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Drama, review |
Are you looking for a feel good and easy read? For the first time ever, I am not gonna spoil you with choices, confuse the heck out of you or load your arms with books that would last for a year. Pick A man called Ove right now and get reading.
About the book
Book Name: A man called Ove
Author: Fredrik Backman
Genre: Fiction – Drama
Setting: Sweden
Characters: Ove, Jimmy, Adrian, Parvaneh, Sonja, Rune, Nasanin, Mirsad
Plot Summary
Ove is a mean, grumpy and opinionated old man, who looks forward to the day he would join his late wife, Sonja. He even attempts to take his life to end his misery. He does not take well to the modern life and hates people. His life turns around when his new neighbor backs his trailer straight into his garden. Despite his apparent displeasure and cantankerous behavior, he seems to be forever helping his pesky neighbors and a cat that would not get out of his way.
The story alternates between his current life which doesn’t seem to be in short of amusing incidents and a life that had lived before he lost everything he loved. What happens to this grumpy old man when he unwillingly meets his messy neighbors, forms the rest of the story.
Book review
A man called Ove is one of the heartwarming books that would bring a smile to your cold heart. I could not help grinning at the instances when his neighbors took it upon themselves to become his friends when he took elaborate measures to avoid them.
Ove reminded me of those ‘get off my lawn’ characters, who hate everything around them, yet have a sense of civic duty and moral obligation to be right.
One can understand his becoming a misanthrope when life kept kicking him down relentlessly but again, he has been ‘an old man’ for ages. I loved that Ove and Sonja seemed made for each other, – she outgoing and cheerful and him wary and bitter.
Things that worked for me
- I loved the main characters and the characters in the sub plot, who were all well developed.
- I loved the warmth and sunshine all through the story.
- It is an easy read, perfect if you are a new reader.
Things that didn’t work for me
I can’t think of anything. It was perfect!
Bottom-line
I know the book has been receiving raving reviews for a while now, and I am probably too late to join the party, but here I am. Don’t we all love a bittersweet tale that makes you feel mushy every time you read it? If yes, read A man called Ove, right away.
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Classics |
Dystopia has never been my preferred genre, thanks to the very many badly written YA literature strewn around the world that befalls into the said genre. Yet there were several times while I read the book The Handmaid’s Tale that I had to recheck the publishing date.
About The handmaid’s tale
Book Name: The Handmaid’s Tale
Author: Margaret Atwood
Genre: Fiction – Literary Dystopia
Characters: Offred, The Commander, Serena Joy, Nick, Moira
Plot Summary of The handmaid’s tale
Set in not so distant dystopian future, women have lost all that they won in the recent past, at least partially – the ability to chose what they wore, what they did for life or even handle money. They are forbidden from reading, writing and even speaking freely.
Their existence is based on their functionality – the wives (in charge of the household), the helps (Marthas), the teachers (Aunts), the wombs (Handmaids), the sexual toys ( Jezebels) and the outcasts (Unwoman) are sent to Colonies where they are left to harvest cotton or clean up the radioactive waste.
Offred, our narrator, a handmaid belongs to Fred, who is on her third and final attempt to conceive a child with a government appointed ‘Commander.’ Every month she has an impersonal intercourse with the Commander and his wife, who is barren.
She had had a child with her husband Luke (a divorcée from his previous wife), before she became Offred and before her marriage was declared void. Everything changed overnight. Money was replaced, women were declared to belong to their men and were offered ‘safety’ and ‘respect’ than they were in the free modern world.
She is desperate to figure what happened to her family, to know what is happening in the world outside the wall, to read write and just to live. She is given a friend Ofglen, who is accountable for Offred’s actions while she runs errands and her for Ofglen.
Offred falls for Nick, the Guardian for the commander, a crime that could lead them both to be publicly hung. Was the risk worth taking? Did she learn anything about her family? Read to know more.
A personal note
Written in the 1980s and still, it has not lost its relevance may reason out why the book is called a classic. If anything, The handmaid’s tale has become more and more pertinent today, given the current world scenario. I hail from a nation where rape seems to the screaming weekly headline, where feminism is more or less a topic for the keyboard warriors and reservation and rationing are the only ways to go by.
Incidentally, I live in a country which believes in ‘respecting’ women, ‘saving’ them from men, yet are not allowed to make decisions about their unborn fetus. There are nations where women are not even allowed to drive or make a visit to the mall without a proper chaperon. Let us not forget the wall that our dear Mr. Trump has promised to build to protect us from the immigrants and the religious terrorism he is raging against.
You guessed it right, every one of these actions is a fragment of imagination that Margret Atwood takes us through in her novel. And you know what? Somehow we are all conditioned to living and adapting to these rules, that we no longer think that we are complying with them but accepting them as the way of life. Yes, I no longer feel The Handmaid’s Tale is a far-fetched work of fiction.
Book review of The handmaid’s tale
The Handmaid’s Tale might be a little hard to get into, yet once you are into it, you can not stop it. I started reading the book and heard the rest of it when I was out and about living my life because I could not put it down.
The narration is not linear, there are places where you might be confused, especially at the initial parts, but it will grow on you. And oh, I loved the emphasis thrown on the importance of the written and spoken word in creating a new world, as any bibliophile would.
And my dear grammar nazis, yes there are a lot of commas, quotes and other generic rules that are broken, but somehow it works. In fact they make it better. (Mother Earth can swallow me). There are too many seemingly simple lines that make them powerful quotes for that very reason. The ambiguous ending works so well that I cannot stop pondering over.
I am yet to watch Hulu’s take on the book as a TV series, but it is on my to-do list (update: done and I loved it) . You can not read The Handmaid’s Tale as a breeze through the weekend read. You can not unsee once you have been to the Republic of Gilead and not relate it to the real world.
Bottom-line
If you are one of those who gets offended by the term ‘feminism,’ read the book with an open mind. Given the current state of chaos we live in you will relate to it.
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Have you read The handmaid’s tale by Margaret Atwood? I love the Hulu series, how about you? Let us talk.
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Drama, review |
There are some books that we read because someone recommended them to you. Or maybe because you read about them somewhere or you found them read by someone you know. And there are some that you pick out of curiosity. Many times they end up making you feel sorry for that moment of impulsiveness. But there are those rare occasions that the book that you picked out yourself, that you had never heard of earlier, might just be the one book that you needed then. It might turn out to be the one that you would revisit once in a while. You know what, it might be the one reason that you have not stopped picking random books, without hoping much from them.
This favorite book of mine to revisit time and again was found out of nowhere. I confess it is the name of the book that reeled me in. By now you might have guessed that the mere word ‘suicides‘ compelled me to read it. Well, there is not just one suicide, but five. What could stop me from devouring it, right? Well, it was not just what I expected at all, I should say that.
Book Name: The Virgin Suicides
Author: Jeffrey Eugenides
Genre: Fiction – YA, Classic
Characters: Cecilia, Lux, Mary, Bonnie and Therese Lisbon
Setting: Michigan, The USA, 1970
The Virgin Suicides could easily have been the story of five sisters Cecilia (13), Lux (14), Bonnie (15), Mary (16) and Therese (17) who succumbed to suicide. Yes, it spoke of possible depression, failure at a suicidal attempt, pretense at normality and everything that I have come to love about the genre. But it has more than just that.
The story talks about the fascination of the neighborhood boys, now adults, about the secluded and cloistered Lisbon sisters, who committed suicide all in the same year. For all the flaws of the sisters, the boys consider them perfect and worship them through their memory. They try to figure why they did what they did and how their deaths affected them and the entire neighborhood, even after so many years. Though the reason for their deaths remains unknown, the ghosts of the sisters haunt the boys as they rot with guilt that they remained mute voyeurs through their painful existence.
They go through their collected memorabilia and recollect faint memories of their teenage crushes, to relive those golden years. They seek out insights and experiences from other boys, teachers and their other neighbors to understand their childhood Goddesses’ lives under their strict mother and submissive father. The boys’ attempt to resolve the mystery seem to be the only thing that holds them together anymore. But as time passes, just like their ‘exhibits,’ their memory start to fail them, and the fact that they have to concentrate harder to invoke their nostalgia devastates them more than the suicides themselves.
The Virgin Suicides is not just about the girls or their suicides. It is more about the boys and their reminiscence of their adolescent infatuation and lust for their young neighbors. I felt that I was one among the boys, even though they are well into their middle ages in the story now – and my feelings towards the boys felt undiluted even during my second and third reads of the book. Their voyeuristic adventures from a tree house or the telephone conversations they had with the girls by playing songs or even the fateful school dance they had accompanied the girls to, may have been part of any coming of age novel, but for the melancholy tone that hangs as the reminder the imminent deaths.
I cannot say enough that I loved the writing, especially the unique protagonists. It is one of those books that the story doesn’t matter, as much as the prose. The prose oozes out with pensiveness and poignancy that would stick on to you much longer after you finish reading. The author makes the best use of metaphors and detailed descriptions to paint a vivid picture of the lovesick boys or the fate of the dying town. The Virgin Suicides talks about the loss of the lives of the Lisbon girls, by not talking about them at all. It tells what happens to us after the great loss, after the momentous despair – an abominable lull in whatever life that remains thereafter.
The Virgin Suicides is a must-read for anyone who reads for the love of the language and is not afraid to reach out for the dictionary when things get tough. You would either hate it and call it pretentious or add it to your favorites – there is no in between.
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review, YA |
Everyone I know has been raving about the TV series. I have always fallen for books that had characters that dealt with dark, depressed and suicidal thoughts. I don’t think anyone likes happy, chirpy teenagers anymore. Oh we also adore nerdy, socially awkward teens. (Sarcasm, peeps).
Characters: Hannah Baker, Clay Jensen, Alex Standall, Bryce Walker, Jessica Davis, Justin Foley, Tyler Down, Courtney Crimsen, Mr. Porter, Marcus Cooley, Zach Dempsey, Ryan Shaver, Jenny Kurtz (Sherri in the series)
When I heard, or read, that 13RW is the new GoT (which I have not read or seen)I could not wait to get back to Dubai, so that I could binge watch the series. As you all would have known by now, 13 Reasons Why, or 13RW, is a Netflix’s adaption of Jay Asher’s book with the same name. Being the badass that I am, I had to grab the book and read it. And discussed it to few, by few I mean any people who would listen to me, about it. First of, this is going to be a part post. Now on to the first part, the review.
13RW talks about Hannah Baker who kills herself with no apparent reasons at bay. Her parents and Clay, her friend are at a loss trying to understand her death. But soon enough, Clay receives a packet of cassettes at his doorsteps, that has Hannah talking to him, among others narrating the reasons that lead her to suicide. He is instructed to pass on to the next person after he hears them.
The story is fast paced and absolutely un-put-down-able. I loved the clever storyline that kept us on toes till the very end. Each side of the tape talks about a reason that triggered her to die, according to her. The book and the series, both alternate between the voices of Hannah and Clay, which works very well. The series was honest to the book and the audiobook was better even (yeah I did try the audio book as well). There are some changes made to the series, which for me made better sense. But the climax in the book seemed more plausible than in the Netflix series understandably.
At some low point, most of us would have had thought ‘who would be sorry , if I were dead right now?’. Hannah takes it a little further and takes that action. For me, she is not likable, relate-able or even tolerable. I was feeling that it was like Mean girls part 2, all the way through, except we knew Mean Girls would have a good (sorta) ending. Yes people were mean to her. Boys were particularly mean to her. Friends moved on. Shit happens. That is how life is. Though I agree all these reasons could have snowballed her towards her suicide, it was her choice.
I agree that every action that people unwittingly commit, might affect others, but that does not make you responsible for their reactions. No, I do not justify their actions, nor do I appreciate Hannah vilifying everyone else. In fact almost every one of the characters had an own issue to cope up in their lives, and they have their own mechanisms. Some work, some did not. Sadly Hannah’s didn’t work and still seems a glamorous way out. The question the story poses is not ‘who killed Hannah?’ more of ‘how do we avoid another death’, though it does not come of quite that way.
While 13RW boasts about talking about suicide among teens, the taboo, I am not sure if it does enough justice to it. Just alienation at the school cannot drive one to commit suicide, without discussing the depressed feeling part. It still confounds me why is it so hard to say depression or mental illness. I have not found even a mention of it in the book or the series. I don’t get how talking against suicide, bullying and rape is encouraged and even glamorous, while depression is not. Again that topic is for another day. Oh well, that disappointed me.
I loved the story, liked the pace and writing, but I simply hate the hype around it. In short my problems with Thirteen Reasons Why
are two pronged: 1) The characters are not just flawed, they are not deep. 2) It does not talk about the relevant issues, that it boasts of. The message sent across is wrong and poorly researched. There are several loopholes in the story, but I don’t even want to go into that.
Bottom line: Read once if you wanna know what the hype is all about. If you don’t, you are missing nothing anyway. Pick it up if only books with suicide and rape are okay for you.
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Authors, Quizzes & Tags |
Today is Jane Austen’s birthday! And what better way to honor her memory than by sharing some of my favorite quotes from Jane Austen herself?
On reading
Now that you could have already pegged me into being a book nerd, you should know JA shares my feelings as well.
“The person, be it gentleman or lady, who has not pleasure in a good novel, must be intolerably stupid.” – Northanger Abbey
“I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.” – Pride and Prejudice
Friendship:
This is her version of “You are my BFFs!” – that is Best Friends Forever – for people who are actually from JA’s era.
“There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” – Northanger Abbey
“My idea of good company…is the company of clever, well-informed people, who have a great deal of conversation; that is what I call good company.’ ‘You are mistaken,’ said he gently, ‘that is not good company, that is the best.” – Persuasion
Romance:
Jane might have been the best selling chicklit (yea, woman literature ) author if she had been writing now – just for these heart wrenching love proclamations!
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.” – Pride and Prejudice
“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope…I have loved none but you.” Persuasion“How quick come the reasons for approving what we like.” – Persuasion
“Silly things do cease to be silly if they are done by sensible people in an impudent way.” Emma
Men:
“Men were put into the world to teach women the law of compromise. ”
“The more I know of the world, the more I am convinced that I shall never see a man whom I can really love. I require so much!” Sense and Sensibility
“Stupid men are the only ones worth knowing after all.”
Her Sassy wit:
“I do not want people to be very agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them a great deal.” Jane Austen’s Letters.
“I cannot speak well enough to be unintelligible.” – Northanger Abbey
“I have not the pleasure of understanding you.” Pride and Prejudice
“I am excessively diverted. ” – Pride and Prejudice (roughly translated to “I am not hearing you, bud”
On general Life as such:
“For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbors, and laugh at them in our turn?” Well said !
“Life seems but a quick succession of busy nothings.” – Mansfield Park
“Know your own happiness. You want nothing but patience- or give it a more fascinating name, call it hope.” – Sense and Sensibility
Let’s talk
What are your favorite literary quotes from Jane Austen? Have you read all her books? Let us talk.
