The Vegetarian - Han Kang (Book).

Book 58/52

The Vegetarian - Han Kang

My Rating: 3/5

I have watched a lot of Korean movies in the past, and I must say I enjoyed them too for their bizarre ways and on your face acts, they literally do not shy away from showing what they actually want the audience to see, just don't care if it goes beyond the digestion level of audience and thats why it makes them a unique experience. Also, I have read quite a few Murakami books in the last few years, so I am kind of prepared not to understand a book, and again well prepared for no ending, as it happens in most of his books, and Japan and Korea are not that far apart when it comes to movies and books both. So, this was my first experience of reading a Korean book, that too an acclaimed one, which ended up winning the Man Booker International Prize in 2016. After reading quite a few reviews which came with stern warnings that this one isn't for faint hearted, I still took a plunge as I got it in my little gem of a library last week. I must say this turned out to be the best Mind F*** that I have ever read in the history of my reading. A very simple story of one very unremarkable run-of-the-mill woman(as per her husband) who, overnight, decides to become a vegetarian because of a dream that she had. How her life turns upside down, and all hell breaks loose in her family, is the story all about. And of course, as I mentioned, this is a Korean story, so they had to multiply it all ten times before serving it to me, the faint-hearted reader (who didn’t sleep a few nights after reading The Shining). How is her good-for-nothing husband, who had a crush on his sister-in-law in the first place, letting her family take care of her whims, on top of that, her father actually beats her up and tries to force-feed meat to her (unbelievable). The entire family is insane, as the same sister-in-law’s husband has a crush on her, who happens to be some kind of artist who is dependent on her wife’s income to survive. What he does with this woman, as her husband abandons her, is the second part of the story. Like the entire story is so bizzare and unbelievable yet pretty engaging to read as the curios reader in me wanted to know where it is going and how it all will end, in my heart I am always ready for a shock, but to know if it did gave me a shock you need to read this one and decide for yourself if it works or not. 

Even after finishing the book, I am still in awe of it and undecided if I liked it or not, because the way the entire story turns out, especially the ease with which the main characters do what they do, was something that was hard to digest but not totally unbelievable. For example, the brother-in-law who falls for the protagonist and decides to make her a model for his artwork and takes it gradually to the next level was totally shocking (in the name of art), even knowing that he is going to screw up his own life with a wife and a young kid. It was heart-touching to see her sister coming to her rescue when everybody abandoned her, but the outcome left me again with a lot of confusion and made me scratch my head. What did I just read? Is this really it? Or did my copy of the book miss a few pages? There is no dearth of nudity, sex, marital rape and even a sort of pornography in the book; how the author doesn't shy away from showing what she actually wanted to portray in the most sublime on your face way and on top of that, she ends up winning the highest accolade for her book was beyond me. I am now really curious to pick a few from other Korean writers to check if that's how it is in their part of the world, or if Han Kang is a unique writer. 

Also, this book reminded me (rather disgusted me to the extent) of Lolita and Lord of the Flies level. Have you read The Vegetarian and liked it? Do let me know if it has worked for you or if you have a favourite Han Kang book to suggest. I am looking forward to reading a few from her counterparts for sure in the very near future. 

 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky (Book)

Book 57/52

The Perks of Being a Wallflower - Stephen Chbosky

My Rating: 2.5/5

This book had been jumping on me ever since I joined this gem of a library sometime last year, and I’ve been ignoring it so long; last week, out of some whim, I picked it up out of sheer curiosity or more because it had Emma Watson on its cover. Turns out, I was right in not picking it up, as it actually is a weird book. Written from the perspective of a teenager (15-16 year old) who is writing letters to a stranger, whom he believes to be a good guy, there is an instance when this stranger could have made out with a girl, but rather offers her a sympathetic shoulder to lean on. He writes to him about everything from his school friends, to his lost aunt, to his family, cousins and whatnot, even gets philosophical too while talking (I mean writing). Initially, it was good, but after some 50-odd pages, as his dated letters come to no end, and he keeps talking about daily life, it started to get boring. I kept on ploughing in the hope of reading the return letter from this stranger whom the kid himself doesn’t tell about himself too much, thinking he might come to know who he is actually :( How strange that is. On top of that, the kid has some medical condition too, so I was preparing myself for a setback at any point in time. I am not surprised by the way the author has shown the typical American culture by showing teenagers going through high school drama, and new friends, sex, drugs, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, of those wild and poignant roller-coaster days known as American growing up (taken from book cover). The only good part about this whole book was the ending (that I can’t tell you), and that the author himself has adapted it into a movie, which I have yet to watch, as it isn’t available on any platforms right now. Barely 200 pages, but it felt a little too long for my taste, I somehow finished it, and now I will be more careful of my selections in future. Maybe it didn’t work for me, as in our part of the world, life is totally different, and we do not have those challenges that our counterparts from the West faced a decade or two back. Now our country too is in the same rut, and our teenagers are going through these things in real life too, making this book pretty relevant for them in today’s time. 

Have you read The Perks of Being a Wallflower or seen the movie? Do let know if you liked any of the versions. I will certainly give the movie a try only for Emma Watson :). 

 

Casino Royale - Ian Fleming (Book)

Book 56/52
Casino Royale - Ian Fleming

My Rating: 3/5

Sometimes it happens that the most anticipated books that I presume I am going to love do not work, at least not the way that I expected them to work in the first place. This was the first addition to that list in recent times. I am totally heartbroken by the way this book hasn’t worked for me at all, still, I cannot go below rating it a generous 3/5 for loving the James Bond character since I was first introduced to him by my dad, who too was a big fan of the man. I said that because after Sean Connery stopped playing the character in the movies, my dad just couldn’t like Pierce Brosnan, and for much of his annoyance, he actually hated Daniel Craig in the character. I loved Brosnan more than Craig, but even I feel that Sean Connery was the best Bond ever. Now this is the first book which started it all for us and in style but now that I read it for the first time, it turns out to be a very simple story of a spy at her Majesty's service who is more human than his screen counterpart who is a super human with his gadgets, money, suave and some amazing hot women to seduce. James Bond, code 007, gets an assignment to visit France and beat a Russian spy in a poker game with stakes as high as 40 million pounds, in the year 1953. The same money was supposed to fund a terrorist attack. Bond, being Bond, is paired with an intelligent and beautiful MI6 agent who has a dark secret. Now the book should have been a high-octane Poker game, Car chases and explosive actions, but I guess it hasn’t aged well since its been 70 odd years ago that it was written. I believe it was hard for me to accept James Bond as a human character who commits mistakes and even falls for someone that early, which didn’t work in its favour, but undoubtedly I enjoyed the story to an extent. Ian Fleming served in British Naval Intelligence during WWII. His experiences from his wartime services and later on in his career as a journalist, along with his wild imagination, created the much-loved character. We eagerly look forward to one more outing, which I believe is to come in the year 2026 on the big screen. 

I am definitely going to get at least two more from him before giving up if in case they too do not work for me. Do let me know if you have read this one or any other from the original creator, or if you have a favourite from him. I would love to give it a try myself. 

 

Sprit Nights - Easterine Kire (Book).

Book 55/52
Sprit Nights - Easterine Kire

My Rating: 4/5

I got this book from a friend who was visiting us from Nagaland last month. I told him to get me a book from a local acclaimed writer, and I must say what an amazing pick-up he had made for me. Easterine Kire from Nagaland is the winner of the Governor’s Medal for excellence in Naga Literature 2011, Winner of the Hindi Prize 2015 and winner of the Tata Literature Live book of the year award 2017. This was my first from her, but an incredible read at that. So much she tells us about Nagamese culture, beliefs, system and stories from the day. Especially what they eat, imagine in one of the instances the little kid is supposed to drink a Frog soup to make his legs stronger. She so much reminded me of my own grandmother, who migrated from Nepal in the early 20th century to India, and she used to tell us the stories of spirits that they believed in back home. She insisted that swallowing live leeches helps with so many stomach-related ailments :). Almost the same stories are narrated in this one from the perspective of an ageing grandmother who takes care of her grandson after the loss of her own son and his wife, very early after the child was born. She becomes a village seer of the entire village, consisting of some 20-odd houses starts coming to her for advice and whatnot. The story is how she prepares her grandson for the big day when he will become a seer himself, as the seership runs in the family, much to his likeness, though. How he comes across the title and why he starts believing that he is the one is why you need to read the story. I totally loved it. I still remember my granny used to tell me that she used to foresee her funeral attended only by her six sons (my father and uncles totalled 7), but she couldn’t tell me which son was missing. Later, when we lost one of my uncles in a freak accident, she took me aside and told me, “Didn’t I tell you, I am going to lose one of them?” This story had so many episodes like that in the story, which gave me goosebumps, although now we may call them superstitions or whatever, but in the story, they sound so believable back in the day. With hardly 180 pages, but I must say it's a gem of a book, and I am going to remember this for a long time to come.

Also, I will be looking forward to reading a few more from her in the very near future. Do let me know if you have read anything from Easterine Kire or from any other writer from the North East that you cherished. I would love to give them a try too.

 

Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh (Book).

Book 54/52

Sea of Poppies - Amitav Ghosh

My Rating: 5/5

I wanted to read an Amitav Ghosh or Shashi Tharoor novel for so long, finally got this one in our library, and gladly picked it up as my next read. On top of that, as soon as I added it to my Goodreads account, I realised that this one happens to be the first part of the trilogy that he has written, which is fantastic. What I expected was a novel with typical hard-to-read English, written to impress the reader of a historical fictional story, but what it turned out to be is very simple to read English with so many chaste Hindi and Bhojpuri anecdotes, proverbs, even poetry and songs too, which bowled me out totally. Eagerly looking for its second party if I can lay my hands on it at the earliest. Terrific is the story of four main characters that Amitav has carved out in the year 1838 around Ghazipur (Bihar) and Calcutta, with much of the latter half of the story taking the Hoogly and Ganga rivers on a ship named Ibis (that's the name of the trilogy too). Eye-opening was the highlight of the Opium trade back in the day, with all the main characters involved in the same one way or another. The main story belongs to the King of Rakshali, a fictional kingdom of Raja Neel Rattan Haldar, his histrionics and riches to rags story. The second main character is a recent widow, Deeti, who fights for her and her daughter’s survival after her good-for-nothing Afimkhor husband dies in the factory where he worked. The third main character was my favourite French girl, Paulette Lambert, an orphan who had to escape from India at the earliest or end up getting married to someone she doesn’t want to because her guardian, whom she is indebted to, thinks otherwise. Fourth is Paulette’s nanny’s son Jodu, who grew up with her since her mother passed away, and Jodu’s mother took care of her from birth. And then there are a few more very interesting characters whose paths cross each other one way or another, taking the story ahead. The story is already very engaging because of so many perspectives, Indian, British and even an American first mate aboard Ibis makes it a very intriguing read. 

What I loved is the way Mr Ghosh tells his story. Initially, he refuses to translate the local proverbs in English, which made me even happier, as I have read so many books in English where they lavishly use the Latin and French proverbs with no translation in sight, thanks to Google, as that helps but makes the reading cumbersome. This is our revenge on them, as this one went on to get nominated for the Man Booker Prize, too, so I am sure it must have its own audience as well. What I found heartening is the way he has showcased the then imperialism and colonialism, especially the way the British treated Indians back in the day, and the language, even in fiction, was boiling my blood big time. Beautiful is the way he has captured the life of Deeti, an ordinary village woman who goes through so much reminded me of Munshi Premchand’s female characters in any of his stories, the same plight, the same pain and almost the same patriarchal handling. The lavish life of the Britishers in India and the way they spread their wings through idiot Kings and Kingdoms of India. Loved the way all the characters end up in one place for the journey of a lifetime to the Island of Mauritius, some going to serve their punishment while others are escaping from their painful lives in hopes of a better future. The entire book (500+ pages) reads no less than a thriller right till the very end, which is again an open ending as it's a part of a three-part series, and that's why to give a closure, I need to get the second at the earliest, as so many questions are left unanswered in this one. 

I had a special connection with this book as most of its story revolves around the poppy seeds and fields, or people smoking opium. Back home in MP and the Rajasthan border few of my cousins actually farm poppies legally for the government. I have visited, and so many times we have gone for picnics on those fields, the way the entire crop gets done, plus the way they take it out, is depicted so beautifully in the book. My second special connection with the book was the way Ibis is portrayed (you have to read the book for the same) as a giant winged creature ready to take its flight with 100s of people on board. The way they all come on board the ship and go on the unknown journey, amid the crushing waves of black water, and what happens on the ship is totally unbelievable and captured in the most surreal way. He has shown the same. 

Do let me know if you have read Sea of Poppies and liked it, or if you have a favourite Amitav Ghosh book. I am going to get a few more from him at the earliest.