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.

31 Miles - Vinita Bakshi (Book)

31 Miles - Vinita Bakshi.

My Mom's review. She wrote in pure Hindi and I am trying to translate it to English, although my vocab doesn't do justice to her words but whatever:

I got the opportunity to read the book "31 Miles" by Vinita Bakshi and once I started, just couldn't put it down without finishing it. No doubt this book is so beautifully written that it actually shook some untouched corners of my heart. She has actually uncarved the deep engraved feelings of an Indian woman. Author has actually very well put together and has understood what a woman goes thru and what her struggles, pains, dilemma, confusions are, that commendable and I believe she is a perfect psychologist. Protagonist is a middle aged (45 years), well educated, a mother of two from an upper class family, even then she doesn't remain untouched by something like infatuation at that age and situation is what the book explores. Her husband is a smart, very well placed, caring, loving and a man who will leave no stone upturned in fulfilling her wishes. A simple thing which tells a lot about him is that he actually gets restless and waits for her standing at the terrace the day she gets late to return home from her work. He wouldn't even let her drive their car alone thinking that she may have an accident, just imagine. Even after being married for two decades or more, she still has no idea how much he loves her or she just doesn't understand his love at all.

She always feels that there is something missing in her life, may be those little praises that she expects from him or those little "I love you's" that go missing in the daily rut of life is what gets fulfilled by "Rajan" the new entrant in her run of the mill life. How this new "Online relationship screws up her married life of two decades is the rest of the story. The utter romantic Rajan and his histrionics make her fall head over heels and she just couldn't see anything else. Author has to be praised for the way she has done and covered this delicate turn of events where it never goes out of hands and never feels over done or goes over board. It is actually to her credit the way she has carved out the strong character of the protagonist who still tries to make her lover understand that they are both married with kids and have spouses, still the way it turns out to be is quite shocking yet convincing. But what happens next as well as how it all ends is something you've got to read the novel for. I found the ending to be quite emotional and heart touching, especially the way her "Guru Maa" handles the situation and guides her is simply terrific. The actual depth of the novel and the narrative is its ending part which impressed me to no bounds, it was indeed what the Author wanted her readers to know and understand (I believe).

This book is actually superb for those ever so emotional people who may take a wrong step or two at one point of there life and think that there is no going back. Its a must read especially for those and will be an eye opener who are on the verge of committing a mistake knowingly or unknowingly. This will work like an ultimate guiding light for those lost souls. I will rate and recommend it very high and will call it a must read for all.

PS: I am not sure if my translation does justice to her original review in Hindi. And I got the book back on my rack with this :) so I will be reading it soon myself.

Pinball - Haruki Murakami (Book)

Pinball - Haruki Murakami.

Is that possible for a writer to keep churning out books by books and still keep the quality intact in all of them? In my quest to unearth the fact I decided to read 4 books back to back from Haruki Murakami. This one being the second of a four book series, whose fourth part an "Enemy Friend" as I told you in my last post, gifted me. Since I had to read em all I thought why not kill two birds with one shot ;). Although this (read these) are his very initial writings, I am sure of that but still its shocking that even then his ramblings were way too good in comparison to what his counterparts were churning out then. Although the trend continues from where he left in the first one, he refuses to disclose the location, refuses to name the characters and they are all weirdly referred to, the biggest yet is that I am keeping a very keen eye on knowing who the protagonist is, even that he simply refuses to disclose. I hope and guess by the time I read the fourth, I will be able to know who or actually what was the name of the guy whose life story he has told me in this "Rat Trilogy" with a fourth book as an "Epilogue" to it all. Can you believe all that? That my friend is Haruki Murakami the magician of words I will say. Again to my shock, surprise, sadness and what not, what I am reading are of-course the work of translators and it is indeed sad to see at so many places where they do word to word translation without using their brains but I forgive them for still giving me a terrific story as told by the master in original. (I refuse to learn Japanese in future and will stick to translations :)).

Second book of the series and story still goes nowhere, the unnamed protagonist with a handful of friends (other characters) is out of school and has started a business of translations :) you see Murakami has a sense of humor too. His partner another unnamed guy has the capital so he gets half the share, a girl that they hire to help gets one share and our hero gets the four remaining shares thats how their life goes. He still has a dear friend the "Rat" whose actual story is the whole series all about. And they both frequent their favorite bar owned by a guy called J. Who is their confidante too. Although the story goes nowhere almost but takes some hilarious turns like protagonist's live in relations with a set of Twins who he calls 208 and 209 respectively as the T shirts they wear have those numbers. Sometimes they exchange them too further confusing not only him but us too, whose who and whose saying what too :). Rat too gets his share of attention like falling in love, getting dumped in a plush apartment on top of a hill overlooking a beach with a 250cc bike to ride (he trashed his car in the earlier part). His rich parents call it seclusion so he will make something out of his life and what he does is what you've got to read the book for. Trust me, when I say this that almost 70% of the book I finished like that as the flow as always the case with his books is simply amazing but then I thought what about the title "Pinball"? Barring a whole one page dedicated to its invention and some information, it just gets tossed out of the book. But once the Pinball machine makes an entry, Phew! I cant even explain what happens.

What I love about Murakami is his terrific characters, I am sure you all have read one or the other works from him and will certainly agree. His characters can talk to anyone of anything and thats the magic, he so convincingly made me fall in love not only with the unnamed guy but also with the Pinball machine that I started thinking hard when did I play my own last game on a machine like that? Now whenever I will pass through a game zone in my life and come across a Pinball machine, I am sure it will look up-to me, might as well smile and talk to, who knows :). This is seriously insane and unbelievable. Yet, it did put a wide smile on my face and he makes the pact of me not reading a series stronger by ending it the way he ends it. So many questions unanswered and the book ends.

If you have read this, of-course tell me that you loved it as I cant accept that anyone can even dislike a book and amazing story like that. But if you haven't read it yet, you bet you have no idea what you have missed. Go get the whole series and fall in love with a Pinball machine.

PS: Thomas Hardy has broken the Murakami spell and I am in love yet again with a guy called "Jude" now, if you know what I mean ;)

Hear the Wind Sing - Haruki Murakami (Book)

Hear the Wind Sing - Haruki Murakami.

I have three types of friends, first are best friends who gift me books, second are those friends who motivate me to read more then there is a third type of friends too that I have and I call them "Enemy Friends". If you haven't read that term anywhere it actually means those friends who are your literary enemies. One of them gifted me a Harry Potter (first book) last year when I used to refuse it as a children's book and then there is this one who gifted me the Fourth book of a four book series from Haruki Murakamim intentionally, knowing very well how I have fallen in love with this guy. And the joke is that the book is titled "Dance Dance Dance" and I had been dancing since that day to lay my hands on the first three so I can get to the one he actually gifted me. Now, if you know anything about Murakami and his philosophy, you will agree that it wont be a mistake on my part to get all of them and read them back to back, isn't it? This one that I just finished and totally in awe with is no wonder one of his earlier works back in 70's I guess. Still, what an amazing book it turns out to be, although it kept reminding me of Paulo Coelho to an extent as this will be a very highly inspiring work for those who actually want to become writers. How he wrote this and what all was going through his mind and how terrifically he converted everything into one superb story is the book all about.

As the name suggests "Hear the Wind Sing" and "The Rat Trilogy" as it is called. The entire story revolves around the narrators best friend who he is known as "Rat", actually a super rich guy whose dad owns a Mercedes and he himself has a Triumph (an Iconic Motorcycle now). This is actually the best time of their lives I guess, young carefree, keeping a count of how many girls they have slept with and what not, banging the car at top speed totally drunk, thanking there stars for surviving without a scratch, getting arrested, falling in love and what not. It has it all and to my pain, amazement, shock and surprise the book is hardly 115 odd pages, too short from Murakami standards now as I kept asking for more to no avail but the good thing is that have three more to look forward to after this one. The book actually takes you back in time to your own carefree days and not surprising from his standards is full of literary, music and movie references, too good if you like Music and Movies the way you love the books. It may make your "to be read" list a little more longer knowing that Murakami was actually reading those books in his younger days and was getting inspired or turned off too :). It does gets philosophical in a very loving way and like I say never gets preachy. Another interesting thing that I noticed is that the name of the story teller never comes in the book but he names all his friends and other characters. I am sure I didn't miss his name anywhere in the start.

Its a super fast read and very easy going. If you find his later works harder, guess you should read this one. If you have read it already, do let me know how you liked it? As I am about to dash for the second part of the Trilogy before reading the fourth Epilogue called "Dance Dance Dance". 

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway (Book)

The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway.

I am always in Awe (read jealous) with people claiming to read books from the likes of the greatest of the great writers that unfortunately I have heard but never read, it makes me shake me sad and feel ashamed for being so "Unread" that I at times literally feel like I am some illiterate who has not read nothing at all, but I take it positively mostly and try to lay my hands on as many from those greatest great as I can. They may or may not make any sense to me, but even if I am able to grab a line or more from it which makes sense, I supremely believe its worth a try. And I must tell you which one is the most terrific name that totally amazes me whenever someone mentions that they have or are reading a "Hemingway", I don't know why but that name is so intriguing and see how amazing it sounds "Ernest Hemingway", more like one of the much loved American President Or may be an acclaimed Scientist who worked with Einstein or Newton, a someone like Martin Luther King and all. That name for one has such a weight and personality associated with it that I always picture a fat man in a three piece suit with a gold chain stuck on his jacket's button with a watch inside his right jacket pocket with wire rimmed glasses on his thick nose and sharp small eyes looking at me with a permanent frown on his face about to blast me saying "So, you haven't read my books yet? You Fool, you have no right to live, Go Die!". I really don't know to this moment how he looks like and who is he other than of-course an Amazing (read A M A Z I N G) Author for sure. So not to make it too complicated and die seeing him cursing in my dreams, I got this short and sweet book by him which turns out to be totally magical (as if I didn't imagine it already). One word, I've got to say about it "TERRIFIC".

The story of Santiago, an old fisherman, who goes without catching a single fish for 87 days at a stretch but hasn't lost all hopes that he believes the 88th day is his lucky day and he is going to catch a fish of some size that will be good for the rest of the year. He has a very young friend too, guess a teenager who is usually with him but for some reason couldn't make it that day and Santiago goes alone. The twist and turns his story takes, how he tries his level best to catch a big fish, he actually catches one but the way he struggles to hold it, kill it and bring it on board his small boat is the story all about. To what extent he goes on his adventure and for how long? you've got to read the book to know that. Its such a short, sweet and fast read that I almost finished it in a single sitting (115 pages) only. The drama, background, suspense, struggle and Old man's ramblings are too good to read. The best part about (now I can qualify to write this) a Hemingway book is its simplicity. As they say, there are so many who strive to write like him but there can only be one Hemingway. Its adorable, I didnt need a dictionary to read this and at no point I had to ask my dad anything while reading this. I rather finished and gave it to him saying "Old man, you've got to read this book, you will love it and will be able to draw so many parallels from this story". I was shocked to read the detailing of fishing, it was simply Wow, if someone is looking for some lessons in proper fishing, this book can be used is a ready reckoner too. Mind-blowing is his knowledge and the way it is told is that I could actually visualize everything as I was watching a movie and not reading a book.

No doubt, that the book The Old Man and the Sea was not only awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction but it was cited as a contributing factor in Hemingway winning a Nobel Prize for Literature, just imagine. The book is a total philosophical read (my personal opinion) but never gets preachy. But do you also think that we can draw so many parallels from the story? As if our own life story he was trying to tell through his characters, what is that "Fish" behind which we all are running, how hard it is to actually catch and do we survive to catch it finally? or is it really worth it in the end once you catch that Big Fish? I am sure its not only me who would have noticed all that even otherwise its a terrific story told in a most simplistic yet riveting manner and I am so looking forward to his other works now.

If you haven't read this yet, guess Ernest is going to come in your dream tonight and will haunt you like he did to me :) but if you have read and loved it, do let me know how you liked it.