Book Review: Such a Long Journey, Rohinton Mistry

It always amazes me how despite my dislike for tragic novels, I end up reading Rohinton Mistry's works again and again. Thus you can imagine how interesting his work must be. This time I came across the book called 'Such a Long Journey' when I was browsing the books at Crossword, Ahmedabad. I would describe the book as slow but fluid, sad but with traces of happiness round the corner and above all, displaying Mistry's typical style of weaving a story with historical background.

Like 'Fine Balance', this book is also set in the backdrop of early 1970s when India was gripped in the war with Pakistan and the emergency times. The story revolves around a family, their friends, and neighbors living in a Parsi colony in Mumbai. As always, Mistry gives us glimpses of Parsi family customs, their language, their interactions with each other and their place in the Indian history.

I call this novel 'A collection of mini-biographies of various characters'. He depicts individuals in such color and variety! He never fails to draw a picture of a personality with the most complete details. And therefore, parts of the book concerning individual characters look like their own biographies. The characters in this book are by far the most interesting of his novels. A middle class Parsi family fighting various household problems surrounding their children, A retired major working for RAW (Intelligence wing of Indian Armed Forces) and tangled in a national level conspiracy, a superstitious woman who performs black magic, a mentally challenged begger, a street worker who earns his bread by drawing all deities on footpath and wall and so on.

Like his other novels, this novel also has a steady background which plays historical events, dimly interacting with the characters in the frames. In Fine Balance, the background was the Emergency time in India under Indira Gandhi's rule. In this book, the background is the war years with Pakistan and creation of Bangladesh. Through indirect references, Mistry conveys a lot about powerful and shrewd personality of Ms. Gandhi. And such historical references make this book very interesting to read.

If you can't tolerate tragedy, don't read this book. If you want a novel which ties all the loose ends at the end and finishes with a climax, look somewhere else. This book is for those who enjoy immersing into the characters' lives. It is for those who live the lives of characters while reading. If you are such a reader, don't miss this book.

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Anatomy of Deception by Lawrence Goldstein: Book Review

Real characters in history woven in the net of a mysterious fictional plot. That is Anatomy of Deception. Part history, part fiction, this book is an absolute delight to read. This was the first book of its kind I have read.

The book is set in late 19th century in the Medical School, Philadelphia. The characters in the book include legendary doctors like Dr. William Halstead and Dr. William Osler. Their personalities have been depicted just as they were. But the circumstances surrounding them in the novel are fictional. The story revolves around the murders of a doctor and a young girl from an affluent family of Philadelphia. A young successful doctor, Dr. Carrol takes it up to him to solve the mystery of these two deaths and finds himself caught in the net of deception. Should he trust his own colleagues? Should he trust 'The Professor' who has been his guiding light in his professional as well as personal life?

The aura created resembles that present in Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie novels. The places include dark alleys, grave yards, morgue rooms of hospitals, palatial homes and so on. Characters include some legendary doctors, a ruffian immoral medical student, a diligent and committed medical professional, blue blood families of America at that time, some tough-nut mafia dons and so on. A perfect set up for a suspense thriller. Anatomy of Deception has it all.

But what stands out in Lawrence Goldstein's novel is seamlessly woven facts about the early history of medicine in America. Details about various inventions and discoveries, made by accident or otherwise have been integrated as part of the novel. Those related to medical profession or study will indeed find it very informative. And yes, these details are not fiction. They indeed happened the way it has been portrayed.

The novel is written as first person narrative. So those of you who don't prefer to read this kind of style might find it as a put-off. But I assure you, the writing style is indeed flawless. It's gripping and entertaining. A perfect material to arouse your curiosity about history of medical profession in America. If you haven't tried this genre, I would strongly advise you to go to your nearest book store (The nearest being the computer you are reading this blog on - Amazon ) and grab a copy of it. Enjoy.

Links to some characters in the book:
Dr. Osler: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Osler
Dr. Halstead: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stewart_Halsted

[P.S. Thanks a ton Niki, for such a wonderful gift]

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Book review: Next by Michael Crichton

Dear Mr. Crichton

I have some difficult questions for you that you are not going to like.

Were you compelled to write this book just with monetary gains in mind? Because there sure is no soul in this book. Why could you not create intriguing and gripping plots like Airframe, The Great Train Robbery and Timeline? Were you in too much of a hurry to get a book out just for the sake of it?

I am really very very disappointed by this book, sir. The book has no strong pivot around which a story could firmly revolve. There were several loose threads in the story which you could not tie properly at the end. And honestly, the whole cloning issue is far too old and worn out now to impress anyone as a fiction work. Your book I read before this one was Prey. And that too had a glimpse of weariness in your writing. But this one was a complete failure in my critical point of view.

I am still not giving up on your established brilliance and mastery of writing a researched fiction. Hope the next one will not disappoint me.

(Still) Yours faithful
Gandalf

Book Review: The Kite Runner

"There is a way to be good again". This statement is the center of the magnificently crafted art work "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini. The only difference between an author like Hosseini and a renowned painter is that an author creates pictures with words rather than colors. Kite Runner is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read. Poignant, powerful and vivid, Kite Runner is a work of amazing imagination. The story is simple yet heartfelt, and Hosseini is a master recounter.

The story spans about four decades and is set in Afghanistan, Pakistan and California. It's the story of a man's journey to redemption. To see a sin being committed, without trying to stop it is a bigger sin. And the guilt stings more than a bullet wound. Amir, the hero of the story sees a crime being committed to his servent's son, who is his best friend too and lives his entire youth years in the guilt of standing there doing nothing to stop it. And after all these years, when a time comes to redeem himself and drag himself out of the quagmire of guilt, he takes up the challenge and does something which is going to change the rest of his life.

This is the story of love and loyalty of a simple and honest servent. It is the story of a man's conflicts with his inner soul. Torn between his friendship with a servent's son and his own pride, the conflicting emotions of Amir have been depicted in an excellent manner by Hosseini.

Apart from being a story of one man, this is also the story of changing times in Afghanistan. With subtle colors, the author paints the grim picture of the doomed Afghanistan, first by internal wars and then by Taliban.

This is Hosseini's first work of fiction and he has done a supereme job. There are some authors who write like journalists. Some others write like blogs. But Hosseini writes like a story teller. He pays attention to smallest details. Details not in the surroundings but the details of the characters' emotions.

I would recommend this book to all those who love to read stories. Also to those who enjoy an excellent writing. Thumbs up for Kite Runner and Khaled Hosseini.

P.S. Thanks Priyanka for such a wonderful gift :)