Katabasis – A journey to the underworld, to Hell. It was supposed to take me in, get me hooked. It was supposed to present me a world from where my eyes wouldn’t tear off. A world where wild things happened, unannounced. A precipice that threw me into vertiginous depths wherein everything was alien, sterile black, … More A rewarding journey to Hell
While discussing this book with my friends, one thing emerged clear – there were threads too many, and they all jumbled up. Not for me though. Nope. The threads are meant to jumble up, they are meant to be sharp enough to cut the reader’s line of thought, they are woven with the sly intention … More And then, there were four!
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)
The Only Story by Julian Barnes My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars “Would you rather love the more, and suffer the more; or love the less, and suffer the less? That is, I think, finally, the only real question.” This sentence, which introduced this most recent book of Julian Barnes to his potential readers, … More Book Review: The Only Story by Julian Barnes (2018)
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)
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)
Swing Time by Zadie Smith My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars [Originally appeared here: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/li…] There is something about every life: ripe with memories, rife with punctures, crowded yet distinct, deceptively omniscient but a puzzle to its only custodian. Zadie Smith’s narrator in ‘Swing Time’ attempts to hold this fleeting, substantial thing in her hand and poke it … More Book Review: Swing Time by Zadie Smith (2016)
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)
Turn of the Screw by Henry James My Rating: 3 of 5 Stars I often embrace the notion of writing being superior than plot to the extent of salvaging a lackluster body of the latter, very close to my heart. And it is stories like these that realign my reading meter in that direction. Henry … More Book Review: Turn of the Screw by Henry James (1898)
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)
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