Travelling Cat Chronicles, The – A book review

Travelling Cat Chronicles, The – A book review

Cats scare me terribly! I have nightmares about them. I might have even walked around an entire block to avoid getting anywhere near them (more than once).

Naturally, I was skeptical about picking The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, thanks to a friend’s persistent recommendation. Read on to find how that turned out for me.

I was fairly skeptical about #TheTravellingCatChronicles by Hiro Arikawa when I picked it up. Read my #review to find how it fared for me. turned out for me. #JapaneseLiterature #JanuaryinJapan #SouthEastAsianLit Click To Tweet

About the book

Travelling Cat Chronicles

Book Name: The Travelling Cat Chronicles

Author: Hiro Arikawa, Philip Gabriel (Translator)

Genre: Fiction – Drama

Characters: Satoru, Nana, Kozuke, Yoshimine, Sugi and Chikako, Noriko

Setting: Tokyo, Japan

The plot

Satoru finds a feral cat with a crooked tail resting on his silver van and begins feeding it, regularly. They settle into an understanding that he would get to pet the cat for food. But then, the cat meets with an accident and it is Satoru that nurses him back. One thing leads to another, he adopts the cat and names him Nana, much to the indignation of the cat! 

Nana and Satoru settle into a comfortable companionship. After a few years, Satoru decides to give away Nana and they embark on a journey to find a suitable home among his friends. Read The Travelling Cat Chronicles to join the duo on their travel through Japan and Satoru’s childhood memories!

My initial thoughts

I LOVED THIS BOOK – there I said it! It might made me laugh. Had me heartbroken. Once I even got frowned upon for letting out a chuckle while on the treadmill at the gym. Despite having guessed the climax, I was not prepared for it. I didn’t want the book to end but I am glad it ended the way it did. 

Our cat Nana, is feisty, snarky and funny as a cat can be (sorry, Garfield). There are multiple POVs but I obviously, loved Nana’s version the best. His overconfident attitude and voice was how I imagined how pets to be like. Great work with the translation. I was able to feel how South East Asian the story was, yet could relate to it, cat lover or not.

Things that worked for me

  • The easy writing style hooked me right from the beginning.
  • It has a perfect balance between funny and heart breaking. 
  • The book didn’t feel like a translated work at all, and kudos to the translator! 

Things that didn’t work for me

  • The plot is pretty predictable and don’t look for anything “intense”.

Bottom-line

The Travelling Cat Chronicles is a feel good book, with a bittersweet ending. Be prepared to cry, laugh and snicker throughout!

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Have you read this one? Have you read any other pet related books? If so which one would you recommend? Let us talk.

Travelling Cat Chronicles, The – A book review

Vices/Virtues – A book review

I know it has been quite a while since I wrote a review. Don’t worry I will be giving a detailed update on what kept me away from blogging and my readers in my Sunday Post, but for now you have an Indie review of Vices/Virtues to catch up on.

If you are looking for a light, not-so-clean read about a sex dungeon and the lives of dominatrices, Vices/Virtues could be your choice. #IndieReview #Indiebook @desoprontu Click To Tweet

About the book

Vices/Virtues

Book Name: Vices/Virtues

Author: Beatrice DeSoprontu

Genre: Fiction – Drama

Characters: Cristela/Clara, Daisy, Virginia, Justine, Griselda, Noelle 

Setting: The United States of America

The plot

Vices/Virtues revolves around the dominatrices working in a sex dungeon in New York and their lives. Our main character Cristela works as a domintrix but in secret. She even creates an alter ego to keep her dual life apart. 

Her coworkers also have secret aliases and they do not see each other outside the dungeon. We also read about their backgrounds and their vices and virtues. 

The book has a bunch of mini stories each named after a vice or virtue about the related inner conflicts the characters go through, while the sex and BDSM just offer a backdrop. How far would Cristela to protect her secret forms the rest of the story in Vices/Virtues.

My initial thoughts

I quite recently watched the Sex education on Netflix. So I picked this book up because I was intrigued by the premise and I was not disappointed. 
While there is no linearity among the flow of the story, the format, as a collection of short stories, worked better for me than it would have as a novella. 

There are some references made to Hindu deities which were not correct and definitely will seem distasteful to religious people. Thankfully, there were just few of them. I wish the author would have discussed about this representation with a sensitivity / beta reader before she added to the book. 

Things that worked for me

  • The premise was unique and I like how the kinky sex dungeon was just a background.
  • Read it like a bunch of short stories, instead of one long book and you might enjoy it better.
  • The writing was interesting and I liked how the writing style changed when there was a switch between POVs. 

Things that didn’t work for me

  • I wish it were funnier, given the bizarre nature of the premise. 
  • You may love or hate the philosophical discussions about the vice/virtue nature of each chapter – there is no in between.   

Bottom-line

If you are looking for a light, not-so-clean read about a sex dungeon and the lives of dominatrices, Vices/Virtues could be your choice. You can read the author’s guest post on Tips To Writing Characters In Poverty here on my blog.

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Have you read this one? Do you have a recommendation with a similar premise? I promise I won’t keep you waiting long for my next post. Let us talk. 

Travelling Cat Chronicles, The – A book review

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams – A book review

Does it ever annoy you when you expect something from a book because it was marketed so but then it turns out entirely different? I picked Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams because it had great reviews and it said it was ‘Bridget Jones meets Americanah’. But it turned out to be something different. Let us find out how Queenie was for me, shall we?

If you loved dry British humor like Chewing Gum or Fleabag, you will love Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. It surprised me and it is one of the best reads. Read more for my review. Click To Tweet

About the book

elgeewrites Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams - A book review Queenie

Book Name: Queenie

Author: Candice Carty-Williams

Genre: Fiction – Drama

Characters: Queenie, Tom, Diana, Darcy, Kyazike, Cassandra

Setting: LondonEngland, The UK

The plot

Queenie is a 25 year old Jamaican British woman, a typical millennial living in the pricey London and working for a newspaper. She has a close friend’s circle and a long term Caucasian boyfriend. Her family consists of overbearing grandparents, a religious maternal aunt and an estranged mother – you know the typical Jamaican family. 

Things spiral down fast when her boyfriend proposes a long break from their relationship. Her performance at work suffers and finally she gets fired. Her social life derails when she starts hooking up with men who have no time or interest in her personality.

How Queenie deals with it and gets out of the mess that is her life now with the help of her family and friends forms the rest of the story. 

My initial thoughts

Queenie is a tale of a young woman who tries to find her identity between the two cultures. It is less of a love story but more about strong female characters and their friendship and family ties. The characters are flawed but they are relatable and their problems are real. Though set in the UK, their story is from everywhere. 

I agree that the Jamaican culture took little back seat among the other themes but from what was described I found it was similar to the Asians. Especially the importance given to family and religious sentiment. I loved how Queenie spoke about the stigma around the mental health and that is something really close to my heart. If only more people get off that mentality soon.

Also when I picked Queenie looking for a cheesy love story but instead found an intense book that spoke about several themes like sexism, feminism, sexual harassment at work and fetishising of Black women’s body. Though they were touched lightly, I am glad Queenie opened the topic at the least.

Things that worked for me

  • I loved the flawed characters and the pains were real.
  • Queenie talks about the importance of female friendship that sees through every up and down of her life. 
  • It opens up the topic about the stigma around mental health and taking steps to improve it.

Things that didn’t work for me

  • I wish Queenie had spoken more about the racial and other issues.
  • I was totally misled by the genre classification and the summary. 

Bottom-line

If you loved dry British humor like Chewing Gum (Netflix) or Fleabag, you will love Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams. It totally surprised me and I think it is one of my best reads of 2019, as of now.

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Have you read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams? Do you get irked by the misleading marketing? What was the last book that surprised or shocked you by such issues? Let us talk.

Travelling Cat Chronicles, The – A book review

Book review: Ghachar Ghochar

Do you know how we all hear great things about some books and when we get our hands on them, they completely disappoint us and make us question our tastes? Well, that did not happen with Ghachar Ghochar.

I heard so many good things about this one and then (surprisingly?) I found it was all that and more. And I am more than happy to recommend a translated work from my part of the world. So here we go.

About the book

Ghachar Ghochar

Book Name: Ghachar Ghochar

Author: Vivek Shanbhag

Genre: Fiction – Drama, Literary, Translated work

Characters: The unnamed narrator, Anita, Malati, Appa, Amma and Chikappa

Setting: Karnataka, India

The plot

Ghachar Ghochar begins with the young narrator sitting at the Coffee House mulling over his life. He is particularly fond of a witty waiter Vincent with whom he shares the happenings of his household. His family consists of his older parents, elder sister Malati, his paternal Uncle and his newly wedded wife Anita.

Do you know how we all hear great things about a book and when we get our hands on it, it disappoints us and makes us question our taste? Well, that did not happen with #GhacharGhochar #AsianLiterature #IndianLit Click To Tweet

Their living situation, though a common practice among Asians, is more out of convenience and habit rather than out of love. But they were not always like this. Until a few years ago the family was close knitted. Though not affluent they shared the smallest joys with each other and genuinely enjoyed each other’s company. 

When the father of the narrator (Appa) loses his employment, his uncle (Chikappa) had to start his own business venture to support of the family. This lead an ascent in their economic status which changes the family dynamics. Each member makes their choices, but how often they turn out to be right? 

My initial thoughts

Ghachar Ghochar means entangled and the title fits perfectly to the story. Aren’t we all tangled with the chaotic mess that our loved ones are? Even though the book is set in India, I am sure the plot will be relatable across the world.

I loved the characters that were real and raw. The unnamed narrator could be anyone among us and that is what makes Ghachar Ghochar personal and beautiful. If you love open ended plots, you are in for a treat!

Things that worked for me

  • I loved that every character has a grayer shade.
  • I think the simple narration and elegant writing style won me. 
  • The translator did a great job to retain the author’s style of writing.

Things that didn’t work for me

  • As much as I loved reading Ghachar Ghochar, I thought it was too short (is that even a negative thing?)
  • Ghachar Ghochar is not a plot oriented novella, so if you expect a lot of twists and turns you might be disappointed.

Bottom-line

Ghachar Ghochar definitely is one of the top picks on my Asian reads ever. I am gonna look out for more translated works in the future. 

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Travelling Cat Chronicles, The – A book review

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: Book review

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is one of those books that have been on my TBR for a long time and when Evalinah and Simant asked me for a buddy read I just jumped at the chance. So shall we get on with it?

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About the book

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Book Name: Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Author: Gail Honeyman

Genre: Fiction – Drama

Characters: Eleanor Oliphant, Raymond Gibbons, Laura, Sammy

Setting:  GlasgowScotlandThe UK

Plot Summary of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

Eleanor Oliphant is a twenty nine year old  blunt and has not mastered the social etiquette yet. She has been living alone for a long time and barely speaks to people. She has had a difficult relationship with her mother, her only relative always but now she sees a light in the form of a guy, a musician apparently. 

She has it all planned. All she had to meet him, he will realize she is the one for him, they will fall in love and a happily ever after was destined. But she was not ready to bump into Raymond, a office coworker nor meeting his mother. 

What happened in her past that affected her so much? How did Raymond’s presence alter her path? You will have to read Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine to know more.

Book review of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine

I am nowhere like Eleanor in real life but somehow I could relate to her thoughts. And that is where the author shines. She has written a character who is full of flaws and is annoying, unlikable, yet believable and relatable. 

Things that worked for me

  • I think the strength of the book was its well developed characters.
  • I liked how the tension and suspense about Eleanor’s past was maintained till the end. 
  • There are lots of funny moments that had me chuckling loud in the public.

Things that didn’t work for me

The plot is character driven so if you are waiting for that plot twist, it isn’t coming.

As part of our buddy-reading, Evalinah, Simant and I exchanged some questions for each of us to answer. You can hop to their blogs and check out their answers.

Evalinah’s questions

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine has some bigger than life concepts and ideas. What’s the biggest lesson you took away from it? Has it affected how you view things in life at least a little bit?

I loved how Eleanor was a go-getter and was never afraid to push her limits. Be it the makeover or the bikini wax, she was ready to try them because she needed to. She is a strong woman not because of her circumstances but despite them.

If you liked Don Tillman from the Rosie Project, #EleanorOliphantIsCompletelyFine is right up your alley. Read my #review here #bookblogger Click To Tweet

Since Eleanor is a very unreliable narrator, the first things we hear about Raymond are somewhat repulsive because she sees him very negatively at first. But then we indirectly learn that he basically has a heart of gold. What was your “reader’s journey” in regards to Raymond? Did you start seeing him as a “book boyfriend” eventually, or..?

Raymond reminded me of Roy from the IT crowd, right from the beginning. I loved how he wasn’t portrayed as just another guy and we all fell in love with him directly. 

What did you think of the writing style? Namely, the way we were always given Eleanor’s sometimes ridiculous opinions first, and only then learned the truth indirectly through actual events? What do you think this gave to the story, especially when it comes to how we see Eleanor and her changes?

I remember us updating each other (while reading) about the mystery about the ‘past’. She had us hooked right where we wanted and even though we were able to kinda predict we stuck through it to see how it panned out. 
And I think that is where the author won as a writer.

Check out her post here

Simant’s questions

Eleanor is an unlikable character in the beginning. It’s not that we generally meet such people in daily life. She is one of the oddest characters I’ve ever read. But as the story progresses, we start connecting with her and understanding her better. 

Why do you think it is so? Why we felt connected to her though we don’t relate to her on so many levels? Or if you do resemble her in some way, share your experience may be? 

I think at some level we all relate to her because she says aloud things that we all think. I think those rough edges helped Eleanor win us over. 

Throughout the book, there is a mystery about Eleanor’s mother. Off course, in the end, the mystery is resolved. Do you think this twist was necessary for the overall growth of the story? The ending we expected for Eleanor arrives eventually, so don’t you think this mystery angle was tiresome to stretch out till the very end? 

I kinda guessed what it have been (more or less) but I think without that mystery I don’t think I would have enjoyed the book as much.

It made us (the reader) keep thinking about it even though Eleanor was not ready to deal with it yet. I Like I said before, this book is not about the plot twist, it is more about the characters. 

This novel is a mix of humour and a darker plot. There were some thought-provoking sections, like Eleanor’s relationship with money. She was always highly conscious about how much she spends and is not willing to pay for social occasions etc. But since she had no one else to take care, I think it made sense that she was keen on safeguarding her personal finances.

What do you think about this? Also, do you think Raymond’s introduction in her life changed her views on lots of things?

I think Raymond opened up Eleanor to a whole lot of things and emotions that she didn’t understand earlier. She obviously didn’t have a normal childhood nor adult life, and she definitely needed someone to guide her through these social etiquette. 

Bottom-line

As someone who avoids series, I rarely say this but I wish there was a sequel coming up to Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine. I have not got enough of Eleanor Oliphant.

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Travelling Cat Chronicles, The – A book review

Book review: Eliza and Her Monsters

I rarely read the blurb of the book and just jump into a book when I get them, Well, it has been both good and bad for me. I did the same with Eliza and Her Monsters, after reading so many positive spoiler free reviews about it.

I needed to read something easy and light hearted after reading a serious classic like The Picture of Dorian Gray. How did that turn out for me? You will have to read ahead to know.

About the book

Eliza and Her Monsters

Book Name: Eliza and Her Monsters

Author: Francesca Zappia

Genre: Fiction – Drama, Young adult

Characters: Eliza Mirk, Wallace Warland

Setting: Indiana, The USA

The plot

Eliza is the creator of the popular online comic, Monstrous Sea which has a tremendous fan following. She goes by the LadyConstellation and is frankly a virtual super star. In real life, she is quiet, shy, and avoids people as much as possible. Her family doesn’t understand her or her online business but let her be to an extent. 

She suffers from anxiety attacks and has no friends in school, where she usually spends her time drawing for her comic. She has two online friends who help her navigate through life and family issues. She feels safer online and prefers to keep the real and virtual life separate. 

When Wallace, a famous fan fiction writer of her Monstrous Sea, joins her school her worlds collide. Eliza being Eliza, misses all her chances to come out clean to him about who she is.

Eliza being Eliza, misses all her chances to come out clean to Wallace about who she is. But is it now too late now to tell him? Watch out for my spoiler free review of #ElizaAndHerMonsters Click To Tweet

But is it now too late now to tell him? What would it take for him forgive her when he finally realizes the truth? Did she overcome her personal fears and monsters at the end? Read the Eliza and Her Monsters to know more. 

My initial thoughts

Well, it was definitely not what I expected at all. But don’t worry you freaks, I meant in a good way. I suppose. Well I will try and explain better.
I thought the book Eliza and her monsters was about her own inner monsters, like her mental illness. I was not happy to find it was not about her anxiety but about her comic.

And then I realized it was indeed about her mental illness. So I guess it was a roller coaster ride. Just what I wanted. So I am happy again I guess. 

Another thing that stood out for me was the portrayal of online friends. Like any of you, I have and love all my online friends and I probably will share my dark deep secrets with them before I would with my family and friends. You all get that right? Finally there is a book that puts across that it was okay to do that and not all virtual friends were creeps and tricksters. 

I picked up Eliza and her monsters when I wanted to read something light-hearted after reading a literary classic. How did that turn out for me? Read more to know. Click To Tweet

Things that worked for me

  • YES to showing how online friendships that can be real and time zones can be pain in the butt.
  • I loved how well the pressure and her desperation to finish the story were depicted.
  • The Eliza-Wallace friendship turned to relationship was realistic and the growth arc was spot on.
  • If you hate the ‘Love conquers all’ trope, you will love the ending.

Things that didn’t work for me

While the stories within story worked for so many of my friends, it failed to impress me. It maybe due to the fact that I don’t read fantasy books.

Bottom-line

If you are looking for a book that deals with mental illness or about online community with a bit of romance, Eliza and Her Monsters might be your pick. If you love books like Fangirl and Radio Silence, do not even think twice, you will completely adore Eliza and Her Monsters. 

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Have you read this one? Do you read fan fiction and what are your favorites? I am definitely in the mood to read a few after reading this book. Let us chat.