Review: Memories of Fire by Ashok Chopra

Memories of Fire by Ashok Chopra
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Memories of fire is a book about five friends in the 1950s who grow up witnessing or being affected by the political and economic changes in India and Pakistan. They meet not so frequently but have lot of letter exchanges and two of them are in habit of keeping a journal, through which we are told a major part of the story.

I have mixed feelings for this book. I think this book is more of a personal recollection of events and places mixed with a fictional story that is not linear at all. Even in flashbacks , there is not a clear flow. There are letters and paragraph that read like a wikipedia posts , so dry and to the point. While you may enjoy those nuggets at times as per your interest, area,  it takes away attention from the story. Some places I did not want to go back to the fictional part of the book at all , so good was the setting and details of the real events. I really could not add up the two in many chapters. The book appears to be inspired from true people and events from the author's life but the fictionalization is a little too sketchy.

It makes an okay read for people who do not like historical fiction at all.

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Earliest reading Memories

As long as I can remember , I see my mother trying her best to drown us in books. she was so dedicated to this cause that the school librarian would allow her to get extra books for me and my sister for the summer vacation. Of course it did not really help us, since half of the books she picked were GK and science books. Nevertheless , we always were allowed to pick any story book from places we visited or from relatives home. And some how , that set me on the path to read a lot of Panchatantra , Nandan , champak etc.

Once ( and many more times ) my English teacher discovered me reading in the lunch break, she asked me to read English novels to improve my vocabulary. She suggested Famous five but after few books when I chanced upon Hardy boys, I was hooked. Frank Hardy , first literary crush ( and still a favorite ) made sure I finished the whole series within an year. By the time I finished school, I was done reading Hardy boys , Famous five , few goosebump books and not a single Nancy Drew ! I still have never read a Nancy Drew book. Oh , how could I forget that I read HP 1-4 books in the same time.

I kind of forgot reading while in first two years of college. In third year , one of my seniors left a book in my room one night and since she was gone for a week, I finished the book. Luckily she was an avid reader and would happily lend me her books once she read them. the only memorable book from that time is "Memoirs of a Giesha" which I should mention that I did not like it first. Many years later , when I started working , that year Harry Potter book#7 was released and It was the first HP book that I bought. Previous ones I read were borrowed from a friend or library , whenever I heard of them. HP#7 revived my reading interest and in the same year I read most of the popular fantasy fiction. The fact that there was a Strand book store within Infosys campus helped me pick one book every month and before long , I was reading one book per week. there are countless books that have kept  me awake all night and made sure I never reach office before 11 am. so many weekend plans have been ruined by me as I could not leave the book and hence was late to the party ( at times , never making to the party at all ).

About four years back , I started reviewing books and that has made me appreciate the hard work that goes into getting a book into reader's hearts so much. Even the bad ones deserve some respect for the fact that some one wrote those 100+ pages while I can not even write a proper review without much effort ! 

But most of all , books have made me connect to many wonderful people from all over the world. The stories , the characters , the places - real or fictional have captured my heart and soul every time I have picked a good book. The high that an awesome fantasy fiction series have given me is unparalleled so far. It isn't a surprise that books have been my first love from the time I formed any opinion about love and that is some thing even my life partner does not wish to compete. He though does wish I can quit my night reading habit so he can sleep peacefully :D

What is the earliest book memory you have ? Share with me in email or comments.