Beware of Pity - Stefan Zweig (Book).

Book 50/52.

Beware of Pity - Stefan Zweig

My Rating: 5/5 

I got this book as a gift from a friend returning from Vienna (Austria), I rather forced him to get me one. Now all my friends know that the moment they ask me what to get from the country they are returning, it will never be something from Duty Free, but from the airport book stall, but the only condition is that it has to be a local author book and in English. I neither offer them a writer's name nor a book, so it always comes as a surprise. This was a totally surprise read with so much human psychology in play that it shocked, surprised and kept me engaged to the very last page with such an intriguing story, yet it took me close to two weeks to finish, but no complaints. The story is very straightforward and told from the perspective of a highly decorated army officer who had personally shot down three fighter aircraft in the Second World War and had kept an enemy army at bay with his histrionics of machine guns and all that. How his little act of pity lands him in a soup is the story all about when he mistakenly asks a crippled girl to dance with him just because he was invited to a high-end party, where, in the first place, he was in awe of one of her close friends. What leads is an amazing story where we, the readers, feel his pain and angst as he goes through and how it all technically gets forced on him with no way out for him. At times, I myself was confused as to who was rooting for? the crippled girl falling for the officer, or her father blackmailing him with his power or our hero’s pure heart making him do something his brain tells him all the way not to do. But what shocked and broke my heart was the ending, hats off to Stefan Zweig for that ending that I simply couldn’t predict, yet he leaves me with a few questions, which are food for my thoughts on the gem of a story. The title is so apt that mid-way ways I just couldn’t think of a better alternate option. 

Have you read Beware of Pity or any other Stefan Zweig book? I am looking forward to a few more from him as they are much more acclaimed than this one. Also, my next foreign gift book is going to be from Shakespeare, guess where my friend is coming back from?

 

The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman (Book).

Book 49/52.

The Man Who Died Twice - Richard Osman

My Rating: 3/5 

I will say this was the lukewarm second book from the much-loved Thursday Murder Club series, which I totally loved for thrill, action and insanely loving characters. Now, the sequel, on the other hand, didn’t work the way the original worked in the first place. I believe that was because four unique characters are introduced amazingly in the first part. All four retired from different backgrounds, living together in a posh old-age home in a secluded village. One of them is a retired MI5/6 agent, another one was a union leader, one psychiatrist and the last but not the least (one of my favourite) retired nurse. They make an amazing Thursday Murder Club and help their cop friends Donna and Chris solve the murder mysteries. This time around, the murder is related to one of them (an ex-husband who died long back), who is killed again after stealing 20 million pounds worth of diamonds from a mafia member, hence the title. What started (was supposed to be a cat and mouse chase game) was a wild goose chase to first know if the ex-husband was actually dead or he was playing dead, and where are the diamonds gone? On top of that, one of the oldies gets beaten black and blue by a rogue kid trying to snatch his mobile phone, what he goes through after the accident and how he still helps from his hospital bed was a good story, but felt too long for my imagination and liking. Exciting was the way his friends tracked and punished the kid in question, but what I expected from this part was to show me some glimpses from their past, which it only does very partially and not to the full extent. And that is why it was an average time pass read, which I was able to finish in 4-5 working days, nothing exceptional, but not bad at all. 

Do let me know if you have read The Man Who Died Twice and loved it the way its prequel was admired, or if it didn’t work for you either. I will certainly look forward to its TV adaptation for a few of my favourite actors enacting these lovely characters on screen. 

 

Mrs Funnybones - Twinkle Khanna (Book).

Book 48/52.

Mrs Funnybones - Twinkle Khanna

My Rating: 1/5 

Why I picked up this one is because I had finished two of the fattest books for the year back to back (Dan Brown and Robert Galbraith’s latest), which added to some 1700+ pages. Hence needed a light-hearted feel-good book to break the suspense and thrill momentum and landed on this one in our library. On top of that, I was curious to read at least one from the celebrity writer to get the hang of her writing, and if she is any good. I know one gentleman who knows one gentleman who claimed that this was ghostwritten by him. Now, I am totally sure he was lying because if he had written this one, it would have been funny to say the least. It turns out to be random ramblings of a privileged Bollywood wife going on and on about her daily life, followed by some Googled anecdotes and tidbits we now read in reel world. It has a lot of Bollywood references, as they for sure won’t mind being part of a celebrity author’s published work in the name of fun. But it was not funny at all, let alone making me laugh, it didn’t even made me smile one bit on top of that she claims she had her own set of struggle in life, that was a little hard to digest coming from someone whose father was a superstar, so was/is her mother and husband happens to be one of the richest actors of his own era. I hated the potty references in the name of comedy, even when they were related to her toddler; too much of it was a big turn-off for me. Ironically, no mention of her Dad or Sister in the book, whereas she has taken solid digs at her other side of the family, of course, for fun (even that wasn’t funny) and loads of her superstar husband, almost in all the chapters (which was a respite). I can bet that Random House didn’t even proofread her work, let alone edit its mistakes or correct grammar. The only thing that made me actually laugh was the use of five “Blimeys” that she did in the first five chapters. 

I believe I should have stuck to my favourite PGW for fun; this wasn’t even worth the 50/- that I paid for my copy. Do let me know if you have read this one and liked it. I will stay away from her other works for now. 

 

The Hallmarked Man - Robert Galbraith (Book).

Book 47/52.

The Hallmarked Man - Robert Galbraith. 

My Rating: 3/5 

8th book from the Cormoran Strike series by J K Rowling under the pseudonym of Robert Galbraith, that I waited for with bated breath, not to read how Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin solve their next mystery, but to read what happens next in both their personal lives too. Got the book on the same day it was launched, and super thanks to Uncle Bezos for sending it within 24 hours my way. This is unfortunately the weakest book from the series and I guess the longest with almost 900 pages of mess that JKR has created, roped in so many characters and mysteries in one story that beyond 300-400 odd pages I totally lost the interest but somehow kept ploughing to know what happens to Strike and Robin personally as nothing better happens for the remaining 500 odd pages too. She tried her level best to keep it engaging by not only adding Free Masons theory in this one (to my total disinterest) but also MI5 and MI6, too, ruffling some feathers with Strike and his partner. But the only thing that worked in this one for me was like I said, what they do on personal front to make their own lives better, Strike going back to his sister and passed out uncle, Robin going back to her family, new boy friend and even looking for help when needed and as the reader in me kept on rooting for the same. Strike’s past is coming back to haunt him in such a way that there is no undoing it. His difference with his own father takes another turn in this one, to my pleasure though, for a change. Even with so much going on in the story with multiple murders, abductions, missing persons, a mutilated body found in a vault in such a way that hard to tell who it belongs to. Yet, somehow it all was so disconnected that it didn’t work for me at all.  On top of that, the agency is working multiple cases with fresh blood who have their own stories to tell. 

I am certainly going to wait for others to read and come back with their opinions to check if I am the only one for whom it didn't work, or if others feel the same. This is shocking that two books back-to-back from two of my favourite authors have not worked for me. First, it was Dan Brown’s The Secret of Secrets, which fell flat and now this one. I am must say The Hallmarked Man was a two star book for me for almost 99% of its length, what made me give it one more star in addition is something that I can’t disclose but if you have read the earlier books, you will get the hint (Wink Wink) and THAT was not only a big respite but will be a huge reason why I will wait another year for the next in the series to get a final closure. Do let me know if you have read this and liked it any better. My personal favourite from this series will be her last book, The Running Grave, so far her best work, and eagerly waiting for its TV adaptation.