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

The Quants - Scott Patterson

I had been reading black swan few months ago and admittedly from a very different angle. While there were numerous references to the stock market crash, hardly did I realise that the dig is at the stock market wiz kids and their quantitative analytics and prediction. This book, written by Wall Street journalist Scott Patterson, indeed gave me the clue on what Taleb was hinting at. He was questioning the ability of these people to predict the stock market future, comparing them with the intelligence of taxi driver.

Scott Pattesons book , The Quants, looks at this phenomenon that controlled the stock market during the last few decades. The influx of mathematical and physics wizards entering the arena of trading using complicated algorithm written on super powered computers , making huge profits out of the system, which traditionally relied on the intuition ( to an extend) and limited knowledge of the traders. Scott looks at the tribe in general starting from few trend setters in early days and four wiz-kids in particular ( Morgan Stanley’s Peter Muller, Citadel hedge fund’s Ken Griffin, Cliff Asness of AQR hedge fund, and Boaz Weinstein of Deutsche Bank ).

Their traits are common. High education with PhDs in mathematics or Physics, Excellent computer skills , the ability to use data and analytics to predict the movement of stocks, derivatives or bonds, a quick eye to spot anomalies in the trading system , and to sum it all the thill of beating the system. Most of them started their early days with some thing in common. Curiosity over gambling..the ability to predict Russian Roulettes ( buying a second hand machine to do their research), the black jack table or winning the poker table ( Interestingly Poker become one of their favourite pass time , often spending the entire night among themselves trying to out win the rest. All of them belong to the top 50-100 poker professionals in the world). Some of these had the reputation of being in the watch list of Casinos around the world, for their ability to beat the system regularly. Their hypothesis is interesting and are extremely complex to the common brain. The explosion of internet and the computers and IT had definitely helped them to rule the market for a long time.

It was sort of natural progression that these ended up at the largest gambling arena of the world, the financial market. It took no time, for them to figure out the ways and means of beating the system ( most of them were inspired by the book 'Beat the market" by one of the earlier quants Ed Thorpe). Scott also examines various techniques and principles that become popular over the years for the bankers and those dealing with hedge funds. The Quants weren't welcomed by the traditional traders enthusiastically. those experience of a life time is being questioned by few twenty something, who has no prior knowledge of the system. "You don't know a shit about trading, boy" were the typical reaction. But it took very less time for things to change. These 'inexperienced lads in jeans and T-shirts' started popping large amount of profits for their employers. They were the pets of the bankers often raising billions of money through their hedge funds, constantly beating the market both in good as well as bad times.

While this continued for a long time, there was always a doubt on its capability to extend this to eternity.

"Despite Success, it always seemed ephemeral, as if one day the magic would go away, vanish like a genie into its bottle. As if one day the Truth wouldn't be the Truth anymore."

The traditional big-wigs, like Warren Buffet and others stayed out of this , relying on the traditional means. There are others like Nassim Nicolass Taleb , who himself was a quant ( so to say) , was critical to their approach and was questioning them , often into heated arguments with them.

"Taleb had gained the reputation as a gadfly of the quants, constantly questioning their ability to beat the market. Taleb did not believe in the Truth. He certainly didn't believe it could be quantified."

The later events shows that Taleb had the last laugh. The unprecedented growth had to come down and the final fall of the quantdom was the sub-prime crisis, collapsing the financial systems of the world during Aug 2007.

Scott Patterson writes this book like a thriller. There is no dull moment in reading. While I am not an expert in the subject of the book, as an outsider, I understand a bit better of the important part these mathematical and analytical tools played in the financial market and I believe that it is likely to stay that way ( may be with great sophistication). The book had its own flows, there are undue glorification, the fiction-style of writing of a more journalistic nature of subject and some of the facts which I find difficult to appreciate.

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The Quants

Scott Patterson

Crown Business

337 Pages

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Wall Street Journal

Singing from the Well - Reinaldo Arenas

"There went my mother, she just went running out the door. She was screaming like a crazy woman that she was going to jump down the well. I see my mother at the bottom of the well. I see her floating in the greenish water choked with leaves. So I run for the yard, out to where the well is, that's fenced around with a wellhead of naked-boy saplings so rickety it's almost falling in."

thus starts this wonderful novel by Reinaldo Arenas. Arenas has been in the news for some time after his five day long voyage escapade from Cuba after being prisoned, tortured and abused by the regime. Arenas committed suicide , unable to fight AIDS leaving behind one of the best 'suicide notes' I have ever read. True to the image which I had about this author, this novel, the first of the Pentagonia series ( 'secret history of Cuba', according to the author) depicts a boys life during the pre-revolution days.

Plot consists of the boy and his family ( mother, grand mother , grand father and an aunt) living in poverty under anarchy, isolated from the society. They continuously fought, abused and cursed at each other, often getting into murderous thoughts. The boy constantly live with a hope of murdering his grand father who beat him up regularly and 'split his skull by half' using the hatchet. Grand mother is no different showering him with abuse and anger. Mother, a silent sufferer, blames the boy for his indifference to her struggle and for her misfortune. We understand from the boy that his father had returned to his in-laws one day leaving his mother to their custody, never to return ( he did not look back, even once ). To this scene comes Celestino, a cousin, after his mother ( the boys aunt) committed suicide by hanging, and burning herself. Celestino's arrival only worsened the situation. The already fragile relationship had become worse, but the young boys soon become friends. Young Celestino, scribbled poems on the tree trunks, only to be cut down by the grand father. He then turned to the pineapple leaves, scribbling away, only to face the same fate. The novel concludes with a Christmas Party when the extended family of aunts, cousins ( interestingly no men apart from the grandfather), the dead cousins, the witches and aunts all adding up to the chaos and destruction.

Poignant, lyrical and moving, frustrating at the same time, the prose of Arenas is outstandingly refreshing and clear. While the subject is of pre-revolutionary Cuba and most of the characters are allegory of the republic itself, his writing has maintained an high energy and is brave.

Structurily, he experiments with various forms.. Reality and fantasy are intermixed and at times it is very demanding on the reader. Towards the end, the story is through dialogues ( as in plays). There are pages at odd places with verses taken from different sources ( presumably, scribbled by Celestino on tree trunks). Half way through the book comes to "THE END" , but continuing further gets you the "THE SECOND END" , until the "LAST END". I am not sure, why this ploy as there is no real end or change of course anywhere. Arguably, Celestino himself could be an alter ego of the boy. Celestino never speaks to anyone but to the Boy, never reacts to the beatings or torments, and is referred as dead many a times in the narrative.

Overall a fantastic reading experience.

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Singing From the Well ( 1965)

Reinaldo Arenas ( translated from Spanish by Andrew Hurley )

Penguin Books

206 Pages
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Obituary, Article on Arenas at Moorewatch

Dreams of my Russian Summers - Andrei Makine

"it was not just a radio station that was disappearing but our era itself. All that we had said, written, thought, fought against, defended, all that we had loved, detested, feared - all those things belonged to that era."

Images from your visits to your grand parents and their stories remain with you forever. Some of them will remain as clear as viewing a movie, however insignificant it is. Andrei Makine, one of my relatively late discovery takes us through another fantastic journey of reminiscence of his childhood. This book, received tremendous acclaim and was a huge success, winning two prestigious awards in French upon its publication.

The narrator, recounts his summer holidays, in the house of his grand mother, in the distant town of Sarenza, in the vast Siberian steppe, along with his sister. His grand mother, Charlotte, a French descendant, lived through the eventful history of Russia, takes the children through her stories and the French classics. Supported with the 'old paper cuts' and greying photos from her ' Siberian suitcase', the young boy and his sister pester her to narrate the stories over and over again.

Charlotte is born in 1903 and have witnessed two great wars, the revolution, the rise and fall of Stalin. She was trapped in Russia, during one of her visit to their earlier residence in Siberia and was living in Russia ever since physically, managing to retain her french-ness. We get the story of her life as a young nurse post the revolution, and her marriage to a soldier ( who according to the authorities was killed in the war -twice the letter reached her announcing his death - only to return after the war. The day she was assaulted and raped by a group of turban heads in the deserts, the way she and the kids escaped the frontiers while the Germans advanced, and their miraculous escape, her job as a nurse during the WW2 tending the physically and mentally battered soldiers coming in large numbers by bogies. The images of St.Petersburg where the 'samovars', survived soldiers post the war who have lost their limbs, now begging in the streets... continue to fill in the minds of growing up young kids..

The book is of contrasts, French and Russian ( the boy starts identifying himself as Russian as he grows, against the dreamland France), Old and the new Russia ( his exile to Paris, naturally and his effort to reconcile with his past ), the young and old , the monstrous city and the vast silent steppes.

Images of Tsar and the queen on the Paris Streets, the death of French President in the arms of his mistress, Marcel Proust and other literary figures , the chief if secret police Beria, a serial rapist.. there are many images that remain in the mind of the boy and the reader. For him, escaping the rigid apartment complexes of the Russian life to the 'mysterious french experience' , to the stories of his family on either side of parents, those tales of survival ( against wars, against revolution and new regime, the unbearable Siberian winter, the famine) and hope and some sort of rebellion and reconciliation.

As I have seen in his other books, the imagery, the lyrical language, the eye catching descriptions of ever lasting memories are in abundance. The writing vivid without being flamboyant. This is not a typical coming of age story. The initial awe for every thing French to the later solid thought of Russian-ness and the much later realisation of what the elders have gone through , gives us a growing up of a matured , intelligent man.

Another fantastic book, an autobiographical coming of age tale of a young boy, living in revere of those great summers spent in the company of his grand mother and those memorable stories.

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Dreams of My Russian Summers ( 1995)

Andrei Makine ( translated from French by Geoffrey Strachan )

Arcade Publishing

242 Pages
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Other reviews : January Magazine, Wiki

The Miniaturist - Kunal Basu

The court of Akbar, the third Mughal emperor, supposed to be the best time for arts and culture filled with the best in the field of music, art and painting. It is considered as one of the golden era of medieval India. Set in his period ( 16th Century AD), Kunal Basu's second novel takes us on a journey with Bihzad a painter in the Akbar's court.

Born to the 'khwaja' ( the chief) of Akbars 'kitabkhana' ( the artists workshop), Bihzad was already a child prodigy in line with his fathers tradition. Persian descendent, who moved into India with the Mughals have already made India their home. His father had put him under the tutelage of an elderly painter, to bring some discipline in his drawing, only to be abandoned by the boy stating " I have nothing else to learn from him". Illiterate, he had to listen to the stories being narrated ( for which he uses his step mothers help) to reproduce them with all magnanimity, not to be rivalled. It was only natural, to have his name and fame to reach the royal ears. Soon, he was admitted to the 'kitabkhana' to be the rightful heir to his fathers post, when the father was elated to the post of a courtier. Akbar has moved his capital out of Agra to Sikri and moved his court and the ;kitabkhana' to the new city ,moving his wives and harem to the new place. His step-mother, with whom he now has developed a relation beyond the maternal limitations, has refused to leave Agra to join them in Sikri. Same, is the case with the paint-seller , who frequent kitabkhana feeding him with the raw material for his art as well as the local gossip.

The historians in the court are busy writing the biography of Akbar, and Bihzad was busy painting the corresponding sketches for the great book. While this is on there is a parallel life of Akbar the Great is being prepared, this time not as an all conquering Emperor, but in a human form. The admiration to the great ruler soon becomes infatuation from the painter. The pictures of Akbar, the lover boy with Bizhad has been stolen and was produced in the royal court by the detractors . Bihzad was promptly expelled ( the magic of the pictures have spared him his life).

Now in exile, Bihzad ends up in the deserts outside the hindukush , run by another exile , a eunuch fallen out of grace from the royal harems of Akbar. Agreeing upon not revealing their identity, Bihzad spents his exile days doing errands, listening to Sufi poets, Christian missionaries and other religions sects leaders. The luck takes his turn again as one of his paintings changes his life again, this time ending up in the courts of the local king, marrying his daughter. Forced to spent the time in the harems unable to win the trust of his wife, he escape the place. Tormented by his art and destroyed by his skill, he decides to put an end to this, blindfolding himself spending his life under a tree in the market. Abused, insulted and ragged, he was later rescued by some nomads selling eggs in the market. But the art, does not leave him.

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Kunal Basu, true to the book, paints the picture of Akbars court amazingly. The palace, the ministers courtiers, his royal entourage and the hunting trips, the harems filled innumerous wives and other concubines each trying to win his attention and to be the first to produce the next emperor of the kingdom, the royal eunuchs guarding and taking care of the harem, the in-court rivalry .. each were produced to the magnificent effect. The omnipresence of the emperor was through out the initial pages.

The torments of the painter, famed and destroyed by the art he know and love, is painted pretty well by the author.

" Your gift is your curse. Your defect. It'll make you suffer. Even if you wanted to escape, it wouldn't spare you. It'll cripple you, even if you flee, it'll seek its revenge."

So was the admiration turned fantasy of a teenager, falling in love with his creation ( the emperor in this case). His effort to meet his sweet-heart was denied, so was his elevation to the post of 'khwaja' by the rivals leaving him further disturbed, the only solace being alcohol and the local whorehouse.

However, to me the book did not deliver to the expectation set in the initial pages. Kunal Basu is a good writer and has very good command on the language and the subject he in his treatment. The second half of the book takes an un-convincing turn, ending with a cliched cinematic finish.

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The Miniaturist ( 2003 )

Kunal Basu

Phoenix

248 Pages

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Other Reviews: Independent , Guardian

A Single Man - Christopher Isherwood

With the recent release of the film adaptation of this book, it surged again in the circulation and discussion in the literary world. Christopher Isherwood's tale of a gay College Professor  in California, through one of his usual days in existence.  In an interestingly mixed narrative, shifting between first person and third person , also into his alter ego , the reader goes through sympathetically through his daily motions..

"Waking up begins with saying am and now. That which has awoken , then lies for a while staring up at the ceiling and down into itself until it has recognised. I, and therefrom deduced I am, I am now".

"Staring and staring into the mirror, it sees many faces within its face - the face of the child, the boy, the young man, the not-so-young-man all present still, preserved like fossils on superimposed layers, and like fossils dead. Their message to this live dying creature is: Look at us- we have died- what is there to be afraid of ?
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Obediently, it washes, shaves, brushes its hair; for it accepts its responsibilities to the others. It is even glad that it has its place among them.. it knows its name. It is called George"

Living an isolated life for eight months, after the death of his mate Jim , who died in a car crash, George is a lone soul in every sense. His alternate sexual preferences which he does not hide, makes him aloof from the neighbours, his students and colleagues to a large extent. We follow him from his daily motion from being awake in the morning , brushing and getting ready for his teaching assignments, his visits to the friend of Jim, who is in her deathbed, a dinner meeting with friend Charlotte , before having another boozy evening where he is accompanied by Kenny , one of his student, whom he invites to his house.

His life is transparent. There is no pretentious self in motion. Be his sexuality, his admiration for good looking men ( those playing tennis in body tight attire, those in the Gym which he frequent) , his love and loss of his friend Jim, his open and frank discussion with Charlie and Kenny.  There is always a longing for a company, and though he likes the company of Charlie, and given the fact that she has been desiring for him despite his known orientation, he rejects her advances. ( It is not that she does not know his preferences, but as he says "Do women ever stop trying? No. But, because they never stop, they learn to be good losers.").  But it was in the evening when Kenny comes in to the Gay Bar which George frequent, his hidden desire and lust came out in the open. Guided by the alcohol, he looses himself and flirts with the young boy, goes for a swim in the sea, invites him home, provide him with dress before he himself fall into dreamy sleeps and hallucinations of death amidst his desire for a new company

Though the theme and sequence looks simple, the book is fabulous for the way Isherwood had treated the subject. The use of outstanding prose,  while on the edge of intellectually stimulating, but retaining the simplicity. The portrayal of character George, in its true sense, and all humility. He is very open in every engagement.

Proud of his European origins, his take on the cold war era with the Cuban Missile crisis at its peak, there is discussion on potential war with USSR at the academic circles, George is pre-occupied with his on fights for survival. He is a British living in America, a homo sexual in a heterosexual world, intellect to the dull academics and neighbours, man with exquisite tastes to the dull and stupid surroundings.

There is melancholy in the reading, without any written words. He on his part is witty, and flirtatious ( at times) and intelligent but you cant but sympathise with George.

One outstanding work of literature in 152 pages. Stunning prose, beautifully formed sentences, appropriate tonal and lyrical shifts .The more you read, your admiration grow for this brilliant writer. I have to watch the adaptation soon.  Also, to find out other books and get hold of them.

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A Single Man  ( 1964 )

Christopher Isherwood

Vintage Classic

152 Pages

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Here are some brilliant reviews of this book : Asylum , The Guardian , Speakitsname, shigekuni

Absolution - Olaf Olafsson

It is very rare that you like a novel whose protagonist is a dislikable character. But, that alone isn't the reason why I do not think high about this book. It definitely readable but not one that require re-read. First novel in English, by the Icelandic writer, who is currently residing in the US. On his personal side, I understand he is the vice president of a large media and entertainment empire.

Petur Petursson, an icelandic emigre to the US lives his last days of life reminiscing the old days. On his part, he document his reminiscence in paper ( and later on tape! ), which posthumously gets to the attorney who decides to go through these pages. Peter ( as he changed his name to the anglicised world) suffers from the crime he supposed to have committed half a century ago , which caused him loose his once girlfriend and had to flee to US ( and from himself). Ever since, his life was directly or indirectly controlled by the guilt that he carried on himself. Unable to be a good husband, a good father to his children, he lived all his life on increasing his financial position, while at work and while running a successful enterprise.

Now living alone, divorced from his second wife, negotiated the separation contract to his advantage ( still convincing himself, that he has given more than what the family deserved) , continuously insulting and ridiculing his son , whenever they attempt to speak or reconcile with him. A Cambodian lady, living with him to take care of his errands, cook and nurse him, in company along with his collection of exotic wines, he lives an isolated life. His suspicion is that his wife and children ( especially his daughter) is plotting to see his death ( He even refuses to attend the funeral of his ex-wife, despite the pleading of his son to visit the mother in her death bed and to attend the funeral later). Because of which, he do not trust the assistant too, whom he depends on his daily routine, completely.

He had left his home town in Iceland, to pursue his study in Denmark, and to follow his love as she moved to Copenhagen. The days were the peak of the WWII, and like every European country, Denmark was also occupied by German soldiers. Though the love ( at least on his part) flourished in the initial months, the girl supposed to have found another friend and start spending more of her time with him. Vengeful, and plotting and even dreaming ( one dream sequence where he managed to kill him with a revolver in an isolated place, and leaving the blame to the Germans) of removing his perceived villain from the scene. As many Icelanders, he too decides to leave the mainland Europe to the safer havens, but not before making sure that his "enemy" has been done in , by informing the German soldiers about his involvement in the underground resistance movement. Though the 'informer' remain a secret, the guilt on him was immediate and was lasting till his days to grave.

A "Crime and Punishment" type of novel, but much plain and simple. While the central character is strong, the rest of the plot did not have any moment of stickiness.

 

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Absolution

 

Olaf Olafsson

 

Anchor Publishers

272 Pages

 

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Book Reporter

My Autobiography - Dickie Bird

Sports scene is full of heroes and people with some eccentric characters. They always create enough interest even after their retirement. Most of them make 'hay while the sun shine' by publishing their memoirs, even before their retirement. However, it is seldom that people from the supporting function gets so much attention. Harold 'Dicky' Bird was one such character. One of the most celebrated umpires of modern cricket, he was one of the stars of the game. His retirement from the international cricket umpiring was an huge affair. Of course, we have some interesting characters in the umpiring field, these days in New Zealander, Billi Bowden, Australian Darryl Harper and West Indian Steve Buckner. But it was with Dicky Bird and his compatriot David Shepard the umpiring came into lime light.

Born to a miner in Barnsley, Dicky Bird started as a footballer like all the youngsters. An accident caused knee problem prevented his football career, and continued his focus in the next passion, cricket. His introduction to Barnsley club wasn't all that impressive. The batting coach had a look at the skinny boy came into nets and promptly send him back , almost ending his cricketing dreams. However, a kind man took pity on the weeping young boy and bowled for him to bat for the rest of the evening. Along with the celebrated Yorkshiremen, Dickie was also inducted into the Barnsley Club and later to the Yorkshire Club to play for county. He had reasonable success there in the company of Freddy Trueman, Geoff Boycott and few other English players. The star studded Yorkshire team prevented him with enough appearances in the county matches, keeping him at the 12th man slot. Whenever the stars were called for the country duty, he get the chance which he made use, only to relinquish the place to the returning players. Once, even after scoring a match winning 181 against Glamorgan, he had to sit out of the next match, to pave way to the regulars. All these events, and being the 12th man in the side made him to switch the side to Leicester, which he still believes as the gravest mistake he did in his life. He continued his not so good life at Leicester for 4 to 5 years, before taking up assignment to coach college teams, which took him to far of places like South Africa and Nigeria.

The coaching stint also did not last long, before he finally decided to take up umpiring as a full time job. Since, then he did not have to look back. Considered as one of the best umpires in the modern times, he held the distinction of standing over 66 tests and 90 odd one day internationals, including the initial three world cup finals. Respected world over, both by the crowd and the players, Dickie Bird talks about some of his interesting stories in his inimitable humour. One of my favorite is when England was playing Australia , Allan Lamb comes out to bat carrying his mobile phone in his pocket. Instead of taking guard, he came over to the square leg where Dickie was standing and promptly handed over the phone, instructing to take any calls which come, as he is expecting some important calls. As expected, the phone rang and . To his surprise, none other than Ian Botham was at the other end. Came the instruction crips and clear, "Tell that Lamby to play the shots or get out".

His memoirs gives us insight to many such interesting characters in the world cricket, known to us. There are many English players of his era comes in the discussion so are some of the known international players across the continents. Dickie Bird also spend whole lot of pages to the unsung heroes of the cricket. The Groundsmen is one of such team. He covers various groundsmen across England, and shos his admiration to their work. Groundsmen are one such team who are always at the receiving end.

For the fans of cricket, this one interesting book. However, as an autobiography, one can not call this as a good work. It is easy reading, it does keep your interest alive with stories and incidents concerned with your heroes.

Before I end this, I will also give you one more incident narrated by Dickie Bird elsewhere ( not in this book, I guess in an article called 'from the pavilion end')..

"Bomber" Wells, a spin bowler and great character, played for Gloucestershire and Nottinghamshire. He used to bat at No.11 since one couldn't bat any lower. Of him, They used to paraphrase Compton's famous words describing and equally inept runner;

"When he shouts 'YES' for a run, it is merely the basis for further negotiations!"

Incidentally, Compton was no better. John Warr said, of Compton "He was the only person who would call you for a run and wish you luck at the same time." Anyway, when Wells played for Gloucs, he had an equally horrendous runner as the No.10. During a county match, horror of horrors.......both got injured. *Both* opted for runners when it was their turn to bat. Bomber played a ball on the off, called for a run, forgot he had a runner and ran himself. Ditto at the other end. In the melee, someone decided that a second run was on. Now we had *all four* running. Due to the confusion and constant shouts of "YES" "NO", eventually, *all* of them ran to the same end. Note - at this point in time, the entire ground is rolling on the floor laughing their behinds out. One of the fielders - brave lad - stops laughing for a minute, picks the ball and throws down the wicket at the other end. Umpire Alec Skelding looks very seriously at the four and calmly informs them "One of you b*****s is out. I don't know which. *You* decide and inform the bloody scorers!".

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My Autobiography ( 1997 )

Harold Dennis Bird ( Dickie Bird) with Keith Lodge

Coronet Books

479 Pages

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Hopscotch - Julio Cortazar

Hopscotch , as the writer tells us is many novels in one book. The beginning of the books gives the reader the various options of reading. One way is to read conventionally, from chapter 1 to chapter 56. The story ends there, and the remaining chapters are extendable pages. The other option is to read the book as per the table given by the writer himself ( that is the way he wanted to you to read the book), starting from chapter 73 and then following the direction at the end of each chapter. You can also invent your own ways of reading, either odd numbered chapters or even numbered ..etc. It gives you a possibility of multiple reading.

Not only with various reading of chapters , Cortazar is also experimenting with telling two stories in one chapter ( no 34) , alternating lines corresponds to two separate threads. Thus, it makes a difficult and challenging reading experience. This complexity, this style and the often felt frustration while reading is makes this a worthwhile reading exercise.

Cortazar, in one interview says "The general idea behind Hopscotch, you see, is the proof of a failure and the hope of a victory. But the book doesn't propose any solution; it simply limits itself to showing the possible paths one can take to knock down the wall, to see what's on the other side."

Horacio Oliveira is a wannabe writer, intellectual living in Paris. He along with his Lover ( Lucia , called La Maga ) and circle of friends from the same fraternity ( they call themselves 'The Club'), spent their evenings drinking, smoking and listening to Jazz discussing various intellectual points. Oliveira, the most recent but the most influential of the lot has been living with La Maga for several months. Things changes after the return of La Maga's son Racamadour, after La Maga fails to pay his monthly expenses for his stay in Belgium. Racamadour has been ill and instead of treating him at the hospital , she decides to take care of him at home. Arrival of Racamadour, brings troubles to the relationship, and Oliveira frequents another girl Pola as his new found love, while the Club continue to meet and discuss topics of literary, art and philosophy. Death of Racamadour, changes the life of La Maga and one day she leave the flat. Oliveira's attempt to find her fails as various news of her returning to Montevideo or the news of unidentified corpse in the Seine shakes him up .

The second part of the novel follows Oliveira to Buenos Aires. After a failed attempt to find La Maga in Montevideo, he returns to his homeland, befriends Monola Traveler. Traveler and his wife Talita, works in the circus as administrators, helps him find a job there after a failed attempts to be a fabric seller. Later the team move to administer a mental asylum. the image and memory of La Maga continue to haunt Oliveira, and the visions of her coupled with the images of Talita causes enough despair to Oliveira taking him to the brink of committing suicide.

The entire novel is fragmented images of Oliveira. For all this book is referred as a hypertext. Alternating between first person and third person narrative as appropriate, looking from various character angle, the book as you read gives you various perspective of narration. The game of hopscotch with the characters, and with the readers.

Written during the time of experimental writing ( 1960s has brought out some of the most outstanding literature from the Latin America), Cortazar too does one of the most complex and significant novel of that era. While the book demand multiple reading, I am still at loss of words to describe the book. All I can say was this is one fantastic book.

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Hopscotch ( 1963 )

Julio Cortazar ( translated from Spanish by Gregory Rabassa )

Pantheon Books

564 Pages

Rs 650
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Further read : Powers Review, Complete-review.com, The Electronics Labrynth

The Government inspector ( Play) & Five stories - Nikolai Gogol

Chanced upon an old book published by Raduga Publishers (when the erstwhile USSR had an influence in these parts of the world ), with a relative of mine. Interesting combination of one of the famous play ( The Government inspector) and five of the popular short stories of one of the most popular writer in the 19th century Russia, Nikolai Gogol ( along with Pushkin and  Checkov ).

The Government Inspector, written in 1834, is supposed to be written after an anecdote by Pushkin, takes on the St.Petersburg aristocracy and the government machinery in general under the Tsar's rule.  After the first performance of this play in 1836, the Tsar Nicolas I, supposed to have commented "Hmm, what a play! Gets at everyone, and most of all at me!"

A remote town bureaucracy, is shaken one day by the news that a government officer under disguise is arriving in the town. The clandestine operation, the feared, is to witness and report the corruption and wrong doings of the officials to St.Petersburg. The who and who, of the bureaucracy under the leadership of the local mayor had an emergency meeting to take the necessary steps, to welcome the unknown visitor. This includes, hiding their petty crimes of corruption, cleaning up of the town, making sure that the prominent places like the jail, the school, the local hospital , the court etc are in clean and presentable.

Soon, it was reported by two local land owners ( Dobchinsky and Bobchinsky) that the local inn have a distinguished guest, with suspicious behaviour. They have concluded that , he is the inspector, and a delegation under the leadership of the Mayor goes to receive him. The guest, Ivan Alexandrovich Khlestakov, a St.Petersburg clerk is having a tough time with the inn-keeper, for not having paid any money for this stay and food so far. The inn-keeper refuses to feed him and threatens to take action. To this scene comes the Mayor and team. On Mayor's insistence Khlestakov, agrees to stay in the house of the Mayor as his official guest. Having realised that he was mistaken for some senior official, he decides to play along and make merry. In the brief time in the house, he manages to collect a large sum of money from various people, flirts with the Mayor's wife and daughter ( promising to marry her) , and fled the place taking the best horses available.

The five short stories collectively called as "St.Petersburg Stories". Like the play above, here too, Gogol focussed his satire on the St,Petersburg society.   Nevsky Prospekt talks about the glitter and glamour of uptown St Petersburg and the temptation of two youths. Piskareve, a young artist, falls in love with a beauty who turns out to be a prostitute. He commits suicide in the end. While Pirogov, the lieutenant survives his life after his love with a German immigrant, only to be despatched by her husband.  Second story 'The Nose' is  absurd and funny. Collegiate Assessor Kovalev, realises one morning, that he has lost his nose. The place where it belonged, is now empty and ugly. His attempts to find out and get the nose back in its place is the event of the story. Kovalev, has seen the nose walking on the streets and he failed to collect him and get him on its original place. His attempt to put an advertisement in the herald was rejected, for the fear of public by the editor, his attempt to file a complaint at the authorities was also failed. In the meanwhile, his barber finds the nose, in his soup the same morning. He was unable to recollect any incident while shaving him the previous morning. 

The Great coat and the Portrait are the best of the stories.  Akaky Akakievich Bushmachkin, is a short man, and is the target for his colleagues jeer and ridicule. All day he sits at one place in the office and copy papers. His only materialistic need is to have a new coat. His existing coat is so old and worn out, that the threads are not able to hold together. his tailor refuses to fix the coat saying any attempts to correct this will only make things worse. He suggest that a new coat be made.  So, he starve and collect money from his meagre earning and finally the coat is made. His happiness was short lived as he was robbed of his coat. His desperate attempt to seek help from the authorities failed as "the important personage" was not willing to listen. Despair and cold lead to his death. Poprischin, of Diary of a madman , is like the characters of the other stories, is poor and insignificant. But he wonders why there is so much unjust in this world. Why is all the good things goes only to the generals, he asks. This in fact is the crux of Gogol's writing. Gogol, looks at things from the poor man's angle and uses his writings to ask the questions to the society and the authorities.

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The Government Inspector & Five Short Stories ( 1834-1840)

Nikolai Gogol  ( translated from Russian by Christopher English & Gordon McDougall )

Raduga Publishers , Moscow

318 Pages

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Go Tell It On The Mountain - James Baldwin

"The Word was fulfilled one morning, before she was awake. Many of the stories her mother told meant nothing to Florence; she knew them for what they were, tales told by an old black woman in a cabin in the evening to distract her children from cold and hunger. But the story of this day she was never to forget; it was a day for which she lived. There was a great running and shouting, said her mother, and as she opened her eyes to the light of that day, so bright and cold, she was certain that the judgement trumpet had sounded. Bathsheba shouted ," Rise up , rise up , Sister Rachel, and see God's deliverance ! He has brought us out of Egypt, just like he promised, and we are free at last !'

Slavery is banned, and the back people are 'liberated'.  However, there is no change in their living condition. The community is still isolated and have their own world of living. The white man is still an evil. Their livelihood is still depended on the work provided by the white folks. The year is 1935, and it is half a century past the the declaration and the situation is not improved greatly. Some of the people moved up ( those subject of this novel), migrating from the hard affected South to the 'greener pastures' of the North, without any great difference.

I had not heard his name until recently and after reading this book, I will definitely put him along with the other Black American Writers I have read. This book was published in 1953, his first book. Spanning over a day and a night mass, this emotional, spiritual and partly gospel book takes us through the emotional liberation of three elders and a spiritual awakening of the young John Grimes. John Grimes,  goes through the spiritual baptism on a Saturday night mass, lasting the whole night. The atmosphere is so powerful that his parents and aunt who kneel next to him in the prayer, goes through the process of redemption. Their sinful(?) pasts, their history hidden beneath the surface for a long time and their internal anger and fear, all come out of the closet. One after other they recounts and re-validate their life against the spiritual and moral measures of the church and goes through the process of cleansing. John Grimes, on whose 14th birthday, when the mass is organised, collapses at the end and goes through delirious fits and visions. However, he seeks the help of the God to take him through and emerge as blessed.

The crux of the narrative is the second part which belongs to Gabriel, Elizabeth and Florence. Florence, is the first to rebel the household. Decided to leave the house and ailing mother in custody of Gabriel, she moves to New York. While her life hasn't been all that great, she maintains her contact with the family. Gabriel, after the death of the mother was living with Deborah, elder to him, who in her younger ages was raped by a group of white men, was his emotional and moral support, through the troubled years. After the death of his wife he moves to New York, and marry Elizabeth, who already have a son from Richard. Richard, a nice young man was accused falsely, commits suicide on his return from the Police. As their life is , the relationship is also as fragile, as you see in the first part. Gabriel, always angry make his family suffers from his moods. John, who carry a perpetual hatred for his step-father. Gabriel's own son in Elizabeth, Roy, constantly gets to fistfights at the neighbourhood and comeback with stab injuries. Gabriel himself had a son in one of the young lady, where he used to work. But his own prejudice and the circumstances, prevent him to accept them into his life, sending the pregnant lady away to the north and to eventual death.

The final pages, rich and complex in narrative is on John going through his trance. Baldwin uses some fantastic writing here as John experiences divine vision and prophetic words, and seeking the help of this friends and dears, he comes out successfully. However, as the mass ended, and the tears dried from reconciliation with the God, they return back to their lives, to their fragile relationships, to the world of irony and poverty.

There is a constant undercurrent of 'rage'. This rage is so into their daily system, that it comes out against their own folks, on themselves. Some of the folks turns anti social element, while the rest take refuge in the Jesus. The spurting of churches and masses through out the black community is an effort to direct this towards prayers. However, there is no escape. The constant struggle between the temptation and redemption is route in their culture. Every individual fights this battle. The self doubt on sinning, the inability to fight the temptation ( both sexual and social ) , the rage within, and the redemption , all goes hand in hand. On this day of salvation, every one has to goes through the torments of their sins. Everyone of them have to re-live their life in front of the altar. 

James Baldwin writes a profound story. Very powerful and hard. Without being vocal and rough and violent, he is able to get the portray the anger very effectively. The language is beautiful, the style and structure is not of a novice. There are many references to the ancient text and situations, and my limited understanding of those, might have hampered by reading to a certain extent.

----------------------------------------------------

Go Tell in on the Mountain ( 1953 )

James Baldwin

Penguin Modern Classics

256 Pages

Rs350

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Read More : Shigekuni , Wiki

Not Not While the Giro - James Kelman

Considered as one of the leading exponent of Working class literature, James Kelman's first collection of short stories, published in 1983 was a huge success. Stories about these working class people, who live an abandoned life in rented cottages and the dreaded factories. The work in the day time at stupid conditioned, the evening usually spent in the pub over a pint, some gambling. The concerns of every one is the same. The hand to mouth kind of living, no luxury whatsoever. Most of them live out of the weekly unemployment money they receive or the meagre wages, spending the money in first couple of days on 'pint' , on gambling ( dog races, horses, on cards, on pool table) often defaulting on the rents, living last few days starving.

Most of them are alone, living in small cottages, along with co workers , isolated from the near and dear. Few occasions of being near to the fairer sex, they are often confused and does not know how to proceed ( Stories like 'Ten  guitar, the hitch hiker and Jim Dandy').

This collection has some fantastic stories. Not Not while the Giro the story carries the name of the collection, is the best for me. Over the perennial wait for the Giro ( the unemployment benefit), the lavish living over the weekend, the struggle for the last 4 days, before the next payout. But he never stopped to dream of his life out of this. He is not happy with the free money, he has his on dreams and plans

    Seriously, I am fed up with being fed up. What do I wish

             I shall not entertain day dreams
             I shall not fantasise
             I shall endeavor to make things work

The situation is so bad, that there is a scene, where he suck his own thumb, hoping for some traces of nicotine taste.

Acid, a one paragraph, half a page story talks about an accident in a chemical factory, where a young worker falls into a tank of acid, screaming for help before he succumb to death. There is nothing can be done to save him, when an old man comes over using a mopping stick to push the still floating head the remaining down to the acid, who happens to be the father of the dead.

In the house of old women, we see three young men in a newly rented house, fighting over small comforts and see the deterioration of the friendship. Jim Dandy, contrary to his image seems to be struggling with himself when the opportunity arise. Nice to be nice is one story took ages for me to complete. Written completely in the local dialect, had be reading it for four hours. 'Ten Guitars', 'The hitchhiker' and 'Double or clear plus a tenner' are other important stories.

There is an undercurrent of anger, by the writer while the up front is detached. The society, in general and the authorities in particular aren't in sympathy with them. Though they do not rebel against the system, they do so in the ways and means they are familiar with.

James Kelman uses the swear language liberally in his writing. I was amazed at my first reading of this writer ( A Disaffection) on the number of four letter words per page. I heard form othere too that the initial reaction for them wasn't any different. But as you get used to his style and his writing background, you starts appreciating this writer. In this collection too, the people are the working class, and they have the right to speak the language and Kelman uses it to its best effects.

Acclaimed collection of short stories, one of the first to be published by Kelman, who later went on to win the Booker in 1994.

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Not Not While the Giro ( 1983 )

James Kelman

Vintage

207 Pages

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Links - Nuruddin Farah

"All you can get from me is war.

If you want peace, go away from my Country"
                                              - Sayyid Mohammed Abdulle Hassan

His name has been in prominence in the Nobel discussions for a while, and there had been few rave reviews about his books. While, I could not get the more famous works of him, I did manage to find this book in India. In this recent novel written in 2004 ( knots , written in 2007 is the last novel) , Farah once again look at his country after the US peace keeping forces withdrew from Mogadiscio.

Jeebleh, an exiled Somali man returns to his homeland, to pay homage and make peace with the spirit of his mother ( and with himself). Like every expatriates, he is also haunted by the image of his homeland and cant stay away from his own past linked to this place. An incident which almost brought him near death in NY street ( taxi driven by a Somali driver run over him) could have acted as a catalyst to bring him to his home country. He has also heard of the abduction of the niece of his close friend Bile, and wanted to help him in whatever way possible.

He was welcomed at the makeshift airport by a sight of random killing of a young boy for sport, by three unruly youth. Al-Laafe, an unknown man was sent to pick him up from the airport by someone ( again unknown t him). It was obvious that some one is tracking him in his journey and he can feel their presence through out his stay.

Once you are in Somalia, you cant stay out of what is happening, around you. You get dragged into the quagmire of clan rivalry without you realising it. He offended his own clan elders, acted against the religious belief, by saving a dog from a mad boy. Someone sneaked into his hotel room, only to be killed by the hotel securities, and he always found himself being followed and watched from close quarters.

"Truth was one of the first casualties of the war" says his friend. As he realises that there aren't anyone you can trust, there are no friends, "we don't think of 'friends' anymore. We rely on our clansmen...sharing ancestral blood.".. "Times were when we knew who was bad and who was good. Such distinctions are now blurred. We are at best good badmen or bad badmen".

His pursuit for finding out about his mother and the two kidnapped kids is what the book is all about. He does manage to do what he came here for ( to make peace with the spirit of his mother), and the revenge he schemed secretly.

The book does bring out the bitter truth of the war, the American Soldiers in Mogadiscio, the money in play through UN relief funds, other international agencies and their operatives in Somalia, the misappropriation of the goods shipped in for the Somalis , the stolen cars market , the human organ trafficking ... The business interests of keeping the clan rivalry on.. Farah does some tough talk here. That is what this book all about. Very loosely held incidents and weak plot, unconvincing most of the part.

Many of my friends were talking about the poetic language used in his novels( while talking about secrets and maps), but not this one. It had pretty hard and plain language. It did have few political and social analysis, but far from being poetic. The fact that the book was written originally in English by Farah, could possibly have hampered his free use of language ( and the help of translators).

--------------------------------------

Links (2004)

Nuruddin Farah

Riverhead Books

336 Pages

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Further Read: Guardian , Penguin

The Successor - Ismail Kadare

In 1981, Mehmet Shehu, the prime minister and the designated successor of Enver Hoxha , the dictator of Albania, dies in mysterious circumstances. He was found dead by a gun shot, in his house, supposedly committed suicide. It was unclear whether it was a suicide or murder, and was a news for the rest of the world for some time.

Ismail Kadare's book 'The Successor', is based on this event and its aftermaths. He play along the line of speculation of suicide or murder, looking at the events through the eyes of various stake holders. Successor, recently fallen out of favour with 'the Guide ( supreme leader of Albania), after the engagement of his daughter to one of the rich families of Tirana, thus tainted as a traitor, foreign agent and a bourgeois.

Kadare looks at this event from various perspective, trying to understand the motives and the effects of the same. After the initial rumours the political and civil society of Tirana is hoping to hear from the Guide, to formally come out with explanation. Guide on his part, keep the suspense on, giving indications of clearing the deceased of his committed crime and re-instating his past glory. The family of the Successor was bundled into a van and was taken away to internal exile. The others in the polit-bureau are not spared. The next in line, whom the rest is expected to be named as new Successor, was also trapped by some clever manipulations by the Guide. With more people biting the dust, the Guide himself seems to be not in control. He is ailing, with diabetes and loss of vision.

Kadare, in his typical satirical style, manages to bring out the fear and paranoia affected the society, effectively. None, including the Guide is not away from that. The Successor himself speak from his grave ( post the death of Hoxha), talking about the fate of Albania. The end pages have some fantastic writing by Kadare.

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The Successor

Ismail Kadare ( translated from the French of Tedi Papavrami by David Bellos)

Arcade Publishing, New York.

207 Pages

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Other reviews: Complete Review, Guardian , Wordswithoutborders , The monthly

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian - Marina Lewycka

84 year old Nikolai, recently widowed, announces to his daughter that he is planning to marry a 36 year old Ukrainian lady. Apart from the other domestic support and help he is expecting, she is intelligent and can discuss Nietzsche and other intellectuals with him; also the honourable mention was her large bosom ( to the discomfort of the daughters). It is not as simple. One, he is just been widowed and it is not easy to get the daughters to agree with him. More importantly, the lady herself is married and she has to obtain the divorce certificate from her current husband, an intelligent man who is a director of a technical school. Nikolai, an exile from Ukraine over half a century is also been thrilled by rescuing another family from the hopeless state of affairs in that country. For Valentina to remain in Britain, she needs to obtain a visa and the only way to get one is to marry someone of this country.

Things soon progresses and without the involvement of the daughters, they get married.  Young voluptuous lady, soon gets into her real motives. She continue to torment the old man for her petty needs, buying various attractions of the west for them , including cars of various make. The inability of the old man to go along the demand makes her angry and to physical abuse, including locking up in room.

The sisters now get together and plan to rescue the father from the mess. They approach the authorities to deport her back, to get the marriage null and void, to make sure that there is protection for the old man.. but to no great effect. However, the situation improves after an incident in a hospital and they manages to get the lady out of the house, but the threat and exploitation continue. With some smart maneuver they manages to get the divorce and her deportation orders.

The old man , an engineer wanting to write a book on the evolution of tractors ( thus the name of this book) manages to complete the book and present it to the husband of Valentina, whom he befriends. The extract of the book being written is given at various chapters of this book.

Two sparring daughters ( over the distribution of wealth after the death of their mother) get together to rescue their father fro the clutches of a cunning and manipulating Ukraininan lady, while trying to understand their own past and roots in history.

Often witty, and easy flowing, the book will have your attention till the end. However, beyond that cheap thrill of 'what next' this book is pretty hollow. The description of tractors and the family history during their days under World War II does not seems to be getting along with the main theme.

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A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian

Marina Lewycka

Penguin Books

326 Pages

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Read More : Complete-review

The Inquisitor's Manual - Antonio Lobo Antunes

There are certain books, when finished leave you in a state of void. You need time to sink it in and realise.  They continue to haunt you for a while by their sheer brilliance.  This one is one such book. I have been pondering over it ever since I have finished it - a good ten days back. I have completed another two in the meanwhile.

His name have been going round during the Nobel speculation of last year. Honestly, I haven't heard his name before that. The book, I could get hold of was this ( after some mention about this in dictator novels). I must say, this writer has amazed me with his style, language and ability to create an atmosphere of brilliance in writing.

This is not a traditional novel. The story does not flow in sequence, not does it comply to any of the norms of story telling. As the name suggest, its a collection on events, reminiscence, and history unearthing the story to the reader. Circling around Francesco, a minister in the Salazar's regime which ruled Portugal over 50 years, the story looks at the events that followed the fall of the regime and a socialist government is taken control.  Francesco, in his farm house far from Lisbon, where he conducted his official duty, where he received the who and who of the regime, including the regular visit of Salazar himself, accompanied by the militia. Now, the place is deserted, he sending away all the support staffs from his house.

The story is build very slowly, through various people going through their association with Francesco , often getting into their own life rather than that of Francesco ( their past, present and dreams). The unknown narrator, of present day, prepares his manual with interviews , rhetorics  of individuals who are revealed gradually to the reader as his son, his foster daughter, his maid, mistresses, his wife, his driver and others.

Now, dispossessed of his stature, lying in the hospital bed, being controlled/abused by the nurse ( "Wee wee, Senhor Francisco, time for wee-wee, you dont want to wet your nice clean pyjamas, do you, Senhor Francisco?" ) , he is no more the once feared cruel ( who sent his team to kill his estranged wife and her lover) individual. As his daughter recounts " my father without any majesty, whom no one consulted on how to run the country, whom no one asked "And what Minister, should we do about Europe at this time? "


The power and arrogance of the landowner, his brutal rise and fall. His disappointment over the failure to become the successor of Salazar, the fear and torture of the people under the dictatorship, his lack of class ( often ridiculed by the people of higher society), his eccentric choices of mistresses (a girl half his age who wasn't pretty, or even cute, or even very clean, a girl you wouldn't even notice if you passed her in the street, a bit dumpy, a bit awkward, a bit lethargic, I can't imagine what the man saw in her, if at least she were intelligent or charming, but she wasn't, she was a bashful dishrag, a frightful blob... ) and the funny way of lovemaking .. Antonio Antunes makes a powerful story of a dictatorship through the example of the minister.

Book is often funny.. very subtle dark humour at most places and occasional silly ones ( the soldiers taking positions and shooting in the directions of clouds, because a rain drop had fallen on the face of Salazar). While tragic in nature, the writing has a detached style in it and it does not get to the reader as open as it is. On the negative side, I found most people reminisce in the same way, bitter and sarcastic. There are clever use of repetitive sentences, abruptly ended hanging sentences through out the book, including the ending of the novel

how can I say this, how can I make it clear, please tell my idiotic son that I may not have been but that, tell him that I may have made mistake but that,
tell my idiotic son, do you hear, tell my idotic son

please don't forget to tell my idotic son that in spite of everything I

Unique writing style, rich in vocabulary, deep and engrossing novel.. fantastic..


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The Inquisitors Manual ( 1996)

Antonio Lobo Antunes ( translated from Portuguese  by Richard Zenith )

Grove Press

435 Pages

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Zen and the Art of Falling in Love - Charlotte Kasl

Could not find more apt book to read on a Valentine month. But it wasn't worth the effort. Once again, I was fooled by the title and the blurb , which said " ....draws upon a range of spiritual traditions - from Christianity to Buddhism - to reveal how we can forge lasting , meaningful relashionships...". So was the credentials of the author.

Zen and the Art of Falling in Love, as the title suggest is a guide to all those seeking relationship. However, there isn't anything spiritual about it apart from the initial pages. The book divided into 6 parts, and only the first part that really deal with the spiritual and religious aspect of life and love. For me that was the only interesting part of the whole reading. There are lot of references to the Buddist and Sufi way of living with lot many anecdotes and stories. The rest of the part follows the typical 'how to' guides of dating , engagement , first encounter, love at first sight kind of discussion. The book is intended to the western and American audience, hence there is little that make sense to this part of the world. Here there is still a strong influence of the family and society on the individuals life and their partners. Some of the inhibitions of the western individuals may not be applicable here to the same degree of relevance.

To retain the spiritual nature of the work ,there are quotes from the verses of Khalil Jibran and Jalaluddin Rumi, through out this book. However, that alone does not make the book a better read. May be I am the wrong reader for this kind of books.

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Zen and the Art of Falling in Love ( 1999 )

Charlotte Kasl

Bantom Books

268 Pages

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