Siddhartha Golu
The only “problem” I had with this book was because it was a collection of short stories. Every time I started to like or feel sympathy towards a character, the story ended. It was like giving someone a paroxysm of happiness - and quickly stabbing them in the back! This might be an exaggeration - it probably is - but therein lies the brilliance of Jhumpa Lahiri. She intertwines the chaos and serenity so beautifully that you can't help but fall in love with every aspect of life - although more often than not, her stories have a low-key and slightly underwhelming end.
The stories typically consist of Non-resident Indians struggling to come to terms with living in a foreign land. Characters are relatable and Lahiri masterfully uses a mixture of cliches and contrasts to prove her point.
I'd definitely recommend this one!
Every account of Holocaust is moving and when Elie Wiesel - being a survivor of Auschwitz - gives you the horrifying details of what happened in those concentration camps, you can't help but wonder - Can humans really be so monstrous?
I cannot even begin to imagine what Elie must've gone through experiencing these brutalities - watching a son beat his father to death over a piece of bread, when every moment you were wondering whether the next will be your last - and all this at a tender age of sixteen? No wonder he lost faith in God!
- “I have more faith in Hitler than in anyone else. He alone has kept his promises, all his promises, to the Jewish people.”
I wanted to like this book. Seeing all the rave reviews and because I liked Norwegian Wood, I picked up my second Murakami with the hope that somehow, it'll be able to smooth out the slight hollowness I felt after reading his last book. I am sad to say that wasn't the case.
Maybe it has something to do with it originally being written in Japanese - I feel as if whatever the author wants to convey, gets lost somewhere during the translation. In any case, I would not say that I really understood this book. Maybe next time? Who knows.
Two words recurrently came to my mind while I was reading the book – “Hauntingly beautiful”.
That's how brilliant this book is. I would've given it 10 out of 5 stars, if I could. Orwell delivers a masterful stroke of fiction – or is it fiction? It seems more like a premonition of sorts, a guide as to what could possibly happen in future if we're not careful. I had heard about what a genius Orwell was - and though I got a taste of it in “Animal Farm” – “1984” was kind-of-a full blown force hitting your face!
In short, this is a story of the world in a dystopian setting, where a Totalitarian empire presides over much of humanity, controlling them in every aspect possible – down to their thoughts. A world where every action of yours is recorded and monitored by the “Telescreen” – not unlike the “All-Seeing Eye” from Lord of the Rings.
With all of the debate surrounding the FBI vs. Apple case and NSA and privacy, I fear we are slowly reaching towards the Orwellian universe. With that in mind, I think this line summarizes it the best – “1984 was a warning, not an instruction manual”.
This is the kind of book that stays with you. A coming-of-age story of a boy, who is as confused with his emotions as he is conflicted in the matters of heart. Despite essentially revolving around a love story, the book throws some light behind the disturbing and complex cases of deaths & suicides while forcing you to think about living in the present and enjoying life to the fullest.
This was the first Murakami for me, and I'll surely be reading more of his books. Although originally being in Japanese, the translated version doesn't feel translated at all, despite some hiccups here and there. All the characters are solid as well as interesting and the prose is beautiful. Some of the lines manage to bring a sigh from the hopeless romantic in me!
I'll leave you with an excerpt:
“I have always loved [person A], and I still love her. But there is a decisive finality to what exists between [person B] and me. It has an irresistible power that is bound to sweep me into the future. What I feel for [person A] is a tremendously quiet and gentle and transparent love, but what I feel for [person B] is a wholly different emotion. It stands and walks on its own, living and breathing and throbbing and shaking me to the roots of my being. I don't know what to do. I'm confused. I have never lied to anyone, and I have taken care over the years not to hurt other people. And yet I find myself tossed into this labyrinth. How can this be?”
Continuing on my journey of the classics, I picked up this book with a lot of expectations - and that's where I went wrong. Maybe if I had read the tagline “for teenage readers”, the outcome would've been different.
This story is from the perspective of a teenage boy going through his high school year & revolves around his general distaste of people, alienation and angst toward humanity in general. We all have gone through this phase at some point in our life and that's why I could somewhat relate to his ramblings. Without spoiling much, I would say this is a good (and light) read, but probably not a book amongst “the great literary classics”.
“You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.”
What a journey! This is certainly a very unconventional book - You'll probably feel hatred towards the protagonist (or antagonist?) throughout the book. But you'll also be able to feel his emotions and sympathize with his actions. I don't approve of Humbert Humbert and his peculiar obsession, but if you can just crawl into his mind through Vladimir's brilliant writing (and believe me you will), you'll be able to, at least, appreciate his dilemma he faces throughout his life. A masterpiece indeed!
“Even death has a heart.”
This book is a poetry disguised as prose.
Such beautiful sentences, an unusual narrator (you don't come across death sharing his feelings every day), a phenomenal story - heartbreaking to say the least while also maintaining an air of inspiration, a brilliant depiction of History's one of the most devastating periods - living in Germany during World War II.
I cannot recommend this highly enough, people.
I'd recommend every Potter fan out there to listen to the audiobook version, even if they've already read the books. Stephen Fry's voice is really amazing! And speaking of this book, when I'd first read it, it seemed that Rowling made this book unnecessarily lengthy, and I also was really annoyed by Harry's behaviour. But listening to the book just after finishing Goblet of Fire made me understand and appreciate Harry's angst and alienation. The boy had just seen a friend getting killed right in front of his eyes, and on top of that everyone was avoiding him and telling him a liar - it was bound to have made anyone angry and bitter.
This is probably the first time I've cried while listening to a book. There's something intoxicating in the way Stephen Fry narrates and the whole section with Harry and Dumbledore in the caves was so emotional that I couldn't help but shed a tear at Dumbledore's desperate cries for help. I remember when I was first reading this book, I'd been really shocked to discover Dumbledore's death. However, that feeling was nothing compared to what I felt when Fry's pleading voice of Dumbledore echoed through my ears. I felt shattered once again. Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore - you will be missed!
It's so strange to find a book beloved by everyone else, and find it so disappointing. The more I kept listening to the audiobook, the more and more I kept getting annoyed at his false modesty and complete sense of disrespect for people that he made fun of. Maybe he was a charming, goofy guy in his personal life - and there's no question about his legacy in his professional life - but if the intent of this book was to show how down-to-earth, carefree and charming Dr. Feynman was, it had exactly the opposite effect on me.
Pulling a prank on innocent bystanders and having a good laugh about it is one thing; deliberately keeping your tips in glasses full of water and then boasting about the mess that the waitress had to deal with in his memoir is a completely different thing altogether. And I had just started the chapter about his “bar outings” and how he used to pick up girls there, that's when I lost all patience for the book.
For people having some time on their hands, please read this: Surely you're a creep, Mr Feynman
I avoided listening to the final epilogue for so long - just because I didn't want it to end. The journey, accompanied by the magical voice of Stephen Fry, was nothing short of beautiful. Farewell, Harry Potter. We shall meet again in future.
This is one of those books that you hear so much about that you're already familiar with the ideas before you even pick up the book. Alas, what you might read in summaries is exactly what you get when you read the entire thing - albeit in more words.
