Homo Irrealis by André AcimanMy Rating: 5 of 5 Stars I am the gap between what I am and what I am not. Even before the essays – beautiful, wise, full yet strangely wistful – begin to sing, this quote of the maverick Fernando Pessoa finds place. And that rounds up the mood of the … More Life, as you don’t see it
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean VuongMy Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Memory. A twig to hang our old ages on, a current to charge our failed youth from; a blanket to hush our demons from the black, a spring to nourish our wounded dreams underneath. A whole. A hollow. And everything suspended in between is … More Book Review: On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong (2019)
Autumn Light by Pico IyerMy Rating: 4 of 5 Stars It is good to meet life sometimes; not by seeing it in the eye but by interlocking fingers and walking by its side. In this book, Pico Iyer finds himself undertaking such a walk, under the light-heavy shadows of autumn. Twenty-five years after he first … More Book Review: Autumn Light by Pico Iyer (2019)
Ties by Domenico Starnone My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars Validation is a monster we carry within us – we seek it in abundance for the tiniest of things to the biggest of matters; and in the sordid event of its unavailability in external sources, we turn inwards and grab it nonetheless. We validate ourselves; … More Book Review – Ties by Domenico Starnone (2014)
Warlight by Michael Ondaatje My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars When the weapon inflicting a wound is done with its work, it hops onto to its next victim with a repugnant nonchalance. It doesn’t look back, it has barely any emotion. But it does not do the disappearing act before leaving behind the story of … More Book Review: Warlight by Michael Ondaatje (2018)
Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman My Rating: 5 of 5 Stars I finished reading the book late last night. As Elio bid a final goodbye to Oliver, I stood by him. The mist in his eyes and heart was in mine too. And I hovered my glance on his name and let … More Book Review: Call Me By Your Name by André Aciman (2007)
Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Forgetfulness was a gift, a talent to be nurtured. In the war of remembering and forgetting, what side do we choose? Or do we choose at all? Isn’t life that, which happens when we are busy planning it? In the seductively opiated heavens of narrow-alleyed … More Book Review: Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil (2012)
Nutshell by Ian McEwan My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars [Originally appeared here (with edits): http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/li…] Pessimism is too easy, even delicious, the badge and plume of intellectuals everywhere. It absolves the thinking classes of solutions. This wonderfully sapient insight springs somewhere in the middle of this book and almost gives away the rationale behind McEwan’s … More Book Review: Nutshell by Ian McEwan (2016)
The Book of Chocolate Saints by Jeet Thayil My Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars Aut insanit homo, aut versus facit. – The man is either mad or he is composing verses. But what verses, would you say, emanate from the bosom of passion that borders on delirium? What timbre of voice floats in the smoked air … More Book Review: The Book of Chocolate Saints by Jeet Thayil (2017)
Exit West by Mohsin Hamid My Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Wounds must not be pitted against each other since it is not their severity but the victim’s reception of them that defines their impact on the body (and soul). So, I must not put together displacement and immigration next to each other for I … More Book Review: Exit West by Mohsin Hamid (2017)
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