Books

The Story of being Under the Net

January 25, 2022 RemyaLeave a comment

Under the Net by Iris Murdoch is a story about a struggling writer Jake Donaghue who, over a few weeks (the period this story is set in), attempts to set right his life. When one wants to go ahead, one needs to rectify the mistakes of the past. One needs to close loose ends, make amends, give due apologies, and then if needed, break ties, to truly be able to move on. Jake attempts to do just that. But what follows in his pursuit of retrospective alteration is a series of hilarious situations, and some surprising revelations, leaving him at a lot different from where he started off or thought he would end at.

After being thrown out by his girlfriend, he goes about finding a new accommodation at his ex (who he strongly believes he still loves and is his destiny) and finds himself faced with an unavoidable situation of having to contact his arch-nemesis, who was also his friend at one point in time. From then on, we traverse through a series of happenings that never cease to take you by surprise.

Take it from me, throughout the novel, you will never be able to guess the turn each chapter takes!

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Books

The Story of Red – a colour, an emotion, and death

October 7, 2021 RemyaLeave a comment

A murder mystery, a calmly wild game of cat and mouse, making you constantly guess who the killer is. A story of love and betrayal, manipulations and jealousy, human nature tested at every twist of fate but most importantly, very real. And all this is set in a dreamy world of painters and storytellers of ancient times when kings ruled the land and beauty was measured in time.

My Name is Red by Orhan Pamuk is a Turkish novel translated into over 60 languages, English being one of them. It is everything you could ask for, for a thrilling reading experience. Teenage lovers being reunited later on in life, check. Cold blooded murder and then some more, check. Deceit, betrayal and all that comes with the politics of business, check. Kings and kingdoms with its fascinating quirks, check. A run down through history that shaped the nature of events in the story, check. Insight into the deep yet twisted workings of the human mind, check. Dwelling into what truly drives our actions, check. And a justification for each action, good or bad, check.

What makes this book marvellous is not the fact that it actually has in it all the essential tropes of a good story, but the way in which it is told. Orhan Pamuk has used the first-person reference throughout the novel and taken it a step further.

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Books

The Story of Alice and her Adventures

January 27, 2019 RemyaLeave a comment

At first glance Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol, is a magical tale where a young girl Alice, bored out of her wits on a hot summer day, spots a rabbit talking to itself and carrying a pocket watch. Now there may be many a rabbit who can talk, but carrying a pocket watch, now that piques one’s interest. So off she goes following the rabbit down a rabbit hole and thus begins her adventure.

What follows her fall down the rabbit hole is a fascinating turn of events leading to many a crazy character, conversation and situations. People/animals/birds she never thought she’d encounter like this, questions that puzzle her more than the answers do, reactions she never fathomed, all makes this Wonderland a curious place to stumble upon.

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?”
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.”
“I don’t much care where –”
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.”
Alice and The Cheshire Cat

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Books

The Story of a Hitchhiker and the Galaxy

November 26, 2018 RemyaLeave a comment

… This planet has – or rather had – a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movements of small green pieces of paper, which is odd because on the whole it wasn’t the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.

And that’s how this book starts. A mad mad book. Absolutely hilarious and with a logic so warped that you give up on it, Douglas Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is a comedy sci-fi adventure novel (if there is such a genre in the first place that is) that redefines all three – comedy, sci-fi and adventure.

It starts off with our hero, Arthur Dent, being whisked away by his friend Ford Prefect (who is in fact an alien who is desperate to get out) onto a spaceship minutes before his house and all of Earth for that matter is demolished to make way for an Intergalactic Highway. Imagine being so insignificant that the entire planet is nothing more than a boulder to be pushed out of the way in the whole scheme of events in the universe. Puts individual problems into perspective.

Moving on, Arthur Dent finds himself in this spaceship with another human being and a two headed President of the Galaxy who is on the run for stealing the very spaceship they are in. Together with a depressed robot (yes, depressed robots. You’d be depressed too if you are made to do menial tasks like bringing tea when you have the brain with a functioning capability of a planet) they set out on a journey to find, well, with no particular purpose at all.

And this madness is only the beginning. What follows is not just a plot that beats all the obvious predictions you can make as a story unwinds, but also a style of writing that leaves you part laughing part snickering at the turn of every page. Dry wit. At its best. Douglas Adams is my absolute favourite when it comes to humour and creativity. Read him once and you’ll know why he has the cult following that he does.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, bookedfor100, blog about books, #bookedfor100, #douglasadams #HitchhikersGuidetotheGalaxy #HGTTG — Somewhere in the middle of the book, you find a statement like this…

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Books

The Story of a Stranger

October 24, 2018 Remya1 Comment

Albert Camus’s French masterpiece, L’Etranger translated into English as The Stranger has an interesting synopsis. It says that it is about ‘The nakedness of a man faced with the absurd’.

When I read this, there were a lot of situations that I drew up in my mind; situations which could qualify as ‘absurd’, and I was curious what kind of nakedness would each bring about. But as you read the book and turn the last page, you realise the extent of absurdity that Albert Camus scripted into the life of his central character – Mersault, who finds himself stuck in an irretrievable place in life; a no-turning-back moment. The cause and effect of that moment and the judgment meted out to it. The absurdity stares you in the face.

This novel is a narration of a series of events that happen in Mersault’s life starting with his mother’s death. As you go through the narrative, mostly in his words, you begin to see two sides to the whole story. How he sees it and how the world perceives it. He sees it as it is, as a natural progression of thoughts and events, a logical approach to accept or not accept someone who is seeking to listen or talk. The world, however, perceives it with all the baggage it carries. It is unfair from the start.

Like how when a little kid doesn’t cry when hurt, it is assumed that the wound must not have been deep enough, that the pain must not have been much. Not for a minute, not even for a second do we pause to think that probably this kid has seen much more such that this pain isn’t as much, or the kid is too numb to shed a tear, or the kid is actually strong and is holding back his tears, or plain and simple, the kid is so exhausted from a lot of other things that aren’t going right in his life that he is just too tired to cry. Just far too tired.

But no. It’s always no tears implies no pain. No outward show of sympathy indicates that there is nothing inside.

And having nothing inside is apparently a far bigger sin than having something bad. For good or bad means that the heart is full in some sense of the word. But empty? Oh, so dangerous.

Is it afterall a sin to be aware that everything eventually culminates into nothingness?

You might wonder what is it that I am rambling about. For those who have read the book, they know. They know what I am talking about. And I am sure they resonate.

For those who haven’t, please pick it up. And when you do, read it at one go and brace yourself for the end. The end when Mersault’s nakedness is revealed. You can hear his screams. You can feel his resigned breathing. And you can sense the numbness of the finale.

One of those books that stay with you long after you’ve closed it. Pick it up. It’s something you shouldn’t miss.

Books

The Tale of Two Cities

October 2, 2018 Remya1 Comment

A Tale of Two Cities is a story set during the French Revolution when the oppressed common folk could no longer withstand the apathy of the ruling class and took over the castle and imprisoned everyone who seemed affluent. The latter’s fault being that they were not poor. The charges being that, for generations, they did nothing to better the lives of everyone around them. The accusations being that they abused, physically and mentally, the poor. All those who faced these charges were thrown into the prisons and sentenced to death, with no formal hearing or justification. To be executed. In public. By the strike of the guillotine christened as La Guillotine – a symbol of their freedom. Execution soon becomes the need of the hour, feeding La Guillotine with hundreds of heads becomes the only thing they look forward to every day. Human nature takes a beating. Society as a whole takes a beating.

When humans are suppressed for a long long time and are treated as nothing less than animals, they become that. In fact, they become worse. No sympathy, no law of the land, no compassion, no conscience and most importantly no forgiveness.

And in between this rises a story of love.

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Books

A Clockwork Orange

July 16, 2018July 16, 2018 Remya1 Comment

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess is a satirical novel about young teenage boys who go on an orgy of violence for the sheer thrill of it and get caught by the state but are ‘reformed’ in a questionable manner. Like a character ponders,

Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness? Is a man who chooses to be bad perhaps in some way better than a man who has the good imposed upon him?

The novel is split into three parts – His violent escapades, his prison life after he is caught and sentenced for 14 years and his life after he has been ‘reformed’ as part of an experiment. The story starts with a bunch of teenage boys led by Alex, the most deranged of them all, setting out on a series of bludgeoning, fights, brutal rapes, thefts, destruction of property, and other such acts of violence just as a way of entertainment. On one such night he gets caught in the act and is sentenced to a lifetime of prison. There however he puts up an act of goodness and is chosen for an experimental reforms programme led by the government. Though seen by him as an escape route to get back to his life and its thrills, after the programme he becomes incapable of enjoying anything, even music that he unabashedly loved. Is such a life worth it? Can a criminal so mentally disturbed be ‘cured’? You begin to wonder.

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Books

The Story of Siddhartha

July 7, 2018 Remya1 Comment

What more do I write about this book except that it is an experience. An experience of living in the mind of a person who is out to seek the meaning of life, who is on a path of self awakening. It is as simple as that and yet not.

Hermann Hesse in his book Siddhartha takes us through Siddhartha’s life as he leaves behind his family and comforts to seek answers to his existence, to learn the ultimate truth.

Siddhartha isn’t Gautam Buddha, as one may be led to believe considering the name is the same, the story is similar and the cover picture is deceptive. But after you read the book you realise the true meaning of that cover, and I’ll let you decipher that for yourself.

Interestingly they both live in the same time and their paths do cross. And as much as Siddhartha admires The Buddha, he still sets out to find answers on his own with the basic belief that he has developed – that wisdom cannot be taught by any teachings, it has to be attained, be learned by oneself. Be truly understood by the self. Because once put into words, it loses its complexity as mere words cannot do justice to its depth.

In his journey he encounters his many teachers or influences – Govinda, his friend and follower who sets out on his own path and follows Gautam Buddha, the Samanas or ascetics who live in the forests, Kamala, the courtesan who has found peace, Kamaswami, the merchant who introduces him to trade and the many lusts of human existence, Vasudev, the ferryman who in his simplicity possesses far more knowledge than can be taught. Each of them has a role to play in his awakening and he leaves each character with more to give than take from. Learnings from the most unassuming of sources. His conversation with Kamala where in he says,

“You are life me, you are different from most people. You are Kamala, nothing else, and inside of you, there is a peace and refuge to which you can go to at every hour of the day and be at home inside yourself, as I can also do. Few people have this, and yet everyone could have it.”

Makes you want to believe that there is more to a person than what we see. In fact these words made me want to seek that ‘peace’ myself.

Hesse’s descriptions are just amazing. They take you with them. For instance there is a sequence where he talks of Siddhartha’s meditative experience when he transcends beyond his body and floats into the sky and dwells inside a heron and lives its life and begins to see the world through its eyes. You’ve read my words, now go and read Hesse’s and you’ll understand how much more interesting and read he has made this very experience. I had to pause and pull myself out.

Does this book take you on a path of self realisation? I don’t know. It didn’t really push me to it. But does it give you a peep into the mystical workings of the mind of an awakened soul and its path to enlightenment? Oh yes. And so poetically at that.

A quick quick read. And a poignant one at that. Enjoy!

Photos: Remya Nair

Books

The Story of a Beloved

June 23, 2018June 23, 2018 Remya1 Comment

A masterpiece. Oh it is a masterpiece!

Toni Morrison in Beloved tells us the story of a slave family during the times when slavery was being abolished; when they’ve lived such a life and didn’t know how to live otherwise or are still living in the aftermath of what they went through. A time, when legally slavery was done with, but society still had a long way to go in terms of realigning ideologies.

Subtle realities hit you in the passing. Brutal realities. Things that happened to them, choices they had to make, blatant hypocrisy they had to accept as normal, everything hits you. When one of the characters talks of freedom as

“To get to a place where you could love anything you chose – not to need permission for desire. That was freedom”

You begin to realise how deprived they were.

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Books

The Story Of The Animal Farm

June 1, 2018June 1, 2018 Remya1 Comment

Animal Farm by George Orwell is one of the two scariest books I have read. The other being another novel by the same author which I will be writing about later on. Coming back to this one. Scary. Yes. That is the word. But it isn’t a horror story. Nor a thriller. Or a murder mystery.

It is pure and simple facts. A reality that is so bare and true that it scares the hell out of me every time I read it. Published in 1945, this story can be seen playing out for real even now.

Animal Farm is the story of a farm where the animals feel suppressed by the Humans who own the farm and make them toil but don’t given them their labour’s worth of food and rest. So they decide to revolt against the owners, take over the farm and demonstrate how it should be run. With dreams of equal rights and benefits and a bright future, the set out to achieve the same.

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Books

The Story of The Magic Faraway Tree

May 24, 2018May 24, 2018 Remya1 Comment

A children’s fantasy novel like you’d expect from Enid Blyton, though this is the first fantasy work of hers I’ve read. There have been The Famous Fives and The Secret Sevens and the Malory Towers and the like but all of those were real people so to say.

The Magic Faraway Tree is nothing like that. An adventurous tale where three siblings, Joe, Beth and Franny, take their cousin Rick to a magical tree in the forest behind their home which houses strange characters such as Moonface (who obviously has a face as round as the moon), Silky (a pretty little fairy), The Saucepan Man (who is covered in kettles and pans and is short of hearing thanks to the noise his vessels make), Dame Washalot (an old lady who loves washing), Mr. Watzinaname (the perfect nobody character) and The Angry Pixie (name says it all). Together these embark on a journey that start with them climbing up the tree into the clouds. The tree serves as the pathway into the different mysterious Lands atop clouds which station themselves on the tree every few days.

And the fun begins.

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Books

The Story of Two Lovers and Mahatma Gandhi

May 17, 2018 Remya1 Comment

To say that I went into this book with zero expectations wouldn’t be completely untrue. Titled ‘Waiting for the Mahatma’ this book didn’t really boast of a great plot. However, what intrigued me was why then was this chosen by Goodreads as one of RK Narayan’s best work. There is a flavour to his writing which I hoped would see me through what otherwise seems like a plain old story – a coming of age story of a boy who is fascinated by a girl, during the freedom struggle era, complete with Mahatma Gandhi actually appearing in the novel as a significant character and not just an imaginary idol.

Like I said, there is a style of writing that I expected from RK Narayan that would see me through this novel. A la ‘swami and his friends’ mode where you blissfully follow their tales in the land of Malgudi.

Treat this book like you would a new writer’s and you’d be able to see the beauty in its simplicity. The absolute truth that it represents. The real scenario of the impact of India’s freedom struggle on the common man. Common folk who led otherwise normal lives far removed from the play of politics at the centre. For whom The British were just another king who ruled their lands. One they did not see, but whose rules they lived by.

And that probably must have been the reality of hundreds of villages in our country during those times.

Set in the backdrop of such a village is our protagonist – Sriram, who though old enough, is not really mature or serious about life. Then comes in Bharati, a freedom fighter working in Gandhi’s camp, a girl who captures his attention and then begins our story. How he slowly understands Mahatma Gandhi’s words and becomes involved in the freedom movement, all in the effort to impress her forms the rest of the story.

The base plot is cliché. But somewhere behind this story, RK Narayan has drawn out a picture of the other side of India. The unexpected undertones of characters is what you begin to take note of. It is the Indian Sarpanch who takes advantage of the simple village folk whereas a British landowner who has been living in India all his life is the one providing for employment to thousands of people in his plantation. Shopkeepers who sell English biscuits don’t see anything wrong it since it is afterall only a commodity, while people carrying on the fight are often thought to be nuisances who disrupt every gathering with their speeches.

I guess India is too large a country for each and everyone to be influenced by the need to fight for his own freedom.

And yes, Mahatma Gandhi DOES appear. As a central character. Who the lovers consult with. Whose orders they follow. The real speaking leader. Which I found amusing.

If you can get past the beginning of the novel (which incidentally took me 2 weeks a lot of determination), you will not be disappointed. It isn’t his best work, but RK Narayan definitely doesn’t disappoint.

Photos: Remya Nair