The Last Lecture – Review

“If you knew you were dying, what would you do?” I find this a question to be one that dives deep down our psyche and saves the real person drowning within us.

One can get lost in the eddies of the mundane chores of every day. In the laughs that intersperse quietly during lunch-time banter. In the swift journeys between rest and “no-rest”. One can get lost, it is a usual sort of excursion. It is the finding of oneself that is a journey worth acknowledging. That is what Randy Pausch‘s book, The Last Lecture, does to you. It urges you to find yourself, because maybe he didn’t have time, but you do.

While this is a hugely famous incident, I’d recount it to set the tone of this so-called “book review”. Ironically, the word “review” is just apt here. It makes you re-view your life. Randy Pausch was a professor of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University. He died of pancreatic cancer in 2008. When R.P. was diagnosed with cancer, he resolved to fight and survive. Fight and survive, he did; though only for a brief time. He won the fight, only to lose the battle that the army of tumors waged on him. When R.P. knew he had limited time with his family—which he could see shortening slowly—he decided to live a happy life in all his capacity. When Carnegie Mellon asked him to deliver a “last lecture”, he agreed. However, it took him some persuasion with his wife, Jai. She relented seeing how important it was for him to document his life and recount it even for just one hour. And R.P. went on to give The Last Lecture which, ironically, was the last lecture of his life. I haven’t seen the lecture, but I’ve read the book. Twice.

“Time is all you have and you may find one day that you have less than you think.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

For the purpose of a book review, I’d comment on the writing and say that it has been written straight from the heart. Understandably, so. And that is why, it hits home very easily. In the book, R.P. has tried to recapitulate his life and given the state he was in, it is NOT surprising how honest and effortless it is. R.P. has shared some really basic and “clichéd” learnings of his life which make you think that you do know all of it but you tend to forget it. He’s touched upon parents, teachers, academics, dreams, love and parenting. All of it comes straight from the gut.

“People are more important than things.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

And yes, for all the ladies out there, here’s what the dying man left behind as advice for his 18 month old daughter:

“When it comes to men who are romantically interested in you, it’s really simple. Just ignore everything they say and only pay attention to what they do.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Personally, I love two instances he narrated. One about Coach Graham and how he taught R.P. teamwork, hardwork, and the importance of having a real “teacher” in life. Coach Graham was a model teacher, unlike the ones found today. R.P. says he is disappointed that parents these days aren’t strict enough on their children and they’re ready to move to court as soon as a teacher is strict with their children. Honestly, I think it is shameful that we have come to such a state. A good teacher is a blessing. And blessings don’t need to always be soft; they come harsh too; that is when we really learn. I absolutely love the “head fake” he has mentioned that Coach Graham taught him.

The second story that I loved was his love story with his wife, Jai. It was endearing to see how supportive and strong she has been through all of it. The fact that their love story is the spine of the book is so evident. If it wasn’t for her support, he’d never have been able to give it all that he did. What makes their love story so happily sad is the faith she shows in him right through and stands strong for their 3 children. In the end, when the “lecture” gets over and Jai hugs R.P., she whispers in his ear, “Please don’t die.” That is when reality strikes you that this man, who has just told us such a beautiful story, is really dying and he won’t be around his family anymore. Those 3 words said by Jai made me cry. Real tears. You can feel her pain when she says it. Their love story made me cry.

And that is why The Last Lecture makes for a lovely read—because it is real. All of it. The understanding, faith, dreams, losing, winning, yearning, familial bonds, hope, and love. You can’t make those emotions up on a death bed.

Here’s my favourite quote from the book:

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.”
― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

There is no reason why I should ask you to read The Last Lecture, but there is also no reason why you shouldn’t.

-Sameen

Watch the lecture.

Love in the Time of Cholera – Review

I recently finished reading Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. While he is very well-known for his work One Hundred Years of Solitude, I happened to chance this other book of his at Landmark. It has a mango-coloured cover with worn out drinking steel glasses and a stark red flowers in a concavity of an off-white painted wall. It makes for a solemnly pretty picture. The abstract of the book says that it is a tale of a man, Florentino Ariza, who waits for over a decade to be with his childhood love, Fermina Daza who is married to a certain Dr. Juvenal Urbino. After Dr. Juvenal Urbino dies trying to retrieve his pet parrot from a mango tree, Florentino Ariza tries to reclaim the love of the woman he met when he was a tender teenager. This is all that the abstract says; and honestly, there is nothing more than this that the book really says to you.

GGM’s writing is very instinctive. It’s like you are sitting with a drunk man at a bar who would be narrating a story to you in a disconnected fashion. He says what he wants when he wants it. There is no pattern. The drunk man beckons to you to hear a story and begins with telling you about a certain Dr. Juvenal Urbino he knows and then he tells you about his habits, education, and career. He tells you of his marriage to Fermina Daza and the affluent lifestyle they have. He tells you of his achievements in medicine and his kids with that woman. He tells you of his unfortunate death while retrieving his pet parrot. The drunk man is one peg down. He orders another round. Then he begins narrating the story of a woman who lived, a woman who loved, a woman who left her childhood love—Fermina Daza. All of this while he’s reminiscing the beauty of a time that was once a reality and seems nothing more than a fairy story kids used to once hear. The man’s eyes sparkle with the recalling and he has a shy smile on his face. He tells you about the love letters once written and the shy glances exchanged between Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza. The music in the bar stops just when he tells you how Fermina Daza rejects Florentino Ariza’s love and marries Dr. Urbino. The drunk man has now ended his drink; and the “happy” part of the story is over. He yells at the bar man for another drink who takes a while! He throws some things around and while you’re trying to get away he calms down and makes you sit. He pacifies you saying it’s okay when, in fact, he is pacifying himself. And then, over another glassful he tells you how Florentino Ariza has lived all these years in a sentence he pronounced on himself. How Florentino Ariza has lived with nothing but just one goal in his life, that of making Fermina Daza his. He might have fallen in the arms of many women but how he has “loved” Fermina Daza alone. The drunk man slurs, and you’re not sure where this story is going. You see his ashen face and wonder if it’s a real story or is he just reeling under the influence of alcohol. You want to leave but you want to know if Florentino Ariza really did get himself that love story that one would be amazed at. So, you buy the man another drink and ask him to go on. The man is now disconnected, he tells you of a lot of things you could do without, but you still stay. You wait till he comes around and tells you about how finally Florentino Ariza does start communicating with Fermina Daza after her husband’s death. You look at the man’s glass and hope that he lasts through the narration. You hope you could finish his drink for him and get to the end of the story. Finally, he does come to the part you’ve been waiting and he does not pass out before telling you that Florentino Ariza won his love “Forever.”

You then take the drunk man home, put him to bed and wonder for some part of the night whether a man could really wait for over fifty years to be with a woman he loved. And that is it possible that a woman would repress her feelings for fifty years hiding them behind societal norms and her idiosyncrasies? You wonder if such a love story is possible. And then you realise that an inebriated man said that to you; you’re going to have to find out for yourself. You just wonder how.

- Sameen

Image Source: http://bookmust.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/love_in_the_time_of_cholera.jpg

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo – Review

Once in a while, it’s good to get yourself a ride. And if it’s thrilling, that’s all the more a reason to hitch one.

It’s been a while since I read a good crime novel. One that would have a protagonist worthy of admiration because he/she can do almost anything and a storyline that keeps you at the edge of your seat and makes you go “wow” when the climax descends on you. I had resorted to TV shows to do those things for me. Until? Until David Fincher refused to release his movie The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in India. Reason being the Censor Board of India asked for some cuts in the film that Fincher was unwilling to make. I’ve seen his movie Fight Club after I read the book of the same name. I was thoroughly impressed by how he gave the book the respect it deserves on screen. His adaptation of the book was nothing short of impressive. So, I thought before I could get myself a copy of the movie, I’d get myself a copy of the book!

Honestly, I got through the first 200 pages of the book solely on the fact that: 1) David Fincher made a movie out of it, and 2) the book had a certain standing in the “reading community”. It took Larsson a while to build up the characters and churn the story to a level where it then starts getting frothy and jumpy. Somehow, I would take away points for his writing; I didn’t think it was a spectacle enough. His writing was a little bland as far as I am concerned. What pulls this book through is the story and the pace it picks after 200 pages have been licked off.

The story opens with an old man receiving a frame with a pressed flower on his birthday. It then moves to a journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who is your protagonist for the major part of the book, being convicted for libel and defamation against a certain financer Wennerstrom. Enter the girl with the dragon tattoo, Lisbeth Salander, who is an expert investigator. Of all character sketches, I think Salander’s character build-up and description hits you right where it should; the rest are a little sketchy. I’m assuming Larsson spent extra time on her because he named the book after her. After Salander, enter Henrik Vanger (again) who hires Blomkvist to investigate the disappearance of his brother’s granddaughter Harriet. For convenience sake let’s call her his granddaughter. Henrik Vanger is the ageing old man who received the flower at the beginning of the book, remember? he has been obsessed with Harriet’s disappearance for 30 years and he wishes that Blomkvist gives it one last go before Vanger dies. From here, the story goes a little uphill. When Blomkovist, amidst a lot of apprehension accepts the job of “trying” to find out what happened to Harriet, Larsson gives us a tour into the past of the HUGE Vanger family. Which, frankly, I could do without. What didn’t help was Larsson’s writing, because for most parts I didn’t care who was whose son and who married whom. I skimmed through it. You ask me who Birger Vanger was and I’ll look straight through you. This is where I relied on the two outlined reasons for still reading the book. Meanwhile, Salander has her own story going on parallel to Blomkvist’s investigation; her job, her expertise at her job, the problems with her guardian, and her introvert nature are all fascinating. If it wasn’t Blomkvist doing the investigation of the main plot of the book, you could just read Salander’s portions and be happy. Only, you can’t!

After the Vanger family has been described, the plot has been fleshed out and Blomkvist begins to make breakthrough with his investigation, the book picks up pace. Thankfully, Salander joins him, and after that I dare you to put it down after that. You can’t. This is the point when the mystery begins to unfold one layer at a time and Larsson’s story vindicates all the time you spent over the first 200 pages of the book. The story gallops up and how! You begin wondering what happened to Harriet after all? Which of the Vangers killed her? Why would anyone want to murder a teenager? What secret did such a huge family hide in its bosom? And finally, when you do discover what really happened, it makes you cringe. It also makes you heave a sigh of relief that Henrik Vanger’s obsession with Harriet’s disappearance was not in vain after all, and it has come to a logical end.

Larsson has a very good story in this book and only if his writing supported him a little, I’d give it a 4 on 5. But I’ll take away half a point for the writing and give TGWTDT 3.5 on 5. Read it for a really good ride. It’s worth the while.

- Sameen

P.S: After reading, you can catch Fincher’s movie, which I shall do in a while. Just like Larsson doesn’t disappoint, I’m sure even Fincher won’t.

The Five People You Meet in Heaven: Review

Mitch Albom is a very celebrated author and is best known for his book “Tuesdays with Morrie” which was basically like entries in a diary. It was a non fiction book recounting the meetings he had with his dying Sociology Professor. But, i’m not here to speak about this book.

A very well known author by now (5 people was written after Tuesdays) he jumped headlong into the world of fiction and after 6 years “The Five People You Meet in Heaven” was released. This book was a great success and its statistics agree with me:p

5 People has sold over 10 million copies; translated into 35 languages and was finally made into a movie of the same name starring Ellen Burstyn, Jon Voight, Jeff Daniels and Michael Imperioli. The book begins from the end. It begins when its protagonist, Eddie, is just about to die and from there it sways into flash backs and present with aplomb. Eddie is an injured war veteran and is currently working at Ruby Pier as a maintenance man.

Ruby Pier

Eddie dies in a freak accident where he is trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. The one question that is haunting as he steps into “Heaven” is, “What happened to the girl?” Eddie meets people in heaven who refuse to answer his directly but do give him a great insights as to how and what has affected his life, or how he has affected theirs, whether directly or indirectly.

Eddie meets “The Blue Man”; His WWII Commander; a lady called Ruby; his wife and a young girl called Tala! Eddie learns something profound from each and everyone. He realises that his life was interconnected not only to his own fate but also to the fates of others. People we don’t even know have minor, sometimes cataclysmic, ramifications in our lives. Right from being a mere indirect audience to an act to being the direct participant of an accident Eddie sees it all. He realises the power of forgiveness and the effect it has on ones life. He realises what a simple gesture can mean and how easy it is to fall in love with someone.

From his commander he learns that things that happen in your life are only controllable to a certain extent. Beyond which they are just meant to be. Eddie has a lot of difficulty accepting the point of view but only until he meets little Tala.  She tells Eddie about herself and how her life was affected by the actions of Eddie. Consciously or not, it did have devastating ramifications.

The entire sequence between Tala and him is touching indeed.

We judge our surroundings as promptly as we clap our eyes on it. Its so sad that we are harshest with the people we love the most. We take them for granted almost all the time! If only we knew what that person ACTUALLY means to us we’d never end up doing that.We so easily slander and rebuke our peers, friends, relations and, most of all, unknown people. We learn very late in our lives that the most difficult thing to emulate is to be another person than ourselves. Eddie learns just that and guilt takes over. He realises that one act of his father was enough for him to forgive him and to say sorry. If Eddie knew about it he’d have reconciled much much earlier.

Albom tells a tale of empathy and of love through such a different platform that its difficult to not accept it. More than the story, more than the writing style what captivated me was the theme and the message Albom tries to convey. The entire idea of knowing exactly why your life took the turn it did and what  a certain act supposed to mean from your private armchair. Albom is basically repeating the age old funda of love and empathy and understanding and the most basic parameter that life is not meant to be understood. Its meant to be lived by rules and righteous behavior for we cannot control the adversity that life throws at us.

No matter how far ahead we plan we cannot forget the fact that our death lies just a step out of the door. Here you plan for a large family and there your future husband just got run over by the mail man’s truck! Ignorance is indeed bliss up to only a certain level. Beyond which we are not meant to question the way things work out. It is only the hard way we learn that there is a higher authority that decides what we do. There is a reason to everything. We just don’t know it.

I loved his message but I cannot say the same about his writing. It wasn’t bad, mind you, it just did not make me fall in love.

Albom deserves an applause for his insight and insidious clarity which creeps on you and gives you a smile at the end.

- Siddiqui F.

Message in a Bottle- Review

A tear-jerker written by the romantic author Nicholas Sparks and made into a movie of the same name starring Kevin Costner, A Message in a Bottle is an interesting, if not an exhilarating one. I haven’t seen the movie and am not planning to either. Now don’t get the wrong idea about me not liking the book, which, on the contrary I liked just fine. It’s just that I’d prefer to have my head with the memories of the character like how I read them and not how I “saw” them. More often than not the movie screws it up so badly that the person starts finding the book rather pukey.

Theresa, a 30 something divorced lady is on a small vacation with her 12 year something kid and while she’s walking along the beach she discovers a bottle washed ashore with a note inside. Theresa did what anyone of us might. She opens it and reads the note and begins weeping. The note is actually a letter written by a man called Garret Blake to a woman, his dead wife apparently, called Catherine. Theresa is so touched by the letter that she decides to track this Garret Blake down just out of sheer curiosity. Who could write such letters to a dead person and throw them out to sea? Who could be capable of loving a person to this extent? Theresa has had a recent divorce because her otherwise good husband was caught cheating behind her back. She tracks down Garret and the two of them get closer to each other. It’s not surprising that they find so much solace within each other’s arms. Theresa is stunned to meet a man so loving and so giving. Garret is finally finding peace with himself and learning to love again. He didn’t quite get over Catherine’s death. Garret dreamt of her every night. And when he wasn’t dreaming of her he was writing those letters to her and throwing them into the sea.

Writing those letters were the only way he had been able to vent out his bottled up frustration of not being able to live with the only woman he had loved! Things are going pretty fine between the two of them and everything’s looking up for Garret apart from those panic attacks he gets occasionally. He feels like he’s cheating Catherine by being with another woman. He sees her in Dreams giving him signs which he interprets wrongly and his misgivings increase ten folds. He thinks Catherine is giving him signs that she finds this rather surprising closeness unbearable. Garret thinks that these misgivings are his own personal ghosts and Theresa is not aware of this. But he is wrong. Theresa feels the difference in the way he speaks to her sometimes. She can sense that Garret is forcing himself against his better judgments o be with her and that he hasn’t yet overcome the romance and love he had for Catherine. Theresa decides that she cannot be with a man who is still carrying his “baggage” after so many years. Theresa is not ready to share (this is so insensitive) Garret!!!

All things said and done she decides that she cannot be with a man who loves his wife. It makes no difference whether she’s alive or dead! So Theresa leaves Garret and decides to stay away from him for his own good. She loves him too much but she cannot stand him being still attached to his late wife. I’ll let the readers read the remainder of the story themselves and find out how Theresa leaves him and how Garret finds out that Theresa is The One and gets his divine signs pointing towards Theresa in all her glory. The story written by Nicholas Sparks is a very interesting read. It’s totally romantic and mushy and if you’re a lover of romance then this will whet your appetite! Although I think the book could have done without the graphic sex.

I think all females love a good romantic novel and a few guys too. This one was one of the very few ones that I have read and liked. It is said to be based on Nicholas father!! How we love real life stories. Especially if it is so beautifully written and makes you weep.

Siddiqui F.

The Fountainhead – Review

Gail Wynand: “what have you been thinking these past weeks?”

Howard Roark: “The principle behind which the Dean who fired me from Stanton.”

“What principle?”

“The thing that is destroying thins world. Actual selflessness.”

“The ideal which they say does not exist?”

“They are wrong. It does exist-though not in a way which they imagine. It’s what I could not understand about people. They have no self. They live within others. They live second-hand…”

Excerpt From ‘The Fountainhead’ by Ayn Rand

They tell you what you want to hear and you are pleased with yourself. They applaud you for your endeavours and you bask in the glory. They tell you what is right and wrong and you thank them for being there. They caution you of what is unforeseen and you are so grateful for that. You’re thanking your stars for ‘them’. You’re being a second-hander. You’re being Peter Keating.

You don’t want anyone to teach you what they know. You’re stubborn in the face of the world that stands together. You are indifference to the criticism they belt out at you. You want to be yourself in the face of every situation whatever it might be. You are being Howard Roark.

A ‘Keating’ is talented. A ‘Keating’ obeys his mother and loves a simple Church girl. A ’Keating’ is good at studies and obedient of his teachers. A ‘Keating’ is a model student and the topper of his institute-waiting to go out in the world and build the best buildings there could be. He is hardworking, has lots of friends, learns the tricks of the trade and climbs the ladder of success. He basks in admiration and glory. He has lots of money and a sexy, enchanting wife whom he marries at the peak of his career. He takes care of his mother and makes a perfect rags-to-riches story. He is Peter Keating. He is a second hander.

A ‘Roark’ is superlative in his work. A ‘Roark’ is expelled from his Institute for disobedience. He has no respect for Classical architecture. A ‘Roark’ is obstinate about his work and tolerates no suggestions. He is neither friendly nor amicable. He has few friends most of which have had their spines broken by something called ‘the world’. A ‘Roark’ has no mass appeal and no support. His has his set of convictions and 2 lawsuits against him. A ‘Stoddard Temple’ to malign his name and a ‘Cortland Building’ to smash his career!

What would you rather be-Peter Keating or Howard Roark? Or neither?

Second-handers are selfless people. Those who have no selfish aspirations. Those who believe that they are not selfish. Yet they have no self.

Why do you want someone else to admire your work when you have no admiration for it yourself? Why do you want fame from people who don’t even know you at all? You would rather do something that is generally accepted rather than have your own acceptance because people think it is right! You would rather kill your won desires to fulfill those of your family or others. You want to keep everyone happy at all times even if it comes at the cost of your own. And after doing all of this you will think that you are some great ‘humanitarian’. You are being selfless. You are not being selfless because before being selfless you have to learn to sat ‘self’. Before saying ‘I love you’, you have to learn to say ‘I’.

Why are most people unhappy in the world? Because they have no personal desires. They have never done something for themselves. They are busy being ‘humanitarians’. They are busy being ‘Keating’ who gives up painting to be an architect because his mother wants him to and also because people will look at him with pride. He derives pride from other people. He has none of his own. He is a second-hander.

Why do most people want admiration from other people for their work? Because they are busy being ‘Keating’ who secretly wants ‘Roark’ to acknowledges his drawing before he can present them to ‘the world’. He is a second-hander.

Why do most people want a beautiful spouse instead of the one they would rather have? Because they are successful and they want a crowning glory. Because they are busy being ‘Keating’ who marries Dominique the very day he promises his childhood sweetheart marriage.

Why do most people want someone to solve their problems? What are those problems? A figment of their imagination? Or a slice of the opinions of those who declare it a problem? Because you are being ‘Keating’ who runs to Ellsworth Toohey everytime he seeks solace. As far as public perception is concerned we all need a Toohey in our lives. As far as I am concerned, Toohey is more dangerous than you can ever imagine. Because Toohey is a leech which sucks out our soul and gives you his in return and in the end all you’re left is with a numbness that is not your own. You’re being a second-hander.

You would rather be ‘Keating’ wouldn’t you? For all the fame, money and luxury. For being obedient. Why not? The world thinks it is right! The world has been Toohey. The world has sucked out your ‘self’ and replaced it with their own. And you think you are right because ‘they’ think you are right! You would rather be ‘Keating’ because being ‘Roark’ would lead to condemnation and no work and money. Being ‘Roark’ would mean no acceptance by anyone. So it is safe to be ‘Keating’ isn’t it? It is safer. It is a shell that is invincible. Invincible until the end- when you realise that Keating beings to decay! Keating will have everything except for his own ‘self’. But that’s ok, because none of the world has it too. If it’s good enough for them then it is good enough for you! And therefore you are a second-hander.

I would rather be Howard Roark and not a second-hander. I prefer being selfish!

-Sameen

Lullaby – Review

As the title suggests the book is about a tiny poetry called the “The Culling Song”. It has its origin in Africa and the song is sung to tiny children in times of grief like famines and droughts; or to crippled warriors in a battlefield who are about to die. It’s a song to end their pain. It’s a Lullaby.

This is how the narrator, Carl Streator, explains it to his newspaper editor who conveniently dies the next day. Carl is investigating crib deaths and this is how he comes across this piece of poetry. Reading it to Duncan, his editor was just an experiment. Now Carl knows what the tiny song can do. And Carl reading it to his editor was, in his own words, just an experiment. So when he drops dead Carl, instead of feeling misgiving, feels a sense of responsibility in annihilating the poem from the face of the earth itself.

“The Culling Song” can be found on page 27 of the book called “Poems and Rhymes from Around the World”. This book is available at every library waiting to be read by unsuspecting mothers to their children at bed time…they will never wake up! Carl and a few others who are aware of such things as people dropping dead randomly take up the cause for the good!

On another side of the story is Helen, a real estate agent who earns by selling demented residential property to innocent buyers and then making them sign a quit claim deed when the owner begins complaining about a head appearing in the bath tub or shadows walking across the walls. Or, she tells them to give her the sole right to re-sell the house to other buyers. Of course, the dementia and head in the bath tub, or the shadows on the wall, or the bloody walls remain secret between the owner and Helen. A very unlikely character to take up such a cause but she does so with aplomb. More than once we feel that Helen is much much more than what she seems to be. And rightly so!

Other characters include a guy called “Oyster” and a lady called Mona. Another very unorthodox pool of characters to be involved with Helen and Carl but then when was the last time you read Chuck Palahniuk and did not end up amazed.

Chuck Palahniuk, of the “Fight Club” fame, has a very straight forward way of writing. He is crisp and clear about what he wants the reader to understand. He has a very nonchalant way of describing even weird scenes that makes the reader accept it. And this is because he writes with so much alacrity! There are some cool descriptive lines which go as follows:

“The tile beats a tiny rhythm under my fingertips. The bathtub vibrates with shouts coming through the floor. Either a prehistoric flying dinosaur awakened by a nuclear test is about to destroy the people downstairs or their television’s too loud.”

This is just one of the many straight faced humour that the author uses to make a book based on magic and spell feel so much more acceptable and different. I mean, after the advent of Harry Potter people always think that magic and magicians cannot become cooler. Maybe they can’t. But this is just so much different from what I was expecting when I read the prologue and found out that the book’s based upon a premise that is so overused.

But the reader should not get an impression that the book is only about magic. No sir it’s not. The book touches on many other tangents of the human nature. In a very Palahniuk sort of way the author makes so much sense. He uses the same imagery we see day after day but what he squeezes out of the image is nothing sort of an anthem for the worldly wise. He dissects every movement with clarity and forces us to question the more than accepted rules of human nature. The author uses his language to say so much about how the world is not such a grand place to be like everyone makes it out to be. He cleverly uses the “Big Brother” aspect of George Orwell too.

“Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed. He’s making sure your imagination withers. Until it’s as useful as your appendix. He’s making sure your attention is always filled. And this being fed, it’s worse than being watched. With the world always filling you, no one has to worry about what’s in your mind. With everyone’s imagination atrophied, no one will ever be a threat to the world.”

He makes a very profound point about how the big bad media is drying up the intelligence of the masses. But it’s a small point he makes and more often than not people just ignore it. Go look for it.

Oh hell I’ll give it to you:

“Experts in ancient Greek culture say that people back then didn’t see their thoughts as belonging to them. When ancient Greeks had a thought, it occurred to them as a god or goddess giving an order. Apollo was telling them to be brave. Athena was telling them to fall in love. Now people hear a commercial for sour cream potato chips and rush out to buy, but now they call this free will.”

He’s brilliant.

The end will hit a little bit and put some questions forward. I have no clue why the Sarge is with him, for example. But it won’t make you feel empty. It’ll make you feel like you’re satisfied. Not the kind of satisfaction you get when you read a good book. It’s the kind of satisfaction that you get when you read a really good book which tells you a story; not very confusing and out of the world but, at the same time, educates you a little bit in such a non-preachy way that you don’t feel patronised.

The book is funny in its own way. The author leaves an impression which, succinctly put, translates into “I need to read more of him.

- Siddiqui F.

Fight Club – Review

(FC = Fight Club)

You’re in office.
Your boss hands you reports to analyze.
You’ve been reading FC while you could.
Your boss, your girlfriend, the coffee machine; all of them are like bees buzzing outside your head.
Last night you weren’t in town. No one knows that.
Last night you were in town. Everyone thinks so.
The lunch is dry and unpalatable. You’re reading FC.
The Boss asks if the reports are analyzed.
You shake your head—he’s got to wait. You’re not in a hurry. Since last night, you’re not in a hurry to get anywhere.
You’re in a metro. You’re going to your apartment.
Chuck Palahniuk’s finest work is in your hands.
You’re gliding through the crowd after last night. They can honk at you, you’re as cool as a cucumber; you can’t hear them.
The writing is like your reading of the book: FC-cut-work-cut-FC-cut-coffee-cut-FC-cut-work-cut-FC-cut-home-cut-FC.
Cut. Cut. Cut. And you’ve visualized how to make soap.
Soap: a marvellous invention. FC: another marvellous invention. You can’t just make another bar of soap. You can’t just create another piece of literature like FC.
You’re living this life and doing all that you think you can. And all that you wished you didn’t.
Ever wondered how much have you really lived?
Ever wondered what “living” constitutes of?
“This is your life and it is ending one minute at a time.”
You’re in office. The boss asks if the reports are analysed. You know seven rules. You just want to tell him: No questions.
Your girlfriend calls. She asks you if you love her. You want to tell her:
“A tiger can smile
A snake will say it loves you.
Lies make us evil.”
You say, “Honey, I love you.”
Your boss pops in again.
You’re “Joe’s Boiling Point.”
You hand in the analysis by evening.
You’re reading Palahniuk again. You’re in a metro.
You wonder what to think of liposuction.
You wish you were in a speeding car and someone had a gun to your head asking you, “What is the one thing you’d want to do before you die?” You’re furiously thinking what would you do and you’re fervently praying the car doesn’t crash. Deep down you actually wish it does crash.
“…the first step to eternal life is you have to die.”
The car doesn’t crash. Or maybe it does. You decide.
You either live to die.
Or you die to live.
You’re done reading the afterword.
You’re enlightened.
“If you could wake up in a different place, at a different time, could you wake up as a different person?”
You just did.
You’re home.

-Sameen

P.S:
1) Thank you Chuck Palahniuk for Fight Club. For Tyler and Marla. And for the narrator.
2) All quotes in italic are taken from the book Fight Club.

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Wuthering Heights – Review

Once in a lifetime comes a book that stays in your mind like a bookmarked event in the sheets of time. A book that was written to leave behind an epitaph when none would come to their grave. It’ll be there whether you visit it or not. It’ll bear the inscriptions whether you read them or not. It’ll stay as a reminder of a story that was once breathing, and a story that has now travelled millions of miles but hasn’t aged a bit. It’s like life, a truth. But it’s more like death, an even bigger truth. One such book, which remains as young as it once was, is Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

More than being just a classic that has come down the ages; Wuthering Heights is a stark, in-your-face painting of untamed human emotions. Emotions as honest and as ruthless as they come. Emotions that originate in two people, and how, by virtue or in damnation, they’re bound together by a ferocity that would put an active volcano to shame. Wuthering Heights, as far as I am concerned, is a love story. Love at the extremity of passion that is a seething flame in blood-red and burning-yellow. It’s not a love story at the extremity of passion that is a steady, cool-blue and silvery-white dancing flame. Many people would call it a story of revenge, but I disagree. It’s a love story that tells us how true lovers will be one irrespective. And I mean anything!

Protocol dictates that I say something about the storyline as this is a book review. All I will say is this: Bronte wrote a novel and brought to life Heathcliff and Cathy to love each other so much that no one could ever take them apart. Not even Cathy’s swollen pride, not her marriage to a society-approved man, not Heathcliff’s ruggedness, not his ego, not his flagrant impulse of putting her down and not even their own kids. Heck, even death couldn’t take them apart. The writing has a moorish quality to it. In the sense that it is said with such pertinence to what might have been, that it makes you believe that it was. Country sides have no pretenses, no impertinences; and thus the book. She wrote with such intensity that it seemed like her life depended on writing that one book. Just that one book! And you can see she has brought about that intensity in her characters-Heathcliff and Cathy. Bronte created very strong characters, each with their own crests and spines, and each one generously laced with a range of fallacies. In short, the characters are what human beings without finishing schools would be—no false reactions, no unreal mannerisms and no make-up to hide what’s real.

Wuthering Heights has a place of its own. It’s not to be looked at with mundane eyes. It’s a love story that’s higher than acceptable norms and out of the grasp of anyone who holds societal-acceptance to be the goal of being in love. It’s not about rules or about diktats. It’s about feeling what you feel and being unapologetic about it. It’s a remote possibility now—to feel what you feel and not weigh it against a barometer society created for you. And that is what I think is the jewel in the crown of the book—it is honest to a fault. It might raise a few hairs at the back of your neck. It might make your condemn the choices they make. It might make you wonder, what the hell was she thinking? However, if you can accept the book without judging it with a microscope and accepting that such people could exist, you will learn one of the most important lessons of love—acceptance.

And I’ll sign off by giving you just one simple reason to read Wuthering Heights—read it to see how love needs no acceptance but your own.

-Sameen

Kane and Abel – Review

Month: February 2011

Book-Had was reading: Kane and Abel by Jeffrey Archer

Review: Written in the late 70’s by British author, Jeffrey Archer, this book tells you the story, or is rather a saga, of two men, Kane and Abel, born on the same day – 19^th April and how their destinies intertwine.

The name of the book “Kane and Abel” is taken from Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam.  The book contains references to major events such as the World War I, World War II and the Great Depression of 1930.

A lot could be mentioned about the upbringing of each of the protagonists and how it influenced their decisions in life later, but it would be better to explain the main concept/ focal point of this book – mutual hate between the protagonists which finally blossoms into solidarity.

William Lowell Kane.  Wikipedia calls him a Boston Brahmin. Born with a silver spoon and into a family of bankers, he proves to be good with numbers and blessed with business acumen (Something both, he and Abel share). Kane Sr. dies in the Titanic accident, leaving Kane Jr. in charge of the Kane & Cabot Bank. He graduates from Harvard, keeps tabs on his mother’s husband, Henry Osbourne, a money swindler. When Kane’s mother suffers from a miscarriage and dies; he throws Osbourne out of his house and presumably, his life. But there is another twist in this twisted story.

Abel, after his many adventures and close encounters with death in Poland (his birthplace), Siberia and Turkey, makes it to the Land of Dreams – America. While peeling potatoes in the Richmond hotel kitchen and attending Columbia University, Abel manages to impress Davis Leroy, the head of Richmond Hotels and is appointed manager of the flagship hotels. It’s Great Depression, 1930 and Davis is unable to find a backer. Davis commits suicide, leaving everything to Abel. Abel renders Kane responsible for Davis’s suicide (since Kane & Cabot denied them any money whatsoever) and that’s when this Mahabharata of American proportions starts.  Richmond Hotels is however bailed out, by an anonymous benefactor whom Abel believes to be Mr. Maxton, director of another group of hotels.

Abel marries Zaphia, a fellow immigrant and they have a child named Florentyna, named after Abel’s foster sister. In spite of being so close to each other and being so much in love Abel loses interest in Zaphia during their middle ages. He sees her as “dowdy” and unglamorous. At the other end of the spectrum William has a son, Richard. Circumstances (almost) bring the two warring businessmen together. One such example: One  saves the other’s life during WW II.

The feature of this novel is twists and turns, near-misses. Next thing we know, Florentyna, falls in love with Richard. Surprise! Surprise! Abel ousts Kane from Kane and Cabot Bank. Kane forgives Richard for marrying Florentyna and meets his grandson, William Abel Kane (I know!) and soon dies. The twists in this story could give the twists in The Bold and the Beautiful some solid competition. And then, Abel realizes that his backer was none other than Kane. End of story.

The story has a lot of drama, inflated egos and lots of disappointed women. The book’s good for a one hour train ride from Borivali to Churchgate. It’s neither one of Archer’s best works nor his worst. But definitely it is a work that caters to the public’s sensibilities and also to early teenagers. Overall it’s a good book, no food for thought really. Definitely reinforces my belief in astrology though (19^th April).

BookHad rates ‘Kane and Abel’ 3/5.

- Maulika Hegde