Book Review - 7: Rusty Goes To London By Ruskin Bond

This short book is a collection of reminiscences of the author during his early twenties. The author gets an opportunity to go to London in search of a steady job, as he tries to pursue his dream of becoming a writer.

The initial stories, of the fourteen in the book, talk about his life in England; how he arrives there and how he spends the years. Thereafter, the author decides to take the plunge and returns to India. The last five talk about his initial years in Dehra trying to establish himself as a writer. Though most of them are short the last “A Handful of Nuts” is a longer one, divided into chapters. In the author’s notes, he remarks that, but for the one at the last, all others were written contemporarily while the last one after forty years in contemplation.

The stories from London describe how he loathed the idea of anything other than India. He finds it tough to find peace with his people and the jobs he does.

“Even though I had grown up with a love for the English language and its literature, even though my forefathers were British, Britain was not really my place.”

 “To be strangers without feeling like an outsider. For in India there are no strangers.”

“I had been away for over four years but the bonds were as strong as ever, the longing to return had never left me”

The author reveals his wild manners when he is forced to acquaint with a stranger and wild roaming when he alights from a train to explore an unknown village. He exposes his love life with his sweet romantic tales rather comically during his stay in England and at Dehra.

“Somehow our relationship seemed complete and whole and I passed the day in a glow of happiness.”

He amuses the readers with his metamorphic writings and limericks and explains jocularly why he wasn’t a poet.

“Our skin, I thought is like the leaf of a tree, young and green and shiny. Then it gets darker and heavier, sometimes spotted with disease sometimes eaten away. Then fading, yellow and red, then falling, crumbling into dust or feeding the flames of fire.”

“The skin cannot change the eyes. The eyes are the true reflections of a man’s age and sensibilities. Even a blind man has hidden eyes.”

“The last lines always fox me, one reason why I never became a poet, I guess.”

On return to India, he really finds it hard to take roots as a writer. He describes how he found it difficult to start and how he steadily climbed the ladder to become a writer. The book is a worthwhile read for anybody who wants to be a writer.

For me, the book is a must-read, certainly not to be swallowed but to be chewed and digested.

Book Review - 6: The Razor Edge

The Razor Edge is a narrative in first person by the author himself. In fact, the author himself is one of the characters of the book. It talks about the author’s observations about his American friends whom he befriends on a trip to the America. Back in his native land, he talks about his friends who leave America. While most of them come to France, one breaks the boundaries and travels east as far as India.  The narration talks about how the author comes into acquaintance with each of the characters and how his relationship with them grows during the years.

Set during the years between the First and Second World War, the book describes the French Society. It also describes how people adapt to various situations. But for one character, the narration is quite smooth. This one character, Larry, is the odd man out and who remains apart from others yet is one among them. 

Like any other classic, I thought the book will not have any hidden twist. But the author surprises by creating a small mystery and its solution towards the end. The book had almost a chapter referring to India and it made an interesting read, though the author does provide a disclaimer that it is not necessary to be read.

The lines

“But as I was finishing this book, uneasily conscious that must leave my reader in the air and seeing no way to avoid it, I looked back with my mind’s eye on my long narrative to see if there was any way on which I could devise a more satisfactory ending; and to my intense surprise it dawned upon me that without in the least intending to I had written nothing more or less than a success story.”

provided me with a sense of completion in what would have been an abrupt ending to the beautiful flow of words. 

For me, the book was certainly not to be swallowed, but to be chewed to enjoy the full juice of the words and to be digested in parts.

Book Review - 5: Yellow Crocus

“Mattie was never truly mine. That knowledge must have filled me quickly and surely as the milk from her breasts”   

These lines from the Prologue set the tone for a heart moving tale of two human beings of feminine gender.

Yellow Crocus talks about  a human being and her love for another human being not bonded by blood but bonded by service, society and love. It talks about a girl, Lisabeth and her relation with Mattie, a Negress bought by her family and works as her nanny.

“Look like it just us, little girl. Don’t know what I gonna do with you. Suppose we gonna figure it out together”.

The book explores the various emotions of Mattie towards different people and the growth of Lizabeth from an infant to an innocent girl to a bold woman. The events and the course of their lives in relation to each other form the book.

Set against a backdrop of slavery in America, the story does have glimpses of the treatment meted out to the people of darker shade. I particularly like the line 

“She had found a use for her lettering after all.”

I find the story endearing and sometimes poignant. The story moves in the form a modern novel in the initial part, takes the form of a classic in the middle and gets back to the modern novel form towards the end. 

For me, though it did not give much to be digested gave me a lasting taste upon chewing.

Book Review - 4: Table for One by Neha Bindal

Table for One is a narration of some events in the life of thirty year old Taara. The book talks about the various experiences she has when she fulfills her life long dream over a period of a month. The story is the travel of Taara from her life, which clings to past memories, to a new and fresh “let go” format.

The most significant point of the story is the vivid descriptions of the scenarios. Also, the reflections of Taara's reminiscences of her past strike the chord with some of us.

“While growing up, I always felt an inherent urge to please my parents.”

“All these posts made me believe that my life sucked and even though I had no real problem to deal with at the time; no life-threatening disease, or loss of a loved one to death or any severe financial issue, I was still unhappy.”

“I always complained about getting too much attention from everywhere but when I didn’t get any, I felt bad.”

However, I find that apart from the main character, the others have been less detailed. Though her parents are given much importance initially, the later part finds least mentioning, to the extent that it is unbelievable. In most junctures, Taara faces a conflict of emotions, the shift in emotions, abrupt. The end of the story also seems to be abrupt and made me want for more, though I felt that the author has expressed her point.

Overall, for me the book is somewhere like the way we eat our food today, half chewed and swallowed.

Book review - 3: Sidney Sheldon's The Silent Widow

The story is a straightforward crime suspense thriller. It revolves around a lady doctor and a series of gory murders of her patients. As it evolves, we come to encounter many new characters who try to plug what seem to be loopholes in the story initially. The story follows the “revealing a part of climax first” line. The book is of course a quick read and for me, much predictable. However, the beauty of the book is in making the reader continue this predictable story by giving twists and turns during its course.

“Cupping both hands around Williams’ ears, she whispered into it. A name.”

“Like people making connections where there couldn’t possibly be any, trying to find meaning in a string of unrelated, awful, random events.”

Though the answer to the most important clue is available to the reader in the first part of the book, the author builds the suspense by making the lines look insignificant.

The soliloquies at certain points, where the characters are in a reverie mood are of much delight.

“In William’s experience, there are a few people more dangerous or more powerful than those with nothing to lose.”

“He remembered his father’s old advice about keeping your friends close but your enemies closer.”

After I read the book, I felt like having watched a cricket match, a series of high voltage shots in the beginning, the middle slog chapters and end with a chilling and blasting climax. From me, it is best that the book is tasted.