Book Review: Once Upon a Time... - One Frenchman against British Imperialism

I was going through a reader's block for a while and picked up this book on a whim and also because, Sam Miller's book on Delhi had left me impressed a few years back. I did not expect much from it but, easy reading that I hoped would put me back on the proverbial horseback riding of book reading. I was not disappointed on that front. I took to it like duck to water.

The story is full of hyperbole and loopholes but, the writer tried hard to show Indians in an somewhat impartial manner as humans and not barbarians. He also tried to be respectful of the Hindu religion though failed totally to justify untouchability. I do not think he was wrong in upholding that ideology. Many today will agree with him. He has rather ended the story in a way that the Republic of India was formed a hundred years later - equality for all.

I agreed to him in most of his views though Alfred Assolant never visited India! But, so what? Bibhutibhushan Bondopadhaya had never been to Africa and yet wrote the must-read book of all Bengalis coming-of-age, Chander Pahad. It is full of cliches and a hero who is just out of school!

Anyway, coming back to this book, I loved the characters of Capt Corcoran and his pet tigress, Louison. They are both obviously larger than life and not much unlike the merry gang of Kipling's Jungle Book though, Louison never talks and that's perhaps what puts it on the shelves for young adult and adult readers. Or anyone like me who loves a tale of swashbuckling adventures replete with beautiful young princesses and treasures. I guess no one can find fault in that genre of storytelling. It's as old as the hills.

Also, most people read fiction or watch films is to run away from the reality. Isn't it?

So, to cut a long story short, despite my reading handicap, I finished the story in two sessions and being a Bengali could not help compare it to Chander Pahar that I had read as a young adult in the original Bengali version. It was as riddled with cliches and struggling to rise above it on Africa as this one does on India.

Overall, I enjoyed it immensely because it made me laugh at the antics of the young Frenchman and his adventures in India. It is full of cardboard characters both Indian and British. We never get to understand or delve deep into the head of the characters much though each important one gets a brief historical narration about them and how they ended up in the thick of action that the book is.

However, Corcoran and Louisa are the real plot movers. The captain being the embodiment of everything heroic down to being a good human being and a just ruler and Lousia the tigress being the perfect foil, a diva of present day Angelena Jolie's caliber who can be a female and a toughie in the same frame. The beautiful Indian princess is just a cardboard prop in the story. The Balinese tigress is the real deal.

I'd recommend anyone who loves unrealistic adventure tales to go for it.

It's easy to read and fairly unbiased in narration of the Indian characters though mauling the characters of those serving British East India company badly - in words and through Lousia's actions.

I could go as far as to say that it kind of fits right in with the nationalistic fervor we are witnessing these days!

Happy reading folks. 

Book Review: Sophie Says

They say, 'Chick lit is dead or in the throes of it.' I say, 'are you sure?'

This one is by Judy Balan, she writes well but the plot is too... well... chick lit. She may think of it as a romantic comedy but, it is too 'unbelievable' to be anything but, chick lit. The kinds you thought was gone and over about a few years back. But, here it is - alive and definitely making a beer-laced splash.

Now, I like happy endings and pink-wrapped, hard-as-nails heroines who are down in the dumps at the beginning of the story but, are giving the Statue of  Liberty a run for money by the end of the book.

Give me a woman protagonist or even four any day (I've written one with four incidentally) but, give me some reality. Judy's story is plucked out of day dreams - the candyfloss variety.

Sophia, Judy's heroine is a commitment-phobic blogger in Chennai and she has a past that strings countless broken relationships. She is so adept at breaking-up that she starts a blog that dispenses break-up advises and it becomes very popular. Thus far, we are following roughly Judy's own career and successful blog that led to her writing her first book and now this one.

So far fine.

Then, she goes ahead and quits her well-paying job on a whim and decides to hoodwink her family by setting up a fake boyfriend who she starts crushing on as soon as she sets her sights on his sexy hands!

One thing I'd give Balan is that she writes well. Her style is engaging and at times though the plot lines seem heavily borrowed from Hollywood (both films and TV sitcoms) she is able to carry it off because her narration is racy except for certain parts when Sophie's blog posts pops-up with weird and roundabout explanation of what just happened. It takes a while to wrap your head around those in the middle of a date story or a break-up crank.

A successful, longtime blogger, Judy knows how to keep her reader engaged but, the plot soon becomes a hodgepodge of relationship issues when two of Sophie's best friends' relationships also turn to break-ups and the three spend all the time dissecting men. Sex and the City anyone? OK we have all done that some or the other time in our lives but, not necessarily been in the break-up scene together.

Meanwhile, a jobless Sophie who lives alone gets her if-someday guy into the picture by talking to him about the mysterious fake boyfriend who is fast becoming a reality... In comes the guy number two (or should we say one?) who is, and please hold your breath here, an Indian Hippie who learnt bar-tending in Australia and teaches kindergarten in Cambodia while taking time off to go rock climbing in Canada... Oh and I forgot that he is drop-dead gorgeous and Royalty!

Sister, gimme a break!

Oh! Did I forget to mention that he knows all about the G-spot and the entire alphabet of spots and achieves for the lady earth-shattering 'O's? I'm so swooning here!!!

OK so, these two men, one a romantic and the other a commitment-phobic, like Sophie, fight for the hand of the fair maiden, who decides to outgrow her commitment phobia, thanks to the erstwhile fake boyfriend who has by now brought out to the forefront the nurturing bone in her, to decide upon one of the two.

The climax or the anti-climax takes place at the airport lounge when the two men are within minutes of catching their flights back to New York and Sydney on the same day and almost same time...

I'm sure this scene was written with Karan Johar or Aditya Chopra in mind. Judy has already sold the movie rights for her first book and I can see the second aiming the same way.

Well, it does not end here because there is also an epilogue featuring an Argentinian hottie. Go figure bitches... This girl R.O.C.K.S.!

If you ask me I will go with Balan because, her book is the kind of day dreams that keep me sane in a world where monogamy or love are dead or dying, a fate not too different from chick lit fiction. Her characters are the kind of men I conjure up in my most lucid moments to keep me going when everything around me is falling to pieces. I will not say that such men do not exist, they do but, in our carefully-constructed lucid dreams. Also, because she made me laugh. Lots!

So, if you ask me whether you should buy the book, I'd say, please go ahead because it will help you live your delusion for an afternoon. You can also buy it if you love Harry Potter as much as I do. Why? That's a secret people - you got to read the book to find out more.

Book Review: Salvation of a Saint

As a genre who-dun-its have been perennial favorites. However, there are very few contemporary writers who can raise the ordinary to extraordinary successfully. When I started reading Salvation of a Saint by Japanese author, Keigo Higashino, I was worried because of the cultural differences and also because it is a translation. However, just 100 pages into the book and I was glued to it for the day. The names were difficult to remember at first. True. But, everything else went seamlessly.

The plot is classic, the murder and the motive are clearly set out in the first chapter and there is very little doubt about who must have bumped the victim off. So far great! What happens after this is where most stories lose their way while the classics shine.

The author introduces a myriad other themes once the investigation starts. There is a wronged wife, her apprentice who was also the husband's mistress and the police investigators who are at loggerheads with their theories.

As the plot thickens more and more spices are added to the mix and ex-mistresses and strange fetishes surface. Agreed that a man who only wants a wife to have children is a tad two-dimensional and the fact that his modus operandi to procure wives/girlfriends does not change while making him a sitting duck for a victim is also very unimaginative. But, what the hell! It's a story. Right? If you ask me, wrong, the Cleveland kidnapper/rapist got all the three girls by offering them lift. Truth is mostly more bizarre than fiction. No?

So, the husband dies under classic mysterious circumstances, drinking poison with his coffee! The wife and the mistress are both suspects. So far, plain vanilla. The only glitch - the wife was in another city when the murder occurs while the mistress had the house key. So, is this going to be just an open and shut case?

Not a chance since one of the detectives in charge of the case falls headlong in love while the other comes across as a methodical control freak. And they get to work leaving no stones un-turned to discredit each other's theories.

Halfway through, when you are sure that nothing can save the plot now, in comes detective Galileo the arch-typical physics professor with razor-sharp brain and athletic body with a penchant for coffee. He is the ultimate spice that stirs-up the mix and starts dumping all probable solutions to the mystery by turning then on their heads.

So, what now? I hate spoilers and I'll not mention any here though I'd love to.

What follows is very intricate, very improbable and a very interesting read. I would recommend it to anyone who loves a little mystery for a sultry summer read.

Know the author:
Born in Osaka, Keigi Higashino started writing novels while still working as an engineer at Nippon Denso Co. (presently DENSO). He won the Edogawa Rampo Award, which is awarded annually to the unpublished finest mystery work, in 1985 for the novel Hōkago (After School) at age 27. Subsequently, he quit his job and started a career as a writer in Tokyo.
In 1999, he won the Mystery Writers of Japan Award for the novel Naoko, which was translated into English by Kerim Yasar and published by Vertical Inc. in 2004. In 2006, he won the 134th Naoki Prize for The Devotion of Suspect X (Yōgisha X no Kenshin). His novels had been nominated five times before winning the award. The novel also won the 6th Honkaku Mystery Grand Prize and was ranked as the number-one novel by Kono Mystery ga Sugoi! 2006 and 2006 Honkaku Mystery Best 10, annual mystery fiction guide books published in Japan.
The English translation of The Devotion of Suspect X was nominated for the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Novel and the 2012 Barry Award for Best First Novel.
He writes not only mystery novels but also essays and story books for children. The style of writing differs from his novels, but basically he does not use as many characters as in his novels.

Book Review: Tantra

“You must try things that may not work, and you must not let anyone define your limits because of where you come from.”
~ Ratatouille
I am a great adventurer in my mind. I have no qualms in admitting that I grew up on a steady diet of Thakumar Jhuli and Grimm's Fairy Tales. The progression to Harry Potter was natural like breathing in and out. The Vampire and Werewolves have held my attention for the longest time and so have witches and dragon flyers.
And though India has such a rich pool of folk and fairy lore, very less of this genre has been touched by contemporary writers with a modern-day flourish. So, when I got 'Tantra' in my mail, I was intrigued despite the bad cover art.
A vampire slaying NRI in Delhi! That sounded promising in the blurb.
I started reading it and though not a work of art or true craft-man-ship, I was pulled into the adventures of the New Yorker, and leather-wearing demon slayer, Anu Aggarwal - who needs Buffy when you have a Desi Girl pulling punches (errr... stakes) at the vampires. That she has a very wry and interesting sense of humor and an aunt who's bent on getting her married off, added to the 'masala curry' flavor.
To read about Anu grappling with the neo-concept of 'Dekham-Dekhai' made me laugh as much as it tickled her other Vampire-hunting Delhi partner, Amit. I was laughing at her situation till my sides ached. I sobered up only after it stuck me how almost everyone of us have gone down that path at least once in our lives.
Soon however, we are led away from the path of vampire killing and arranged marriages towards the practice and manipulation of the dark arts by Tantrics. 
Anu, who is new to Indian ways, despite her childhood Vedic Hinduism classes, is a novice in Tantra and like any foreigner blurts out something about 'kinky sexual practices' and we understand - the Internet is very enlightening on that. But, she has a lot of finding out to do while she tries getting the man/Vamp who had slit her boyfriend's throat back in New York.
Anu who had set out with the grim purpose to avenge a personal tragedy, soon finds herself embroiled in a far more sinister plot that involves blood sacrifice of hundreds of innocent kids. Armed with a new resolve and warming up to Delhi hospitality (which is very indeed very warm and I can personally vouch for it!) she goes all out to find out more. Delving deeper into the heart of India that is a quivering bundle of fact, fiction, the ancient, the modern, philosophy, religion, festivals, families and mass hysteria, she finds herself shedding old inhibitions and Western beliefs as she sinks her teeth very deep indeed along with her team, by joining hands with the Vampires to protect the city!
This is one adventure that made me laugh, put me to thinking (it gets confusing in parts as too many different characters keep popping up to help Anu) and made me enjoy a lot in the process.
I'd recommend it for a light read if you like blood, gore and a heavy dose of  magic and adventure!
Please keep off if you are a hard-core realist or a sap lover. This one is kick-ass funny and first in the series by debutant author, Adi. His intro reads, "Adi is a science graduate of Stanford University with an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He seems to have decided to put his education to the best use possible by writing fantasy fiction." 
What I found not too nice about the book was that it delves deep into Tantra and Mantra and India and Hinduism with a flourish but, nothing much is explained. There are lots of overlaps in the descriptions and no explanations. Also, the entire cast is South Delhi, five-star coffee shop type. That made the characters a little too shallow and two-dimensional.
Also, I was looking out for Vampires being slayed however, they were soon overshadowed by the villain, the Tantra practitioner, Baba Senaka and his hundreds of unnamed acolytes who seem utterly faceless as they were nameless - merely fodder for knives for Anu and gang.
What left me looking out for the next one in the series is also that this one does not actually put any of the threads of stories that were started to rest. That was a damper to the works. But, the action is good and for a debut novel it is pretty decent and packs a lot of punches. 
For a preview, click here:
Tantra Preview   

The Trailer:
Official Trailer

Book Review - The Graveyard Shift

Bombay wakes up at night. The city starts getting interesting only once the Sun drowns itself into an orange  sea and the multitudes get back home to sleep and start getting ready for the next day. As twilight descends  and the mundane is cloaked by darkness it comes alive at various watering holes and picks up speed cutting deals and changing lives. It is on such a dark and sultry night that the novella, The Graveyard Shift is set.

When I got the book written by Ahmed Faiyaz by mail, I was not sure if I wanted to spend time going through it immediately since there were so many other things happening and did not impulsively excite me. The reason perhaps was the cover art. It  is a drab blue and has pictures of a bunch of little-known actors on it.

An Indie motion picture is on its way. I caught the promos on YouTube. That explained the cover art.

It spent days at my bedside, patiently awaiting its turn till I ran out of most reading material and picked it out of habit that compels me to go through anything that's waiting at the said bedside table.

I picked it up and started reading it today while walking around the house, making some tea and taking both the cup and the book into the sunny balcony. It was so easy to read and despite a medley and mish-mash of characters and stories it kept me occupied from start to end. I stood at the balcony, soaking up the Sun and ran through the story  in less than two hours.

It is the kind of book about which one can safely say, "read it on the go." My only advice would be, "stay with the characters otherwise it gets confusing."

Though the language is easy and engaging but, the characters are not and there are a whole lot of them. They are complex and mostly grey making them, well human and thus interesting. It is a rare writer who can present so many characters successfully, paint them with precision to make them stand out on their own and string their destinies together to an interesting climax. If not for anything, it is a good read because it is exciting the way things play out.

The plotting is excellent (though it may not seem so in the beginning) and the story flows through effortlessly giving the reader a glimpse into the lives of the tinsel town's rich and the famous and how their lives and intrigues are crazily intertwined with those who are trying to get 'there'.

It takes you on a roller-coaster ride though the swish suburbs of Bandra and Juhu to the middle-class Oshiwara and Lokhandwala teeming with 'wannabes' fighting for a chance. The plot thickens every moment and... I'm sorry, I cannot reveal any of it. Because if I do, there will be nothing for you to dig into since the book wraps up in just 126 pages - it is a novella!

This is perhaps a retelling of a story that plays out each night in the city but, we never get to be a part of it because, we are not dreamers. We run around trying to make ends meet forgetting to meet our dreams with open arms. This is a story of film stars, prima donnas, businessmen, divas, strugglers, pimps and fixers. It also mixes up occasionally with the lives of some innocent bystanders who fall into it by mistake. In short, as I said, 'a good read'.

Pick it up on a day when you have some time between daily chores and don't want to go shopping or watch the telly. It should be fun.