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Wolf Hall by Hillary Mantel : A book that is hard to finish!
Historical books tend to get too caught up in the details. Wolf Hall does suffer this fault. I found the writing of the book quite mediocre, to say the least. There are too many characters around Thomas Cromwell and too little happening in terms of events. Given this, why would one read all 650 pages of the book is a question that one needs to answer first.
The era of Henry VIII is an interesting chapter in English History. The influence of the Church, recurring plagues, dominance of the Roman Empire along with Henry’s reign and astute diplomacy by the low-born, self-made Thomas Cromwell has made the era unforgettable in English history. I have an added advantage at home for this chapter of history; I have a live reference guide in my daughter!
Though I can’t say much about Hillary Mantel’s language, I can speak volumes about her imagination. More than once I stopped reading and wondered how effortlessly the scene such as the luncheon in Thomas More’s house has been made alive by the author. She possibly only had the painting of Thomas More’s family for reference and she filled each and every person with emotion, likes and dislikes and made them into real people! This great strength of the author makes the book a worthwhile read and is probably the reason I finished it. The book starts very well with the disturbing childhood of young Thomas Cromwell and his brutal father and I hoped that it continued at the same pace, but unfortunately it does not.
As a reader, I keep wondering why the editors these days do not do their job of chopping the written word. Are they powerless in the days of easy publishing? I hope not!
The sequel to this book ‘Bring Up the Bodies’ too won a Booker Prize but I am not rushing to read it.
Now to the recommendation – the book club does not recommend this book! Everybody found it hard to finish so unless you are a fan of English history, you can skip this book! Read the rest of this entry »
Please look after Mom by Kyung-Sook Shin
I have not read too many books from Korea – actually not a single book from Korea –so I was quite keen on reading this one. I am glad that I did. 
Korea, that too, rural Korea with its farming culture, hardworking people, living with basic necessities, and the mother, come alive in this book. I guess mothers all over the world are the same, they are devoted to their children and wish their children all the world while they themselves toil tirelessly each single day. The children, on their part, pursue their own dreams and move away, almost forgetting their mother’s sacrifices. The story in the book is of one such elderly mother, who gets separated and lost in the large city at the subway station.
It is so uncanny that most of us in the book club have experienced such incident in real life with someone close to us that it was almost frightening to discuss it! That also made the book’s appeal universal and very real for us.
The book is semi-autobiographical. I do not know if it is the translation or the original work that is written with ‘you’ instead of ’I’ or ‘she’, but this style of writing makes the reader take some time and effort to adjust and get into the flow of the narrative.
As the elder brother and writer sister begin and continue their search for their lost mother, the mother’s life in the small village in North Korea unfolds. There is an undercurrent of the siblings’ guilt of not caring enough for their mother. The grey area of exactly what happens to the mother pushes readers to map their own experiences and draw their own conclusions. This is a sensitively written story. The predominant emotion of remembering someone lost forever and wishing just one day with that person again is universal. I therefore am recommending this book to everyone for its touching story.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
A love story that will appeal to a select group The Fault in Our Stars is a love story with a twist added by cancer. Wise-beyond-her-years, terminally ill yet feisty Hazel meets Augustus who is currently in remission. Their unusual circumstances lead to a bond that quickly turns into love. Hazel is deeply impressed by a book which ends mid-sentence and she very much would like to know why is it left mid sentence along with the fate of the characters. With Augustus, this quest takes her to Amsterdam to meet the author of the book. Cancer however rears its head soon after and the story reaches its end. This is the synopsis of the book and before I present my take on it, let me delve upon the strengths of the book.
It is written with sensitivity and is very much readable from start to finish. Daily life of cancer patients and that of people around them is described with compassion. The parents, friends and family, support group members, all seem quite real and there lies the power of the novel that has been a best seller for some time now.
My problem stems from the basic premise of the book. Does one need to ask an author what happens to characters after a book finishes? I don’t think so. When an author ends a story (or in this case leaves the story mid sentence), the reader can take over and do whatever he or she wishes with the story. I therefore did not get engaged in the pursuit of the author and his high-handed dealings. I also have problem with the teen-talk. Do real teenagers talk this way? Again, I don’t think so. I have to keep in mind the fact that I was a teenager long ago and hence am not the right reader for this book. Having said that, I also believe that a good book needs to hold its appeal across all age groups.
Our book club recommends this book and so do my daughter and her friend – all women of different ages. I therefore would like to conclude that ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ would be enjoyed by a select female group that likes a well written romantic story.
Capital by John Lanchester : the captivativating life in London
Capital. London. Busy metro buzzing with people – residents, immigrants, businessmen, artists, police, traffic wardens, children and sports stars. Capital. The city, where money is the language spoken, understood and the only thing that connects people. Whichever interpretation of Capital you take, it fits the novel. 
This is a fast paced book that chronicles the happenings in the lives of the residents of Pepys Road in 2009, the year of in financial doom. Pepys Road could actually be any road in Central London, with its corner Pakistani store, neighbors who hardly know each other and the row of cars parked by the side of the road. ‘We want what you have’ is the suspense in the book; Not a great mystery but a common thread connecting the lives on the Pepys Road.
The stories start unraveling quickly and the reader gets engrossed in this well written book. The language is wonderful. This is a how a book needs to be written: each and every sentence is apt. Having read many poorly written stories in past few months, I truly appreciated the writing in this book. What also is apparent is the author’s power of observation of contemporary London life – be they the relationships between the three brothers and their mother from Pakistan or a Polish builder and his colleagues or a young meter-maid from Zimbabwe seeking asylum. Their portrayal is very authentic. In fact all the characters including the underground artist Smitty, young Senegalese footballer Freddie Komo or the currency trader Roger, his wife and small sons; are very much real. As a reader I felt that I would meet them should I happen to stay on a typical London street.
So is my review going to be all positive? Hold on a bit, here comes the part that I did not enjoy. The book has the format that is similar to a multiple camera sitcom where multiple stories happening simultaneously are depicted. I am not a fan of such format though it has become popular. I long to read a simple story, that starts with narration and then continues until the end. There are also too many characters in this book and at times when a chapter starts with two names and a weekend in Cotswold, I had to flip back to see who those characters were.
At the end of the day, this is a thick book that is not at all difficult to finish. I recommend this book to get a slice of London life in 2009. Once you finish, many of the characters will remain in your mind for a long time, which in itself is the success of the book.
Museum of Innocence: banal and excruciatingly long tale
I picked up this book because it is written by a Nobel laureate and it is based in the interesting city of Istanbul. Orhan Pamuk’s eye for detail and craftsmanship as an author are apparent in the book. 
However, reading through the book is a test of patience. The book is full of banal details and because I am writing a serious review I won’t use the teenage expression ‘so boring’ but that would be an apt reaction.
Kemal beh’s obsessive infatuation for Fusun is what the story is all about. I have consciously used the word infatuation and not love because what Kemal feels for Fusun is simply a one sided obsession for her beauty. True love ought to set one free to achieve whatever one wants to be in life. In the eight years that Kemal keeps visiting Fusun’s home for dinner; neither him nor Fusun is free to lead a life that they so desire.
The story starts in the 1970s, 40 days before Kemal’s engagement to Sibel. It continues until Kemal dies as an old man. Throughout this time Kemal keeps collecting small knickknacks from Fusun’s life and their time spent together. These range from hairpins, salt shakers, handkerchiefs, show pieces atop the TV set to the 4213 cigarette butts the Fusun smoked in his presence and all of these form a part of the museum of innocence. To Kemal – and to Orhan Pamuk – this might seem like an ode to love but to the reader, it seems banal and uninteresting. After reading this book I have no desire left to visit the actual museum that Orhan Pamuk built in Istanbul after this book.
Looking to the positives of the book, one does get to experience the Istanbul of the 70s and how the rich and famous lived then. The story is narrated in an easy flowing manner. But does it have to 734 pages long? Let me answer that as well; with an emphatic ‘no’. I am not recommending this book and doubt if I will ever pick up another book by Orhan Pamuk. I also wonder why the book got 4 star reviews. Agreed, it has its moments but they are very few and far between to make the book worthwhile.
The casual vacancy: an authentic English village
Though it is difficult to consider J K Rowlings without Harry Potter, I took her new novel in hand with an open mind. I was not expecting any magic, muggles or mystery in this novel and maybe because of this ‘expectation correction’, I quite liked the book.
It does have its shortcomings and let me get them out of the way first. The suspense in the book is very much of a non-suspense. There are far too many characters in the book. The book is too fat and the average life described in it is depressing. There is not a single endearing relationship in the book, save the only one that between Krystal and her baby brother Robbie. Despite all these shortcomings, why do I like this book?
To put simply, I’m a bit partial to English people writing English novels. I think the language, the humor and the conversations are very authentic. The book has been able to successfully create a typical, albeit fictional English village called Pagford. I could imagine the village square, its comings and goings very well while reading the book. The petty politics, be it at the village council level or at a family level, is realistic. Parminder’s Sikh family is not at all atypical in an English village and the author has taken effort to depict a Sikh family well. Minor detail – I wonder if a Sikh lady would wear a saree for a funeral – wouldn’t she rather wear a Salwar-Kurta?
The characters of teenager Krystal and her struggle to cope with life with a druggie mother, Barry (who dies at the start of the book but is remembered all through the book) who wants the two factions of the village together, social worker Kay who genuinely cares for the junkies provide touchy moments in the book. I know that the book is criticized for drugs, sex and violence but then these things are part of everyday life for many in England today. One can’t gloss over them and still write a book that is authentic. I think a typical English village would be very much like the village of Pagford.
Given this, I pondered over the question that had the author not been a famous one, would I have picked up a book like this? Maybe not. Having picked it however, I’m glad that I read it. It made the small village alive for me and gave me an interesting tour.
One day I will write about this place: An African Kaleidoscope
Author: Binyavanga Wainaina
This book is not a story but snippets of life weaved together to project different hues of Kenya, Uganda and South Africa. 
The story captures scenes, the people and the sounds of Africa. The story is fragmented to say the least but a few things are evident. The author knows how to write. The language and the emotions are sincere. The author portrays his struggle to belong in the heterogeneous; tribe centered culture though I don’t understand why given his background, he is the only one out of the four siblings going through the struggle. He tries to explain it but I remain unconvinced.
I liked parts of the book that describe the author’s childhood and that give a multi-dimension perspective of Africa. I could see village Nakuru through this book. I also love the part where in a short description of the storm, the world famous flamingos of lake Nakuru flutter in front the reader’s eyes. There are many unanswered questions regarding the family, especially Ciru, the bright younger sister who is very much part of the author’s life until college, doesn’t appear much again. The memoire is a selective one, as most of them are; but as I reader I got the feeling that I am getting to read what the author wishes to portray rather than what actually happened.
Before reading the book, I had read and liked the author’s essay about Africa http://www.granta.com/Archive/92/How-to-Write-about-Africa/Page-1. My expectations from the book therefore were high. The book meets those only in parts. Though the book has received many favorable reviews, mine is not a favorable one.
So would I recommend this book to the readers? Yes, if you want to read about current Africa, young people, their hopes and lives. No, if you want to read an engrossing story.
Beautiful Thing by Sonia Faleiro
Mumbai is home to millions of people and millions of stories unfold in the metropolis each day. Rags to riches, Riches to rags, continued mundane existence or life lived dangerously every minute, Mumbai has seen it all. 
Young people flock to Mumbai in search of turning their dreams into reality. Leela is one such girl who comes to Mumbai at the age of 14 and becomes a bar dancer. She succeeds as a dancer because of her savvy people handling skills and for a few years seems to have it all, including a ‘husband’ Shetty, the owner of the bar ‘Night Lovers’ until the government closes down dance bars. The book ends abruptly at this point without letting us know what happens to Leela later. The reader can safely assume that there is no happy ending.
Leela, though is a survivor because she has learnt early on not to fight but accept her karma. Kudos to the author Sonia Faleiro for spending five years with Leela and becoming her friend, confidante and part of Leela’s family. Along with Leela, stories of her friend Priya, mother Apsara, eunuch friends Gazala and Maya, pimp Tinkoo unfold in the book. For a reader this hidden world in Mumbai becomes real through the book.
The story is interesting and is told convincingly by the author. It is obvious that the author is a journalist as the book reads more like a news report than a novel. The book scores poorly on literary value. It is a quick read but the characters and details are quickly forgotten. I say this as it is a fact that after completing the book for about 3 weeks, we met for the book club meeting and many of us had trouble remembering the names and other details from the book. It could be because the life of the likes of Leela is so far removed from our world that the connection is not easy to form. It is also true that the book does not make the characters memorable. Bar dancers are part of history. In Mumbai, the dance bars have been closed down a while ago and I wonder if someone who would want to know more about contemporary Mumbai’s life would be curious to pickup this book.
I recommend this book as a quick read if you find yourself stuck without anything interesting in hand. Also there are other books such as Maximum city by Suketu Mehta that bring Mumbai far more alive for the reader.
Dark, disturbing, chilling story: definitely not for everyone
‘We need to talk about Kevin’ by Lionel Shriver is a well written book on the subject matter that is dark and disturbing. 
The author has undoubted mastery over the language and weaves a plot that is readable until the last page. She successfully describes the inner world of Eva and Kevin. Eva is a self made, successful woman; married to Franklin who she thinks she loves. She is an older and rather reluctant mother. Kevin is a bored, bright boy who is an anti-hero. Reading the story of a teenage boy who kills 7 people at school, immediately after the Colorado massacre at the Batman movie premier was tragically apt timing. Kevin makes it a point about readers of such shocking stories. He thinks that such morbid curiosity of the readers’ and News viewers’ part is a feeding frenzy for such killers. On my part, I have decided not to read and discuss about mass murderers after reading this book. May less attention kill their tribe!
Coming back to the book, as the writer herself has mentioned in an interview that readers tend to read two separate books. Some who believe in the power of nurture read this as a story of a mother’s failings. Others read it as a story of a naturally evil son. I tend to fall in this second group. The character depiction is very real so identifying with Eva is not a problem for any woman, be it a mother or not a mother.
Though this book is readable to the last page I am not going to recommend it for reading. The debate of whether art should exist to please or to shock, might not be settled, I am on the side of pleasure. ‘We need to talk about Kevin’ has left me disturbed with its negative emotions. I am a positive person so I am unlikely to pick such books for my reading or recommendations.
Lest anyone reading this review gets an idea that this is a book that he/she can skip, our book club recommends this book by the vote of 6 against 1 i.e. I’m the lone non-recommender. The manuscript of this book was rejected by many – I understand why – and when a small publishing house published it, it went on to win the Orange prize, have multiple editions and was turned into a successful movie so it is evident that there are many readers who have liked this book.
The way to Paradise
I knew about Paul Gauguin’s distinct paintings with bright colors of Tahiti. I also knew that he died of an ‘unspeakable’ disease. There is obviously more to the prolific painter’s life than these two aspects and the book has brought forth all these aspects.
‘The way to paradise’ is about Gauguin’s search for paradise and free life, that took him from Europe to Tahiti. That is only half part of the book. The other half is another search for paradise in other times; that of feminist and workers rights activist, Flora Tristan’s time. She was Paul’s grandmother whom he never met. Alternate chapters of the book tell these two life stories and besides looking for paradise, there is hardly anything in common in these two life stories. The stories are told by Mario Vargas Llosa who has been able to authentically create the times lived by Paul and Flora. This would sum up what the book is about.
Did I enjoy the book? Only partly. Try as I did, I could not relate to Flora and her dream of creating workers’ palace. Flora came across as a hard working, ahead of her times feminist yet opportunist and un-motherly woman. The description of her travels, meetings, fiery temper were not captivating and I found myself looking forward to reading about Paul in the next chapter when I was on Flora’s chapter. Half the book was therefore a damp squib for me. The other half was interesting, mainly because Gauguin’s life story and work are interesting. Gauguin’s painting came alive through the descriptions. These are not the pretty paintings but they all have a something more than what meets the eye. Gauguin’s paintings have a primitive force, a dark side and an untold story. When he turned his life as a successful stock broker and father of four into that of a lone soul in a makeshift studio, away from the rules and regulations of civilized society and religion, the transformation can be seen through his paintings. That he was a great friend of the mad Dutchman Vincent Van Gogh can also be seen from his paintings of the pre-Tahitian time. I think an artist’s life story is reflected through his work and this book makes a creditable effort to go beyond the famous paintings of Gauguin.
This is a first book of Mario Llosa that I have read and though some his style might have been lost in translation, I think he can create great characters. His love for Peru, his native country can be seen in the book too as he has obviously chosen to tell Flora’s and Gauguin’s stories because of their Peruvian connection. His descriptions can be too explicit but given the Tahitian background of free living, they don’t seem out of place. His style of putting a question on almost every page can be described as endearing initially that quickly becomes downright irritating!
All in all, I’m glad I read the book and got to know different facets of the artist’s life other than the two I started with, I’m not sure about recommending it. 
I have a personal connection with Gauguin in the sense that my father was a lover of art and our wall had ‘Fatata te miti’ – delectable waters – framed for years (poster of course; I read that Paul Gauguin’s paitings are hardly in any personal collection as they are thought to be too expensive for individual owners)! The connection has grown stronger after reading the book.
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Wine, Women & Word - A bookclub blog 