Letters to a Young Novelist - Mario Vargas Llosa

Umberto Eco talks about the craft of writing novels in this short book. Written in the form of letters to an un-named disciple, he explains the nuances of writing the novel. This is not an analytical book, nor it looks at the literary genre 'novel' in any different light. Its a short book and the scope is limited. I find this an interesting book and can give us some insight on the craft of writing fiction. He uses the examples from the masters of fiction from medieval writers, to the superstars of 20t century to explain the points he is writing in his letters.

The rest of my writing will be in the form of study notes for my quick reference.

• 
  
  What is the origin of this early inclination, the source of the literary vocation, for inventing beings and stories? The answer, I think, is rebellion. I'm convinced that those who immerse themselves in the lucubration of lives different from their own demonstrate indirectly their rejection and criticism of life as it is, or the real world, and manifest their desire to substitute for it the creation of their imagination and dreams.
• All fictions are structures of fantasy and craft erected around certain acts, people, or circumstances that stand out in the writer's memory and stimulate his imagination, leading him to create a world so rich and various that sometimes it is impossible to recognize in it the autobiographical material that was its genesis and that is, in a way, the secret heart of all fiction, as well as its observe and antithesis.
• Writing novels is the equivalent of what professional strippers do when they take off their clothes and exhibit their naked bodies on stage. The novelist perform the same act in reverse. In constructing the novel, he goes through the motions of getting dressed, hiding the nudity in which he he began under heavy, multicolored articles of clothing conjured up out of his imagination. 
• The novelist does not choose his theme, he chosen by the them. He writes on certain subject because certain things have happened to him. In choise of a theme, the writer's freedom is relative, perhaps even non-existent.
• The separation of form and content is artificial; it never occurs in reality, since the story a novel tells is inseparable from the way it is sold. The way is what determines whether the tale is believable or not. 
• To equip a novel with power of persuasion, it is necessary to tell your story in such a way that it makes the most of every personal experience implicit in its plot and characters; at the same time, it must transmit to the reader an illusion of autonomy from the real world he inhabits. 
• Good novels - great ones- never actually seems to tell us anything; rather, they make us live in it and share in it by virtue of their persuasive powers.
• Style : Novels are made of words, which means that the way writer chooses and orders his language determines whether his stories possess or lack the power of persuasion.
• "Reading 'One hundred years of solitude' or Love in the Time of Cholera' we are overwhelmed by the certainty that only in these words, with the grace and rhythm, would these stories be believable, convincing, fascinating, moving; that separated from these words they would not have been able to enchant us as they have: his stories are the words in which they are told.
• For practical advise, I'll give you this: since you want to be a novelist and you cant be one without coherent and essential style, set out to find a style for yourself. Read constantly, because it is impossible to acquire a rich, full sense of language without reading plenty of good literature, and try as hard as you can, not to imitate they styles of the novelists you most admire and who first taught you to love literature....Imitate them in everything else; in their dedication, in their discipline, in their habits; if you feel it is right, make their convictions yours. But try to avoid the mechanical reproduction of the patterns and rhythms of their writing, since if you don't manage to develop a personal style that suits your subject matter, your stories will likely never achieve the power of persuasion that makes them come to life.
• Basic Structure of the novel consists of Narrator ,Space,Time ,Level of reality
• The narrator ( the person who tells te story) must not be confused with the author( the person who write the story). This is a vey serious error, made even by many novelists who, having decided to tell the story in first person and deliberately taking their own biographies as their subject matter, believe they are the narrator of their fictions.
• The narrator is always a made up character, a fictional being, just like all the other characters whose story he tells.
• The first problem the author must resolve is who will tell the story. There are many possibilities, but in general terms they can be classified into three: A narrator character , an omniscient narrator outside and separate from the story he tells, or an ambiguous narrator whose position is unclear.
•  If the narration is in the form of an I ( or we in some cases), the narrator is inside the narrative, interacting with the characters. If the narrator speaks from the third person singular, he is outside the narrative space. An omniscient narrator is modelled on an all-powerful God, since he sees everything.
• Time : There are tow kinds of time, chronological and psychological. The time in the novel is based on the psychological time.
• Time in all novel is, a formal creation, since in fiction the story unfolds in a way it never could in real life; at the same time, the passing of fictional time, or the relationship between the time of the narrator and what is being narrated, depends entirely on the story's being told from a particular temporal perspective.
• Qualitative Leaps : A shift is an alteration in any of the points of view.This may be spatial shift, temporal shift or shift in the level of reality.
• Given the existence of innumerable levels of reality, the possibility of shifts is correspondingly immense, and writers of all era have learned to exploit this very versatile resource.
• A narrative undergoes a similar transformation when a radical shift in the point of view in terms of reality occurs, constituting a qualitative leap.
• Chinese Boxes : Another technique of narrative is to construct the novel like those traditional puzzles with successively smaller and smaller identical parts nestled inside each other, sometimes dwindling to the infinitesimal. Eg: The thousand and one night ... 
• The Hidden Fact : The hidden Fact, or narration by Omission is another technique employed by many authors, It is vital that the narrator's silence be meaningful,that it have definite influence on the explicit part of the story,that it make itself felt as an absence, and that it kindle the curiosity , expectations and fantasies of the reader. According to Llosa, Hemingway was one of the strongest exponent of this technique, most of his best stories are full of significant silences.
• Communicating vessels :Two or more episodes that occur at different times, in different places, or on different levels of reality but are linked by the narrator so that their proximity or mingling causes them to modify each other, lending each, among other qualities, a different meaning, tone, or symbolic value than they might have possessed if they were narrated separately: these are communicating vessels.

This book, as I mentioned earlier has a treasure of references and explanations from the classics, most of them are very interesting. What impressed me most was the take on the famous one line story called "The Dinosaur" by Guatemalan writer Augusto Monterroso. "When he woke up, the dinosaur was still there." This book is fun to read and fairly simple.However, as a parting note Llosa gives the best advice possible to his friend ( and readers ) :   

My dear friend: what I am trying to say is that you should forget everything you've read in my letters about the structure of the novel, and just sit down and write. 

If you are an aspiring write, you will find this book useful.
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Letters to a Young Novelist ( 1997)

Mario Vargas Llosa ( translated from Spanish by Natasha Wimmer )

Picador

136 Pages

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Other Reviews: January Magazine, Complete Review

Meerasadhu - K R Meera

Contemporary Malayalam Literature has some interesting writers. K R Meera's name had been one of the prominent young women writers for some time.  That prompted me to check out this book.

Meera Sadhu's are those women, living in the Vrindavan at Krishna Temple ,Mathura ( the place of Krishna's childhood), abandoned by their relatives. They are considered "married to Krishna" and have been living out of the meagre pension ( Rs 10 per day) given by the temple authorities as charity. Their life have been of rejection and are forced to earn their living by begging in the streets. Often molested by thugs, with no one to take care , living in dreadful rooms with many stuffed into one, many sick and almost all dirty. Adopting the name  from the legendary poet/singer Meera who spent her lifetime singing in praise of Krishna, the new age meerasadhus, flock the Lord Krishna temple chanting his name.

Tulasi, an IIT first Rank Holder, ends up in the 'galis' of Brindavan as a meerasadhu after going through some torrid times in her married life.  Tulasi, during her final years of IIT, acquaints Madhavan, an enterprising journalist , during one of his visit to write an article. The acquaintance become friendship to a level that he started influencing her decisions in life, including her own marriage. The love grew, in spite of her realisation that Madhavan boast of having an affair with 27 girlfriends, All those were not lasting, as they had been approaching him for help. Tulasi, run away from home on the eve of her wedding with old friend and another IIT-ian Vinayan, now an working in the US.

The initial days of marriage was filmy and the couple settled in Delhi where Madhavan now works, and soon she delivered her first kid. It did not take long, for the old Madhavan to come out of the shell, and the visit of one of his erstwhile girlfriend caused the initial drift in the family. Forced to lead a life of housewife, Tulasi now isolated from her family and husband ( who spent more and more time in Office), taking solace in her two kids.  The final nail in the coffin of the failed marriage came in the form of a request for divorce. Tulasi's revenge starts at this point. She poisons both her kids and the ending up in the mental asylum before her final destination of Brindavan.

This is a novel of love and revenge. The vengeance is turned against her husband, take a form of self inflicted insults, torturing herself, causing damage to her own self-morale, thus executing her revenge on her husband. While she claims moral victory over her husband, by refusing to visit him at the hospital ( while in a very filmy style he returns to her in the end), in reality she succumbs to revenge that continue to torment her. 

One of the issue of this book could be that it feels like an extended short story. Instead of attempting to write a full-fledged novel, she seems to have attempted to tell a story, into 56 pages. As a result, some of the characters that could have been interesting and possibly developed ( Vinayan for example) did not get enough attention and thus become pedestrians in the whole system. While the language is brilliant and maintains the same tone of anger and frustration ( converged in the form of revenge), that alone does not make this a good book. This short novel does not remain in the memory of the reader for too long, for its narrative sounds  forced with no depth whatsoever.

I have the second edition of the book, and I don't understand the cover. Apart from causing some curiosity,I doubt if it depicts the real character of the book.

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Meerasadhu ( 2008)

K R Meera

D C Books

56 Pages

Rs 40
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Other Reviews : Cutewriting

Now That You're Back - A.L.Kennedy

A L Kennedy's ( Alison Louise Kennedy) name have been coming up in my reading circle for a while and I haven't  read any of her works. This book, one of her early writings was the one I could get hold off. A collection of short stories as the blurb say "exposing and exploring the sinuous undercurrents of violence, anguish and love" is a good introduction to this gifted writer.

The collection of 13 stories has its own draw backs. Most of the stories are of people living in isolation, trying to find their own feet within the society and within themselves. These are not the characters you feel closeness or sympathy. There is a level of detachment and possibly that could be one of the inhibition in approaching this book. The later half of the book, I somehow found to be more interesting especially stories like 'Mixing with the folks back home  ( about a serial killer), warming my hand and telling lies ( a retired writer ), and friday payday ( about a prostitute) .  She has also experimented with the form in 'Mouseboks Family Dictionary'.

She has incredible style of writing and with sly humor. The prose is very moving at places and seldom loud. I find each emotion, be it anger, love or friendship is treated tenderly with balanced approach. This alone is enough for me to hunt and buy one of her full length novel. 

Unlike James Kelman (another Scottish writer), I find her characters away from the mainstream society. Personally I find more closure to Kelman's characters than to this one.

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Now That You're Back ( 1994 )

A.L.Kennedy

Vintage Books

248 Pages

Rs 525/-
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Other Reviews : Independent 

The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana - Umberto Eco

The subject of memory loss has been discussed over many books and movies ( Aki Kurismaki's masterpiece 'A Man without past' is one that comes to mind).  What was interesting to me is that Umberto Eco is taking up this as the subject for the last novel he had written, thus far ( I understand a new novel is expected this year in  Italian and it will be a while before we could get it). I had the book with me for four years and it was only now,  I could take it up for reading.

Yambo ( nickname for Giambattista Bodoni) , nearly sixty , dealer of ancient books in Milan,  suffered a stroke and loses his memory. However, he manages to remember all that was words and he had read and his daily routine. He is able to quote from the books he had read with precise memory, but unable to recall his own name. He does not recognize his wife, his children and grandchildren ( he was very fond of them according to his wife). Every thing that are autobiographical and personal to him is erased. He is now educated with the fundamentals of his past by is wife. But the  wife, friends, subordinate, and children are nothing but the names for him, unable to relate emotionally with them.  He also understand about his business, and his probable affair with his assistant, Sibilia, which he says "I made an advance, and she put me in my place, kindly, gently, firmly. She stayed because I was a gentleman and behaved from that day on as if nothing had happened.''

Advised by his wife, he retreats to their ancestral home at Salora, which still has a large number of books , papers, Gramaphone records and the photographs of his family, with the hope of regrouping himself.  Now abandoned, this will be the perfect place for Yambo to bring back the memories childhood days he had spent there, in building up his own . Though the initial days haven't been of any great help, slowly the place and its abundant collection of memorabilia, takes him to the days of his upbringing.

Yambo, opens up boxes after boxes, goes through the old newspapers, magazines, writings. Slowly he gets immersed into the task of learning the past of his family and himself. Those school days, his secret infatuation for his classmate Laila, who during the schooling left Italy and migrated to Brazil with her family.. He is apparently looking for the same face in every women he meet ever since. His own involvement in the resistance movement, his guilt of witnessing something unpleasant to a child and the fragmented memories of those days are now coming back to him.

The book is filed with illustrations, posters , book covers, poems, cartoon characters. Eco takes us through the days of his childhood, Yambo, tries to find his own identity through these, while connecting the missing points in his personal recovery.  The name of the book itself is adopted from a picture book.

Umberto Eco takes us through the days of second world war, with people living out of fear. Fear of both the allied forces bombing and that of the suspicious eyes of the 'black shirts' ( Mussolini's police). His family themselves had soft corner towards the internal resistance forces and the people secretly nourished a hope of allied forces arriving and ending the war. This has some of the best writings in this book, including few poems.

Dear Papa, my hands are shaking some,
but you will understand what I am saying.
It's been so many days since you left home
and yet you haven't told me where you're staying.
As for the tears that trickle down my cheek,
you can be sure they're only tears of pride.
I still can see you smile and hear you speak,
and your Balilla waits for you, arms wide.
I am helping in the war, I am fighting, too,
with discipline, with honour, and with faith.
I want this land of mine to bear good fruit,
so I tend my little garden every day
( my own war garden!) and ask God each night
to watch you, to make sure my dad's all right.

Yambo suffers another attack and his delirious time, bring him back to the life that he lived in his young days. It is also becoming clearer to him as the 'fog' that covers the truth is now clearing.

Interestingly, the language and style changes in each of the parts. The first part, with Yambo in his present with loss of memory , Yambo through the pages at Salora and the last part with Yambo back in Coma but able to comprehend and remembers everything clearly; each written with a style suitable to the part. Typical to Eco's book, this too appeal more to your intellect, that to your emotive side. Brilliant , nonetheless.

Here is an interview with Eco where he talks about this book.

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The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana (2004)

Umberto Eco ( Translated from Italian by Geoffrey Brock)

Vintage Books

458 Pages

Rs 429/-

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Further read : NY Times Review,  Times

Invitation to a Beheading - Vladimir Nabokov

Cincinnatus C. ( sin-sin-at-us?) has been sentenced to death by beheading , for some crime classified as "gnostical turpitude". As is the customs, the judge whispered the sentence in his ears with all smile. The smile was in the room and nobody seems to be bothered in particular. Cincinnatus has now been moved into a fortress for his confinement until his head is placed on the 'chop-block'. The wait as no time limit. It is now for the authorities to prepare and execute the order. In the solitary cell, Cincinnatus is trying to come to terms with the surroundings. All he wanted to know is how much is the time left.

However is the attempt by the prison warder, the librarian, the fellow jailer to bring him back to the reality does not yield result, he refuses to get into the routine of their life. The appearance of the 'executor' as a fellow prisoner, to acquaint with his 'victim' ( some pages of faster reading), does not make any impact on him. All he ask is for a few blank sheets and the pen. In confinement, he thus starts writing. But he is not sure if he will be able to complete all that he wanted to say. Even before he was taken to the final destination, all he ask is three more minute to complete what he writing.

Within all these, he refuses to believe the system and the existence of reality. There is nothing he wanted from the meeting of his family. He even refuses to talk to Martha, his wife, rejects her offer to perform whatever he wanted, as he has already been away from all these.Even at the moment of the axe falling on his neck, his real self has already been departed and 'with a clarity he had never experienced before".

Invitation to a beheading is a difficult novel to read. Very Kafkaesque ( though Nabokov denies in the foreword , of having any influence by him) world where the individual is not able to fit himself in the society that is being forced upon him. In his world only he is real and the rest of the cast is a parody and living false life. The attempt to mingle and be part of that is extremely difficult. Nabokov, would have written this possibly with respect to the new Soviet society in mind. State runs and controls everything, the individual has no reason to be, but a part of the society.

"when I first understood that things which to me had seemed natural were actually forbidden, impossible, that any thought of them was criminal."

On the other hand, he is the prisoner of his own fortress. The alternate world that he is building in the self imposed confinement, is the one which crumbles in the end along with the execution of his ego. The build up collapses, the surrounding looses it significance, the people becoming two-dimensional. "Every thing was coming apart, every thing was falling. Cincinnatus made his way in that direction where, to judge by the voices, stood being akin to him".

Nabokov is a master of writing, and it is obvious in his prose. Having said that, this book somehow failed to connect me with the 'hero' and the theme in general. Haven't read any other work apart from Lolita, which stands much above this one.

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Invitation to a Beheading ( 1939)

Vladimir Nabokov (translated by Dimitri Nabokov 1959)

Vintage International

223 Pages

Rs 485
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Reviews : Conversational Reading,

Rice Without Rain - Minfong Ho

Four young students from the university arrives at a village during their summer holidays, wanting to spend their time with the farmers and to understand their life. The year had been bad, as draught hit the farmers with another low harvest. The livelihood has been on few roots picked up the nearby hills. There isn't the usual happiness around the harvest as they will be left with almost nothing after the rents are paid. The arrival of students with rice and fish, had been a welcome change at least to a few households.

Jinda, the daughter of the village henchman Inthorn, did not anticipate the changes that are about to happen in her life post the arrival of the students. Students won the trust of the villagers against their fear of them being communists, manages to put across their idea of social reform and democracy. So much was the effect, the villagers refused to pay the normal rent, which is 50% of the harvest. Inthorn, the headman, was arrested and was subjected to torture and humiliation in the town jail.

Its now left to Jinda to try for the release of her father. Only support she seems to have is Ned, with whom she, by now, develop a close friendship. Its on his invite she moves to the town, with a hope of seeing her father. Her sister, discarded by her husband, now moves in with the rent collector. However, the situation in Bangkok is very intense. Students are rebelling against the government and is demanding further democracy. Jinda, now show cased as the daughter of farmers resistance leader, gets into the group of activists planning the agitation under Ned. The preparation was in full swing, but the event turns a catastrophe, as the police starts fire as soon as Jinda starts her speech. Jinda is estranged and had to flee, Ned is overseeing the rescue operations, he himself injured. The death of her father, greets her on return. Dejected and lost, she returns back to her life back in village, to take care of the last rites of her father.

The story line is promising, but the writing and language is not powerful enough and is too disjointed. Somewhere , it reduces itself to an ordinary story, not elevating the readers to the level of literary excitement. May be it was addressed to the 'young-adult' ( as per amazon.com catalogue) and I am too old for that.

Her wiki entry says, Minfong Ho spent two years in Thailand and this novel is the result of her experience with the villagers she had worked with.

She left two years later for Chiang Mai University in Thailand, where she worked as a lecturer in English. The subsequent two years she was going to spend in Chiang Mai had a deep impact on her. Together with her students and colleagues, Ho spent several periods living and working in nearby villages, as part of the ongoing student movement to alleviate rural poverty. While the student leaders were preoccupied with organizing the peasants into a political group in their search for democracy, Ho became more aware of the emotional world of the women and children there. She later commented that there was "so much beauty and so much pain in the world" around her that she wanted to write about.

I haven't read any other works of her, but going by this book, I am not too impressed. As I said earlier, this might not have been addressed to my kind of a reader.

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Rice Without Rain ( 1986)

Minfong Ho

Andre Deutsch

184 Pages

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Yalo - Elias Khoury

"Yalo did not understand what was happening. The young man stood in front of the interrogator and closed his eyes, as he always did."

Yalo( Daniel Jalu'u) being interrogated for multiple crimes, including robbery, rape and storing arms and explosives. Under trial he was forced to make confessions by the interrogator. Each time he makes his speech, he was interrupted by the interrogator, asking him to fill the gaps of his narrative as it is incomplete. Thus Daniel alias Yalo goes over his confession over and over again, giving us further insights into the character and his life. Repeating the often told story, Yalo under torture and interruption by the authorities, goes through the same story with its subtle variations and view points again and again.

Interrogation is not new for him. In his childhood, he remember his grandfather, a priest, forces young Daniel to confess of crime he did not commit. After his confession, the priest changes back into grandfather and beat up the child. The history is repeating now in the form of interrogator.

Yalos life is complicated. His father has left his mother after the insistence of his grand father that the newly wed should stay with him. His grand father takes control of their life, stopping the new found love of his mother. His grandfather, enrolls him in school as his own son and surname, mentions his mother as his sister. But Yalo insists that " His grandfather is not his father and his mother is not his sister."

Yalos spends long time in the Lebanon's sectarian civil war ( not a good soldier though), escaping to Paris towards the end living a refugee life. He was found and rescued from the basement by a rich Lebanese business man, who bring him back to be the bodu guard of his wife. Yalo, paid back to his rescuer by seducing his wife, and later using loop holes the Lebanese law, looted and raped innocent victims. The victims have turned up against him in the court of law, including Shireen, whom he loved and spent a lot of time together.

Yalo is a complicated character. Hence his narrative is also contrived and often contradicting. He does not give out the details in one instance. It becomes clearer and missing links were added of every repetition of the confession. Using Daniel (the alter ego) and Yalo ( the prime accused) Khoury presents the story of a city in real life.

The history of Beirut is riddled with war. The Syrians, the Kurds, the Turkish and the Arabs were all part of the people who invaded. People trying to hide their origins ( like his grand father who does not acknowledge his Kurdish ancestry), people trying to find their own identity. Story of Yalo is not an isolated story. Its the religious , political and historical back ground of the current day Beirut.

Elias Khoury's name has appeared in the Nobel speculation for this year. The book happened to attract my attention while waiting for the connecting flight. A brilliantly constructed novel, with some fantastic writing. Depicting the current life of Beirut. Though the story per se is very complicated and not detailed for a narration, the intricacies related the to the duality, and the unreliability of the person telling the story makes the reading very interesting.

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Yalo ( 2002)

Elias Khoury ( translated from Arabic by Humphrey Davis in 2009)

Maclehose Press

344 Pages

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More read : Quarterly Conversation, L A Times, Archipelago Books Review , Interview with Khoury

Purge - Sofi Oksanen

Meet Aliide Truu, living an isolated life in a remote Estonian Village in 1992. Her only daughter is moved to Finland an year ago and haven't visited her since then. The village is becoming less inhabited, as more and more people are leaving the country side moving to the city. Apart for a  few hooligans pelting stones at her house, there isn't anyone interested in her living in the country. To this setting, lands Zara, a young girl running away from her captors - the Russian Mafia men , dirty, bruised physically and mentally.

It was made obvious to the readers that the young girl, running away from the Russian Sex Trafficking Mafia, after going through some of the worst time of her life since leaving her home at Vladivostok. But, how did she end up at this remote village ?  It is not by chance, but there is some definite connection between the old lady and Zara, which is not revealed to Aliide. The girls speaks very crude form of Estonian, "Older, yellow and moth eaten". Zara produces an old photo of Aliide and her sister Ingel, without explaining how she happen to possess it, only to receive the denial from Aliide, about having a sister.

But, this photo triggered, the chain of thoughts in Aliide, taking us to the days of German siege, end of World war and the occupation by Soviet Forces. This parts takes us through some of the best writing in the book. The upbringing of the sisters, the rebellion against the soviet militia, the underground resistance organisation which they are either part of or supportive of, surviving torture and humiliation. Both Aliide and Ingel fell in love with the same person, Hans Pekk , member of the resistance organisation, but it was Ingel who won his heart. The situation soon turned worse after the Russian invasion,  Hans had to escape to the woods evading which hunt. The sisters spread the story of his death around the village, but the authorities are not convinced. They were summoned often to find the whereabout of Hans, and the authorities didn't even leave the young child, torturing and abusing them hoping to find a slight variations in their stories. Against all the rapes, beatings and torments, they stood tall. However the story turns bitter after Aliide, marrying Martin, a member of the Communist Party and the eventual extradition of Ingel along with her daughter. Aliide, under the cover of a communist husband, continued her clandestine support to the resistance organisation, sheltering and providing the necessary means to Hans, trying to win back her long lost lover.

On her part Zara's story is no different, as she seeks her own independence and financial freedom, but ending up tortured and humiliated by the new masters using her in their sex trade. After enduring horrible life as a sex-slave in Germany and other part of the new world, she manages her escape, killing one of her client. But she is certain that she will be traced and taken back to the cartel. Expecting the black luxury car to take her back, she is terrified of any noise that heard in the compound.

The arrival of Zara, would have provided Aliide with some redemption. Making amends to her action, which probably would have ended up Ingel and her daughter in Siberia, by providing shelter and protection to the grand daughter of Ingel.

Alternating the narrative between the early Soviet Occupation of Estonia, and the Newly separated Estonia, Sofi Oksanen, brings out a fantastic tale of a society continued to be occupied and humiliated under different time and regime. The book can be read as a thriller ( there is enough suspense till the end) or as a historical and political novel.

Estonia has to suffer the after effects of both the invasion and the collapse of Soviet Power. During the initial days of occupation they had looked towards west. To help them from the German Occupation and then against the Russian invasion. Hans, was very sure, that British or the US will come and save them.

     "Roosevelt will come !"
     "Roosevelt's dead."
     "The West won't forget about us !"
     "They already did. They won, and they forgot."
     "You have so little faith."

Its the same story after the independence from USSR. To the power vacuum came in the new Russian Mafia. The new generation of Estonians are leaving the country ( or the country side to the cities) leaving the interiors left to the older generations. The writing isn't graphic with the descriptions of torture and humiliation, but powerful enough. There is no judgment nor any biased views.

Originally staged and a play in Finland, later developed by her into a full-fledged novel. The book is brilliant and highly recommended.

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Purge (2009)

Sofi Oksanen ( translated from Finnish by Lola Rogers )

Atlantic Books

490 Pages

Rs 299/-

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Other Reviews : Complete Review , Wordwithoutborders

The Consequences of Love - Sulaiman Addonia

The streets of Jedda resembles a black and white movie. Men in White 'thobes' and women in their all covering black ' abaya'.  Into this Black and White streets come in the pink shoes, symbol of love. The colour not only symbolises the love, but that of danger.

Young Naser, Eritean migrant working in a small car wash shop, does not have the means and mind to take vacation like his other friends. The only place he wanted to go is to his mother, back in Eritrea. Whiling away his time, during the long in-active days, by taking a nap under the tree. In one of such days, he finds a piece of paper being dropped by the moving column of black abayas. And that was an invitation to the world that was forbidden. A love letter, from some one unknown. The letter continued to come in various ways, taking him into a world of thrill, excitement and danger.

Against the odds, the restrictions and the omnipresent religious police, lo ve itself find ways to prosper. Through the 'pink shoes', the exchange under the pertext of accompanying the Imam for his weekly sermon at the women's university, taking advanced step of escaping to the  open 'westerner's free zone' and to the extend of disguising as a women wearing 'abaya' and getting into her room. As in every love story, this too has to end. It wasn't long before he was caught, cheated by his close friend whom he seek help for getting forged passport for permanent escape.  The torture and interrogation continued, imminent death by stoning was on the cards, but some timely intervention by his well-wishers got him a relatively lesser punishment of deportation.

A society, where young boys like him are often used for the carnal satisfaction of the men ( 'you be my boy until my marriage), where the migrant workers are exploited by their sponsors and the other powerful men. Naser himself was a victim in his young age. A refugee from the war tron Eritria, brought into Saudi Arabia by his uncle from the refugee camp in Sudan. Sulaiman Addonia, himself had an early life very similar to Naser. Born in Eritrea, he was brought up in Jedda in his early years, before settling in London.

A regular love story, had it been in any other part of the world. But this is Saudi Arabia, and he is a migrant. Addonia, using very controlled language, with out getting into the glorification of the sacrifices manages to tell a story pretty well. The writing and language is good particularly towards the end. He is able to get me beyond the usual 'curiosity factor' and into the shoes of Naser.

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The Consequences of Love ( 2008)

Sulaiman Addonia

Chatto & Windus

346 Pages

Rs 534

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Other Reviews : Independent, Times,  Book Around.

The Body Artist - Don DeLillo

Rey Robles, an unsuccessful film director, dies in his first wife's apartment one morning. He and his current ( third) wife, Lauren HArtke, are living in an isolated house near the coast, away from the New York City. Their day began as routinely as always, with them having the breakfast, he stirring his coffee and the newspaper, she opening and closing cabinets opening and closing taps.

"I want to say something, but what".. he said, "About the house. This is what it is, ..something I meant to tell you".. but she wasn't listening.

That was the last morning of them together. Same morning he committed suicide, in the Manhattan apartment of his first wife, shooting himself.

Alone, in a large house, whose tenure is another couple of months far, Lauren returns back to her life of uncertainties. A celebrated body artist, who defies the limits of the physical body elevate herself to a performance level, Lauren now has to find her way all by herself. Often loosing herself in her thoughts and through the question of her own existence. She consciously isolate herself from the rest of the world and her only interaction with the external world is during her routine shopping trip for essentials.

It does not remain so for long, when she realises a there are noise and footsteps on the top floor. She finds an unusual looking young man, short and skinny, retarded, possibly living there since they have moved in. He seldom speaks and the only sound escape his mouth is those once spoken by Ray himself. Now her existence has a definition, through this unknown creature living with her, often missing and reappearing. Lauren now, re-live her live with Ray, through the recorded conversations on the tape and those spoken by her unknown companion apart from the birds which perks on her window.

Is he real ? Is he a ghost (of Ray , refusing to leave her) ? Is he a creation of Lauren's troubled mind ? There is no definite answer. Was he there long enough hiding from the couple and listening to their conversations , which he now repeats ? Or is he an alien trapped in her house? DeLillo does not give any definite answer, but play the scenes through her mind. Neither does the writer gives us any indications of their life together and the circumstances of their marriage, the only references of her life is through the 2 random notes, one by her friend and an obituary.

A short novella by the master novelist, his first in the new millennium, is surrealistic and tricky. The metaphoric use of birds and the possible symbolism using nature ( the trees, leaves , see along with birds) and covers up for the lack of depth in the story. The narration develops itself, with some tactical use of style and language.

Its a strange and cunning novel, very seductive and moving. This might not represent the best of Don DeLillo, but an interesting work of fiction, nonetheless.

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The Body Artist ( 2001 )

Don DeLillo

Scribner Paperback
126 Pages

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Confessions of a Thug - Philip Meadows Taylor

Thugs, or the Thugge culture was prominent in India for ages. 17th to 19th centuries were the prime time of their activities. India a vast land with very minimal public transportation, made their existence and survival easier. People travelling from one town to the other often taking the village roads, where subjected to their attack and loot, after being killed in a gruesome manner. Vast expanse of land and no means of communication and an absence of a single entity for law and order made it easy for them to escape the rare occasion of control. India having divided into numerous small kingdoms and the local feudal lords, had no way of consolidated efforts to nab them and bring them to justice. The fact that, they often operated underground, and the victims fate reached the concerned relatives( if at all) took too long, did not help in identifying and capturing them. It is also said that most of the small kingdoms fostered and nourished their own thuggees for both military and financial means.

When published in the year 1839, this book supposed to have taken the English reading population by storm. It was considered a huge success, even become a favourite book of the Queen of England. Philip Taylor had come to India as a clerk to a Merchant in Bombay, later joined the services of Nizam of Hyderabad. During the famous hunt for the Thugs, where he was the clerk in the commission of their capture and punishment, Taylor used the knowledge to write them to "to expose, as fully I was able, the practice of the Thugs and make the public more conversant with the subject" and not to "gratify a morbid taste in any one for tales of horror and of crime".

It was in the first half of the 19th century , a formal effort to bring an end to this was organised under the the East india company. The statistics shows that they were largely successful. From the year 1831 to 1837 , a Total number of 3266 thugs were caught and sentenced to various punishments ( transported to Penang, killed, imprisoned etc). While this has reduced the intensity of the attacks, the system continued to live clandestinely into the 20th century. Improvement in the public transport and the increased control over the territory by the British Empire, would have reduced their freedom of operation.

Taylor, writes this books are a recollection of Ameer Ali ( modelled after one notorious Thug, who was captured by the British and later turned himself as an approver and informer), as he goes through his life story to his capturer. Ameer, who boasts of committing 719 murders in his lifetime ( "Ah! sir, if I had not been in prison twelve years, the number would have been a thousand"). Ameer's life begins with the Thuggees after he was rescued in one of the attacks and was brought up in the family of Ismail, the leader of the gang based out of Sheopoor, some where in the central part of India. Brought up away from the Thugee culture until he was ready to take oath, Ameer Ali was trained traditionally on the use of weapons and other means of self protection. His early recall of adventure was killing a tiger attacked his village, and that prompted his father to enroll (!) him into the Thuggee gang. His first expedition after being included into the grand gang, included one murder by himself. The murder performed by thugs has the ritualistic order. It is bloodless, using a 'roomal' (hand kerchief), chocking the prey with their grip, thus preventing any noise being heard. They practice the usage of kerchief on animals as part of their induction, before set to use on their victims. They seldom use spears and swords, unless being attacked, even though they are well trained in their use.

The method of thugs are fairly common and simple. They befriend one of the travelling business man , often joining their expedition( for want of a large team to prevent attack) and on appropriate time and location, kill them and take their booty. The dead bodies are buried deep underground with suitable camouflage and safety and continue their journey until they find their next victim. A good thug, then has to be good at identifying, using his charm and words to lure them into the expedition and be cunning enough to find the time and place to finish them off. Women and children are omitted form the murder , albeit occasionally, this rule is broken. The leader is obeyed and there is no scope for rebel in a group. Most of the time, they survive without any loose of their own men, unless the opponents are equally or adequately equipped.

Thuggees belongs to cross religious and cross linguistic origin. In a group, such as the one headed by Ameer ali, has people of Hindu and Muslim faith. Irrespective, the group follow and worship Goddes Bhavani (a form of Durga, Kali - pronounced as 'bhowanee' in the book ) and takes her blessings before each expedition. They also seek omen and set forth only if the omens are right. The rituals and the proceedings are followed with precision. The way of murder, the selection of place, the way the bodies are buried after they are undressed and ornaments are removed et al. The whole affair is executed with precision and with utmost conviction, as there is no room for any second thoughts or remorse.

Ameer Ali, the protagonist himself was a victim of Thugee attack, though he is not aware of it. His father and mother was brutally murdered by the gang where Ismail, his foster father, was involved. Ismail, married for long and still childless, took pity on the young boy and take his to his family, against the wishes of the others in the gang. It was only during his parting comments to his son, prior to his execution, he reveals that to his son.

545 pages of repeated conning , plotting and executing one murder after another isn't a happy read. Except towards the end, where Ameer Ali looses his own family and his fathers execution, we don't see any humane values or discussion through out his narrative.

Taylor shows absolute clarity of India's vast geography ( the direction, naming places and  kingdoms ) and and the various cultural and class issues. The use of Hindi, Urdu and Arabic phrases, which are common among the Muslims was very impressive (The end of the book provides the glossary and meaning of these words). On the socio - political angle, the book also reveals the increasing influence of the British East India Company in India, as region after regions are turned under their direct control, or through the kingdom, they are able to associate with. We can see the changes through the narrative of Ameer Ali, as he says more and more places they are subjected to inspection by the 'Angrez' (Britishers).

The style and prose are similar to the other nineteen century novels, and notwithstanding the nature of the book and the subject dealt with, it is relatively an easy read. In all, it is an interesting insight to the once prevailed thuggee culture, but not a pleasant reading experience.

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Confessions of a Thug ( 1839 )

Philip Meadows Taylor

Rupa & Co ( reprint )

547 Pages

Rs 295

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Read these for more : Ambiguity and historicism: interpreting Confessions of a Thug, SF Reviews

Grown up digital - Don Tapscott

The way of our living have changed in last couple of decades. It has always been changing, but what is special about last couple of decades would be the question. In a single world, it has turned digital. Look at every business we conduct, every action we perform day to day, every thing is now controlled or effected by Digital Technology. Way back in 1997 ( I think), when Lou Gerstner, then the CEO of IBM announced e-Business, he was forecasting a future where the business is conducted electronically. Even he wouldn't have believed that the changes would be so dramatic.

I am not getting into statistics in detail. But a recent mail received which talked about 'social media revolution' had some interesting statistics.  (See them here : http://socialnomics.net/2010/05/05/social-media-revolution-2-refresh/ ). The popularity of Facebook, twitter and similar social networking sites are not only taking active role in our daily life, but also causing dramatic shift in our social behaviour.

While there may be arguments on the merits and de-merits of this phenomenon substantiated with statistics and reasons, there is no two-way about its ever increasing influence in the present day life. Don Tapscott , in his follow on book to his "growing up digital", revisits these facts in this new book, with some interesting insights.

Calling them the 'Net Generation" , after the baby boomers born between 1946 to 1964 ( post worldwar era), the Gen X born between 1965 to 1976 ( Vietnam war), he looks at the characteristical differences and social changes of these people within the Digital World. Net Generation in this book are considered those who are born post 1977 till 1997. With the exponent growth in the world trade and the ever increasing connectivity, and mobile telephony has made this generation leap frog in the social interactions albeit in the virtual world. Abundance of information and the easy availability has made them more informative ( not necessarily improved knowledge, and less on wisdom), making them better equipped to respond and adjust to the changing world order. Tapscott, looks at various aspect of the social life of the Net-Gens and critically looks at the need for the change.

Education : The earlier model of training ( which he calls 100 years behind), is not what is effective to the new generation. Their ability to multiplex, comprehend different aspect, their ability to search and get what is needed makes the whole education system to be revamped. The 'pre-Gutenburg' model of teaching ( the notes written in the book of the teacher passes on to the notes written by the student without going through either brain - or so is the joke) , in the form of lecture has no place in today's education. 'Instead of focusing on the teacher, the education system should focus on the student'. The one-size-fit-all model of learning is no more relevant.

Workplace: As we see daily in Office, many old timers find it difficult to adjust to the newer generation of work force. They are blamed for not being serious and not career oriented and less loyal to the organisation with respect to the earlier generation. With the improved awareness and confidence, the netgen-ers are more critical to their work place. Hence the management strategy on talent development and employee retention need a re-thinking. As many organisations have tried and failed, locking the mail boxes, preventing the social networking sites etc may not yield results, but could be counter productive. According to Tapscott, the organisation need to appreciate the need for a 'digital break' by its employees.

Consumer: With the lesser and lesser viewing of the young, spending more time online, the world of marketting and consumerism need to adopt to the changing behaviour of the youngsters. It was proven that TV viewing is becoming more and more passive, and the advertisements are not registered as it used to be earlier. The common method used by most of the new advertisements, by having banners at various internet sites, too are not yielding results. Peer reviews have shown significant influence in the buying decision of the Netgen youth and feedback from friends and colleagues seems to have positive impact on their buying behaviour. These days, people do online research on the product they would like to buy and the shop experience has only been reduced to the look and feel and convenience.

Family : The changing social order has the effect in the family order as well. It was observed that more and more youngsters in the US are coming back home after graduation and live with their parents, which was opposite to the earlier generation, who would leave home and build their own family elsewhere. Similarly, the improved 'digital knowledge' of the son or the daughter in the family make them superior to their parents in many ways. The need of going out to freedom is now reduced with the available freedom within the family and in their own private space. This has also resulted in lesser drug addition, alcoholism, sexual assaults and other crimes of similar nature.

The net Generation can also have a huge influence on the social, political and civic order. Citing the Barac Obama election campaign, where the net generation have taken active participation, Tapscott explains the positive influence it can be to the democracy all over the world. Revelution in Social media has also made more and more people to be vocal about the mis-practices around the world. They are able to influence and canvas millions of people for a cause, within a short time. Young people for various social causes are garnering global support for their campaign and often managing to get what they wanted. With blogging being popular every one is now a 'publisher' and through you tube, anyone can be a broadcaster.

We have been discussing the possible advantageous and its possible influence for all along. There are innumerable examples of this being mis-utilised. They are also making people internalised and virtual with less and less personal, face to face interactions ( or the so called social skills). They are also more open and have no concern in sharing their personal and some times intimate data in the public domain. The dark sides can also take a book to describe ( As some of them have already published). the fact however remain that there is no going back. There is no point in being one rowing against the wind. Its for the world in total to make use of this phenomenon to the better use.

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Grown Up Digital ( 2008 )

Don Tapscott

Tata - McGrawHill Pu blications ( Only for India & South Asia )

368 Pages

Rs 650

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Deep River - Shusaku Endo

River Ganges is considered the holiest of all rivers by Hindus. Varanasi, situated on the banks of Ganges is the holy city for both Hindus and Budhists and is one of the most sacred pilgrimage places for Hindus. Hindus believe that bathing in Ganges remits sins, and dying and performing last rites here, will release the a persons soul from the cycle of re-incarnation ( or transmigration). Hence, millions and millions from various parts of the country reaches the banks of Ganges at Varanasi, for Moksha ( for getting rid of the sins in this life or for dying at this place to attain eternal salvation). This, forms the backdrop for this amazing book by Shuasaku Endo.

Five Japanese arrive at this holy city, part of a pilgrimage tour. Each battling their own inner turmoil, and of various nature. Isobe, is looking after the re-incarnation of his deceased wife; he was made to promise by her on her death-bed. One research paper by an American scientist and few correspondence with him, gave Isobe a clue that a girl called Rajini, near Varanasi is claiming to be a Japanese in her previous life. Kiguchi, a WW II veteran, now a businessman, is still tormented by the time he had spent fighting for life in the Burmese jungles. He too wish to pay homage to his fellow soldiers in the front as well as the Indian and British troops he fought against. His close friend during the war, the one who rescued him from the clutches of death, which came in the form of Malaria, had succumbed to a prolonged illness as the after effect of war. . Guarding a gruesome secret, unable to open up even to his wife or to his close friend, turning himself to alcohol in order to keep himself sane, but loosing his health. Mitsuko, now middle aged, is looking for her childhood friend Otsu, then a wannabe priest, whom in her youthful arrogance, tried to seduce and move away from the spiritual path. Her own personal life had been in a mess, with an unsuccessful marriage behind her. "I can not love anyone", is her excuse, but even while here she really do not know why is she in this place. Numada, an animal lover, believes that his life was a gift from a Myna, who died on the same day of his 3rd operation, the first two being unsuccessful. A writer of Children's stories, which has the animals and birds as the prime characters, he was drawn towards the bird sanctuaries in an around the area of his visit. These four along with a newly married couple, Sonji, being a photographer, would like to gain fame, by taking few photographs, worthy of mention in the western press.

City of Varanasi to the tourist is one unhealthy, filthy place populated with people of old age abandoned in its shore by relatives, people who travel across the land to die, the holy , dirty river cleansing the millions from their eternal sins, by accepting their dirt and flowing silently through the plains. After the initial cultural shock, each of them had been accustomed to the complex nature of Indian way of life ( and its contradictions) and attracted to the myths associated the River Ganges. It reaches to a level where each wanted to redeem themselves at the banks of the same river in their own way.

This book is of an eternal quest for salvation. The salvation for their own troubled selves. Each of them need to cleanse themselves from their committed or inherited sins ( even perceived). After the initial introduction of his main characters, their moments of truth, Endo chooses to alternate between the present and reminiscent tales to some good effect. A book of profound spiritual and religious journey through the Christian , Buddhist and Hindu philosophy threading through the commonality between all religions. He also goes through some fundamental discussion on the concept of God through the unsuccessful priest Otsu , confronting the European priest with their belief ( Probably Endo's own experience with religion and spirituality) who now live a nomads life in the street of Varanasi, bringing unknown bodies fallen on the streets, to the place of burning, doing the needful.

Endo, writes so beautifully through the initial pages. The language is very touching and unhurried, the imagery is very vivid and dense, the spirituality is strong and open. The last few chapters have been a bit patchy and looses the initial magical touch of writing. However, Deep River, on the whole, become a quest of universal oneness of God among Christian, Hindu and Buddhist believes.

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Deep River

Shusaku Endo ( translated from Japanese by Van C Gessel )

Tuttle Publishing

216 Pages

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Other reviews: Dan Schneider, Three Percent

The Library of Shadows - Mikkel Birkegaard

"Luca Campelli's wish to die surrounded by his beloved books came true late one night in October". But the life of his son, a successful lawyer in a reputed firm in Copenhagen is about to change. Estranged from his father after the tragic death of his mother, grown up hating him for over 20 years, Jon would never have expected to be invited for the funeral function. Luca is running successfully an antiquarian book stall for over half a century and Jon, being the only heir inherit the bookshop as natural choice.

Iverson, the long time companion of his father invites him to discuss the future and a new world is about to open in front of Jon. Slowly, he realises the existence of a bibliophile society, whose own life surround the library and and the is the regular meeting place of the members. It is here that he understand the power of reading, and its effect on human, including some of the extreme possibilities including death of individuals. It is thus possible that his father too , would have died by possible manipulation by some of his enemies.

The story now turns into one of the typical thrillers, albeit with the over cast of the library and literary settings. Jon, get immersed in the activity of finding the truth of the death and the truth about his own life, on the reasons of his mothers death and his obvious (now) alienation from his father. The writer then takes us through the typical thriller settings with every second person being a suspect, the two rebel groups of receivers and transmitters ( of the reading group - one who can influence the listeners by their oral powers are transmitters and those who can influence the reading by controlling the readers mind with the ability to manage their mind remotely) with each group blaming each other. A perceived underground organisation with history tracing back to the time before Christ and to an exotic location at Alexandria.

I am not a great reader of this genre of fiction and thus my excitement after reading this is limited. However, the writer have managed to keep the necessary suspense and maintained a fast paced narrative. I have not found the writing style to be impressive, which could be because of the translation if not for the general style of these type of novels.

A Danish thriller, a la Da Vinci Code, covered under the literally thriller camouflage. If you are a reader of these type of fictions, you most likely are going to go gaga over this as some of the reviews below.

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The Library of Shadows ( 2007 )

Mikkel Birkegaard ( Translated from Danish by Tiina Nunnally)

Black Swan Books

430 Pages

Rs 325

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Other reviews : Fantasy Book Critic , Thriller Fiction Suite

In the Palm of Darkness - Mayra Montero

Victor Grigg, an American Herpetologist goes in quest of an elusive and under the threat of extinction, Eleutherodactylus sanguineus, in the remote hills of Haiti. Thierry Adrien, local guide, with his past experience of supporting such expedition is his company. Alternating two tales, one through the expedition coupled with his personal troubles and the other through the stories narrated by Thierry about his past expeditions, his family , his friends and the Haitian society. Victor is fighting a personal battle, with his continued alienation with his wife, who prefers to travel with her girlfriend to Tibet, and spend more and more time with her. His no so fond childhood memories in his fathers ranch amongst the Ostriches ( he remembers his wife's unhappiness of visiting the place) and his cordial relationship with his parents and colleagues.

Thierry on the other hand has gone through a very harsh childhood. His early childhood memories involve the gala party organised in his house and the unhappiness of his mother over certain visiting aunties. It was only question of time before the un-favoured aunty came into his family ( post his mothers death) , revealing more and more of his fathers un-holy relationship. Young Thierry, doing errands for his father, helping visiting foreigners as their tour guide, helping one to retrieve his lost wife from the mountains. However, the situation in Haiti is not so good, as the lawlessness and killing are rampant. One has no way to escape the turmoil and many of his brothers gets killed.

The expedition did not receive with the same enthusiasm with certain group in Haiti. Their threat was omnipresent and Victor and Thierry had to abandon their search in the Mont des Enfants Perdus ( near Port Au Prince) and move to more remote Casetache mountains. But the situation here too was dangerous, and they had only few days before they were to vacate this place as well.

Alternating narrative between Victor and Thierry , with Victor going through his troubled family life and the expedition diary and Thierry taking us through his life and family is an interesting mix. Victors wife Martha, is on her way out of the marriage often spending time with her girl friend, with Victor immersed in his research activities. Thierry on the other hand is re-living his eventful life to his master, in an attempt to redeem himself. His relationship with his own step-mother and step-sister ( before she was married by his brother), his involvement with the underground organisations, his association with a scientist and his girl friend - the Indian lady Ganesha the eventual fall of status and the turmoil in the country were all very rich, tragic and moving. Mayra Montero also get into giving us the statistical and scientifical detail about the extinction of species in the natural world.

Cuban born Puertorico based author, writing about Haiti. Translation was by Edith Grossman , which prompted me to take this book up. US based herpetologist, coming over to Haiti mountains, in search of an endangered frog, being helped by a local guide. Alternating the narrative between the Scientist and the guide , one going through his domestic troubles and the other telling his life story of survival, violence, the underground society. Very exotic setting, but not delivered beyond that. Pretty weak,overall.

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In the Palm of Darkness ( 1995 )
Mayra Montero ( Translated from Spanish by Edith Grossman )

Harper Flamingo Publications

183 Pages
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Other Reviews : Angel Rivera , Washington Post ,

The Blood of Flowers - Anita Amirrezvani

'In the spring of the year, a comet launched itself over the skies. It was brighter than any comet we had ever seen, and more evil. Night after night, it crawled across our skies spraying its cold white seeds of sorrow".. Villagers have noticed mysterious signs and the misfortunes caused by the comet. Plague had stuck northern Iran, an earthquake rattled the earth, rare insects invaded the fields and destroyed the corps.. '

Our protagonist, a 14 year old girl, un-named, lived happily with her parents this time. As every family in her village, they had a good life, with father working at the fields, and she learning the great art of making the carpet, mixing the paints, and doing errands at the family. The ill-effect of the comet stuck her family too, in the form of death, taking away her father. Sudden demise of her father, toppled her hope of getting married ( as she is already 14) and a decent living. The family left with no one had to move to Isfahan ( the capital city of Shah) to her uncle who is the chief designer of Carpets at Shah's court. Everything wasn't as good for the mother and daughter as they were housed in the servant quarters, and having to work in the kitchen for a living, often eating the left over of the family along with other servants. However, the girls interest in carpet designing got the curiosity of her uncle and he was willing to help her. The uncle-niece relation has now been moved into a guru-disciple relation, she learning the trick of the trade under his guidance.

The luck had taken a positive turn as one wealthy horse trader, recently widowed, seeking her under 'sigheh' ( temporary marriage contract - prevalent in Iran during those time). Compelled into accepting the contract, for the want of money and the commission for a large carpet, she is now had to prepare herself for his summon and surrender to his needs as a wife. The contract , which lasts for three months, had to be extended for the flow of money, and had to be remain a secret for her future. The initial relationship, soon changes into one of the raging sexual and physical encounters between the two, only to be extended by the beneficiary. Unable to conceive and convinced that he will not legalise the contract by marrying her ( as she is from a poor family from north), she discontinues the contract at the end of 3rd season. The fact that he had married again, to her close friend had influenced her decision. The break of contract did not go well with her adopted family, and soon the mother and daughter was thrown out of the house. Nowhere to go, and no money to survive, they moved into the slums with another poor family. The situation get worse with the mother falling ill, to the brink of death, and no money to neither feed her nor to get any medicinal help. She had to turn to the street begging, often returning empty handed. All that begins well ends well, with she finding her midas touches with her carpet being chosen by the ladies of Shah's harem and a reconciliation with her uncle.

Medieval Persia is interesting place with its rich culture and arts. Persia with its age old tradition of oral narrative (Scheherazade), the famous Persian Carpets and the age old custom of 'short term marriage contract' are wedged together into this novel by Iran-American writer Anita Amirrezvani. While the author had done a decent job in combining the 3 facts together with considerable effect, the novel by itself does not deliver beyond the obvious. It remain in the ordinary narrative and does not turn into a tour de force. Average novel.

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The Blood of Flowers ( 2007 )

Anita Amirrezvani

Little Brown & Company

378 Pages

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Other reviews : Popmatters, Persia Mirror ( Interview with the author)

The Book of Chameleons - José Eduardo Agualusa

Félix Ventura , an Albino, living in Angola, has an interesting profession. He make a living by dealing with memory, by fabricating past for people. His clientele , includes the ministers, the neo-rich, the aristocrats, the diamond smugglers and other prominent personalities.  His business card reads : 'Felix Ventura. Guarantee your children a better past’.  He is a thorough professional. The past of his esteemed clients are created with meticulous details, including photographs, references, the family tree, relevant documents, establishing credentials.

There was a whole class, he explained, a whole new bourgeoisie, who sought him out. They were businessmen, ministers, landowners, diamond smugglers, generals -- people, in other words, whose futures are secure. But what these people lack is a good past, a distinguished ancestry, diplomas. In sum, a name that resonates with nobility and culture. He sells them a brand new past.

But all that is going to get a little complicated, with the arrival of a foreigner seeking his service. " I'm a photojournalist. I collect images of wars, of hunger and its ghosts, of natural disasters and terrible misfortunes. You can think of me as a witness."  He is nameless and need Felix to build his past. "I've had many names, but I mean to forget them all. I'd rather you were the one to baptize me."

The foreigner, now named José Buchmann, managed to convince Felix with a tempting offer of money, half in advance and the rest on completion. The task was done as usual with precise details and made up characters. However, the situation turned a bit creepy, as Jose Buchmann, goes in search of his ancestors and seek convincing evidences of their real existence. He travels across the globe, as described in the document prepared, collecting further details and confirmatory documentation to the surprise ( and  shock) of Felix. The fiction is turning into a reality.

A relatively straight forward story now takes a different turn with the arrival of another young lady photographer ( Angela) and an ex-agent of Ministry of State Security (Edmundo Barata dos Reis - "I'm the very last communist south of the equator" ) comes into the scene. The simple tale is now get into a serious political thriller, a murder mystery and a budding love story. Angola, the war-torn former Portuguese colony has a hidden past of turmoil  beneath the relative recent calm. Centuries old oppression and the recent histories of abduction, cheating and torture have to be re-lived once again through the stories and buried forever with appropriate act of redemption.

Interestingly, the narrator here is a gecko. A lizard, Eulálio, an re-incarnation of a human soul, trying to re-live his past through the co-habitation with human, witnessing and recounting everything he sees. The writer tactically, indicates that the lizard is indeed human, by starting with an epigraph by Borges  " If I were born again, I'd like to be something completely different". In an interview which is given in the last pages, he says this book is in tribute to the great writer.  Gecko , not  a silent spectator in this novel, he lives his own past life through the pages ( including a passage about his death), have dreams and also confide with Felix in his lonely life.

Felix on his part also goes through his past of poverty and humble living,  while creating a past for others. His dreams and childhood memories continue to haunt him.

"The priest talked of angels, and I saw chickens. To this day, in fact, of all the things I've seen, chicken are still the ones that most closely resembles angels. He talked of heavenly joy, and I saw chickens scrabbling away in the sun, digging up little nests in the sand, turning their little glass eyes in pure mystical bliss. I can't imagine Paradise without chickens. I can even imagine the Great God, reclining lazily on a fluffy bed of clouds, without his being surrounded by a gentle host of chickens. You know something -- I've never known a bad chicken -- have you? Chickens, like white ants, like butterflies, are altogether immune against evil."

There are umpteen references to living and past writers of word stage. From Marques , Borges, Kafka, Burton, JM Coertzee, Montaigne and  Eça de Queiroz, comes in his discussion. Felix's father was a second hand book dealer. Eca, he said, was my first crib. Having lived with books in his early life and acquainted with characters of various fiction, have helped Felix in his profession.

 "I think what I do is really an advanced kind of literature," he told me conspiratorially. "I create plots, I invent characters, but rather than keeping them trapped in a book I give them life, launching them out into a reality."

A beautiful narration, fantastic use of style and language. A political thriller, a murder mystery all combined in one beautiful exposition by one very talented writer. 

While the translation is of first class, I am not too convinced about the title used for the English translation. I understand that the Portuguese title is called, O vendedor de passados , and a literal translation ( a seller of past histories ?) would have done more justice.

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The Book of Chameleons (2004)

José Eduardo Agualusa (  translated from Portuguese by Daniel Hahn )

Simon & Schuster

185 Pages

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Other Reviews : Guardian , New Int , Quarterly Conversation, Complete Review , Independent