This House of Clay and Water by Faiqa Mansab My rating: 5 of 5 stars Forbidden Love – A diktat in itself, unleashed on unsuspecting hearts like an ouroboros where forbidden swallows love and yet appears whole, showing no signs of damage. No one knows the pain except the latter that is now usurped by … More Book Review: This House of Clay and Water by Faiqa Mansab (2017)
In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars A few months back, I began planning for a vacation to a foreign country, tentatively scheduled for March/ April. This time suited me professionally as my work commitments were a tad less tight. My brother, who generally makes it to these family vacations, … More Book Review – In Other Words by Jhumpa Lahiri (2016)
The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars [Originally appeared here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/li…%5D How does a lament sound? Like a distorted sonorous wave? Hitting the crest with a shrill cry and falling to quietude with mangled whimpers? Or like a prolonged stream of soiled garble, comprehensible only to its beholder? … More Book Review: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy (2017)
Cry, Heart But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Even to the most-learned men and women, few things are as scary, swamping and tearing as death. Like an end, that ultimate exit, beyond which everything becomes void and nothing remains to return, it hovers over us like a spying cloud, … More Book Review: Cry, Heart But Never Break by Glenn Ringtved (2001)
Ignorance by Milan Kundera My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars “The more vast the amount of time we’ve left behind us, the more irresistible is the voice calling us to return to it.” In this poignant recount of two people, forced to bid goodbye to their native country, in the diminished, yet flickering hope of … More Book Review: Ignorance by Milan Kundera (2000)
Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars [Originally appeared here] Of all the fiction in this world, I find the ones rooted in mythology the most enticing; not because there is an element of otherworldly magic in them but because somewhere deep down, a bewitching veil of truth hovers above them. … More Book Review: Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman (2017)
The Vegetarian by Han Kang My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars [Originally appeared here (with edits)] Many of us, if stretch a little, can recall the question that appeared in our science textbooks in primary schools: choose the living and non-living thing from the following options. While we conveniently tagged all humans, animals and plants to … More Book Review: The Vegetarian by Han Kang (2007)
Autumn by Ali Smith My Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars [Originally appeared here.] She has done it in the past; and she does it again here. Ali Smith’s fixation on, and a visible mastery of, story-telling across timeline, in no particular order, shines in this experimental, breezy novel as well. Centred around the 30-something Elisabeth … More Book Review: Autumn by Ali Smith (2016)
When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars [Originally appeared here (with edits)] It has been a few days since I turned the last page of this book. But the numbness reappears the instant I allow the pages to unfold in my memory. The silence which suddenly parts to let … More Book Review: When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi (2016)
Here by Wislawa Szymborska My Rating: 4 of 5 stars “She wants me to live only for her and with her. Ideally in a dark, locked room, but my plans still feature today’s sun, clouds in progress, ongoing roads.” With this singular clarity, Wislawa Szymborska views memory. By running a casual yet assertive hand, she … More Book Review: Here by Wislawa Szymborska (2009)
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