The King Within - Nandini Sengupta (Book)

The King Within - Nandini Sengupta.

I am not much into Historical Fiction but this book came very highly recommended from a dear friend and she told me that this was her friend's debut work hence I had no expectations from it. Also, this is one of those very few books that can very well be judged by its cover as they say "Never Judge a book by its cover" it works totally opposite for this one. As beautiful its cover is, the writing is way more beautiful, a very intriguing account of four friends told in a riveting manner such that I kept asking for more as it ended. Another co-incidence if I may call it is that the story starts from a town called Ujjainy :) that fortunately happens to be my hometown as my parents and siblings still stay there and we visit it twice a year religiously. Also, I did my schooling from an institute which is named after one of the main characters of this book. That was like WOW! I had no idea what I had in store as I started the book. But this book made me realize how hard it is to rewrite a story which is 16 Centuries old, just imagine. One has to take care of so many things, not only the timeline of the story or the characters but the Geography, attire, weapons, what they eat, how they talk, how they fight and so much more. But this one, even after being a debut work does not only full justice to the narrative, it actually sets a standard so high for the Author herself that I will be hooked and waiting eagerly for her other works or you may call a sequel if she ever writes.

Story is set in the year 373 CE and about four main characters. Deva (The Prince and soon to be a king), Virsena (The Warrior), Kalidas (The Poet) and Darshini (a girl they save from savages) and who joins them for the journey called life. Right from the word go, the story is so amazing that I just couldnt put it down and had to finish it in flat 24 hours with a couple of breaks in between. The way they save her and the action which follows sets up the course and she follows them on their journey to Ujjainy. Even the introduction of the prince in the very first chapter, the way it is done and how his identity is revealed actually gave me goosebumps, I had to read the para thrice for that amazingly unbelievable title and his full name. And I realized there was no looking back from thereon. It has its own twists and turns too as it couldnt be that simple as I expected it to be. How it goes forward and the Prince even after having his own past and life, keeps up with Darshini and his friends is a superb tale with so much packed in it. Story the way Author has told is so smooth and transforms from one scene to another brilliantly, from regular fun life to the Kingship is totally amazing. I loved the part Kalidas plays in the story and almost all the Epics that he has written get not only a mention, he actually throws some light on them himself as when he was writing them what all he was going through and even that gels so well with the story , thats totally commendable on Author's part and hats off for the research she must have done to make it that way.

I totally didnt expect that a book with mere 224 pages will pack in so much punch in it. Also, two sequences that I must mention without forgetting is a terrific action sequence between the Prince and his elder brother (not only fighting for the throne but for a lot more), the way the entire sequence is done and the way it ends - it actually reminded me of visuals from "Lord of the Rings", I will not call it an inspiration but if you read it, I am sure you will agree with me that the sword fight and the ending totally reminds you of one important sequence from LOTR and imagination is terrific. Second is another fight sequence towards the end done in full public view, Man! that sent me back in time and reminded me of the "Gladiator" fight, not so much action but the arena that came to my mind was almost as good as that. Hats off to the way it was done in the book, totally Goosebumps moments and that made me wonder if this ever gets made into a movie, it will be a superb watch. I have no doubts on the books historical accuracy too in depicting the times of Samudragupta and the making of Vikramaditya as it is so convincingly and terrifically done. Even the support cast and their own stories are given their own dues and hold up pretty well. I loved the Buddhist, Chinese and SriLankan connections too.

If you have read it, do tell me how you liked it and if you haven't, you've got to read it as soon as you can. Do not miss this epic of a book which is too short to my shock, surprise and pleasure as I never wanted it to end. Pray that the Author does comes out with a sequel as I am really keen to know what happens to the four friends in the end an their next generation :). 

Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami (Book)

Dance Dance Dance - Haruki Murakami.

This is my Fifth book from Murakami and I can very well now claim that I have actually understood what to expect from him or where exactly his stories are gonna go and end :). First book that started my Murakami journey was of-course "Kafka on the Shore", as I finished it, I decided to take Murakami's works from the first to last. Yes, I am madly in love with his works and the man himself too, I always go nuts like that pretty often on an Author and don't rest till I have finished all his works. Now the book in subject is the fourth of a Trilogy (read Epilogue of the series) which I finished last weekend and still am in its hangover. As I said earlier in my Trilogy reviews (if you cared to read) that this series was special as he refuses to give character names, even the protagonist who is taking the story forward is unnamed. On top of that the series is called the "Rat Trilogy", this guy "Rat" too has no name :) can you believe that. I finished all three and the Epilogue and was desperately looking forward to get at least the names in the end, but did he give out the names? You've got to read the book(s) if not, message me personally I will tell you if he does or does not. But that was one of the so many reasons that kept me hanging to go through the books which made up for superb reading as usually all his books do without fail (so far). As the title suggests this one too gets quite philosophical but never preachy (I hate those preachy types).

Taking the story further forward in the fourth part is our Unnamed Hero in search of multiple things including his Friend who had turned into a Sheep in the last part (or did he die?), his lost Girl Friend who was with him in the pursuit of the Sheep-man (his friend), the vanished Dolphin Hotel where they stay and decode the suspense etc etc. Now he is divorced, out of business, even quits his job as he has enough to survive a year or so longer as he needs to clear the mystery behind the things happening with him. How he goes forward to unravel the mystery or gets into further mysterious circumstances is the final book from the series which I hoped will give me a sort of closure by the time it ends :). Murakami seriously has a very good sense of humor this book proves that as our Hero comes across rather takes care of a teenage girl in this one who father happens to be a guy called "Hiruka Makimura" who is crappy writer, who know one likes in Japan but is a blockbuster hit commercially, plays Golf, is Gay, has left his wife (who is a professional photographer) and pays enough to anyone who can take care of his daughter. How our Hero gets entangled in their life and how his own story gets crisscrossed with all this is the rest of the fantastic story all about. Individually I will say this one is the best of all four parts but one has to read the first three for the fourth to make more sense.

Again, as it is said so many times that Murakami is highly influenced by his western counterparts, this was an easy read as so many movie, music and book references made by him say the same. His books and stories do not talk nothing about Japan or anything to do with Japan but just the names of people (that he does discloses) and places otherwise it could be based anywhere in the world and will make no difference to the narrative. Whatever said and done, fortunately his stories are written in such an engrossing way that I just couldn't put it down as it seems like a never ending chase with so many surprisingly elements cropping here there and everywhere. He actually takes his readers in a kind of trance state too, almost after doing 80% of the book I was asking myself "Could this all be real?" "Is it really happening in the book" or "Has he taken me into a ride again to shock me in the end and give no answers?". Terrific I will say. I so much wish I could disclose anything or a little more but then that would be called a spoiler. Also, as all his books do (I guess), I so much look forward to come across a person who has read this, so I can talk on and on about it. So if you have read this, do let me know if you liked it and if you haven't, I guess its high time that you got the Trilogy and the Epilogue and read them back to back. If you survive in the end, do ping me, I would love to chat with you about the whole experience. 

The Complete Adventures of Feluda (Part 1) - Satyajit Ray (Book)

The Complete Adventures of Feluda (Part 1) - Satyajit Ray.

Surprisingly, I have (had) read quite a few "on" Satyajit Ray but never one "by" him so far. Blame the availability in the book stores or getting my Kindle too late or may be too few Bengali friends around ;) whatever it may be! Till, I praised Agatha Christie's and Arthur Conan Doyle's works in front of a Hardcore Patriot, that I had read recently finished and also showed him what all I had from them. He just said one thing which got me thinking big time that "You are one of those quite a few Indians who haven't been to Leh - Laddakh but praise Grand Canyon to no end", and I was like "Whats the point dude?". It took me quite a while to actually decode (You see I am no Feluda) but when I got the point, I vowed to not to read a Christie ever till I finish "Feluda" completely. To my shock, amazement and ashamed confession - I even had the first of the two book series already on my Kindle which I picked I guess quite a while ago when it was being sold at a paltry 99/-. But as a true Satyajit Ray fan I have already got the second of the series too, all thanks to a friend who almost has every book that I can think of or at least he can source one at the drop of a hat :) (You know who you are and I love you for that). And am I glad? WHOA! I am super happy to have come across these gems, guys! If you haven't read these yet, you have no idea what you have missed. Although Satyajit Ray claims to have written them for children but no ways, these are too good to be ignored by adults or for that matter anyone who loves thrillers. Supremely clean of Violence, Blood and Gore stuff, it doesn't even have a female character in any of the stories - just imagine.

The Author himself is a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and he mentioned the same at the very start in the opening note that he has read all Sherlock Holmes stories when he was a kid himself and the inspiration is quite evident. Not only that I will even say that his works are not in league with Doyle or Christie but the audience that he was catering to, seeing from that angle I can very well say they are not only fantastic but mind-blowing with ample of comic moments to keep one not only engrossed but happy too. The three main characters in all stories are Feluda (The Detective, real name Pradosh C Mitter), his side kick Topshe (Watson, real name Tapeshranjan Mitter - Cousin) and the hilarious Lalmohan Babu without which no story goes any further, who happens to be a B grade thriller writer who writes under the pseudonym "Jatayu", gets all his plots from Feluda and Topshe's adventures. The Adventure stories are written from the perspective of Topshe (a teenager) who sees it all happening in front of his eyes as his cousin Feluda not only takes him and us on the thrilling rides but makes him understand it all too. Among-st the three lead characters my favorite will always be Jatayu, the way he cracks the situation up is simply amazing and always had me in splits, may it be the way he screws it all up or the way he talks, the use of words, his vocabulary which keeps getting better with time and so much more. And of-course my favorite story will always be "The Golden Fortress" not only because I have seen the movie and I could visualize it all but because the way the entire chase and sequence is written that too with Rajasthan as background is simply superb.

In all its a huge collection of Fifteen stories each almost equally good. What is more outstanding is the way he has covered not only Bengal but the other cities and states like Rajasthan, Assam and even Bombay in the stories is superb. They are always travelling, either on a Train, or an Airplane or later half on Jatayu's new acquired car that he buys from his books selling so well :). Solving the cases of Emperor's Ring (a ring from Mughal Era) to solving the cases of Bandits of Bombay, Feluda gets to do it all and in style. From the bylanes of Calcutta to Mumbai, Benares, Lucknow, Gangtok, Darjeeling, Jaisalmer and even on moving trains. How Feluda starts from a mid 20's inexperienced unknown guy next door to a full-fledged very well known Detective almost all across is the book all about. His body language, mannerisms, book that he reads, movies that he watches and what not is simply amazing. For some reason young Satyajit Ray's face kept coming in front of my eyes as I kept reading the Feluda stories. One thing I missed in these stories may be in the first part is that they don't go out of India anywhere. Who knows, may be in the next they get to go out, I so much wished that Feluda at-least gets to go to England once :).

If you have read Feluda's adventures, do let know how you liked them but if you haven't, you exactly know what to do now. As I move on eagerly to the second part to see if Feluda goes out and solves some International cases too. 

A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami (Book)

A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami.

Now, where you do you start to talk about a Murakami book, even that is pretty confusing. As it has been said time and again by so many that his books are either a hit or a miss by a long shot. I fell in love with him, his writing and his amazing characters after reading my first Murakami (Kafka on the Shore) and there was no looking back. Hence picked up his first book (Book 1 of Rat Trilogy) after a friend sent him the fourth book from the series (Epilogue). Imagine he wrote a Trilogy and ended it with a fourth book as an Epilogue. Got me all hooked from the very first one as of-course I predicted and what an amazing journey it had (still has) been. Finished the third book today afternoon and I still do not know what the protagonist's name is or what is the real name of his best friend "Rat" is as he is always referred as the Rat. Or their best buddy's name (called J) who owns a bar and they've been frequenting it from College (first book) to their works (second) and even in third where they are about to hit their 30's. May be because these are the initial books that he wrote hence it is like that but I am having a ball of a time keeping a very keen eye to see if he mentions any names anywhere. The closest I got in this book and almost he had me having a wide grin on my face is when the unnamed protagonists lands in a Hotel and the manager asks him to sign the register :) but he damn well uses a fake name and not his real name. Even his girl friend I shouldn't fail to mention has no name, she is referred as the girl with most beautiful ears, the moment she ties her hair in a pony the world stops revolving and everyone just gets mesmerized by the beauty of her ears and she has some special powers to (read the book to know more).

As I said the third book of the Trilogy and story hasn't gone much ahead. Our hero is now married for four years, his wife walks out on him, he makes a new girl friend (the girl with the beautiful ears), they have moved ahead from their earlier business of translation to advertising, his friend the Rat is gone on a sabbatical location unknown. J has opened a new bar somewhere far. All hell breaks lose in this one (after 50% mark) is when he prints a unique sheep's picture sent by the Rat to him in an advertisement. A super rich man on death bed assigns him of the task to find the Sheep in picture or lose everything he had by not taking up the challenge. What he does next or where his journey takes him in search of the Sheep is the rest of the book but how it all ends is simply terrific (read typical Murakami) still he refuses to give you a closure of sorts as he always does with his books I believe. So many unanswered questions and so many cross connections that I could make out but not sure if they are really there or am I just confused. But there is a silver lining as I now have the fourth book which he wrote as an Epilogue. Guess another 400 pages to satisfy my questions, queries, confusions or the metaphors he has created in these ones so far. I hope that gives me the answers.

As always the case is with any of his books and stories, this too has superb book(s) and music references. It actually did put a wide smile on my face as the books, Authors and quite a few music references are something that I have read and listened too in the recent past and some that I haven't have gone to my "To Be Read" list as always. The western influence on Murakami's writing is pretty much evident I believe this one onward as I plan to go forward with his other works and is damn impressive. He surely knew right from the very start how to keep his audience hooked and to keep em happy at that. Have you read the "Rat" Trilogy? If you have, please tell me that I am going to get that closure by the end of the series, if not, I will say do think before picking this up :). If you like long prose with nowhere going story yet with so many stories thrown in between, do read this series or else stay away.

Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy (Book)

Jude The Obscure - Thomas Hardy.

Stern Warning: Do not read this book at any cost. Just don't go by the legendary Author's name for this one and you will save yourself from the worst (or shall I say the best) misery, pain, suffering, gloom, depression, feeling of helplessness, not worthy of a life and a plethora of other sadistic feelings that I am sure you would have not felt yet by reading anyone else's best and last work to say the least. Go no further, don't even read the review just close the window, sit back, relax, close your eyes or go back to whatever you were doing and enjoy your life.

I picked up my first Thomas Hardy book from Blossoms (Bangalore) last month, thinking that I will read it and impress my fellow readers with a neat review on it showcasing that I have finally started reading the terrific books from the Masters of Literature. But that was never to be as a friend (another enemy friend) forced this book down my throat with no warning and just said that I must read this and feel the emptiness that he felt. I wish I had a tenth of his vocabulary the way he had put it in his review that I didn't read full as the very start told me somehow that I was about to read this book. He was kind enough to mail me the book as well. This is one of the longest that I have ever taken to finish a book 14 days. The last longest record a book ever hold for me was "The Fountainhead" guess was close to ten days at the most. Unfortunately this one is the last ever written by Hardy and became one which stirred some kind of storm in the literary circle even back then (some 100+ years ago). Of-course he couldn't have found a better subject as the theme of his story other than "Marriage" that too between two cousins (read same blood), Awesome. What happens next is the darkest and saddest story ever as I said earlier. Jude is one guy that again unfortunately I just couldn't not fall in love with, so much that there were so many times I actually wanted to enter the story and kill him with my own bare hands putting an end to his misery saying "Dude, die please, this world is not for people like you, this world seriously doesn't deserve a noble soul like yours".

Right from his childhood with no parents, no relatives to take care but just an aunt who cared nothing about him but to put him to some-kind of her own work to make some use of his time. He only wanted to read and he does reads a lot of books (this was the happiest part of the story). The only respite in his troubled life was his teacher (Phillotson), who does gives him books to read and some lessons but that too doesn't last long as the teacher moves out to a distant town in search of a better job himself. His next best friend is the visiting physician (Vilbert) who gets him some books that he gorges on and his long lost teacher too sends him some as promised. How the role of teacher and physician changes in due course of life is such irony and unbelievable that I have no words to explain. His only dream is to move himself to a nearby town to get into a University, study and become a somebody other than what he is (a Stonemason). What he does next, how he ends up in the town full of Universities, his eyes shine to see the buildings which call him but the humans inside discard him. Wow!! What beautifully Hardy has captured it all with those amazing words and every sentence is like a gem in itself. That's exactly why it took me so much time to read it rather I will say cherish it the way it was supposed to be. So many times I had to go back n forth to read and re read the whole thing again as it was too amazing to be just read and move on to the next para or page. If you have read any of his earlier works, I am sure you will agree with me as I am assuming he has to be that good in all his stories (dunno if I am going to read anymore of him).

In between how he gets entangled in a rut called life and marriage with his first wife Arabella (I will run out of adjectives) a character that vicious I have never come across in books in last two decades. What happens to their marriage, how he falls out of it and in love with his own long lost cousin is such a beautiful episode of this story that you've got to read the book for (promise me you wont read this book though). But again as this is the story of our man called "Jude (Fawley) The Obscure" as the name suggests, how could he be happy? so tragedy strikes and what happens next just took out the floor below my feet and I had a free fall straight to hell. The big heart Jude, lets his first wife go off her free will when she relocates to Australia in search of a better life, gets married again, settles down, but comes back to trouble him as he falls for his own cousin (Sue), marriage or no marriage they were married to each other (by heart and feelings and love and what not). I believe Jude's only crime is that he is a simple good man with a big heart and is poor. It is so unfortunate and heartening to see how Author plays around with his characters is something that leaves us readers speechless. I really wondered throughout, what must have been going inside Hardy's mind and heart that he came out with this story and developed and ended it this way. There are some reliefs too like Prof. Phillotson who ends up marrying Sue (Jude's cousin and second wife) even after she leaves him in the first place for Jude. I am telling you, it is a very straight forward story yet pretty complicated too.

I know I am not able to do justice to neither the subject nor the book so I will stop here. Coming back to Thomas Hardy, I had this feeling that can it be possible that there is a connection between Jude and Mr. Pip or our own Mr. Devdas from back home (India)? As they are all the stories almost from the same era, is it possible that either of the three Author's have read each others works and have carved out their own characters which are all full of pain, gloom, depression but yet they are with hearts of gold? Great Expectations in 1861, Jude The Obscure in 1895 and Devdas in 1917. Could they be inspiration to each other? I just couldn't help but think that ways. Also, the way Hardy has spoken about the Institute of Marriage is not only controversial, convincing, ironical and kind of opened a Pandora's box. The debate is inevitable as its all covered in Introduction and after the story finishes in the end too in form of his books reviews, opinions, questions which left unanswered and all.

Although I loved Jude from the bottom of my heart, he had my full sympathy, empathy and what not, I so much wished, prayed and imagined that his life will take a good turn somewhere, someone will come and love him the way I wanted him to get loved.... What a man. Hats off to you Mr. Hardy. You've made a fan for life.

PS: And there is a fantastic movie made on this book. That I am going to see this weekend. Beware: If you plan straight to jump to the movie - its gory.