark by Paul Secada

I dismiss stories and books quite easily. Some times for predictability and at times just for the language of the book. This one , i did the same in middle but what really made this one an amusing novelette was the fact that it completely turned around ( and I mean it LITERALLY ;) ) !

The end was wham out of the blue , something I did not see coming. you what I mean right ? Don't we all like when the author spins a tale where you re read the end to make sure you did no miss anything !

Samuel Dean is an accomplished novelist. His career has skyrocketed to unheard of heights. However, his personal life is a different tale altogether. When a super storm menaces the city of New York, his story gets turned upside down by a darkness that has followed him most of his life: himself. Told from the perspective of the character, Dark takes the reader into a twisted world filled with sex, drugs and an ending you won’t see coming…

( From the site )

Paul's writing has a flow and it works good atleast for me. I prefer the author talking to me and Paul talks a way you can relate to. The honesty and the grandeur in his words makes is easy to imagine the scenes unfolding in front of your eyes. This novelette was sure a worthy read. Made me smile , made me feel lost and in the end , made me sit back and notice what I had read.

Give it a try !
You can get the kindle version here
Download the free kindle app here

Length : 53 pages
Price : 56 (.99$)

Rating : 4/5

Life of Pi

Author: Yann Martel
ISBN-13: 9780857865533
Publisher: Cannongate
Pages: 319
Binding: Paperback
Rating: 3.5/5
Copy Source: Random House India


Long before the (apparently) brilliant film was made, long before everyone was talking about Yann Martel like he was their friend from next door, my then boyfriend had recommended I read 'Life of Pi'. Of course, I didn't. But when the Universe brought me a recommendation this second time around, I decided to. And WHAT.A.BOOK! Yann Martel owns you with his dazzling writing through the 319 odd pages of the book with effortless, photographic writing, making the reading of this book no less of an experience than watching a 3D film on a 70mm screen.

'Life of Pi' is a wonderful, whimsical story about Piscine Molitor Patel - 'known to all as Pi Patel' - and his journey across the Pacific on a lifeboat with a tiger! The 16-year-old protagonist thinks he is the sole survivor of a sunken ship, until he finds himself aboard with four animals from his father's zoo - a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan and Richard Parker, the Royal Bengal Tiger. The other three animals get eaten and Pi is left alone on the lifeboat with the tiger. The story proceeds to tell us how he survives the endless Pacific, keeping the tiger and his sanity alive for more than 200 days. Teetering of the edge of life and death, Pi learns the many secrets of animal life, in a bid to survive among them.

Parable-like, 'The Pacific' is the second and the largest section of the book that talk about Pi's life at sea. It is here that the meat (and a lot of astounding special effects in case of the movie) of the story lies. However, my personal favourite is the first part of the book, which is called 'Toronto and Pondicherry'. This part is about the teenager's life before the wreckage, and his finding a love for God in all religions. Martel slips in simple, insightful messages about harmony in religions, about finding divine comfort in small places and things like prayer rugs or church bells or incense sticks. This part also talks about the nature of animals, within and outside of zoos, and the author's thorough research throws delightful little tidbits of information your way, without ever preaching.

The third and last part of the story 'Mexico' is when Pi washes aboard the Mexican town of Tomatlan, parts ways with Richard Parker and returns to human habitation. The most striking part of this section is Pi's retelling of his story to two Japanese officers, who refuse to believe that Pi lived and survived with wild animals on board. Martel, through Pi, substitutes the animals with human characters and recounts his tale, leaving the reader wondering if the story was a parable all along.

'Life of Pi' is a fantastic book, and one page after another, you realise why the work won the Booker, so much acclamation, and a place in cinematic history. Readers of all kinds and ages will find this book appealing for its simplicity, brilliance and unforgettable story. It is definitely going into my 'ask-son-to-read' list of books.

Confessions Of A Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

• Title : 'Confessions Of A Sopaholic'
• Author : Sophie Kinsella
• Genre : Chick-lit, Comedy, General Fiction
• Followed by : Shopaholic Abroad(Shopaholic Takes Manhattan), Shopaholic Ties The Knot, Shopaholic and Sister, Shopaholic and Baby, Mini Shopaholic.

~ Summary ~

Rebecca Bloomwood, or Becky as she likes to be called, is an employee of the finance magazine called 'Successful Saving'.

She's a financial journalist who earns her living by telling others how to sort their finances.
What does she do in her free time? SHOP.

Shopping is her answer to everything. When she's low, she shops. When there's a sale, she shops. When she just sees something pretty, she shops!

One day, she opens her mail only to find her VISA bill a staggering amount of 949 pounds!

She tries earning more, she tries spending less, but she gets caught up in the web of lies she's had to concoct.
Can Becky get herself out of this mess, self respect intact?

~ Excerpt ~

"That moment, that instant when your fingers curl round the handles of a shiny, uncreased bag—and all the gorgeous new things inside it become yours. What’s it like? It’s like going hungry for days, then cramming your mouth full of warm buttered toast. It’s like waking up and realizing it’s the weekend. It’s like the better moments of sex. Everything else is blocked out of your mind. It’s pure, selfish pleasure. I walk slowly out of the shop, still in a haze of delight. I’ve got a Denny and George scarf. I’ve got a Denny and George scarf!"

~ My Review ~

I love chick lits, so this totally was my home ground. I really enjoy reading Sophie Kinsella because she has this very simple, not over the top kind of writing where she doesn't really add unnecessary huge words, but manages to capture the feelings so perfectly!
'Confessions of a Shopaholic' is really an interesting read because once you read the way Becky feels about clothes, and about how buying/wearing them makes her feel, you kind of get why she does what she does.
It is never sermon-y or boring, for even a bit! There's loads of drama, and hilarious encounters because her lies and stories keep blowing up in her face!
The best bit about the book, and the entire series, is the way Becky thinks, honestly. She has this wonderful yet crazy at times, imaginative powers. And that is what just makes this book all that more engaging and exciting!

~ Final Verdict ~

3/5. If you do not like chick lit, then this is probably not the right book for you.
But if you like light, humorous, interesting stuff, then go on and buy it! :D

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The paperback version is available on Flipkart for Rs.301 and you can check it out here.
You can also download the pdf ebook here.

['Confessions Of A Shopaholic' is also known as 'The Secret Dreamworld Of A Shopaholic']

Malice - Danielle Steel

Image Source: whitcoulls.co.nz

MALICE: General Fiction. Contemporary Fiction.

AUTHOR: Danielle Steel is an American novelist, currently the bestselling author alive and the fourth bestselling author of all time, with over 800 million copies sold. (From Wikipedia)

Image Source: guardian.co.uk

BEST - SELLER(S): Over 87 written Fiction works including Wanderlust, Matters of Heart and Southern Lights. She also has non-fiction on her name as well as children and picture books. Movie adaptions of her works have also been made. (Click on the links above to read the reviews on ALOP)

SYNOPSIS (From the Back Cover):

One extraordinary woman's struggle to triumph over malice and betrayal.

On the night of her mother's funeral, Grace Adams is attacked. A young woman with secrets too horrible to tell, Grace will not reveal the truth about what happened. After a life time of being a victim, she must now pay the price for other people's sins.

From a small town in Illinois to the depths of women's prison; from a Chicago modelling agency to a challenging career in New York, Grace carries her past with her wherever she goes. When Grace meets Charles Mackenzie, she finds a man who wants nothing from her  - except to heal her and to give her the family she so desperately wants. But with happiness finally within her grasp, Grace is her most vulnerable - in danger of losing everything to an enemy from her past, an enemy bent on malice...

EXCERPT:

Don't get smart with me, you little bitch. I can do anything I want with you. And don't you forget it.

But the way he said it made something snap deep inside her, and she took a step closer to him, and put her face close to his  with a look of fury.

I shot the last man who said that to me, and tried to act on it. And don't you forget that, Mr. Marquez. Are we clear now?

MSM Speaks (#Spoiler Alert): Before anyone says anything, let me tell you, this is my first Danielle Steel novel ever. I  have heard that Ms. Steel is known for her romantic, tragic and thrilling tales involving protagonists who have had hard lives and I wasn't sure if I would appreciate the feelings portrayed by them. Therefore, when a lady I admire handed me this as a tester, I couldn't say no. I have to admit, I finished this in almost a day and a half. There was a resistant pull towards the story of Grace Adams, which I could not ignore. I might read other works by Danielle, but I would rather wait, till I get this out of my system.

The story follows the life of a seventeen year old Grace Adams, who loses her mother due to cancer and has a legend of a father, loved by the entire community of Watseka. A renowned lawyer with immense love for the people, he is the epitome of goodness and integrity. On the night of her mother's funeral, Grace is attacked and raped in the most bestial fashion, leading her to commit a murder which was far from intended. However, Grace is blamed for her own plight, with no one standing up for her. She is incarcerated for manslaughter and is given a two-year term in Dwight. Grace learns that no one is her friend or her confidante and she would eventually die if she doesn't learn to fight and survive.

Having gone through a life of unexpected, Grace starts a new life with a modelling agency and sees the ugly truth about the glamour world as well. She is beautiful and wise beyond her years and her demeanor becomes a bane for her existence. Always maintaining a cool distant relationship with everyone, Grace finds herself falling for Marcus, a fashion photographer, but when it comes to intimacy, he betrays Grace magnanimously. Broken and scarred, Grace runs away to New York and starts a new life at a Law Firm. She is 22 now and much to her surprise, enters a life which she wouldn't have even dreamed of. The story takes a dream like quality which I really appreciated since I was tired and depressed of Grace's tragedies. They were heart wrenching and I just wanted them to end. Grace is married to Charles Mackenzie and has three beautiful kids, which makes her wonder whether what happened with her ever happened.

Eventually, Murphy's Law strikes again and she finds herself standing face to face with the demons of her past. But now, she has changed and Grace isn't scared to pay back the malice, with malice.

I am not into sappy romances, and very much to my relief, this wasn't one at all. Malice shows the ugly truth that women in the society have to face, and we'd rather consider ourselves lucky if we haven't been touched by those truths. To find a man that understanding, Grace's Charles was out of a story book - which did seem exaggerated or may be, it was how age affected thoughts. The characters were well developed and the insecurities of a teenager to that of a woman, were portrayed impeccably. MSM Recommends.

My Rating: 4/5

Malice @Corgi Books Transworld Publishers (A Random House Group Company) (c) 1996
ISBN No. 9780552141314

flipkart price: 399/-INR
No. of pages: 448

Red Jihad: Battle for South Asia by Sami Ahmad Khan

Author: Sami Ahmad Khan
Genre: Indian fiction
Pages: 263
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Rupa Publications
Copy courtesy: Author/ Publisher
Rating: 3/5

Reviewing books has become a constant source of pleasure in my life, and it is now earning me some precious acquaintances too. I first found out about ‘Red Jihad’ via Twitter and immediately offered to review it. It is hard to ignore a book whose title has the words ‘Red’ AND ‘Jihad’ in it. The author, Sami Ahmad Khan, sent me a personal copy when the publishers delayed. Facebook friendship and a treasured camaraderie ensued, but that is a story for another day. The hero of this blog post is Sami’s debut novel, ‘Red Jihad: Battle for South Asia’.

‘Red Jihad’ revolves around an idea that is too eerily real to be thought of entirely as fiction. Set in the very near future (2014), the basic plot is about a coalition between Pakistani Jihadists and Indian Naxalites for a terror ploy, and an ensuing war between India and Pakistan. Yes, shudder! Indian Naxalite Agyaat ties up with Pakistani extremist Yasser Basheer to hijack the Indian experimental missile, Pralay and use it on India, thereby deflecting the government’s focus from the Red corridor. But when the missile intriguingly changes course and lands on Lahore instead of Delhi, the consequences change drastically. Pakistan wages war against her neighbor despite the Indians pleading innocence and the possibility of a nuclear war looms large. 

Other nations get involved and political conspiracies abound, deepening the quagmire…

‘Red Jihad’ is a powerful debut novel with an intriguing storyline, but it is not without its flaws. Throughout the book, I kept getting the feeling that the author is trying hard to write like someone else, to emulate a style. His voice does not quite sound his own. The writing is jerky in places, the humour, a little awkward and the metaphors, a tad forced. But then, these are all souvenirs from a first.

However, this first is also page-turner. ‘Red Jihad’ keeps you riveted throughout, with the ping ponging action between strategy rooms of the Indian and Pakistani military. Now the missile’s on its way to Delhi, now it’s on Lahore. Now a general is barking orders to start war, now a prime minister is saying no. It is an out and out guy novel (yeah, I’m sexist alright), and I can almost imagine the glee on Sami’s face as the plot took shape in his head and his pen gave it life. Guns & fighter planes, tanks & submarines, good guys & bad guys – the book has all that a creature of testosterone will want. The writer even goes to great lengths to describe the names and makes of the weapons, but it often seems unnecessary. The means of war sometimes take precedence over the ends.

But that’s not to say that the book is lacking in its message of hope and humanity. More than once in the book, Sami makes the reader take a hit from a bomb or a bullet. Or he leads the reader by hand to an improbable though not impossible situation where a Pakistani soldier and an Indian army man are building a warm solidarity. Sami tries to give shape to the dream of friendship between the Indian and Pakistani nations – the kind of message this generation needs to grow up hearing. Read it.

The Artist of Disappearance

Author: Anita Desai

ISBN: 978 81 8400 155 6

Publisher: Random House India

Copy courtesy: Publisher

Price: INR 350

Pages: 156

I’ve never read an Anita Desai work before. Strangely enough, I don’t recollect having read even one article about her. Either I’ve missed out on it, or the media has never painted any glorious pictures of her. She is not scandalous, Kamala Das-like; she is not glamorous like a Shobha De; nor is she controversial, in the manner of Arundhati Roy. (Or is she?) The Wikipedia page on her is woefully lacking. Apart from the fact that she is a Sahitya Akademi winner, I know nothing. When I started this book, I knew not what to expect. But having finished ‘The Artist of Disappearance’, I want to know who Anita Desai, the person, is. What person writes like this? From whose pen flow words with the terrible beauty of death wishes? But she won’t give in easily. I must perhaps re-read the book, look carefully again between the lines, to understand the source of such enigma.

Yes; ‘enigmatic’ is the word that best describes ‘The Artist of Disappearance’. It is a collection of three novellas – ‘The Museum of Final Journeys’, ‘Translator Translated’ and ‘The Artist of Disappearance’ – stories of strange internal worlds, stories of crumbling, lost people and places. It is as if Anita Desai found the beautiful in the broken, and captured their fall as one would with slow motion photography. You will find it its pages an old IAS officer reminiscing about a an old curator of a forgotten museum, a middle-aged, middle-class teacher on an odyssey of translating a quaint book, and a hermit-artist living in the charred remains of his house, creating strange patterns in nature.

Unhurried – that’s Anita Desai’s writing. Beautiful, slow and sure amidst hoards of books that move so fast, there’s no time to think. I picture this writer, who has emerged from a 7-year literary hiatus with what is probably her last book (God forbid!) with stories about dwindling. She is weaving the emptiness of her own aged world into these pages. Sometimes her lines are labored, with the kind of effort an arthritic person makes when climbing the stairs. But there are so many breathtaking moments too. Especially in those magnified descriptions of nature. There are the kinds of observations people with the luxury of time or the love of nature make. I imagine the 70-something author as having them both. And what exquisite results they yield for the reader.

I don’t know how it is with her other books, but with this one Anita Desai takes time to grow on you. She doesn’t snare, she doesn’t tease, she doesn’t titillate. She grows surreptitiously on you like moss on rocks. Now she isn’t there, now she is. In the first few pages, you don’t know where the story is going or what the point of the story is. In fact, if you are looking for a traditional end, you may not find it even at the end of the story. Because her stories have no end. They are leisurely strolls through forgotten roads of old towns. Embark on ‘The Artist of Disappearance’ only if you can slow down and breathe deep.

Rating: 3.5/5

  

The Japanese Lover: By Rani Manicka

Image Source: boofsbookshelf.com

THE JAPANESE LOVER: Fiction Novel 

AUTHOR: Rani Manicka

BEST SELLER(S): The Rice Mother, which Won the South East Asia and South Pacific Region 2003 Commonwealth Writers' Prize, Touching Earth (2004)

SYNOPSIS:                                                  AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE

"The child is destined to marry a man of truly immense wealth. But the marriage will be a disaster."

The Priest's prediction proves true: betrayed by her father and sent away from her tiny village in Ceylon, the naive young girl becomes mistress of a luxurious Malayan estate, but it is a life without passion and Parvathi yearns to love - and be loved - with complete abandon.

THE GENERAL'S MISTRESS

"If you wish to spare your daughter, you may take her place." 

When the Japanese invade Malaya, they requisition the estate and Parvathi is forced to make a split second decision to take the man who should have been her sworn enemy to be her lover. For the first time, she experiences sexual ecstasy. And gradually, her enemy becomes the lover, she has always yearned for...

EXCERPT:                                                             "He sat up. 

'In front of this empty gourd of sake, these chopsticks, and these leftover bits of food, will you marry me?'

His face was full of black shadows. She could not see the expression in his eyes. For the Japanese army it was not sex that was taboo, but love. It was the unspoken rule. They were not to take wives. They were not to leave progeny.  

'Won't it destroy your career?' 

'A woman's beauty must be judged by the men she destroys.'

She closed her eyes. But the tears squeezed through anyway.

'Yes, I will.' It was only a whisper."

MSM Speaks: The cover had believed me into thinking falsely that this was another tale of a Geisha, but I was wrong. Japan, during the World War II, in this novel, forms a very small but significant part and hence the term Japanese Lover comes in, much much later in the book. Rani Manicka narrates the story of Parvathi, a girl from a tiny village, Vathiry in Ceylon, whose future was predicted by a priest, following which she had spend the seventeen years of her life, locked up behind the high mud fences. Her childhood is set in the era of 1916. She is married off to a wealthy widower Kasu Marimuthu, one of the strongest and quietest characters in the book, by her father - who lies to him, by showing him the picture of a beautiful, fair and tall woman. Parvathi is dark, beautiful at heart and definitely petite. Yes, she gets to be the mistress of a huge mansion, but love? She doesn't. Her prayers to the Snake God haven't been answered. 

The Reader grows with Parvathi, as her thoughts and silence paint colorful picture and innocent view of a world very different from what she had grown up in. She learns to eat like the whites. She forms inseparable bonds with the servants of the mansion - Maya - Gifted and a wise, medicine woman  and Kupu - Forest is his life, his food and his death. Parvathi realizes attraction for the first time with Kupu who has a resolve of steel and later in the book, shows his love by making a Goddess who resembles Parvathi. Kasu Marimuthu eventually comes to accommodate the dark skinned girl and calls her Sita - for his first wife was Parvathi too - beautiful, sultry and stylish. Nothing like this peasant girl. At the age of 27, Parvathi is donned in the white saree as the Japanese invade Malaya and enter her mansion to requisition her estate. The General of the Army gives her a choice - to let his men have her daughter Rubini or - with a slight movement of his lips, he whispers - herself to him. The choice is instantly made, for Parvathi has never seen a need so raw, a deprivation and desire so obvious, that she agrees to the sin. The thrill of being loved by a foreigner and eventually falling in love with him, takes the Reader to a romantic story during the war. Eventually, the General has to leave, to never return - but he leaves only after marrying her symbolically and leaving with her a cherry blossom print umbrella. The story after this really loses the track and derails to crash on the Reader at the end. 

Rani Manicka could have ended the story beautifully, but she romanticizes the war, making Parvathi look like a nymphomaniac. Few characters of the story, like Parvathi's children are not given much emphasis except in few pages towards the end, where they are suddenly grown ups. The novel is very descriptive initially, not in a bad way, but becomes very choppy towards the end, which made me cringe as it was not a nice way to conclude. However, it is pleasantly written and is also fast paced. The simplicity of the character and her curiosity reaches out and therefore, the Readers can relate to her as well. A coffee table read. MSM recommends if you like to experiment. Ms. Manicka is a promising writer. 

My Rating: 3/5.

The Japanese Lover @ Houder and Stoughton (2010), An Hachette UK Company.

ISBN-13: 9781444700336, 978-1444700336

flipkart price: 295/- INR

Pages: 326 (Including Glossary)

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

ISBN: 8172238479

First published: 2008

Pages: 328

Binding: Hardcover

Genre: Fiction

Price: INR 316

Author: Aravind Adiga

Synopsis: The divide between the rich and the poor is great. It is great enough to stop men with small imaginations and smaller ambitions. But it isn’t great enough if a man is determined to do what it takes to change his fate, if the man is a White Tiger.

UCV says: So I finally read The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga. I finally understood what the hype was all about. And I finally know what it takes for a debut novel to win the prestigious Man Booker Prize. And those who criticised this book because they've taken it upon themselves to criticise anything that's criticiseable (I know there's no such word), well, that's just too bad! Because this book is as sharp as they can get; yessir it is!

Perhaps I fell in love with the book, but how can one help it? The book fascinates from the word 'Go!' When was the last time you saw a satirical novel written in the form of a fantastic letter addressed to the premier of China!? My jaw dropped in awe over Adiga's style of narrative at page 1 and it still hasn't closed. Throughout the narrative, the author keeps bringing up Jiabao's name, and the sense of the letter is never lost. With his ample, casual references to China, when addressing Wen (teehee, could not resist that), Adiga never forgets, nor lets his readers forget, the brilliance of his style.

The other thing about The White Tiger that has stayed with me is the bitterness. SO. MUCH. BITTERNESS.  Adiga paints such a powerfully grim picture of what he calls the Darkness, one would think he was born there, lived there, endured the unendurable there. The author cleaves the nation in two halves - into the two worlds of (to use his words) 'men with bellies' and men without them. He points to one India of the shiny, glass-walled malls and the other India of the inescapable 'Rooster Coop'.

Adiga's hero, anti-hero if you like, is Munna alias Balram Halwai, son of rickshaw puller alias Ashok Sharma, owner of White Tiger Technologies, and this is his story of crossing over from the Darkness into the Light. This is the story of a 'social entrepreneur', who seizes opportunity when he sees it, since no one will lay out golden roads for him. He kills a few moralities and people on the way, but so what? There isn't another way. Adiga delves deep into the mind of a man, who has to choose between a servile existence and becoming a master of his destiny. And the conundrum ain't easy to sort. Balram Halwai drags his readers along the gutters through the confounding streets of Delhi in a driver's seat, through the whorehouse and the servants' quarters, through a servant-turned-murderer's mind, through a fugitive's head and finally to an entrepreneur's chair, writing midnight mails to the premier of China. And he does it with so much page-turning ease!

The only place he lost me was in the protagonist's moment of resolve. Adiga's plot lost a little hold at the point when Balram decided to become his own master. There are exquisite psychological symbols of despair and agony, but his clear voice is lost among those. It seems all too sudden, when Balram strikes his master down with a surprising alacrity. Perhaps it was intended thus, since life-changing decisions don't really take place in one defining moment, as they show in the movies. A switch is flipped, unnoticed, after wounds have festered for a long time.

Adiga's pen seems to singe the paper with exactly the kind of long-suffering wounds, or perhaps he is just a super storyteller. Either way, The White Tiger is, as they call it these days, RAWRing!

Rating: 4/5

The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

ISBN: 

9780230755062

First printed: 2011
Pages: 400
Binding: Paperback
Genre: Literary fiction
Author: Vanessa Diffenbaugh


Synopsis: Through the tale of an emotionally-challenged orphan, the author resurrects the Victorian language of flowers. Will the flowers teach Victoria to love and be loved? Let the wondrous tale unfold...  


UCV says: Just as I was beginning to fret about the lack of good women writers, came along Vanessa Diffenbaugh with a tale so compelling that I willingly took back all my words. I picked up The Language of Flowers on my husband, Viren’s insistence. Our reading tastes are just about as similar as chalk and cheese, and I would never have considered reading a book with a title like that, assuming it had something to do with nature. The book indeed had a lot to do with nature, but it also had intrigue in equal measure. The latter satiated my taste, while the former, Viren’s. But the story binds these elements as seamlessly as a flower with its fragrance, and proceeds to tell the reader about the magical floral tongue.

The Language of Flowers is the story of Victoria, an orphan, who learns the primal message of love through flowers. The book resurrects ideas from Victorian era florigraphy, and unravels its many forgotten secrets through the flower-loving Victoria. But the flower-loving protagonist is also a mankind-hating one, at least when we first meet her in a community house for orphans on her 18th birthday. Victoria is a difficult and defiant child, who knows no better, growing up with a string of rejections and returns from several foster homes. She gives the hard world a deserved hard time, until she meets her match in Elizabeth. Elizabeth is determined in her love as Victoria is in her hatred. Elizabeth almost wins 10-year-old Victoria over, but circumstances pull them apart.

A parallel storyline has Victoria as a young woman leaving the community home, fighting hunger and homelessness until she lands a job as a florist’s assistant. Her knowledge of and instinct about flowers helps put right people’s pasts, and offers beautiful promises to their futures. Her fame spreads, even as she uses flora to beautify people’s lives in more ways than one. One learns how Acacia stands for secret love, Basil for hate, pink Carnations for eternal remembrance, Dahlia for dignity, Oak leaves for friendship and many others. While bringing people together through the language of flowers, she yet remains firmly aloof – her mistrust of humankind guiding all her relationships.

Even when Victoria meets Grant, a man who understands florigraphy and loves her, she stays apart. When they eventually come close and Victoria gets pregnant, she runs away, fearing she will destroy the relationship, as she has done several times in the past. But a switch in her flips when she becomes a mother, and gradually love blooms in Victoria’s bosom.

All the characters in this book are extensions of Victoria – people with tough pasts, their love dammed in one way or another. But isn’t that true of us all? We are attracted to and finally surround ourselves with people who are like us, and will therefore understand us. Every character is deep, intense and broody, and plays their part – no frills. Major characters like Grant, Elizabeth, Meredith, Renata, and Heather and minor ones like Natalia, Mother Ruby, and Marlena stay in their mantles, never trespassing Victoria’s fiercely guarded private space. The language is terse, and throughout the book I kept marveling at how much was being conveyed and how little was being said. The content is emotional from the word Go!, but Victoria’s struggle with her new parenthood is what wrenched my gut the most, for personal reasons. Even in its ardent emotionality, it is extremely dignified – a rare quality in a book. Read it for these many reasons, and find some more of your own.


Rating: 4/5 Read, read, read!
Price: INR 499, Picador