I have 16 followers. I thank each one of you for being so faithful. I have decided to migrate from Blogger to Wordpress and my new page is https://gaussreviews.wordpress.com/. I hope you people will still want to read my writings and hope that you will keep your undying spirit in encouraging me.
See you at Wordpress.
Sunday, 16 September 2018
Book Review - 13: On The Open Road by Stuti Changle
It is the story of Myra, who is
contemplating to make the jump into entrepreneurship but has other choices,
Kabir who wants to be an entrepreneur though he lives a good life and Sandy who
is living an half entrepreneur life. They all cherish to start a company, but
how and when? The initial part of the book explains how these characters go on
with life unable to push themselves to make the jump. A sudden change in the
situation and they grab the opportunity to tread into unknown waters. How the
tread is and what all obstacles they face, form the rest of the book.
The events in the story span for
about five months and so I feel that a long story has been cut short to pull in
audience. The story has much more to deliver but the author keeps it straight
digressing in very few instances.
The book is written as the mind
voice of Myra and Kabir. The writing is simple and inspiring too. The role
played by the fourth character, Ramy, stands out and remains in the back of
your mind, though it has only brief mentions. Kudos to the author for creating
this impression. The climax of the story has a hint of a Bollywood movie making
the entire story unbelievable. I like the small twist at the end, though it
does not make any difference to the story.
Overall, it is somewhere between
okay and good and can be read when you are in a reading slump. I also recommend
it for those who have the entrepreneurial trait; it definitely has something to
inspire. I would suggest that the cover design could have been better.
A book, worthy of chewing and digestible in parts.
Saturday, 15 September 2018
Book Review - 12: The Subtle Art Of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson
This was one of those books which
created curiosity in me. Alas, I was left disappointed.
For anybody who has read a lot of
self help books, this book is not going to make any difference. It is one of those
books which can be termed as a primer for those who have not been initiated
into self help genre.
The book is roughly divided into
two parts. The first tries to establish the author’s ideas and the second grows
further on this establishment.
The book says that failure is
normal and asks us to not corrupt it with positivity. The author argues that we
are all comforting ourselves in an attempt to cover up failures. Its crux is about
not alleviating the problems but trying to understand and sort them. The book
explains that the most significant thing which occupies anybody’s thoughts is
unhappiness. And we find solace in denial and victim mentality ending up asking
for entitlement. The author says that we are all living in a delusion that we
are special and to come out of it we need to redefine the metrics against which
we measure life.
This book is devoid of any
mysticism, spiritualism and saintly stories. It takes you through the process
of breaking your mental picture of things and approaches the cube from a
different side. As a matter of fact, it explains what all other books have been
advocating in the positive manner, through a negative approach; a kind of anti
therapy. Having read this much, it also explains how best these negative approach
can be tackled and a normal life can be lead without hassles. A welcome offer,
when we consider most of us being normal people. (I find a hint of the book’s
influence in this line.)
For me this book did not connect
but for the last chapter. I believe that one of the main reasons the book owes
to for its success is the language which comes as interesting and admonishing
in an attempt to drive home the point. At some instances, the language used
gives you the feeling of given a tight slap.
Overall, it was an okay read for
me and would recommend to those who have just ventured into the self help
genre. Certainly a book to be chewed but whether it is digestible depends upon
each one’s gut.
Thursday, 13 September 2018
Book Review - 11: Love A Little Stronger by Preeti Shenoy
I liked the author’s book A
Hundred Little Flames and decided on this book hoping that it would be good. So
how does it turn out to be?
Love a Little Stronger is a set
of jottings about the author’s family across generations knit together by love.
The author narrates small instances from her own life and how she learnt
wonderful snippets in each of them.
Written in the style of daily
journal entries, the book is divided into five parts. There are no clear
demarcations about the content of these parts. The first part is about
parenting, the second, about personal experiences, the third about the
relationship between her children, the fourth about how each member of her
family support each other in the wake of adversities and the fifth summaries
for life.
The stories are written in no chronological
order and revolve around her father’s death. The initial stories are funny and
would be appreciated better if you are a parent. The stories give a good
insight into the author’s personal life and would be interesting for a reader
who has read her other books and is interested in her writings. The chapters of
the last part are mostly summaries, listing out different lessons and
qualities. As in her earlier book, she emphasizes on the necessity of
maintaining a daily journal.
I particularly liked the author’s
take on children,
“The toys they play with might have
changed but the qualities inherent in children – a curious nature, a playful
attitude and most importantly being unafraid to try out new things, unafraid to
fail and the ability to quickly forgive and not carry grudges – still remain
the same.”
And her musing
“It made me wonder why we adults
do not have the enthusiasm that children do, to try out new things.”
I will recommend that the
introduction and the epilogue of the book should be read along with the main
part of the book, because they themselves are a delight to read and will highly
recommend the book to aspiring writers for its style.
Overall, the book is worth
chewing and digesting.
Wednesday, 5 September 2018
Book Review - 10: Galore by Michael Crummey
“The complications and
disappointments and modest epiphanies of those disparate lives seemed part of a
single all-encompassing story that had swallowed him whole.”
In Galore, the author narrates
how the whole world is going around in full circles. It takes off when there is
a new entrant to an otherwise unknown land and how he joins in the flow of
life. Largely narrating the family members of two families, who are connected
together by love and hate, it also speaks about other inhabitants of the place.
Set against a fishermen community
in Canada, the book is divided into two parts, covering almost two centuries. The people are mostly English or Irish who
either migrated or were brought. While the first part ushers the reader into
the lives of the local community and takes it into the hinterlands, the second
part brings the reader back where it all started, though it breaches the
borders of the country.
The reader really needs the
family chart of the protagonist families in the initial pages, to keep track of
the characters in the book. Still, the characters in the other families, who do
play significant roles in different instances, can leave the reader confused,
if he tries to map the relations.
I found the first part slightly
lethargic as compared to the second part. The reader may find the narration tiring
in the initial chapters but I assure that it picks up pace to keep the reader
engaged. But for the big picture, nothing is concentrated upon in the
narration. Just when you feel that a certain character maybe the central point,
the focus shifts. This can be initially tiring and distracting until the reader
finds the groove for such fiction. However, the deft handling of change in
focus, subtle and oblivious is something to watch out for in the book. This is
a well - planned book, for if otherwise, the book could have extended to
infinite pages.
I like the descriptions like
“That eating the bounty of the
sea was a choice rather than a necessity.”
“…left her staring out the
window, the stars being choked by frost creeping across the pane.”
“It was the oddest expression he’d
learned on the shore. Now the once. The present twined with the past to mean
soon, a bit later, some unspecified point in the future. As if it was all the
same finally, as if time was a single moment endlessly circling on itself.”
I feel the entire meaning of the
book lies in the lines,
“Alone he could turn his back on the absence,
look at the world as if there was nothing to it but surface, the endless
present moment. A trick of shadow and light.”
I did not understand the idea
behind the title, but I guess it was an indication that it was a story of people
when there were fishes galore and otherwise. The language is not straight
forward and needs careful reading lest you may miss context or detail.
Overall, it is a good read with
enough to chew and digest.
Saturday, 1 September 2018
Book Review - 9 : A Hundred Little Flames by Preeti Shenoy
This is my first book written by
this author. A Hundred Little Flames is a story of a young man who finds
meaning in his life when he goes through a period of time which seems worst
otherwise. After a freak fiasco in which the protagonist ends up losing his
job, he is sent to his ancestral home in Kerala to cool off, though other
intentions do persist. How he finds his rhythm in this new scenario, facing a
man of an older generation, forms the initial part. As he finds comfort in this
new setup, he is forced into action by a sudden turn of events and he does not
hesitate to rise up to the situation and to go to the extremes, thereby helping
him to understand himself.
The story involving family
members of three generations is fast paced and has a good flow. At certain
instances, the narration feels trite though. The book leaves you with a
hangover of a well - made movie. It is quite a simple read and will keep you
engaged till the last page.
I read this book at my ancestral
home and that added to the pleasure I got from this book. I also found that the
good amount of research has been done in writing this book, since there are
chapters dedicated to furnish details of yesteryears. Overall, it is a book to
be tasted and swallowed. I would recommend this book as a one - time read and
suggest reading this at your ancestral home.
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