Book Review: Aarachar by K R Meera

ആരാച്ചാര്‍ | AARACHAR by K.R.  Meera
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Aarachar by K R Meera is the first Malayalam language book I read in a few months, and must say this has been an unforgettable read. It is dark, morbid and appalling and as the title suggests, death lingers in every page of the story. Chetna Grdha Mallick, the main character of the story is among the last descendants of a Bengali family of executioners, whose ancestry, according to her grandmother, could be traced back to years before Christ. By some twists of fate, Chetna is appointed as the official Hangwoman of the state- the first female to take up the job after Chetna’s own ancestor centuries before. The novel reads like a legend, with the narrative constantly switching between past and present, recounting tales from the centuries long history and myths surrounding the Mallick family. It is also the story of the sheer power and defiance of a woman in a man’s world and in front of his pride. The way the author has entwined the history and socio-political scenario of Bengal, and the way she has described the tiny little details of Kolkata are commendable; I sometimes felt I was reading the translation of a novel written by a Bengali author. Undoubtedly one of the best works I have read in Malayalam.

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Book Review: Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh

Around India in 80 Trains by Monisha Rajesh
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I wasn’t that excited to read this before starting and probably wouldn’t have even bought it if the Kindle store wasn’t selling it at a good discount, so I could say the book exceeded my expectations. The writing was very raw at the beginning but got better towards the end. A lot of the mannerisms and behaviour of people she met, the surroundings etc are exaggerated of course, but I had already expected that before starting to read it.(view spoiler)[Wasn’t very bothered about Passepartout being seen less, the author was after all recounting her experiences of the traveland a large part of the journey she travelled alone, after that big fight. (hide spoiler)] I also learnt some new things about our railways, especially about the Lifeline Express, finding the age of the compartments with the numbers displayed on them etc. Next time while travelling on a train I think I will try that out. The book was more about the journey and the trains than the actual destinations and being quite fond of the train myself I enjoyed that. Rating this 3 stars.

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Book Review: Lemon Girl by Jyoti Arora

Lemon Girl by Jyoti Arora

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5*
When I first heard that the title of Jyoti’s second novel was Lemon Girl, I expected a simple, feel-good romance, but I couldn’t be more wrong. It is not a simple love story of Arsh and Nirvi. Rather, it is the story of a girl’s journey of regaining her sense of self-worth and respect, after being damaged and wounded in the worst possible way. It is also the story of the care and persistence of a guy who helps her out of the path to self-destruction. At a time when our whole nation is discussing violence against women, Jyoti has boldly taken up the taboo subjects of incestuous rape and victim-blaming, which are topics no one who even skims through the news headlines these days will be a stranger to. The author certainly needs to be applauded for attempting these themes and executing them sensitively. (view spoiler)[Tying the resolution of the plot with the real historic protests in Delhi was a nice touch. However, I did wish we had seen the culprit suffering a more severe punishment. His suicide, I felt, was a bit too convenient an end to that part of the story. (hide spoiler)]
Having read Jyoti’s first novel also, I can say that she has definitely grown as a writer- I found Lemon Girl more engaging than Dream’s Sake. The alternating first person points of view of Nirvi and Arsh worked well enough. Although I did spot a few mistakes here and there, probably typing errors, nothing too bothering nor enough to disrupt the flow of reading. Overall, a nice attempt by the author to present a love story while also highlighting the more serious and sensitive issues of violence against women and the deep-rooted misogyny that exists in our society.

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Book Review: Those Pricey Thakur Girls

Those Pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Rating: 3.5/5 (how I wish Goodreads allowed half-stars!)

Firstly, I have to state that rom-com is not my favourite genre when it comes to books, and so it is quite sceptically that I pick up a book like this to read. But I must say, after three rather gloomy reads, this came as a breath of fresh air. This is my first time reading Anuja Chauhan and certainly not going to be the last.

Set in the late 80s New Delhi, it is the story of 23 year old Debjani, fourth of the five beautiful daughters of retired judge L N Thakur. Debjani is the newfound celebrity newsreader of the government-owned DD, India’s only TV channel at the time. She has to cope with her sudden rise to fame, her quirky family, the pressure of being the next-in-line for marriage and most importantly, her growing attraction towards her handsome journalist neighbour, Dylan Singh Shekhawat, with whom she has shared a few awkward moments.

It is a light, breezy and fun read. The plot and language are simple, with that lovely flavour and intimacy of the good old 80s-90s times, or the DD era as I like to call it. The political environment of the times is integrated into this love story which lends the plot a certain authenticity and makes it interesting. Anuja’s writing is certainly witty and is sure to make the reader chuckle at least a few times while reading. Overall, a quick, fun novel that is sure to make you smile.

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Book Review: The Prophecy of Trivine

The Prophecy of Trivine by Tnahsin Garg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Prophecy of Trivine is a science fiction novel bordering on fantasy, written collaboratively by Pulkit Gupta, Sreevatsan Sreedhar and Tnahsin Garg. Firstly, the authors need to be applauded for attempting this genre which is rare in the Indian fiction scenario. I think this is the first time I have read a fiction written by more than one authors and I was quite curious to see if I could find any inconsistency in the writing because of it. However, I am glad to say that I couldn’t find anything like that.

The plot is set in a dense forest of Uttarakhand, and revolves around four main characters- a young hacker Phil aka Red Dragon who has taken refuge in the forest to escape capture by the police, a scientist Siv, an artist Arty and Xona, a member of the alien species of Gucuteps who has been sent to study the human race closely and decide upon its fate.

The best thing about the book is its novel concept, which is enough to rouse anyone’s curiosity. The characters were all relate-able, and the story was compelling enough. The writing is quite simple and easy to follow. However, I do feel that at many places, there were a lot of explanations and descriptions, a lot of ‘telling’ the reader what happens, leaving very little to the reader’s imagination. I could feel my attention wavering at those points and I had to force myself to not skip some parts.

Also, in the first chapter, the author(s) have switched repeatedly between referring to the protagonist as ‘Phil’ and ‘RD’, which can be quite confusing to the reader. While I understand the significance of these two names, referring to him as Phil in one paragraph and RD in the very next for no apparent reason did confuse me and I had to go back and read some parts again to be clear if the authors were referring to the same character or not. However, in the later part when RD returned, it did not bother me because by then the character and his two names had been established in my mind.

Overall, the book makes for a nice read and the authors have done a decent job, considering it is their debut novel.

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