Book Review: Chinaman – Shehan Karunatilaka

As soon as I had read Chinaman – The Legend of Pradeep Mathew, in spite knowing that the book is a work of fiction, I googled for Pradeep Mathew. That is the power of the book. I knew that there is no such person, but the way the story has been weaved and the way it evolved it leaves you thinking, wondering “What if?” And the writer, Shehan Karunatilaka, has also taken care of all the details. He has created websites where you can find mention of this bowler, he has a few pages where the different balls bowled by this mystery bowler have been detailed, and there is an even fake Cricinfo profile. (I am too lazy to link to those articles, but a simple Google search should yield all these things)

Chinaman is the story of an aging Sri Lankan sports writer W. G. Karunsasena and his search for the best cricketer that Sri Lanka has produced, supposedly Murali learned his tricks from Pradeep Mathew, Ranatunga got his confidence to stand up to Australians from him, and our mystery cricketer is the one who gave wings to Sanath Jayasuriya’s aerial shots.

There are a few books which when you read you get lost in its world. The writer has such a grasp on you that you feel whatever is happening in the book is real, not fictional. For me it has always been a problem that I get too involved in a book, and here also I was so engrossed in the book that I would like to believe there is a guy named Pradeep Mathew and he is the best cricketer that Sri Lanka produced. The story follows Wije as he tries to find the cricketer who has vanished, and along with his search there are glimpses into the life of Sri Lanka.

If you have not read this book, pick it today. It is a compulsive read.

P.S.: Wrote this  last year November, posting it in May

I should write…

It has been ages since I wrote something properly, and so much has happened in my life. Now I just need to find time – actually scratch that, I need to get the drive to write something properly.

So many drafts lying unpublished, so many stories lying without an end – should get back to those. I should write.

I should write about Hyderabad – my home for nearly 11 years – how badly I miss it. I should write about Munich, my new “home” – can I even call it that yet?  I should write more.

I should write about the new gadgets I’ve been using, but what is the use? Everybody uses the same. I should write about the apps I’m loving, but leave that too. At least I’ve been clicking photographs and publishing them on instagram – that is one good thing.

Well the conclusion is I should write, will get to it soon, hopefully!

Book Review: The Canyon Of Souls – Ronald Malfi

There was a line in the book, “Mountaineering is one of the last remaining extreme sports” and I cannot agree more with this statement. But sometimes I wonder why it is called an extreme sport, I don’t understand that. This is something where people die regularly and even then it is called a sport. I am no serious mountaineer, but then I am not completely naive about it either. I have done a fair bit of hiking/mountaineering and I can vouch for one thing – mountaineering is not just a test of one’s physical stamina, it is a test of one’s mental strength too. It takes a toll on the mind and the body. And this thing has been captured perfectly by Ronald Malfi in The Canyon of Souls.

The book follows the journey of a gifted sculptor Tim Overleigh as he tries to come to terms with the untimely death of his wife who had left him and loses his drive and talent to sculpt. He consumes himself with extreme sports, facing death at every turn to and avoids confronting his demons and keeps living in the past. He gets invited to visit the elusive Canyon of Souls along with a team of six. And soon death makes an appearance as the team struggles to remain sane and alive.

The protagonist has been sketched wonderfully. You can feel his pain when he reminisces about his dead wife, you can feel his frustration that his skill has deserted him. Ronald Malfi has breathed life into Tim Overleigh and you can easily empathize with him.  The flow of the story while not linear completely, is not difficult to follow. Another thing I completely enjoyed about the book was the description of the locales – it makes one miss or dread the majestic Himalayas depending on your appetite for mountaineering.  If somebody were to adapt this book into a movie it would make a really grand spectacle.

I wish the primary antagonist was characterized better. I would have loved to have this book narrated from his perspective too. It too would have made for an interesting read – Why the antagonist does what he does? There were a few time when I felt the book was a few pages too long. While the story never drags – you keep turning the pages, but there were a few incidents which could have been skipped altogether. Also for someone not familiar with the mountaineering jargon or techniques few paragraphs would not make any sense at all.

All in all The Canyon of Souls is a captivating thriller. What especially stood out was the locale which the author picked for the book. Imagine yourself in middle of a climb to a mountain where the closest civilization is at least a few days’ trek away and all you can rely on is yourself, and now imagine death lurking about, awaiting around the corner sharpening his knife especially for you. This is what this book made me feel like.

Addendum: This is a requested review. I was contacted by the publishers of this book for reviewing it.

The Weeping Girl / Bright Lights

Bright Lights launches today at Mumbai. That means today I would be a published author for the third time
Posting an excerpt from my story “The Weeping Girl”

He heard the sniffling first, and then the sobs made their presence felt. It being a particularly dark stretch of road, the visual confirmation came last. A girl was sitting on the pavement, feet on the road with her head held in her hands, crying incessantly. For a hopeless romantic at heart, who was a fan of romantic movies, and would swear by the movie Notting Hill, this was a scene that could have been easily lifted out of one of the rom-coms, and yet for all the preparation of watching movies and TV series and envisioning similar scenarios, Jai was surprisingly at a loss for words.

After an uncomfortable thirty seconds, while Jai just stared dumbfounded, somehow he mustered enough courage to open his mouth and the words shout out, “Are you okay?“

… … …

The thought train in Jai’s mind was steaming ahead. First of all, that name – Nisha. It had all started with Madhuri Dixit when she had immortalized this name; anytime he met a girl named Nisha he felt an instant attraction and he was not alone in this phenomenon. Many of his friends and acquaintances were crazy after the name ‘Nisha’ too. To top it all, almost all the Nishas he had met had been gorgeous. This Nisha was no exception. And she seemed to be interested in him, he was almost sure of that.

 

Go buy the book now and let me know how good/bad my story is.

Urban Shots Bright Lights

And I would see my name in print one again

Urban Shots Bright Lights is coming out in January 2012 and in this anthology too I’ve contributed a short-story. No links are up yet for the book, will put them as soon as the page is up.

Have a look at the cover

Bright Lights is published by Grey Oak and the editor is again Paritosh Uttam. Hope my story and the book is enjoyed by everybody