The House On Mango Street
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Author : Sandra Cisneros
Publisher : Vintage Books
Pages: 110
Rating: 4/5
Rating: 4/5
The house on the mango street is more or less a memoir. A childhood memoir to be exact. Sandra Cisneros shows us how so much beauty can be encapsulated in such few simple words. The 110 paged book consisting 106 chapters (little, fine, unique chaps) which describes humorously touching and unforgettable memories from the writer’s life including witty introductions of several characters(mostly, the author’s childhood friends, relations et all).
From-“The House On THE Mango Street”(which is the first chapter) to “Mango says Good Bye sometimes” all through the 106, all worldly subjects makes a flamboyant flash in front of the reader’s eyes- family, hair, boys, girls, of growing up, laughter, cats. . . . . . Like Cisneros’s childhood had embodied in to a 110 paged bind. The author had set aside a whole chapter for ‘her name sake’ entitled “My Name”(10) in which she makes lament full(yet humorous) remarks of having a different , “difficult” name –Esperanza- which her school mates observed to be too difficult, sharp and ‘funny’- “as if the syllables were made out of tin and hurt the roof of your mouth” . ‘The House on the Mango Street’ is a masterpiece written by a great woman for the women, as she writes the dedication:
“A las Mujeres”
“To the women”
The work speaks to the women actually and female reader may enjoy it better, but that doesn’t mean that it is confined to that audience alone. Everyone can enjoy it. The most astonishing fact that strikes the reader is that Sandra Cisneros, with her impeccable writing style, managed to explain so much within 110 pages and 106 ‘tiny’ little chapters, so much . . . . . or almost everything about her childhood. Well, like, the women can read it as ‘their book’ and the rest can savor it as a perfect little literary masterpiece. I found it exceptional, that the glamorous writing style compensates the unfamiliarity and vex a male reader may find in an entirely ‘womanly’ world of words in those 110 pages
PLUM ISLAND
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Author: Nelson DeMille
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: April 1, 1997
ISBN: 0-446-51506-X
No Of Pages: 592 pages
Rating: 5/5
Chilling suspense. Adorable, humor packed description. It is amazing to overlook how Nelson DeMille connected every incident from the beginning to the last page to shape up the plot. The reader gets to go a short trip to plum island, Gold coast and Long isle. John Corey's portrait becomes that of an injured indolent slow learner cop in the beginning and in the swift progress of the story the reader can see him taking control of the events eventually upgrading his status to a "know-everything". Witty, thrilling and elegant !
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The God Of Small Things
Author: Arundhati Roy
Publisher: Indian Ink, India
Pages: 339
Publication Date: 1997
ISBN: 0-06-097749-3
Price: 250
Rating: 4/5
I have heard people labeling Arundhati Roy as a ‘One-novel-wonder’. After reading her masterpiece ‘The God of Small Things’ I must admit one thing – that ‘this novel is a wonder’. Poignant, sharp and stylish write. Lines blended with the slight hint of sarcasm are like a dark shot against the feeble shields of hypocrisy, stupidity and orthodoxy. A must read.
Story
The God of Small Things as the name indicates tell the tale of how Small Things can influence Big Things, intoxicate them and completely change them. The God Of Small Things cannot be assessed to have a protagonist or a central character, even if one can declare it as Estha and Rahel, but Roy’s magnificent work cease to reveolve around any one character, that it becomes the story of everyone- of Ammu,Estha,Rahel,Baby Kochamma,……. every one. And it is here that Arundhati Roy’s genius lies. The God Of Small Things becomes a book about every one, about everything pertaining to a particular era in Kerala , about caste system, politics, Christianity, love, despair,…everything. Apart from that The God Of Small Things is a magnificent make- where Roy’s genius turned a terrible tragedy in to a terrific tale.
The usage of Malayalam words throughout the work, especially during the exchanges between characters make the recipe more corpulent and spicy (well maybe its because I am a keralite and Malayalam is my mother tongue ;)) one can also see simple, yet catchy usages and comparisons such as “like tea from a teabag” (line about Christianity spreading in Kerala) and “as big as the belly of a beer- drinking man”(end of chapter two “Pappachi’s Moth”)
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The Guide
Author: R.K Narayan
Publisher:Viking Press
Pages: 220
The guide is the magnificent tale of how, a life of profuse romance ended up in tragedy, despair and detention, furnishes a wise human being – a real guide who compassionately advice and nullify the endless charades of the common man’s life. The great words of wisdom from Swami Vivekanantha fits well here;
“if you win you can lead”
“If you lose, you can guide”
Story
Raju a successful tourist guide of Malgudi falls in love with the alluringly beautiful dancer Rosie. He channels all his energy to fulfill Rosie’s dream-to become a famed dance- by relentlessly working for the cause almost forgetting his old talents and occupation as a tourist guide. His life slowly turns to turmoil of forgetfulness, a languorous whirl around the magnetic dancing beauty. Around the stages, in the role of a manager, he dispatches his conversational ‘guidely’ skills. But suddenly a grave mistake ends him behind bars owning to a complaint filed by Rosie’s former husband (whom Raju sarcastically calls ‘Marco polo’, referring to his attire). While Rosie continues in her dancing career to fulfill the financial needs to run Raju’s case in court. Raju , after his term in detention , takes refuge in an old riverside temple in the rural village of Mangal. The villagers take him for a saint and start consulting him for solutions for their daily life problems. With his ‘problem-solver-instincts’ which helped him to build his guide’s career, Raju helps them. He recounts his whole story to his followers on the eve of his fasting in order to appease the rain Gods when a drought hits the village. The structure of the novel is as per Raju’s description of his life to his followers. The simple, yet stylish writing style of RKN works magic. The same reason-the widely accepted format-had made it the most widely read and popular books in Indian English Literature awarding the author the highest honor in India- The Sahitya Academy Award (1961).
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A Review of two Poulo Coelho masterpieces
It would be relevant to state that Poulo Coelho glamorously concluded in The Alchemist what he began in The Pilgrimage- that is a journey to conceive the enlightment that is to quench all mental thrusts, smother off all questions that the mind-like a mad horse- so viciously and relentlessly ask the soul. that the journey, the pilgrimage was the soul's answer, the inner self’s thundering answer. While the omens were its mighty language through which the seeker-the lost sheep- was 'shepherded' to the one mighty answer; that which was always within him- that which he ceased to notice all his life. That blissful, blessed moment HE GETS ANSWERED, enlightened.
The Pilgrimage
Author: Paulo Coelho
Publisher; Harper Collins publishers
Pages: 224
the story begins from Italiana, on the peaks of the Siera Domar when the author's pride and aggravated avidity persuade his master to decline him the new sword which was the secret symbol of the order of RAM , after his old sword was disposed/buried. He is then forced to set out on a journey to seek his sword, to struggle to acquire what was about to be offered to him so generously. it puts him in course through the legendary road to Santiago - the blessed path trodden by pilgrims of several generations before him. En route, led by his experienced, wise guide Petrus, he is initiated to several spiritual exercises of the order and is put to test in extremely confusing and hazardous junctures through which his inner self is purified enough to deserve the 'RAM' order's sword again. 'The Pilgrimage' ends where the author regains his sword from his master. Here the reader can see the master almost magically reappear in front of his victorious disciple to gift him his hard gained sword.
The Alchemist
Author; Poulo Coelho
Publisher: Harper Collins publishers
Pages: 161
The Alchemist is a shepherd's meander to reckoning. Where he is led by dreams and omens, by magic, by Godly messengers and divine souls who pop up in the story all out of nowhere and fade out in the same page, after having performed their karma in leading the shepherd boy en route to the truth he seeks.
The shepherd crosses the blue waters and sets his foot in the Arabian sands seeking his fortune in the Pyramids. His venturous journey through the treacherous desert completely shifts the story to an entirely different platform with the advent of more poignant characters such as the mysterious Alchemist, the English man who is in a relentless search for the wisdom to turn metals in to gold-alchemy, and the beautiful desert woman Fathima with whom the boy falls in love with. The Alchemist ends in a thundering reckoning when the boy finds his real treasure; this is where Poulo Coelho's stupendous message shines -" wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure"
Poulo Coelho’s masterpiece swells with omens, magic and the triumph of ‘makthub’-which the common man cam conceive simply as ‘fate’. In The Alchemist Poulo Coelho blends his magnetic content with an entirely new feature which has inanimate objects as live and significant characters in the book which communicates with the protagonist and helps him at different junctures. This could be attributed as an entirely new experiment in novel writing. A pure product of an exploded imagination. Poulo Coelho is the best.
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One Night @The Call Centre
Author: Chetan Bhagat
Publisher: Rupa & Co
Pages: 257
After reading Five Point Someone(Chetan Bhagat’s first novel) one would be a little disillusioned by One Night @ The Call Center . The book represents the youth of the nation and that to say, about six employees of a call center. The work possess exceptional character description (like all of his works) but when it comes to the basic structure of the story, . ... Well I don’t have a good smile about it.(comparing with Five Point Someone) the introduction of God doesn’t seem to work out quite well. That, the reader feels a complete shift (‘an undesirably sudden shift’ to be exact) of pace and standard after the characters gets a call from God. I must say that I enjoyed reading the first half of the story (that is, before the God’s call) than the chapters after God’s intervention. But Chetan Bhagat’s mezmerising writing style makes it still, a ‘good-to-read’.
Story
The preface of the story describes a train journey from Kanpur IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) to Delhi, in which he shares his coupe with a beautiful girl who recounts the whole story (of One Night @ The Call Center) to him. The basic plot is around six call center employees Shyam,Priyanka,Esha,Vroom,Radhika and ‘Military Uncle’ . The six of them each have their own personal problems. They all possess American nick names for the ease of pronunciation for the American callers to pronounce. At the call center they answer, deal with and solve several problems pertaining to a purchased product. The story overturns when the six employees, on their usual return homewards, after their shift at 2 am, in the Company Qualis meets with an accident. Their Qualis skids off the road to a construction site. All of them gets severely injured and suffers heavily. It is at this point that Shyam gets a call from God himself. All six of them are able to hear it. Then God educates them the chi9ef causes for their failures and miseries and advices them how they could make their lifes better. With the Godly advices they are able to ‘take-care’ of their treacherous, troublesome bose Bakshi(who, at the first half of the story steels the credit of the report submitted by shyam and vroom and foils shyam’s promotion) and save their jobs. They plan to start their own web designing company. At this point Shyam redeems his love with Priyanka.
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Author: Joe Bonadonna
Publisher: iUniverse Inc
Pages: 335
Firstly let me state this clear that it’s about time the Indian (and of course Asian) bookaholics start choosing books like this. For, i bet that it'll be an entirely different experience - so much like a safe excursion in to another world, a dark world(dark, dreary, but extremely enjoyable and intriguing) swelling with dark arts of necromancy, witchcraft, evil magic. . . . . . Etc. It is time to take a detour from the usuals( but i don't blame all of them, exceptional and marvelous works do emanate:)) like i said , reading 'Mad Shadows' was like a little trip to that world, which Joe Bonadonna has so prudently penned to perfection- Aerlotha,Valdar....a sojourn amidst necromancers and witches, disembodied spirits, evil entities, creatures of the dark nights. The introduction of the supernatural investigator was extremely fresh subject (for this humble reader, of course) and that too with his marvelous, magical dowsing rod. personally, as an Indian reader, as a south Indian, native of Kerala state, having born and bought up in a state rich with supernatural fables - of black magicians, Tantrics, yogis,Yakshis, kinnaras and Gandharvas(all Indian versions of witches, black magicians and supernatural entities J) , i could enjoy the book to the fullest, that everything from the chilling fables and legends, long dormant in me , seemed to have given life to the images and description(exceptionally perfect description, i must say) in the chapter. This is why i have already recommended it to many of my friends here.
Another remarkable fact is that Joe had been very careful to do away with making it excessively dreary, too dark and ghostly, for it could have been a disaster for a tale akin to this. the author had packed interesting little adventures with the advent of intriguing characters like Yozinda(In The Vale of the Black Diamond, Blood on the Moon) and many female supporting characters that leave the reader wishing that their tale (and venture) never ended.
The cover art, to mention, is very cleverly chosen that it don't leave a speck of the rich , thick darkness and spooky adventures inside, unprojected. The book can't have a better cover. The portrait of shadowy Dorgo with his magical Dowsing rod, and all the ghostly figures starring/peeping from the back!
Story
MAD SHADOWS is the collection of six short stories;
1) Mad Shadows
2) The Secret of Andaro's Daughter
3) The Moon Stones of Sor Lanarum
4) The Man Who Loved Puppets
5) In the Vale of The Black Diamond
6) Blood on The Moon
* Mad Shadows is the story of evil, dark entities thrust for gold. Their reign of terror in the city of valdar exceeds all limits. The city is forced to open their eyes in the mornings to the sight of dead bodies and savor death's dreary, foul smell, of rotten flesh. Dorgo Mikawber(Dorgo the Dowser, i liked this usage better) come to their rescue, investigating the mystery and thereby nullifying the evil presence.
* The Secret of Andaro's Daughter is, as the name indicates, about Dorgo's investigation of the mysterious disappearance of an alchemist and his daughter, who is believed to have the possession of a magical key to immortality.
* The Moon Stones of Sor Lunarum is the tale of two brothers fetching magical moon stones owned by a witch. Strange and apparently unexplainable murders start to occur then. The hero Dorgo is called for help. He is to secure the magical stones before wrong hands use it for the cause of evil.
* The Man Who Loved Puppets, is about a strange illness that strikes a little town, affecting mostly the children leading them to a state of coma (tales about strange illness that affect a small population/township/village and a magical holy cure that comes are said in tones, especially in my country, but this one is truly different and worth reading) Dorgo is destined to root out the cause for the mishap and save the children.
*In The Vale of the Diamond and Blood On the Moon
These two stories among the six are my favorite. where Dorgo, our hero and Yozinda takes on thrilling ventures and ends up in unsolved mysteries and cursed populations who gaze at them with their pity, fear stricken eyes, so desperate for help, that Dorgo can't do away with getting involved. in the first story the two set out to the canyon of Severnus Tujeer seeking the magical Black Diamond which has the capacity to cure great blights. Yazinda intends to cure her brother (stricken by an illness) using the magical powers of the diamond. In Blood on Moon Dorgo and Yazinda reaches the latter’s hometown of Okalin and finds the town population in benumbing fear as the place is cursed with mysterious and unsolved murders. Dorgo gets in to action rooting out the cause of the murders.
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Well, i may also include a request to the author(that i would be sharing with many fellow readers) - to send Dorgo for more adventures, to dispatch the Dowser to solve more mysteries amidst ghosts, vampires, half humans and witches(Sorry Dorgo but we can't help it J) i am eager to devour more of Dorgo ventures, do pen more Joe. And thank you for this amazing work.
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I, THE SUN
Author: Janet Morris
Pages: 558
Genre : Biographical
I,the Sun is a magnificent literary remake of the mighty king Suppiluliuma’s prosperous and powerful Hittite kingdom of the 2nd millennium BC(1344-22 to be exact) between the 558 precious pages. The book is in 1st person narration – as dictated by the king himself. This should be noted as an important feature, a cleverly added one to be exact. Applauses for the author’s genius- for, the reader actually starts to savor the whole story through the senses of the king himself, that he/she will eventually develop a particular liking for the king- whom history labels as arrogant and violent(Not to mention his treatment of women). Because the reader is so close to the king as he perceives the whole tale through the King’s eyes. So that deep inside he/she starts to acknowledge the circumstances or environments in which King Suppiluliuma had to act as such; as arrogant, violent and cruel. The reader involuntarily arrives at the agreement that it was all for the sake of an empire! For the Hittite empire, for its people, for its progress and prosperity. The historic observation that the Hittite empire reached the peak of prosperity and power under king Suppiluliuma strengthen this. Referring to this I, The Sun could be described as a brilliantly written book on the Hittite empire(among the other few) in an entirely different perspective. The literary strategy of choose king Suppiluliuma as the protagonist and leading the story through him, has its distant resonation to the introduction of “anti-hero” by Fyodor Dostoevsky (for example the axe murderer’s portrait in Crime and Punishment), “Randamoozham*” by Malayalam writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair*- where the whole story of Mahabharata is retold through Bhima’s perspective ,”Ini njan urangatte”* by P.V.Balakrishnan*-the story of Mahabharatha through Karna’s perspective, Asura, the tale of the Vanquished* by Anand Neelakandan*- “Ramayana” through the villain Ravana’s perspective. The magic that these exceptional works bring about is that they completely redraw the mental image of a historic/ epic figure that history and society had for long made. The impression gets replaced with a new , more compassionate one.
With a thorough reference to the Hittite history one can understand that every account in “I, the Sun” really happened in the life of Supilulimas. This enlightment (better to someone who had not heard about the Hittites before and is referring for the first time) leaves the reader in absolute thrill. At this point it is impossible for one to do away with appreciating the dexterity and brilliance with witch the author had created the novel, enjoyable and intriguing, yet with good justice to the historical accounts- for it could have ended simply as a boring history lesson if it was just history and history alone. There is romance, rage, bloody battles, defeats & victory, like a colorful action cinema, I must say.
The only negative point that caught my attention is the confusing title “I, the Sun”, but that too for a person with good knowledge of the Hittite culture and ways will appear as the “most appropriate”. I had to do a little study of the topic to know the deep meaning and relation of the usage. I could find that the name is connected to the “Hittite way” of calling the king by the title “Mu sun”. to readers who had marked this Janet Morris masterpiece as “to be read” my advice is to do a slight study of the Hittite period that you can enjoy it better, like it will be an entirely different experience , even if the book itself tells the whole history. I mean, it will be more enjoyable to a reader with some knowledge of the Hittite.
Story
King supillulima was the king of the Hittite kingdom who had fame as a fierce worrier and a successful ruler. He acquired his throne by force and consolidated his power suppressing all domestic oppositions. Suppiluliuma then bean to channel all his efforts in rebuilding (and in that way strengthening) the Hittite kingdom. Supilulima I eventually amazed a strong army and an indomitably loyal intelligence network. With his forces he manages to annihilate all the enemies of the Hittites and widens the borders of his kingdom successfully nullifying his enemies like the Mitanni. At the height of his power, he is met with the tragedy of his son Zannanza’s murder at the hands of Horemheb’s forces. It drags the king to utter remorse and anger as his son was travelling to Egypt to marry the young widow of Tutankhamun in response of a letter sent to Hittite King by Tutankhamun’s wodow pleading to have her married to the Hittite king’s son. Raged by his son’s death king Suppiluliuma wages war against all territories of Egypt and ultimately turns victorious. But quite unfortunately they become defenseless against the devastating disease of “plague” that the Egyptian prisoners bestowed. The disease kills King Suppiluliuma and his eldest son Arnuwanda II.
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Ini Njan urangatte/P.K. Balakrishnan - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._K._Balakrishnan
M._T._Vasudevan_Nair/
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