Fire on the Mountain by Anita Desai February 10, 2010

When Random House was first introduced in India as a publishing entity, Anita Desai’s works were one of the chosen to be published by them and honestly according to me, one of her best works has been “In Custody”. However, I will post about that later. For now let’s focus on “Fire on the Mountain”.

Anita Desai is one writer with rare sensitivity and perspective. She never disappoints any reader with what she writes. She is economical with her words, however each one perfectly fits the situation.

The novel starts out with Nanda Kaul, who has almost renounced the world and is now living a quiet life in Kausali amidst the hills and pinecones. The book is about her, and how her life is disrupted when her great grand daughter Raka, comes to live with her, who is just recovering from a severe case of typhoid. Nanda does not want to take care of her. She doesn’t feel like conversing again and doesn’t want to make sure of another life’s comfort.

What I loved most about the book were the small interactions between Nanda and Raka. The short conversations are enough to foretell the future events. Though for some readers, it might be a slow and dull book, however let me assure you that it is one delightful read. The approach is minimal and amidst all this Nanda’s childhood friend, Ila Das arrives to live with them. A story of three women who are brought together under one roof is done without any drama attached to it.

What takes place in the last few pages of the novel catches the reader by surprise. All the signs of the end were present in the novel, in the descriptions, in the tone of the narrator, and in the few chosen words of the characters. This, to me, is the strongest feature of the novel. A must read.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt February 3, 2010

Margaret Mitchell called Savannah, Georgia “that gently mannered city by the sea” and indeed, with Spanish moss hanging from the huge oak trees and the pale shine of the moon reflecting off the pillars of Savannah’s stately mansions, the imagination can conjure up an idyllic setting where the clop of hooves on the cobblestone streets echo in one’s mind and sweat from the glass of a tasty mint julep leaves a ring on the tabletop.

“You mustn’t be taken in by the moonlight and magnolias. There’s more to Savannah than that. Things can get very murky,” says Jim Williams.

If anyone would know, it’s Williams. He stands at the center of John Berendt’s hugely entertaining account of a city, a murder trial, and the social machinations — high and low — that mesh on the fringes of the politely hushed and multi-layered Savannah society.

An antiques dealer whose parties became the talk of all Savannah, Williams one day finds himself in a lot of trouble…he’s charged with the murder of a young gigolo, Danny Hansford. A part-time employee and house guest of Williams, Hansford had a reputation for his violent temper and his sexual proclivity to service both men and women. Williams claims self-defense and a trial ensues.

Through a complicated mix of legal maneuvers, Williams is tried four separate times for Hansford’s murder, the only man to have achieved that distinction in the Georgia criminal justice system.

As compelling as the murder story and the resulting trial are to Berendt’s tale, it’s the magnificent portrayal of the history of Savannah and the cast of quirky characters that people the city that make MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL so successful.

Besides Williams, we meet Joe Odom, a former lawyer, tour-guide, and piano player, whose charm and talent are only outweighed by his audacious behavior.

Luther Driggers keeps the city on edge. An inventor who failed to get rich after discovering the pesticide and process that led to the flea collar, he now walks the streets with a bevy of flies attached to his person by threads, carrying a vial of poison that he threatens to dump in Savannah’s water supply.

Lady Chablis, a drag queen and performer who takes a shine to Berendt, provides some of the more hilarious moments in the book. And then there’s Minerva, a voodoo high-priestess whom Williams hires to ease his guilt by calming the ghost of the murdered Danny Hansford and to bring what luck she can to his side during his legal troubles.

Yes, this is a book about a murder, but it’s so much more. We can thank Berendt for taking the scenic route through Savannah in the telling. The historical facts, the anecdotes about the rich and eccentric citizens of the city, and the compelling story of the forces — both dark and light — that come together in MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL add up to one wickedly funny, wholly evocative romp of a read.

Ignorance by Milan Kundera February 3, 2010

Kundera’s novel, Ignorance, follows themes similar to several of his other novels, with the concentration of this one on nostalgia, on what people believe they should be feeling at a given moment even when they are not, and on how the decisions we make at the “Age of Ignorance” (or in our late teens/early twenties) affect our lives when we come to know and understand ourselves better later in life. Intermixed with these themes is the story of Odysseus’ travels in the Odyssey and how it parallels the Great Return home of each of the characters.

The story is about two Czech émigrés who left during the Communist era and are now returning to Czech for the first time since the Communist regime ended in 1989. During Irena’s return, she realizes how people have come to accept her as an émigré who left instead of staying loyal to her country. As she meets with her old Czech friends, she realizes the terms of their acceptance. They want to know nothing about her life outside the country. They want to amputate it, as she puts it, and by doing so, make her the same as them. Josef, on the other hand, returns to visit his family and revisits an old diary of his childhood. He marvels at the character he once was with distaste – how could he have been that creature, who seems so different from who he is now? These two émigrés end up meeting by chance to continue an old romance that neither of them accurately remembers.

One of the main themes of the book is the terms and conditions by which people accept another as one of their own. They look for similarities, memories they can both reminisce together, even if they both share a different perception of what actually occurred. After all, no two people share the same memories, which fade with time. Often people don’t even remember themselves for who they were, and reading old writings, they ask themselves how this writer could have possibly been them at one point. People change, but others don’t see them for who they are now. Only who they once knew, or as Kundera puts it “a reality no longer is what it was when it was it cannot be reconstructed.”

“The Greek word for “return” is nostos. Algos means “suffering.” So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.”

I always walk away from a Kundera book thinking a little differently about life, and while many of the ideas in this book have been written about in greater detail in his other books, I still enjoyed it as a quick read/refresher.

Authors I Love: #1 Margaret Atwood February 3, 2010

From the time I started reading, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, I fell in love with Atwood. Her writing is so lucid and so political that one could never imagine that a writer could mix political and feminist issues with such ease – may be because they are intertwined at any given point. Margaret Atwood to a very large extent is also a funny writer – she does not bore the reader at any given point of time – be it “Cat’s Eye” or “The Robber Bride” – where she based her malicious women on fairy tale characters. And who can forget her shorter works – “The Penelopiad” (which I have reviewed) depicting the plight of Penelope to “The Tent” – a fantastic short collection of vignettes, to “The Blind Assassin” which is my personal favourite that reveals the dark side of living.

There are two reasons why I love reading Atwood: First, the way she brings her characters to life and second, she says everything she has to using words that fit the emotion. I have not read any of her non-fiction and poetry,  though I will someday and looking forward to reading, “The Year of the Flood”.

Bibliography

 

Ayn Rand February 3, 2010

So yesterday was my literary heroine’s birthday and I picked up “Ayn Rand and the World She Made” by Anne C. Heller and I am two chapters in and loving it to the hilt. What a coincidence that I bought the book on her birthday and was not even aware about it. Must get back to reading “Atlas Shrugged” again. Love that book!

I Love this picture!

Looking forward to… February 2, 2010

Every once in a while you look forward to reading the books that you have been wanting to for a very long time. Get the feeling? I sure do and its not a good one, the only reason why it is not a good one is because I do not have them with me right now to read and that’s really depressing. If only I could get them. Aah! Anyway here are my top 5 choices that I have to get my hands on somehow…anyhow…

• The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery
• Stitches by David Small
• Say You’re One of Them by Uwem Akpan
• The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova and
• Cheever: A Life by Blake Bailey

I will get them soon hoepfully. I must.

The Bullet Connection by Patricia Sarrafian Ward February 2, 2010

Reading “The Bullet Connection” has been an experience. A one of its kind experience. It was a heavy read for me – the backdrop being the Lebanese Civil War. I received the book from The Graywolf Press and I must say that just like “Avoidance” I have loved this one as well.

The narrator is a child – part Lebanese, part American who experiences the damages of war in more than one way. Marianna is her name and she is observant, petulant, angry, confused, depressed and rebellious – in so many ways different from her sister Alaine. What holds the readers’ attention is the story that oscillates between different continents and time periods.

I came to care for the family members while reading this one. Ward has maintained a brilliant storyline and she has managed that with so many characters – I always love a book with many characters. The complexities of war was etched superbly through the eyes of each character. The way they move and what they say to what they eat and think – to their idiosyncrasies to their lighet moments – to what now is their reality. The family’s poignant relocation to American and how they still do not feel safe in the safest land of all is most ironic. “What is this magic, this country that insists on being remembered even after forcing us to leave?” Good memories and bad can be equally haunting, and even when Ward writes of despair, her prose is lyrically poetic. A must read for all those who want to face the truth.

Books to Movies February 2, 2010

They say that a great book can never be made to a great movie. I beg to differ in some cases. There have been times when great books have come alive so well on the big screen. It’s amazing to see what some directors have done with these books. Here are few of my favourites:

1. Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell: Vivien Leigh as the playful, bashful, and headstrong Scarlett O’Hara took my breath away. It was after watching the film that I read the book and it remains to be one of my favourite books and movie. I mean how can anyone forget Vivien picking up a handful of dirt in her hand and looking to the sky while saying, “I will never be hungry again”, or for that matter the famous, “Tomorrow is another day” as made famous by the on-screen Scarlett as Rhett Butler (played brilliantly by Clarke Gable) leaves her on the staircase of her house. This is one movie no one should miss.

2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: I am referring to the 1962 film version directed by the genius – Stanley Kubrick – the black and white imaging and play of light and shadow was brilliant. It was the component that propelled the story further. With James Mason as Humbert Humbert and Shelley Winters as Charlotte (played to the hilt) and not to forget Sue Lyon as Dolores Haze, the story was etched and controversial – of course only because of the book. How in the world could a man do this to a young girl? What I loved about the movie was its unfolding – Kubrick cleverly changed the order in which the events unfolded by moving what was the novel’s ending to the start of the film. Brilliant I say!

3. The Shining by Stephen King: Yes the book was longer. Yes the book was creepier. Yes we all loved the book. However, how can one discount the film? Jack Nicholson was brilliant. The past and future conjoined with what the child saw. I for one could not sleep for two days after watching this one.

4. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen: I am certain that if there is another adaptation of this book, no one will go and watch it. I love the story – makes me think I am reading Indian fiction for some strange reason – I mean come on – five daughters who need to get married – an intrusive mother, a doting father and the class and moral system of early Georgian England. The intelligent and spirited Elizabeth Bennett is one of my favourite heroines and I wish every girl their very own Darcy. The Lawrence Olivier version rules!

5. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje: Ralph Fiennes as the wounded soldier. Juliette Binoche as Hana the nurse who looks after him. Naveen Andrews as the enigmatic sapper Kip who loves Hana, a thief with chopped hands and the story of the english patient’s life. All the action takes place in a run-down war-torn Italian villa. The book had to be brilliant, but the film touched every single note right. Superb!

I don’t think one post will be enough for this. I have to come back with more…for sure…

O, Juliet by Robin Maxwell February 2, 2010

A lot of people have attempted to retell Shakespeare’s most loved play, “Romeo and Juliet”. Right from Baz Luhrman to Barbara Bach (her film was made in 1968). And now Robin Maxwell’s retelling is set in Florence  during the Renaissance era. The twist in the tale is this: Robin tries to tell us what would have happened if Romeo and Juliet, had actually lived? Would their tale be any different?

The last names here are of course different, though they have the familiar ring to them – Capelleti and Monticecco. The story more or less remains the same – feuding families, they fall in love, their love for Dante (brilliantly portrayed in the book), and the predictable end. What I loved about the book is the way it is written – it made me feel warm, I felt connected to other characters as well besides just Romeo and Juliet – Lucrezia being my personal favourite.

If you are looking to find some deep insight in the book, then my suggestion is not to pick it up at all. Read it to enjoy it. The beauty of the language is what it needs to be read for. Enjoy it on a rainy day with hot marshmellows!! Yummy…

J.D. Salinger January 29, 2010

So I was sixteen when I first read, “The Catcher in the Rye” and that’s the age group my generation was in (which accounts for a million readers) when we first laid our hands, sight, senses, and gave them all while reading this marvel. Holden Caulfield remained etched in our memory and while I came of age I read this book, and today J.D. Salinger is no more. This one’s for you, Mr. Salinger. You will be missed.

Don’t ever tell anybody anything.  If you do, you start missing everybody.

What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by.  I mean I’ve left schools and places I didn’t even know I was leaving them.  I hate that.  I don’t care if it’s a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I’m leaving it.  If you don’t, you feel even worse.