The Last Song of Dusk- Book Review

It is hard to believe that this is the author's first book. The book is set in the India of 1920's and anything set in history gets me interested, especially when it involves a bit of magical fantasy. Sometimes I flip through a page or two before I decide to read a new book. As soon as I read two paragraphs, knew that this one should be read.

Anuradha Gandharva, an educated girl from Rajasthan, is set to leave for Bombay to marry a man she has not met yet. Anuradha's beauty is sublime, the humble girl sings beautifully, a gift passed to her through generations. She waves goodbye to her mother and her parting words are 'In this life, my darling, there is no mercy.' What does she mean?

Sometimes there are stories or certain parts of a book which make you feel sad. However, when it comes to this book, you know there is some kind of melancholy associated with every page/character of the book.

In Bombay, she manages to meet the love of her life, Vardhaman, who wins her heart through his charismatic story telling ability. The eligible bachelor manages to clear the test that the lady put him to and they are blissfully married. The slow romance is alluring but haunting in a way because you already feel some gloominess and are intuitive that something devastating will happen. Soon, the angelic Mohan enters their lives giving them another reason for jubilation. As expected, their happiness is short lived and her shrewd mother-in-law, Divi-Bai, bars her from entering the house ever again.

Peacocks had come to bid farewell to Anuradha when she first left Udaipur, this time no-one recognises her the demure lady. What happens to Vardhaman, the man who once won Anuradha's heart by his penchant for story telling. When she returns this time to Bombay, as she had once wished, they have a house by the sea. A house which has had its own stories of misfortune and tragedy behind it. She brings along her cousin, Nandini, a mystical girl with an abusive past who has a gift for painting people for who they are.

A famous painter, Khalil Muratta, who has quit after his wife's death but finds his muse in the young Nandini. One who came to learn art, becomes one. Another mystifying character is Libya Dass, a female who carries her porelain bath tub along with her everywhere. There is also Pallavi (with her own painful fate), in whom Anuradha finds the solace of companionship after she fails to find one in Vardhaman. Expecting for the second time, the sanguine Anuradha hopes that everything will be allright after they have another child. Shloka, does come into this world, but at what cost? Will she be able to pay-back and is the price too much? Nandini, is she able to salvage herself through her art or succumb??

The author has sketched the characters in an exquisite way and you immediately feel for them. Long after the book is over, you will remember Nandini, the girl who had the uncanny ability to walk on water and Anuradha, the woman whose songs came to her rescue. Even if you want to, you cannot forget the house by the sea which had a story of its own. My favourite character had to be Nandini, bold and audacious for the period, the way she handles even the depressing stuff in a nonchalant manner.

Brilliant metaphors, captivating writing style, mystical characters and the melancholic feel. The book keeps you hooked till the end.

Rating- 3.5/5
It would have been 4 had the cats been as mystical as the ones found in Haruki Murakami's book :D

Memories with Maya- Book review

It has been a long time since I read some Science-fiction. So, was glad when I got a chance to review this book. Its rather a short book, around 210 pages and I managed to finish in a day. The book deals with the concepts of Augmented Reality and to an extent Artificial Intelligence. How will it impact our emotions/thinking?

Dan and Krish, techno-geeks, have invented a device named Visor (Dan prefers to call it Wizer). The device can help you go to remote locations virtually. Like the way you have avatar in games, you can choose one and can be virtually present. It also can detect emotions and a high-end version of the so-called lie-detector.
Krish's sister- Maya is Dan's girlfriend. Wait, did I tell you, the Wizer can make virtual sex a possibility.

Without the knowledge of Krish, Dan and Maya lead a happy love life, that is until Krish gets transferred to India to work on a project with AIRI, a prestigious research institute in India. Later, Dan is also called to India looking at the potential of the device.

The first half of the story is not at all heavy and you look more for science in the fiction. However, if patient enough, you get what you asked for in the second-half. Both Dan and Krish are working on Dirrogates (Digital surrogates). In the meanwhile there is an accident and someone dies. The name of the book kind of suggests whose death it is. Whether death is final? Or there is something technology can do about that too.
Dan finds a way for dealing with his grief and the title of the book is aptly justified. I could have written more but for the fear of giving away the plot.

The second-half more than compensates for the slow first half and when it ends, you are left asking for more.. I did read that the author is planning a sequel and will be looking forward to it. The book does talk about some philosophical concepts along with the concept of parallel universe. But I would have enjoyed more had been in depth. Anyway, as the genre is science-fiction, I cannot complain much.

Overall, the book was a good read, and one does get hopeful that such a technology becomes a reality soon. Dealing with death of a loved one will then become maybe a little bearable. But one also wonders, with virtual world so powerful, will the real world lose its sheen?

'Memories with Maya' is not too heavy on science, and someone who wants to start exploring the genre, science-fiction can consider this one. Of course, the book should classified in the romance genre too, after all, in essence it is a love story.

1984 by George Orwell- Book review

1984 by George Orwell is rated among one of the best all-time dystopian novels. I started the book after Animal Farm. You can connect the writer's thought process and what he must be thinking about. Published in 1945, Animal Farm, is an allegory to the Russian revolution. The situation must have been scary enough for him to think of a such a terrorizing totalitarian rule. Usually fiction becomes outdated over time, but this book even after more than six decades can be still looked upon as a frightening future reality that we maybe heading to.

The idea that he talks about in this book is what could happen when there are only two or three powerful states all together in the world. And all the three states, equally  powerful are perpetually at war and not any of them can win. What happens when war becomes an essential act of destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of products of human labor. When civilizations are founded upon hatred. 

Big Brother (We do not know whether he exists or is merely symbolic for the Party) is portrayed as the authoritarian  ruler that controls Oceania, one of the three states that exist in the world. Forget about the Freedom of Speech, what happens you are not even allowed to think freely. And there exists a thought Police (it exactly means what you are thinking), someone watching over you (i.e your thoughts) day and night. Party over parents, that is how loyal children are in Oceania.

The transformation of thinking apes to living puppets is pure horror . What happens when history is constantly updated to suit the Party's need. In spite of the protagonist (Winston) being among-st the ones who bring about these so-called changes in the history, he lives in constant doubts about his own memories. Winston tries to stand up against the Party and writes a diary, yes that's his crime, or lets say, thoughcrime . As if this was not enough, he happens to fall for Julia (love is forbidden in Oceania), another rebel. He manages to the join the revolutionaries and considers O'Brien his guide.

What happens next?  Whether Winston and Julia, with the help of  O'Brien are able to salvage themselves? Or redemption turns out to be a mirage? 

There was a particular idea presented in the book, that I could not get out of mind. Sheer terror for someone who suffers from glossophilia or logophilia. What if languages with all the synonyms, antonyms and inclusion of new words is considered wasteful? 

After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other world. A word contains its opposite in itself. Take 'good' for instance. If you have a word like 'good'? what needs is there for a word like 'bad'? 'Ungood' will do just as well- better, because its an exact opposite, which the other is not. Or again, if you want a stronger version of 'good', what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like 'excellent' and 'splendid' and all the rest of them?

'Plusgood' covers the meaning, or 'doubleplusgood' if you want something stronger still.

In the end, the whole notion of goodness and badness will be covered only in six words- in reality,  only one word.

Favorite excerpt from the book:

"How does one man assert his power over another, Winston?"

Winston thought. "By making him suffer," he said.

"Exactly. By making him suffer. Obedience is not enough. Unless he is suffering, how can you be sure that he obeying your will and not his on. Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation.

Favorite quote:

"Some kinds of failure are better than other kinds, that's all."

Summary: Very well written, terrorizing. Remember this is not what we want for our future and do whatever it takes so that this book remains a mere piece of fiction.