Something about Nothing

This book tells a very simple story, and yet it never drags, instead you get all nostalgic reading this novel. It is a simple story about six friends and their travel through the final years of college life. Reading the description of college, the canteen, the college fest, I was instantly transported back to my college days. Of all the memories of yesteryears - I treasure the college life memories the most. Without a doubt, the author - Amrita Suresh - too shares the same sentiments.

The college life is just the backdrop, the main story is, as the title suggests, a love story or rather two love stories. And it is not the filmy type of love, the descriptions seemed so vivid that I had doubts that the book may be a bit auto-biographical Well that is just my speculation, but still the love stories are very realistic. Ankur was sulking as is the case with any jealous lover and earlier he was a pet to Sonali’s charms. Souvik was tongue-tied, even when proposing to Jaishree, the words were not free-flowing. He was a man of written words, not the spoken one.

“When a Lawyer Falls in Love !!!” is a very simple book, it makes you nostalgic, and makes you remember the good college days. There sure are many sentences where the writer waxes eloquently, and you have to re-read the sentence or the paragraph to make sense, but the writer is always allowed her small indulgences. At a very decent price, this book is a perfect way to spend a lazy afternoon.

–

This book is so low profile, that I hardly found any references to this book or the author on any website. As far as I know, there is no official website of both - the book and the author. The only information I could glean out was that the writer is a student at HCU pursuing her Masters.

Technorati: Book Review, Review, Amrita Suresh, When A Lawyer Falls In Love

If I had a bookshelf, this book would surely go to the top shelf where I would keep the best books I have read. I have been bored of reading books where the dominant mood is somber (or deathly) as the protagonist is going through many problems in his/her life. In this book too, the protagonist - Liesel - has her share of problems too, but the way her and her family’s life is depicted is anything but somber.

This book tells the story of an orphaned girl who goes to live with foster parents. She steals her first book en-route to their home, even though she does not know how to read. She learns reading, and steals many more books to satiate her hunger for the words. And all this happens is in the backdrop of World War-II, Liesel and her family are living in the Nazi Germany. Her family is one of the few who are compassionate to Jews, and they hide Max - a Jew - in their basement to do their bit for saving the Jews.

The writer has a strong hold over the reader very soon. I, for one, was completely lost in the book. Markus Zusak was making me laugh and cry at his will. Humour is hidden everywhere in this book, I was thoroughly captivated. The book is over 500 pages and never once was it a tedious read. And you always knew what is going to happen, the narrator - ‘Death’ - always started a new part with telling what happens in the end, and still I could read it without being bored or getting restless. If you have not read this book, I would strongly recommend it.

Technorati: Review, Book Review, The Book Thief, Markus Zusak

Jab We Met [Movie]
Brilliant movie - it is a must watch. The characters are realistic and very likeable. This movie directly goes into the list of “Buy DVD asap”. And check out the song “Aao Milo Chalo”, great lyrics and a brilliant rendition by Shaan.
Rating: * * * * *

Johnny Gaddaar [Movie]
This movie reminded me of the James Hadley Chase thrillers, and the director too pays his tribute to the writer. This fast paced thriller is very well crafted and made intelligently.
Rating: * * * *

Fear - Jeff Abbott [Book]
It is an ok-ok psychological thriller. I bought this because the blurb seemed interesting and the first line (I killed my best friend…) was captivating. The book turned out to be one of the longest reads I have had, not in terms of page-count, but in terms of the days the book was lying unfinished on my bookshelf. I took 20+ days to finish this one.
Rating: * *

The Reluctant Fundamentalist - Mohsin Hamid [Book]
Finished this in one sitting; picked it up at around 10 in night, and by 12 I was blown away. It packs a powerful punch, puts your life in perspective. I think people who have stayed in an alien country could empathize with the protagonist, although I would brand him as a rebel. Sreejith, thanks for referring the book.
Rating: * * * 1/2

The Bourne Ultimatum [Movie]
This is a pure popcorn-muncher. Leave the brains at home, do not try to over-rationalize and this movie is great fun. An apt conclusion to the Bourne Trilogy.
Rating: * * * *

Technorati: Review, Jab We Met, Johnny Gaddar, Fear, Jeff Abbott, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Mohsin Hamid, The Bourne Ultimatum

Death and Humour - seems such an unlikely combination; but Christopher Moore weaves these two bizarrely different threads into a brilliant book: A Dirty Job. The book starts with the protagonist Charlie Asher losing his wife to a sudden death. At her deathbed he sees a guy, who nobody else is able to see. Weird things keep happening to Asher and later he realizes he has been given the job of death. Well, not exactly death - but a person who helps the souls of the dying people find their rightful new owner, a soul collector.

This book presents the concept that a person’s soul is attached to something inanimate, Asher has to find the thing and pass it to its next owner. The concept is bizarre, and we the readers with Asher learn the nitty-gritty’s of this dirty job. Through the book Asher fights with the dark side to protect the collected souls and to keep his daughter safe. The book serves generous helpings of humour throughout the narration. Death is not shown as something to be afraid of, but a method to move on.

Strange concept, and even stranger characters inhabit the book. Asher’s two helpers Lily (who dreams of being death herself and finds that immensely cool) and Ray (an ex-cop who believes Asher is a serial killer), his neighbours (one from China, one from Russia), the living-on-the-streets Emperor of San Francisco and his dogs, the two hellhounds who are at beck-and-call of his daughter Sophie, and another death merchant named after mints - Minty Fresh. It is an ensemble of strange, varied characters and still they evoke empathy and are believable.

This book is surely a very different read, but nonetheless an enjoyable one.

Technorati: Review, Book Review, Christopher Moore, A Dirty Job

Yesterday night I completed Q & A by Vikas Swarup. I had bought this book on a whim around a year back, and got around to reading it just few days back. I had no idea what a treat was sitting on my bookshelf untouched.

This is the story of an orphaned 18-year-old boy who is currently a waiter at a bar in Mumbai, and has just won a Billion rupees (yes, you read it right - a billion) in a game show. The people behind the show think he has cheated, and Ram Mohammad Thomas finds himself in the jail. The whole book is about him proving his innocence. He recounts episodes from his life in Mumbai, Delhi and Agra, and how each incident helped him find the correct answer to the question being posed to him. At the outset, Ram Mohammad Thomas says he got lucky. He did did get very lucky - he was asked a question about some actress, he had worked for her; he was asked about some diplomatic term, he had worked for an Australian diplomat; he was asked an English literature question, he had helped a English teacher and called him up for help, and so on. But the quiz show is largely in the background. Mainly this book narrates the life of Ram Mohammad Thomas from his birth to the present; each chapter deals with a different phase of his life.

The coincidences, which help Ram Mohammad Thomas to win the quiz, are nothing short of colossal, but then we are forewarned about this in the initial few pages itself. So I was actually looking forward to how each incident in the protagonist’s life helps him answer the question. Though sometimes the book does read like a movie-script and at few places it drags along.

On the whole a very enjoyable read. I would strongly recommend this book, although I have doubts if this book is in the market now. I bought it a year back and it was the last copy in the store that time. Since then in my umpteen visits to the bookstores I have never seen this book.

But if you lay your hands on it, don’t let it go without reading.

Technorati: Review, Book Review, Q&A, Q & A, Vikas Swarup