The Picture of Dorian Gray

There are quotes you like in a book and then there is a book that in itself should be a quote. If a book is ever awarded for having “the most thought provoking quotes”, without any competition, it will be “The Picture of Dorian Gray” that shall receive the honor.  It has to be one of the most engaging, enchanting, confounding books that I have read.

Oscar Wilde was criticized for writing this book and a few passages were banned. Of course, we humans aren't strong enough to resist temptations and add to that a book like this, it had to be banned. It pains me whenever I hear about a book was banned or is being banned. No book should suffer that fate because (in his words) “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book.  Books are well written, or badly written. That is all.” That is all.
And this book is well written, immensely well-written.

I thought that I would put my favorite quotes from the book in here. I even tried but then I realized that the result would have in vain as more than half the book being put here would look plainly terrible. I did not have the heart to choose my favorite quotes; all of them are my favorites. And anyway writing them here wouldn't matter much as most of you must have read them somewhere or the else without realizing that they would be part of this enthralling book.

Dorian Gray exists in all of us, in varying degrees. That is the precise reason the book leave you in a daze. Of course, the degradation is more than what one can bear normally. But imagine Dorian being a little moderate in taking pleasure in his vanity and maybe we could relate to him. Feeling guilty/bad about Sibyl or let us put in a little attempt at redemption; Let her not die and we choose a loveless marriage with an extra-marital affair for dear Dorian. Now that would have been bearable.

Perhaps not killing Basil, rather praying with him and asking for forgiveness from God that could have been a way out too. Isn't religion supposed to be the ultimate salvation? He would not be damned and we would have been happy with our illusion of redemption. Whom am I trying to fool here? Oscar Wilde was far more brave and truthful than we could bear. Once you take pleasure in enjoying senses and are ruled by vanity, there is no going back to the monotony of good life. Perhaps, you may forget for a while and try and at being good but it is only a facade and the mask will come off one day. Even our dear Dorian attempted that before his end but the futility of his effort was soon shown to him by Henry.
Going too far for Dorian was never a choice but the only option he had. After all “Redemption is just a mirage”.

However, it is difficult for me to believe that Henry was not poisoned by his own thoughts and led a relatively better life (in terms of morality) than Dorian. After all it was he who actually influenced Dorian and led him astray. How could a devious man like him have done worse things than Dorian. But then I remind myself the picture was Dorian’s and so was the book.

Dear Mr. Oscar Wilde, thank you for making our difficult lives more difficult and of course you have done it very aesthetically.

Remember: Morals maybe subjective but senses are universal.

After a few years, I would want to re-visit the book. Maybe this book is the soul and could depict moral degradation for me. This book would be old and tattered and I would be young and beautiful.

Love in the time of Cholera- After thoughts!

This book will remain close to my heart forever. It was the first time I had just completed a book and read about the author’s demise. Felt like a personal loss. But the rating would have been still 5 stars had he been alive.

A special thanks to Edith Grossman. Without her, this reading would not have been possible! Such a beautiful masterpiece that you do not even realise it is a work of translation.


I always thought it is the story that matters more than the writing style. Thanks to Gabriel Garcia Marquez, fondly called Gaba, I can no longer believe that. I am glad that I am writing this review after a few days, it has given me enough time to come out of the world where I was an inhabitant since sometime. 

While I was reading the book, I was in a spell and had fallen irrevocably for Florentino Ariza as Gaba wanted despite that all he was. Retrospectively, now that I can think, I am able to find something wrong with him and even despise him for getting a female killed due to his irresponsible behavior or being a pedophile. Sleep with women with mutual agreement is different from taking advantage of someone so young and naive. I did not mind the uncountable affairs that he had, but not these two. But you know that Gaba has won, when I still can’t make myself from stop feeling for Florentino. Why? How? Its beyond reason, maybe that is love.

Taking you through a journey of 50 years, the book beautifully explains the different phases of love.

Let me try and explain in Gaba’s language

The young love
"To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else’s heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of
her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter."

The marital love

“The problem with marriage is that it ends every night after making love, and it must be rebuilt every morning before breakfast.” 

The comfortable love

“It was the time when they loved each other best, without hurry or
excess, when both were most conscious of and grateful for their incredible victories over adversity. Life would still present them with other mortal trials, of course, but that no longer mattered: they were on the other shore.”

Love you feel after the death of your beloved

“She would stop in the middle of whatever she was doing and slap herself on the forehead because she suddenly remembered something she had forgotten to tell him”.
Feeling his presence where he no longer was. 

The love you waited your whole life for

“For her sake he had won fame and fortune without too much concern for his methods, for her sake he had cared for his personal appearance with a rigor that did not seem very manly to other men of his time, and he had waited for this day as no one else could have waited for anything or anyone in this world: without an instant of discouragement”.

The old-age love

"For they had lived together long enough to know that love was always love, anytime and anyplace, but it was more solid the closer it came to death".


I can sum up the review in five words- "Love makes a grandeur delusion". 

Recommended to - Those who love being in love or at least in the idea of being in love.

Why Anne Frank's diary should not be criticised

Diary of a young girl- Anne Frank

Everyone has their own reasons for writing reviews and usually they are written to help others to decide whether to read the book or not. Sometimes I like reading reviews after reading the book to know other people's perspective, is there something I missed. I picked up 'Diary of a Young Girl- Anne Frank' pretty late (came to know that people have read it in their  teenage) and of course I loved it. I did not think that I will ever have to write on this world-famous book which has a cult following. However, it was and still is difficult for me to believe that its written by a 13 year old girl in spite of the diary's authenticity established. So, this time I wanted to read the reviews to know whether someone else felt the same.

Every reader should understand the difference in opinions, the books that you may like or  love may be disliked/hated by others. Somehow, the negativity about this book impacted the sentimental reader in me enough to write about it. They complain how the book is about a teenager's ranting, boredom and adolescence problems.

Complaining about rantings and adolescence, of course ,she is a teenager and much more matured than the average ones in our age could ever be. The girl is philosophical, has depth and understanding that comes only from real suffering. I fail to understand that what exactly did people want from her?

People found the book boring, I would like to see what people would/could write and if in a better way when  they are in a confinement for 2 years with death looming at each knock on the door.
And one reader mentioned that the book did not cover horrors of Holocaust. The longing  to see the sky, a wish to just walk freely on the road is not grim? I guess, only when you are gased in a chamber does the brutality strike.

I may have loved it more than others as it is my first book on Holocaust (actually that period as the book is not exactly on Holocaust) but that does not mean, that book would have meant less to me if I had read others. There are people who have read a lot on Holocaust, and they did not find the book to their taste. But then this book was never about Holocaust/wars/Jews, it is not even a book. It is a diary of a 13-year old girl who was suddenly deprived of her childhood and was confined for 2 years in a bunker, Secret Annexure. Why did these well-read people came looking for Holocaust's details in a teenager's diary. She was confined into a place and they expect her to produce grim details about Holocaust and the war, the brutality. How, care to explain?

I can go on and on but I will have to stop because I am feeling angry again. And its hard for me to believe that Anne after all the suffering believed, that people are really good at heart. Next time when you choose a book, read the title and excerpt and know what to expect.

Favorite Quotes from the Diary

"You can be lonely even when you are loved by many people, since you are still not anybody's one and only."

"People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things."

"I can't imagine how anyone can say: "I'm weak," and then remain so. After all, if you know it, why not fight against it, why not try to train your character? The answer was: "Because it's so much easier not to!"

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world."

"Because paper has more patience than people. "

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.

Animal farm- BOOK REVIEW

Animal Farm, one of the most recommended books I have come across and after reading I know why. This one absolutely exceeded my high expectations.

Plot:
The story is an allegory to the Russian revolution.
The story is about how animals feel that they are ill-treated by humans, a certain Mr. Jones (representing the Tsar of Russia) on a farm. Animals overthrow him based on the ideas of a pig, Old Major (Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin) and change the name Manor Farm to Animal farm. They make a list of rules, seven commandments.

The story is about how these seven commandments change over the time. Are they happy? Or they are just given an illusion of happiness. What happens when the lines between implicit trust and blind faith becomes hazy? How ultimately the evils of power and privileges don’t even spare the animals, how do you expect humans to be moral then? How we start fighting something and in the meantime turn into the same thing we were up against. To be betrayed by your own kinds, the ones you had pinned your hopes on, is worse.

 The two leaders (pigs), Snowball and Napoleon symbolize Leo Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. While you sympathize with all the animals, your heart goes out for Boxer, the horse. Benjamin, the donkey is another character that holds relevance especially in today's time. Intelligent he is, but chooses to ignore and continues to live safely denying that he understands. You can empathize with him as today every intelligent common person lives that way. Intelligence is not a good gift in these times. While the donkey, ironically, symbolizes the clever common man, the sheep represents the ignorant masses.

Of course you hate Napoleon, but the anger is more towards Squealer (representing Russian media). Doing wrong is evil but manipulating and justifying it as right is even a bigger evil. Media, are you listening?? Guess, who I loved the best, Muriel, the white goat and the cat, the two characters with shades of grey. All white (good) is a little unreal.

Although the take is on Communism, it’s applicable to most ideologies in some or the other way.  This is the first dystopian story that I have read and I am still reeling under the side-effects. The author very wisely chose animals and wrote it as an allegory because it would have been impossible to see human beings so kind, faithful and naive. This is the closest I can come to pitying human race (me included). This is one of those classics that will hold relevance at all times, unless the world turns into an imaginary utopian reality.