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fiction

Before we visit the Goodess – Book

November 21, 2016

There are books and then there books you wish would never end. 
Before We Visit The Goddess is one such book. The kind of book that makes you sad once it ends, you know that feeling of emptiness when a good book ends, yes exactly that one! You wish the story could continue forever, you’re so engrossed in the plot and so absorbed in the characters that you literally find them to be real and part of your daily life. Sabitri, Bela & Tara – how real were they! Hats off to Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni for giving us such gems one after another.
I have been a great admirer of her writing ever since I read Sister Of My Heart and Oleander Girl few years back. I have read almost all of her books now and each book of hers is a masterpiece in itself. Varied plots with intricate story lines, but what I like most about her books is the protagonists. They are someone with whom you can relate to, someone real. Before We Visit The Goddess is also yet another literary treasure by the author that tells us the story of a family over three generations. It’s a must read for those who love to read good story around human relationships and emotions.
Here’s my quick take on the book:
  • Poignant story line that touches your heart somewhere deep within.
  • Genuine plot that highlights the imperfect yet connected family ties. No unnecessary fictitious perfect-happy-family kind of drama at all.
  • Brilliant characterization, you can almost imagine a Sabitri or Tara living around you, inside you.
  • Powerful writing that actually presents the complexity of human emotions in a very beautiful way.
  • Captivating read, not even once I actually lost interest anywhere in the book. A story spread across three generations and two continents but towards the end, it was like all pieces of a scattered puzzle finally put together.

Overall a book that I strongly recommend, totally worth the time and money. And as always, I will be eagerly waiting for the next book by this author, she is just terrific and brilliant and…. well, for her I think I will actually run short of adjectives :).

This book is available at both amazon and flipkart and I didn’t buy a kindle version of this book. I actually bought a hard copy as books like these are meant to be a part of your home library collection :). 

Life of Angela: Book

October 20, 2016

Just finished reading this book with a smile on my face. If your roots are from any small Indian town or you have lived in one during your growing up years, then this book is surely going to bring a smile on your face.
It was quite a pleasant surprise when my childhood friend Rakhi Anand pinged me about her debut novel – Life of Angela and when she mentioned it being based on school life, I was all the more keen to pick it up. And I am glad I grabbed a copy of it as the book reminded me of my growing years in many ways :). Here’s my quick take on the book:
  • It’s simple & real, no wannabe portrayal of cool, hip student life.
  • Presents the inner turmoil of a fatherless middle class teenager girl beautifully, the pressure on her to do well in academics, get a well paying job so that she can support her family, her struggle and challenges due to her introvert personality – all of these have been presented quite genuinely.
  • Has an important message for students who try to give up life due to academic pressure. Life is much more than just scores in board exams and if you believe in yourself, there is always a beautiful destination waiting for you ahead.
  • Engaging plot presented in a very crisp and easy language.

Overall it’s a book that’s definitely worth a read. And for a change, it’s an Indian fiction that’s not on romance at IIT / IIM campus 🙂 or about a girl who is dying to get married just because she has entered in her 30s!

Do give it a try, it’s available on Amazon as well as on Flipkart.
Rakhi: Kudos to you for your effort. Wish you good luck for your future books. 

Where to find good book recommendations?

April 18, 2016
Just finished yet another book by an Indian author and I am wondering what it was actually! Calling it a book or story would be such a slur as it was nothing but nonsense after nonsense printed  in black & white. And I also wonder why do I even waste my time in completing such shit pieces of work, damn this very irritating habit of mine that doesn’t let me leave things half way. But what’s worse is to realize that this book came highly recommended in most of the reading sites and I wonder how? Well, book marketing has surely picked up in India, isn’t it? Incentivize few reviewers, spend some marketing money and voila you have words after words spread across media in favor of some crap piece of work. Being a marketer as well as blogger, I am also aware of the dynamics of how it works. There is no harm in marketing any good product, anything new needs a bit of push but unfortunately I think in case of something as precious as books, going this far is really irking me a lot now.
My words might be sounding rude but I am actually quite disappointed with my last 5 reads. If you all remember, I have been a big supporter of Indian fiction and have always proudly mentioned my preferences for Indian stories and authors but I think it’s time for me to change my preferences now. Whether you believe it or not, last few of my reads have all been centered around either of the two themes – a 30 something career oriented girl desperately trying to get hooked on to a man, takes all possible measures to woo any / all kind of men and finally settles down with the one who has money and all. In the last book that I read, the main character slept with 7 men in a period of 6 months, lost her job, but is perfectly fine to lose her job as long as she finds a good catch (read man). Now in which city / culture in India, unmarried women date & sleep with 7 men in 6 months? After few pages, I was feeling sick of reading that book and being a woman felt pathetic to realize that the book was written by a woman only! All of it look such desperate, forced projection of so called “modern”, “new-generation” Indian women. And the second theme, wait… do I need to tell you about the second theme? It’s the same – a boy at IIT meets a girl and it’s love at first sight, blah blah & some more blah. Uffff, I know I am picking up wrong books but then all these have been picked after recommendations on Twitter, Goodreads etc. I definitely was looking for some light reads or romantic fiction but in the name of comedy or romance, all I could get my hands on was racy sex, almost porn content and comedies which were disgusting to the core.
What happened to the good writers and stories? What happened to healthy comedies? And what happened to pleasant love stories? With a heavy heart I think I have decided to not read any Indian author book for next few months except the mythology ones. I agree, mythological stories these days are quite well written and engaging for sure. But for other genre, I am going to stick to non-Indian writers for now . I am also thinking of trying my luck with Hindi Classics. I have really not read much of Hindi literature and I think it’s time for me to delve into some old gems.
If I find something really good, I will get back to you with my review of the same. Until then, if you have any recommendation for good  fiction, do let me know of the same. By the way, which site do you refer to for book recommendations these days? Any pointers please? Any site which is not heavily influenced by paid media yet? Look forward to your suggestions please 🙂