I am rather pleased with myself. I have managed to read three books in succession in the last month, and I am onto the fourth. A huge accomplishment for someone who claimed to have no time anymore for this once favourite activity. I guess its just a matter of making the time. In any case, the pleasure was worth it. Here's briefly about the pages I have been burying my somewhat longish nose in:
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
I really liked her Pulitzer Prize winner Interpreter of Maladies, which is a collection of really neat short stories, so I was prompted to pick up this one from Barnes and Nobles, two days before my flight to Bangalore. It has taken me two really long cross continental flights and two weeks more to finally finish it. In all honesty, I actually started reading and finished another book in between before I finished this one. The Namesake is actually quite a well put together story...it gets a little long winded in the middle, but I wonder if this is simply my reaction to many things these days....I just have this tendency to snap my fingers and get things done and out of the way quickly....in any case, I like Jhumpa's style of writing, and the story line itself is something I can relate to in some of the pages....its primarily about a boy named, uncannily, Gogol, and his journey through many phases of his life...and his parents who are first generation immigrants to the US from Calcutta. Its heart-wrenchingly human how Gogol despises and is embarrased by his parents' "Indian" ways when he is growing up...how he is eventually affected by his father's untimely death, and how, at the end of the story, his family becomes important to him. Its a non-frilly, down-to-earth style, and a story with very very human emotions. Liked it quite a bit now.
Waiting for the Mahatma by R. K. Narayan
R.K. Narayan's works have always been real classics. Who does not remember 'Swami and his friends' and 'Malgudi Days' with the utmost fondness? One day, I hope to have read all his works, and there are many. But for now, I picked up a copy of 'Waiting for the Mahatma' bought by my brother whose latest claim to fame is that he is an "experimental" reader.
I was not disappointed. Waiting for the Mahatma is set in a time that I am fascinated reading about - the British Raj. More specifically, it is set in the years just before the British finally quit India, and when the Mahatma's image was all important, even in the little town of Malgudi. More than about Gandhi, this story is about the everyday people of British India, the commonners who, uncannily, have no clue about what is really going on, what the freedom movement is really all about. It is about people like Sriram (the main character in the story) and how he relates to the movement, his place and role in the scheme of things. And, in Narayan's inimitable style, it is also about the Mahatma. The story tells about the immaturity of Sriram's youth, how he struggles to grow out of his little corner of the world, what Gandhi and the freedom movement mean to him, and how his infatuation for a girl leads him to do things he would otherwise never ever have done.
What comes through so poignantly in the tale is how ordinary people are involved and yet so far removed from the realities of the movement, and how they actually have no earthly idea about the big picture, living their daily lives in their microcosmic worlds, intrerpreting events in their myopic ways. The reader feels helplessness and sympathy at the same time.
Check it out if you get a chance. As always, R. K Narayan touches something inside you.
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
I really liked her Pulitzer Prize winner Interpreter of Maladies, which is a collection of really neat short stories, so I was prompted to pick up this one from Barnes and Nobles, two days before my flight to Bangalore. It has taken me two really long cross continental flights and two weeks more to finally finish it. In all honesty, I actually started reading and finished another book in between before I finished this one. The Namesake is actually quite a well put together story...it gets a little long winded in the middle, but I wonder if this is simply my reaction to many things these days....I just have this tendency to snap my fingers and get things done and out of the way quickly....in any case, I like Jhumpa's style of writing, and the story line itself is something I can relate to in some of the pages....its primarily about a boy named, uncannily, Gogol, and his journey through many phases of his life...and his parents who are first generation immigrants to the US from Calcutta. Its heart-wrenchingly human how Gogol despises and is embarrased by his parents' "Indian" ways when he is growing up...how he is eventually affected by his father's untimely death, and how, at the end of the story, his family becomes important to him. Its a non-frilly, down-to-earth style, and a story with very very human emotions. Liked it quite a bit now.
Waiting for the Mahatma by R. K. Narayan
R.K. Narayan's works have always been real classics. Who does not remember 'Swami and his friends' and 'Malgudi Days' with the utmost fondness? One day, I hope to have read all his works, and there are many. But for now, I picked up a copy of 'Waiting for the Mahatma' bought by my brother whose latest claim to fame is that he is an "experimental" reader.
I was not disappointed. Waiting for the Mahatma is set in a time that I am fascinated reading about - the British Raj. More specifically, it is set in the years just before the British finally quit India, and when the Mahatma's image was all important, even in the little town of Malgudi. More than about Gandhi, this story is about the everyday people of British India, the commonners who, uncannily, have no clue about what is really going on, what the freedom movement is really all about. It is about people like Sriram (the main character in the story) and how he relates to the movement, his place and role in the scheme of things. And, in Narayan's inimitable style, it is also about the Mahatma. The story tells about the immaturity of Sriram's youth, how he struggles to grow out of his little corner of the world, what Gandhi and the freedom movement mean to him, and how his infatuation for a girl leads him to do things he would otherwise never ever have done.
What comes through so poignantly in the tale is how ordinary people are involved and yet so far removed from the realities of the movement, and how they actually have no earthly idea about the big picture, living their daily lives in their microcosmic worlds, intrerpreting events in their myopic ways. The reader feels helplessness and sympathy at the same time.
Check it out if you get a chance. As always, R. K Narayan touches something inside you.
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