A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."
                                                                                                 - Confucius

    I  read "Family Matters" by this author and shortly after I picked this book up to read. Now it is wrong of me to expect to take away a similar experience from reading  both these books. "Family Matters" is a book about families, the idiosyncrasies of family members and the unmitigable love among them .But "A Fine Balance"  like looking at the world without our rose tinted glasses.  Rohinton Mistry weaves a tale of hope in the time of despair.

 

   The crux of the story is the travails of the four main characters, Ishvar, Omprakash, Maneck and Dina. Life isn't easy for them but when there is hope in the face of despair the will to beat the odds will never cease. The four protagonists are, metaphorically speaking, drowning yet they make unflinching efforts to hold one's head above the water.

   The book is very depressing and the author does not spare any gory details when describing the agony experienced by  the characters. Set in the time of the Emergency posed by the then ruling Indian government, the ground realities described in the book are a stark contrast to the distilled information I have read in my school textbooks.  No book has left me feeling so much pain and denial, and this is why I rate this book as the best book I have read but not call it my favourite.

Hector and the Search for Happiness by Francois Lelord

Either that or Hector doing a lot of grownup things.

   The book cover art and a cursory reading of the blurb had convinced me that this was one of those quirky and comical new age books about finding happiness. My interest was piqued but that didn't last long.

   This book is sort of a travelogue by Hector, a psychiatrist. One day on an impulse he decides to set out on a journey to discover what makes a man happy. He first goes to China and the to some civil war ridden African nation. His experiences, the people he meets and the lessons he learns make up the book. 

  I hoped the book would have been a good read but the narrative style was elementary for me, unless that was the intention. I like to share my reviews on books that I enjoyed reading so I was unsure about putting this review up because in retrospect, this book is one of those that I wish I had not picked up. And now they have made this book into a movie!!!

Cujo by Stephen King

When Man's Best Friend Becomes His Worst Nightmare

     There is a monster in Tad’s closet. Can he convince his parents that those glass beady eyes that stare back at him in the dead of the night are not the eyes of his teddy?

     Donna Trenton has some monsters of her own to battle. She never liked moving from New York to Castle Rock, Maine but her husband Vic didn’t have any other choice and now Donna’s only comfort is their son Tad.

    Cujo is a humongous but lovable St. Bernard that belongs to 10 year old Brett Camber. Brett’s father, Joe Camber, a small time mechanic is alcoholic and an abusive husband.  He receives Cujo as a return of favor and does not bother to vaccinate the dog. So when a rabid bat bites Cujo, the friendly dog turns into a vicious monster.  And when Donna Trenton takes Tad with her, over to The Camber’s garage to fix her car, little does she realise that a nightmare is waiting to happen

    This psychological thriller is my first Stephen King novel. I have watched movies made based on his books, but haven’t read one until now. So when I picked this one up, I was looking forward to a good scare and I wasn’t disappointed. This book does not have any supernatural elements, the plot is very straight forward, rabid dog turns into a vicious beast, but the narrative is so well constructed that it worked up a good suspense.

    Cujo is one of Stephen King’s earlier novels and it is said that he was an addict when he wrote. Nevertheless it is an incredible book. 

The Recession Groom by Vani

Bride Wanted : For NRI, IT professional working in Canada,....

       We Indians love celebrations especially weddings and when there is an eligible bachelor, the whole family wastes no time in getting him settled. 27 year old Parasuraman is no exception. An IT professional working in Canada, Parasuraman’s  profile is like a bride magnet. His sister, back home in India  and his Aunt living in San Jose, each pick a potential bride for him. Bride No.1 , Tara can become the girl of his dreams, if only Parasuraman can impress her father. Bride No.2…. A south Indian Tamil girl, a demure pretty girl, Parasuraman does not speak Tamil.  And then there is Jennifer, his Canadian colleague who professes her love for Parasuraman.  Fate delivers a cruel twist, a few months before the wedding, recession hits the economy and Parasuraman is laid off his work.

        How Parasuraman resolves his troubles and eventually finds his bride makes the rest of the story. A relatively predicable tale but with some well-timed twists, the book is a light read. Abound with “Indian sentiments” , there are many characters of  a typical  indian soap opera  - a zealous aunt, bossy elder sister , a loving grandmother and other extended family members- most of the scenes are abuzz with activity. Boisterous, colorful, and lively, all the elements for a perfect Indian wedding themed book, if only for that part of the narrative where the characters sometimes came across as superficial and the  dialogues were a bit strained.

      A final note: In my perspective,  it is easy to overlook these foibles and enjoy this debut novelist’s work. 

Curse of the Red Soil by Durgesh Shastri

  The first thing that caught my attention is the book cover.  Designed like the front page of a newspaper, the cover is impressive and set the tone of the book for me.

  Aaradhya an Engineering graduate, is the face of new India, headstrong but still fighting the shackles of a traditional Hindu family. On her way home, at the end of her Graduation, an incident on the train changes Aaradhya. The "Super Woman" Aaradhya then embarks on a journey to find the missing maid Manorama. Aaradhya nearly jeopardises her life and also puts her friends in danger but that does not deter her.  

   Vaikunth Patil, businessman but first Aaradhya's  father, how far will he go to protect his daughter?  And when all clues lead to Vaikunth Patil, will Aaradhya still want justice for Manorama? 

  Set in the historic town of Bidar and with the Bidar fort as the setting for most of the important scenes,  the author has piqued my interest in this small town. Overall it is a fairly decent mystery with a few twists placed at the right moments. This book could have been a good page turner, if only. I found some loose ends such as, when Pratap suddenly gives up his vendetta  and there is no mention of the titular  "curse". The style of narrative was mediocre and is in need of some refining. This is just my perspective, I'm no expert just a regular reader. My final word,  Curse of the Red Soil is a Bidar mystery that barely trembles.

I am Sophie Tucker, A Fictional Memoir by Susan & Lloyd Ecker

This book is the most outrageous book I have read...and I loved  reading it. I had not heard of Sophie Tucker before reading this book. Now having read it, I wonder if Sophie were alive she wouldn't mind reliving her life as it has been written in this memoir. There is never a dull moment in this "fictional memoir".

  Sophie was born to sing and perform on stage. She pulls no stops to become a headliner, even land in jail for publicity when needed. As the memoir does not follow a chronological order and the chapters are titles of her songs, I  could read this book at leisure and not feel overwhelmed with all the details or the tall tales. I liked the photographs and other memorabilia  that were interspersed with the text. Sophie recounts her journey to stardom and the friends and acquaintances who help to make or break her career as a vaudeville singer.

   Everybody exaggerates when retelling their story, and Sophie probably loved exaggerating  a bit more than everybody else.  Read it with an open mind and you too will enjoy the show.

A Study in Scarlet ( Sherlock Holmes #1) By Arthur Conan Doyle

This is a two part novel where the famous friendship between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson is forged for the first time. Dr. Watson has just retired from  military service and hopes to recoup in London. He is fascinated with this strange fellow Sherlock Holmes and decides to lodge with him.

 Holmes a "consulting detective" takes Watson  out on his  first case, a murder. A body has been discovered under mysterious circumstances and the master sleuth begins his game. When the clues lead to another murder, the Scotland Yard detectives are baffled but only Sherlock Holmes can solve the case.

  In the second part when the story shifts to Utah, the momentum is lost and it just gets predictable after that but the lull is negligible and then on it is just one racy ride till the end.  

  Witty and well written,  it is a good start to the greatest detective series that I can't wait to read.