Sea of Poppies - Book Review (9/10)

The Sea of Poppies had a hype surrounding it, when it was released, obviously because it was the work of Amitav Ghosh, one of the most acclaimed writers of Indian English Literature. His other books that I read were simply superb. And I knew that I could trust Ghosh to deliver this time too. The Sea of Poppies was nominated for the Man Booker, but sadly it lost out to the White Tiger. The White Tiger is an equally captivating book, but the vastness of the Sea of Poppies, its language, the research that has gone into the book, the wide variety of characters, the story, the exciting moments all scream and shout that the Sea of Poppies deserved this award more.

The book, the first of the trilogy that Ghosh is working on, is set in India, in the first half of the 19th century, just around before the opium wars. It has an immensely interesting amalgam of extremely diverse characters from diverse backgrounds. Deeti: the runaway sati candidate and murderer of her mother-in-law, Zachary: the son of a freed slave, then a carpenter, now a sailor, Raja Neel Haldar: A rich linguist of a zameendar, now convicted of forgery, Bhairon singh: A primary evil antagonist and a bodyshopper, Captian Chillingworth: A controlled opium addict and Captain of the Ibis, Mr. Burnham, . These characters lay the foundation of the book. The story is fiercely interconnected, more than some of his earlier books, and can be said to be slightly complex. But yet, it does not fail to enthrall.

The story is divided into three books. Land, River, Sea. The divisions make sense, though they are primarily based on just a couple of characters, Kalua and Deeti (my opinion). The story, largely, is about a journey that many of the above mentioned characters take across the black waters (on the Ibis), something that was considered taboo and forbidden for the Indians in those days. Some because they want to, some because they are forced to, some because they have to. The amount of research that Ghosh has put into this book is astounding. Ships, sailors, the Laskar language & lingo, history, etc. etc.Phenomenol. It is very difficult to imagine how one person could write a book like this. Initially, I found the Laskar lingo very irritating, and there were many lines I chose to pass through, just because I couldn't decipher the language. It is a strange combination of English and Hindi. I know both languages, yet I found it tough. I wonder how people who do not know Hindi would manage. But then there are just a couple of characters who speak that way in the book. So not much of an issue. On the contrary it just adds to the spice.

The book is more like a story in progress and has no end. I guess it would be more like a three part novel than a trilogy. Something like the LOTR. Ghosh hasn't fixed the no. of volumes that he would write to complete the story. As of now it is 3. But this may turn out to be one of the biggest epics of modern Indian literature. Truly brilliant, this book deserves a 9/10.

Bone - The Graphic Novel Review - (7/10)

I first read about Bone in the newspaper, and was pretty impressed with the character that Jeff Smith had created. Fone bone was cute, and well drawn. The reviews for the book were good, and I decided that I would want to buy at least one of the books from the series. My online search for the book began within few hours, and soon I had some price quotes in front of me. But what caught my attention was a 1300 page full epic volume, that had all the 9 Bone books in one. I ordered, and it cost me Rs.1800.

The book is a story about three loony tunes type characters, who are out from boneville, a town where bonelike-creatures live. All three are of them are cousins, and resemble bones. They are thrown out of their town, because Phonevile Bone , a serial bungling cunning opportunist, messes up in town, and causes the people of Bonveville a lot of pain. Anyways, now they are on a journey in a valley filled with rat-creatures that are monsters that eat anything that moves. The story is has been inspired from the Lord of the Rings, for the adventure that then unfolds has all elements that the Lord of the Rings Trilogy had. But Jeff Smith has managed to infuse a lot of comic element into the series, for there are parts where I split my sides laughing. Jeff Smith himself said that his motive was to combine Bugs Bunny & the LOTR, and come up with something that is 'Bone'.

It took me a couple of days to go through 1300 pages and this itself is a testimony to the quality of the Graphic Novel. The adventure has many ups and downs, wonderful characters, supernatural tones, dollops of humour and some crappy fantasy concepts that put me off for a while. I soon downloaded the pirated color version on torrents, and am planning to buy the color version too. Overall, it was a very interesting book, something I would recommend you to go read. Ill give it a 7/10

Following are some random pages from Bone.

The White Tiger - Book Review (8/10)

I picked up "The White Tiger" at crosswords randomly off the shelf, months before it won, or even was nominated for the Booker. Honestly, the title of the book and the cover attracted me more than the plot summary at the back of it. I had no biases, as this was a debut novel of an unknown novelist, and no reviews. I usually search for the name of the author I am reading on the net, and try to learn some stuff about him. But Adiga had hardly any net presence. No pictures of him on the net too. Was I right in picking up this book, I asked myself diffidently.

As I started reading it, I found it to be awkward. The letters to the Chinese president seemed stupid, and the book was starkly different from other books I read, at least in the beginning. I never expected this book to be about a poor poor man from a rural rural village. It took me by surprise. But the story certainly did not disappoint me. It was indeed enjoyable. Especially for an Indian reader, who understands this country from living within its bowels, this book is a joyride. Adiga wonderfully manages to help the reader fall in love with a character, who has evident villainous traits and indulges in despicable doings. The cold steel-like calmness that Balram demonstrates, the insensate way in which he murders, without flinching even a flyspeck muscle, the lack of conscience that makes him immune to regret, are some of the few characteristics in the protagonist that Adiga has woven with great skill, considering this being his first novel. The book also manages to touch some really strong themes, especially that of the vast disparity that exists in the lifestyles of the Indians. The same India, where there are millionaires rolling in money on one side and debt ridden farmers committing suicide by the dozens on the other. Some of the metaphors that Adiga uses are brilliant. Overall I loved this book, and this would be one of the books I would look forward to reading again.

About the Booker that TWT won, after reading "the Sea of Poppies" , I felt it easily deserved the Booker more than "the White Tiger". Actually there was almost no comparison. I haven't read the other nominations, so I cant comment about them. But still, for a gripping tale, a theme usually avoided and a book well written, ill give "The White Tiger" an 8/10.

You are here - Book Review (5.5/10)

You are here, by Meenakshi reddy Madhvan is another book I completed alongside with "Sea of Poppies". (I guess I should be done with SOP by next weekend. I'm taking my time and relishing it ). This book, I think should be classified as modern chick-lit. Before telling you more about the book, let me tell you more about the author. Meenakshi Reddy Madhvan is a 25 something journalist, and also the author of the famous blog, "The Compulsive Confessor" (http://thecompulsiveconfessor.blogspot.com/) Well, if you have read her blog, you will know what to expect of this book. I rarely drop books, specially the ones I have purchased. The only book that I have dropped till date is ignited minds, by Dr.Abdul Kalam. The book was an absolute pain. Though YAH started strongly with the wordclot fundas and stuff, I almost gave it a drop after reading through a few more pages. I felt like I was reading the Compulsive confessor blog at the beggining.

The story took too long to take off, and the protagonist kept spewing out thoughts of her own, thoughts that read good only on blogs. It got awfully boring after some time. But once the story started to pick up, there was something in it. Still at intervals, the author starts blabbering about her own thoughts on a subject. Sometimes it is nice, but many a times I was just put off.

But this was one book that was quite different from the others. It showed me the existence of a completely different world, a society, where girls behave like sluts and smoke and drink like they were adjusting their bra strap. The kind of life that the protagonist has, was completely immoral, derogatory and something conservatives like me would abhor. The language is ekdum 'aaj-ka-teen-gal-english' types in some conversations and few parts. This again put me off completely. Ofcourse, I couldnt expect less from a 'Chick-lit' novel. The overall writing style was good though.

I personally think that the author has written a heavily autobiographical story, with very shallow research (If any). I dont think she can write on varied themes and the chik-lit feel that her book gave, put me off enough to give her next book (if there is any) a miss. Im waiting to see whether she can write something completely different from her first book.

The bad part was the ending. I didnt personally like it. Found it flat. Overall the story was OK. There were some humorous moments though, that tickled my funny bone enough, to let me give this book a 5.5/10.

Keep of the Grass - Book review (4/10)

Lately, I have been picking up Indian fast reads, primarily because I can relate to them more (they are more like the life I live, the life that I have seen), and I can wrap them off in a day. So I try and slip in one quick book alongside with my regular novel, which takes more than a few weeks (considering I read just 25 pages a day). My Mdiv exams are on my head, and that’s really left me cramped with respect to hobby reading. Anyways, "Keep of the Grass" by Karan Bajaj, was one such quick read. This book got my attention, as it was compared to the other IIT & IIM novels in an article online.

Id call it a book of Joints, Grass, Sloshed students, marijuana, Soul Searching, IIM pressures, alchohol, confusion and a bit of India. Throughout the book, the protagonist (Ratan) & his close buddy are just pot-smoking themselves to their IIM graves. This story is about a young NRI bloke from Wall street, who is affected to such an extent by a remark by a one-night-stand-companion, that he decides to go back to India & do his MBA at the IIM. Actually, the remark just unplugs the deep pressure already existing within. Thus starts the tale of a IIM student. Nothing mentionable about the story. Its basically OK. Too much of grass actually spoilt it all. Decent writing style, considering the genre. The protagonist was way to confused and I was almost frustrated with this aspect of his character. The ending was OK again, and the storyline overall was again OK. There were some nice moments in the book, and the parts where Ratan & co. travel to parts of India are probably the Highs of the book for me. Also the title of the book becomes clear at the end of the book. Thats one part I liked. Overall the book didnt work for me that great. One of the books that I would not remember for too long. I'll give it a 4/10.