Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Revisiting The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

My Rating: 10/10
It has been one of my favorite books I ever read. The poignant details of life in Afghanistan post 1970’s, the stark difference between lives of Pashtuns and Hazaras makes it a rich, heart-touching story. Here’s what it is about:

Twelve-year-olds Amir and Hassan are inseparable companions, raised in the same house, nurtured by the same wet nurse, ardent fans of the same stories and games. The only minor difference between them is that Hassan gets up several hours earlier in the morning, to clean the kitchen, light the fire, iron the school uniform and prepare a breakfast for his worthy master Amir, the son of a wealthy Pashtun merchant.

It's Afghanistan in the 1970s; the function of the Pashtuns is to be in charge, the function of the Hazaras (a shunned ethnic minority) is to clean the bathrooms of their betters. This is one reason that Amir is unwilling to think of Hassan as his best friend rather than his adoring servant, and another is that his own father, so powerfully remote from the awkward, poetic Amir, is so disgustingly fond of the capable, athletic Hassan. Faced with the prospect of defending Hassan from the neighborhood gang of teen psychos, Amir chooses a kite over a friend, a decision that will haunt him for the next quarter of a century--until that day when he returns from America to address the question of Hassan and Afghanistan once again. As a personal story of a lost friendship that defines three lives, as an insider's story of Afghanistan's bloody path through the late twentieth century, and as an immigrant's story of a desperate sacrifice for a second chance, The Kite Runner would make a marvelous choice for students of high school or college, or for adult book group members of any age around the globe.

Hosseini is the first native Afghan to publish a major novel in English, just as Amir is the first protagonist in American literature to confront a personal nemesis who also happens to be a member of a little group they call the Taliban.

Monday, August 27, 2007

14 Degrees Below Zero by Quinton Skinner

My Rating: 5/10

I had never heard of the author Quinton Skinner before (he has written just one other book: Amnesia Nights). So, when I picked up this book to read, it was a pleasant surprise to know that the story is set in Minnesota! I liked reading about treacherous winters in Minneapolis and how people cope with it. However, the book is not about winter and cold; it is about a man Lewis Ingraham, his eccentricities and his life after the death of his wife.

The story is well-written, with the author getting into the psyche of all his actors; it is like going and meeting the characters yourself and trying to know what’s going on in their life. The only thing I did not like and disapprove of was the unbelievability of the climax of the story. You would say, ‘common, it’s just a story, it depends on the whims and fancies of the writer!’ I agree somewhat, but the point is: it should sound and read like its possible! Right? Why don’t you read it yourself and find out? Here’s what it is about:

Lewis Ingraham is cold. He’s lost his wife, his executive career, his once sure grip on the world around him. All that he can hold on to is his beautiful daughter, Jay, a formerly brilliant student who now struggles as a single mother. But even Jay is starting to slip away from Lewis, favoring her self-important boyfriend, Stephen. This time Lewis is going to fight back.

But when Lewis takes out his fury on Stephen, he ignites a chain reaction of violence. Now, as winter bears down on Minneapolis, desire, guilt and rage swirl in the snow. And a heinous crime is about to lead three people down a steep and unforgiving slope- into a realm of cold, hard truth.

Few lines which I loved from the book:

“…It was true that Stephen had a tendency to view the events of his life in literary and analytic terms- every neck ache was a manifestation of unresolved conflict, every sin of omission was a veiled statement of intent, yes, yes, guilty as charged…”

“ …weather predictions in Minneapolis resembled the speculative fancies of hardcore paranoiacs…”

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The Mistress’s Daughter by AM Holmes


My Rating: 6/10

Again, this is one of those books I read because it had good reviews. It is the first book I ever read of the author AM Holmes. I like her writing style, but I would say the novel took an uninteresting turn in middle and I lost interest.

The novel is about an adopted woman and how she copes with her birth-parents sudden appearance. AM Holmes was given up for adoption before she was born. Her biological mother was 22 year old single woman who was having an affair with a much older man with children and a family of his own. The novel is a riveting story of what happened when her birth parents came looking for her.

Well, I gave it a 5 rating mainly because in the second half of the novel, Holmes goes on to describe her quest to find more about her birth parents and it becomes a tedious process to go through all the details. I lost my interest then. I would have liked to read more about what was going on in her mind and life then and mere process of search. I would say it is more of a memoir than a novel.


Excerpt from the memoir:

I grew up furious. I feared that there was something about me, some defect of birth that made me repulsive, unlovable

Every nuance, every detail means something. I am like an amnesiac being awakened. Things I know about myself, things that exist without language, my hardware, my mental firing patterns — parts of me that are fundamentally, inexorably me are being echoed on the other end, confirmed as a DNA match. It is not an entirely comfortable sensation.

"Tell me about you — who are you?" she asks.

I tell her that I live in New York, I am a writer, I have a dog. No more or less.
She tells me that she loves New York, that her father used to come to New York and would always return with presents from FAO Schwarz. She tells me how much she loved her father, who died of a heart attack when she was seven because "he liked rich food."
This causes an immediate pain in my chest: the idea that I might die of a heart attack early in life, that I now know I need to be careful, that the things I enjoy most are dangerous
.


You can buy the book here.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

My Rating: 8/10


I started reading Jodi Picoult’s books in 2006. The first book I read of her was My Sister’s Keeper and there was no looking back. I got hooked on to her way of spinning stories; her style of writing to make the characters real; it always seemed like it’s authentic. She describes the emotions in such a heart-touching way that more than once, unknowingly, I was shedding copious tears by the end of the book. The Pact was a nice read, though I would say: if you are pre-disposed to sadness and melancholy in life, do not read any of Jodi Picoult. Here’s what it is about.

It is a riveting, timely, heartbreaking and terrifying novel of families in anguish-and friendships ripped apart by inconceivable violence. Until the phone call came at 3:00 AM on a November morning, the Golds and their neighbors, The Hartes, had been inseparable. It was no surprise to anyone that their teenage children, Chris and Emily, began showing signs that their relationship was going beyond that of lifelong friends. But now 17 year old Emily has been shot to death by her beloved and devoted Chris as part of an apparent suicide pact- leaving two desperate families stranded in the dark and dense pre-dawn, desperate for answers about an unthinkable act and the children they never knew.

You can know more about Jodi Picoult and her latest books here.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The Bright Forever by Lee Martin


My Rating: 7/10

I came across this book on one of the book club’s sites. Since it had a good review, I picked it up for a read. Well…I liked it. What’s the genre of the book? I can’t say its mystery, but till the end, you would not know what really happened…It’s more of a life fiction, deeply affecting novel about how an event that happened in a small town of Indiana affected everyone’s lives there.

The author has a unique writing style- each chapter has the title of the person who is going to talk about his life. So, if the chapter is Gilley, that chapter had the Gilley talking about his day and life. It actually seems like he is actually talking to you. When the story starts, you would feel you know how it’s gonna be. But, the story unfolds slowly, taking a new turn with each chapter; making it intriguing and really an interesting read. By the end of the book, I felt that I know the characters in the book; I could empathize with their guilt, their grief and their sunken feeling. That’s the power of a good writer! Here’s what it about:

EXCERPT
On a sleepy summer evening in a tiny Indiana town in the 1970s, nine-year-old Katie Mackey rushes out of her house and hops on her bike to return an overdue library book - never to return. Narrated with thirty years of retrospective by Henry Dees, the reclusive, lonely math tutor who had been giving Katie summer lessons, Martin's narrative plunges into the minds of each of its characters in order to reveal the darkness behind the pastoral facade.

If only" Katie's father hadn't wanted her to return her library books. If only her brother hadn't been angry at her and ratted her out over dinner. If only her bike chain had been fixed - if only.

Few lines I liked ans cannot forget:
The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he would never be found out.

Life had gone on. It always did. That’s what you learned as you got older. Time. It kept moving. You couldn’t stop it.

You can buy the book here.

Monday, August 13, 2007

Mariette in Ecstasy by Ron Hansen

My Rating: 5/10

I don’t remember how I thought of reading this book, but somehow, I discovered it and booked it at my local library. The front cover of the book didn’t give the story; I thought may be, it is about ‘the ecstasy’ (the drug) and its experience. I could not imagine anything else! So, it was a surprise for me when it started with the description of nuns’ lives at the convent!

I found out that the book is about ‘Stigmata’; which are bodily marks, sores, or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus. I have heard a lot about it in documentaries and have also seen the movie; but it was the first time I was reading a book on the topic. You can click here to know more about Stigmata.

The book describes numerous scenes depicting Sisters’ lives in the convent; its quite detailed and I could imagine their lives there: sewing, cooking and off course praying! Ron Hansen has written the book in a different style using present tense and short sentences. For example, the book starts with few one-liners:

Half-moon and a wrack of gray clouds.

Wallowing beetles in green pond water.
Toads.

Cattails sway and unsway.

There are parts in the book which are incomprehensible if you don’t know Bible or if you are not religiously inclined. Overall, a different but not outstanding book. Here’s what is it about:

THE EXCERPT
In 1906, a beautiful seventeen-year old postulant enters the convent of the sisters of the crucifixion in upstate New York. When she begins to bleed from hands, feet and side, the entire community is thrown into turmoil. Is Mariette a cunning sham, or sexually hysterical, or does God stalk her like a pitiless lover? Mariette in Ecstasy is a stunning immersion into the society of a small convent at the turn of the century, where a mysterious and ultimately harrowing world lied beneath the lovely, placid surface of everyday life.


Thursday, August 9, 2007

The Good Guy by Dean Koontz


My Rating: 6/10

I have been an avid reader of all of Dean Koontz's books. In fact, he has been one of my favorite authors since so long...I like his writing style, his sense of mystery, the surrealism, the presence of supernatural stuff...What I like the most about his writing style is the perfect combination of mystery and supernatural. This concoction makes the books quite appealing and fascinating to read...

Few of my favorite Koontz's books has been: The Odd Thomas books( Forever Odd, Thomas), The Taking, False Memory, The Key to Midnight, to name a few.
But lately, the new releases(husband, Velocity) have been more of a common mystery fiction than anything else, so there were not as remarkable as others. The beginning of the plot is quite engaging but as the story unfolds and you reach the end, it turns into a mundane end...Nevertheless, if you like his style, you should read it. Here's what it is about:
THE EXCERPT OF THE BOOK

Timothy Carrier, having a beer after his work at his friend’s tavern, enjoys drawing eccentric customers into amusing conversatrions. But the jittery man who sits next to him tonght has mistaken Tim for someone vert different- and passes to him a manilla envelope full of cash.

Ten thousand now. You get the rest when she is gone.

The stranger walks out, leaving a photo of a pretty women marked for death, and her address. But the things are about to get worse. In minutes another stranger sits next to him. This one is a cold-blooded killer who believes Tim is man who has hired him. Thinknig fast, Tim says, “ I have had a change of heart. You get ten thousand-for doing nothng. Call it a no-kill fee. He keeps the photo himself and gives the money to the killer. And when Tim secretly follows the man out of the tavern, he gets a further shock: the hired killer is a cop. Suddenly Tim carrier , an ordinary guy, is at the centre of a mystery of extraordinary proportion, the one man who can save an innocent life….inner resources that will transform his idea of who he is and what it takes to be a good guy.

You can buy the book here.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden


My rating: 10/10

After seeing this movie, I have been planning to read this book for a long time…but not willing to buy it. Finally, I got a copy from my local EP library…and believe me, despite the elaborate literary descriptions, I finished the novel in two days. However, I would say that this is the first movie which does real justice to the novel.

One thing I like about Asian writers is that they have a very refreshing way of expressing their thoughts. What I mean is: the language used by them is so vivid and rich that you can actually feel it…and so is the case with this book. The various poetic and writing devices used in the novel (e.g. similes, alliterations, Onomatopoeia and metaphor) make it an epitome of expressive and authentic novel. Well…Here’s what it is about:

MOAG is the story of a Geisha, Sayuri in Japan, how she became Sayuri from Chiyo, what struggles she went through during the course of becoming a geisha and afterwards. The author is successful in making the whole Geisha life real and live. Here are few lines which I loved in the book:

“…my father went on sitting…he began to look like just a curious collection of shapes and textures. His spine was a path of knobs. His head, with its discolored splotches, might have been a bruised fruit…”

“ I lived in what I called a ‘tipsy house’…as a child it seemed to me that the ocean had caught a terrible cold, because it was always wheezing…

“…my mother’s eyes were a translucent gray…I told my mother I thought someone had poked a hole in her eyes and all the ink had drained out…”
You can buy the book here

Monday, August 6, 2007

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne


My Rating: 7/10

While reading numerous fictions, sometimes, you encounter a book which is written in unconventional way…This is one of those books. This book is different in every sense: firstly, I saw that there was no excerpt of the story on the jacket cover! It merely says:

“…The story is very difficult to describe….We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about….”

So, I had no clue what is the story about. But as I read through the first few chapters, I could guess the theme. Nevertheless, it was very refreshing and different from other books. Well, I am not going to reveal the suspense to you (in case you wish to read it!). I would just tell you few interesting writing skills of the author.

The book is narrated by a 9-year old boy Bruno and his family. While reading, one can actually feel that it is indeed a nine-year old boy telling the story in his own simple language. There are moments in the novel when you would understand what’s going on but the innocent boy has no clue…so at those times, I felt like warning him about the precarious situation but in vain…

The titles of the chapters are also quite interesting: “the hopeless case”(which is Bruno’s sister), ‘ out of bounds at all times and no exceptions( which is Bruno’s dad’s office), ‘ how mother took credit for something that she hadn’t done’ ....

All in all, a worthwhile read…

Friday, August 3, 2007

A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini


My Rating: 9/10

Like his previous novel, Kite Runner, this novel is also equally riveting, haunting and breathtaking. I like his books because of the way he writes about emotions. The language is so expressive that it feels as if I am actually going through it. Here’s the storyline:

It’s the story of two generations of characters brought jarringly together by the tragic sweep of war in Afghanistan. It is mainly the story of two women- Older Mariam and Young Laila and how their fate became entwined during war. Mariam was born as an illegitimate child who got married off to Rashid, an old eccentric wife-beating husband. The first part of the book tells her story very succinctly, describing her sufferings all her life. The second part of the book covers Laila’s story who was fortunately born beautiful, intelligent and also had a prosperous family. The third part of the book describes how the wars in Afghanistan and how it affected both their lives adversely, how it brought them together as Rashid’s two wives and how their unlikely friendship helped them get through the difficult times.

The book is full of sad, emotional scenes but it never feels unreal. It actually made me think about all those women who have suffered during Taliban rule in Afghanistan. The last part of the novel is heart-wrenching…and the ending of the story is …perfect. Here are few lines which I liked in the novel:

“That summer, Titanic fever gripped Kabul… "Everybody wants Jack, Laila said to Mariam. “ That’s what it is. Everybody wants Jack to rescue them from disaster. But there is no Jack. Jack is not coming back. Jack is dead….”

“…One could not count the moon that shimmers on her roof,
or the thousand splendid suns that hide behind her walls.”

“ I am sorry,” Laila says, marveling at how every Afghan story is marked by death and loss and unimaginable grief.”
To buy the book, click here.