Saturday, June 14, 2014

Sita's Curse: A Language of Desire By Sreemoyee Piu Kundu

Sita's Curse: A Language of Desire 
By Sreemoyee Piu Kundu
Genre: Erotica
OK

The Book Club Rating : 2 Stars

Somewhere, behind closed doors, in her solitary world; somewhere, under the sheets with an indifferent lover; Somewhere, is a woman who will not be denied. Trapped for fifteen years in the stranglehold of a dead marriage and soulless household domesticity, the beautiful, full-bodied and passionate Meera Patel depends on her memories and her flights of fancy to soothe the aches that wrack her body; to quieten an unquenchable need. Until one cataclysmic day in Mumbai, when she finally breaks free... Bold, brazen and defiant, Sitas Curse looks at the hypocrisy of Indian society and tells the compelling story of a middle-class Indian housewifes urgent need for love, respect, acceptance and sexual fulfillment

Buy at: Amazon.in | Amazon.com


Liberation is both internal and external. Placing liberation into slots somehow fractures its whole purpose, renders its useless. For instance what use is sexual liberation if you are chained to many other dogmas and thinkings surrounding you? Again seeking sexual freedom is seen as the ultimate form of liberation when you unshackle yourself from the guilt and biases that surround the seeking of this pleasure. ‘Sita’s Curse’ begins on this very premise.

 Meera the feminist and the feminine: Meera is aware of her sexuality right from the time she steps into adolescence. For the first time we are seeing a woman, a Bharatiya Nari at that from a subservient family aware of her desires and fantasies and longing of the flesh separate and distinct from the longings of her soul someone whose longings are not reduced to feminine wiles. I liked that.

But somewhere along the way, I felt disconnected. For afterall, isn’t liberation a jouney and not a fleeting moment? I wanted to look into Meera’s soul. Wanted to see how she feels after every affair that she has, the sense of incompleteness or the lack of depth . Why does Meera flit from man to man? How does she see herself? 


Reviewed by Sridevi Datta



Publisher: Hachette India (2014)


The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle 
By Haruki Murakami
Genre: Contemporary Fiction
SCORCHING

The Book Club Rating : 4 Stars

Japan's most highly regarded novelist now vaults into the first ranks of international fiction writers with this heroically imaginative novel, which is at once a detective story, an account of a disintegrating marriage, and an excavation of the buried secrets of World War II.

In a Tokyo suburb a young man named Toru Okada searches for his wife's missing cat. Soon he finds himself looking for his wife as well in a netherworld that lies beneath the placid surface of Tokyo. As these searches intersect, Okada encounters a bizarre group of allies and antagonists: a psychic prostitute; a malevolent yet mediagenic politician; a cheerfully morbid sixteen-year-old-girl; and an aging war veteran who has been permanently changed by the hideous things he witnessed during Japan's forgotten campaign in Manchuria.

Gripping, prophetic, suffused with comedy and menace, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is a tour de force equal in scope to the masterpieces of Mishima and Pynchon.

Three books in one volume: The Thieving Magpie, Bird as Prophet, The Birdcatcher. This translation by Jay Rubin is in collaboration with the author

Buy at: Amazon.in | Amazon.com


Curiosities and Imaginations:How often does a book draw you into its own realms of consciousness, transport you into its own magical universe of endless possibilities and absorb every moment of your waking life . “Wind Up Bird Chronicle’ arouses your curiosity no end .Well that’s rather an understatement. It draws your brains outside so that by the end you are left questioning your own world and the energies surrounding you.

Perhaps I don’t make much sense here, but on the first reading I came to know you cannot really make sense of anything which is open to endless interpretations . Metaphysical? Magical realism?Stream of consciousness? Let me not get to those banalities and tell you my own little interpretation of a work which I cannot even claim to understand in its entirety.

Poor little Mr wind up Bird aka Toru Okada the protagonist of the book is a peace loving husband who cooks pasta , does his wife’s laundry and pays the electricity bills.


Reviewed by Sridevi Datta



Publisher:  1st Vintage International Ed edition (September 1, 1998)


Friday, June 13, 2014

The Bad Touch By Payal Shah Karwe

The Bad Touch
By Paya Shah Karwe
Genre: Fiction
SIZZLER

The Book Club Rating : 5 Stars

Real-life stories of victims of child sex abuse who emerged victorious!

Harish Iyer is a survivor nay he is a thriver of child sex abuse. He is an award winning social activist who first shared his disturbing story of his sexual abuse on the television show Satyamev Jayate and who gave voice to the issue when most would be silent. Harish's story will tear the reader apart. He suffers abuse at the hands of his uncle Satheesh, from the time he was seven. Harish was threatened that his parents would be killed if he did not submit to his uncle's and sometimes his friends barbarism. Until one fine day when Harish musters up the courage and says 'No!' He takes his mother into confidence who supports him, but Harish's woes do not end there. He is castigated by society, his own father believes Harish to be at fault and so begins Harish’s solo battle to help other sufferers like himself.

There are others noted film director Anurag Khashyap, a victim of incest and sexual abuse, not once but many times over. Jai, living in a Mumbai high rise suffers abuse and a now 34-year-old mother who suffered sexual abuse as a 12 year old. The stories in The Bad Touch will shock, horrify, sadden, repulse and numb the reader. But underlying them is the small ray of hope that if the immediate family is sensitive enough to the signals a child may send out, he or she may be rescued from being victimized. This book is a mission to help ebb the trauma of survivors and inspire them with stories like Harish's and to create awareness of the issue of child sex abuse amongst parents/guardians.

Buy at: Amazon.in 


The Bad Touch by Payal Shah Karwa is a hard hitting book. A compendium of real life stories from child sex thrivers and victims, the book presents the harsh realities of survivors and their struggle to live with their lost childhood. We hear so many stories from newspapers, about victims who have suffered for years together and like countless others, I too have wondered why these kids never opened up about what was happening to them. I got my answers after reading this book.

The first story is that of Harish Iyer’s, and I dare you to read through it without shedding a few tears. With hard-hitting raw language, the author chronicles Harish’s trauma and abuse. I had to take a break after reading this story and I came back to the book after a few weeks. What happened to this small boy was disgusting beyond words and I felt a rage towards that monster that defies words.


Reviewed by Sundari Venkatraman



Publisher: Hay House (8 January 2014)


If God Was A Banker By Ravi Subramanian

If God Was A Banker
By Ravi Subramanian
Genre: Indian Fiction
HOT 

The Book Club Rating : 4 Stars

Two young managers graduates, with nothing similar in family backgrounds and temperament, join New York international Bank on the same day and take entirely different routes to success.

Buy at: Amazon.in | Amazon.com


I must say I was impressed. The book has been well researched and I enjoyed getting an insider’s view of the foreign banking system. The characters are very well etched – especially Sundeep, Swami and Aditya. Of course, the rest of them were also excellently fleshed out. I so enjoyed reading about Swami's honesty. It gives hope in one's life.

Kudos to Ravi Subramanian on writing such a lovely human interest story! It begins with Sundeep in a state of nail-biting stress in his New York apartment in the present. The author takes us on a journey in flashback as Sundeep recalls the last 15 odd years of his life.

The novel keeps you hooked as you want to know the reason for Sundeep’s anxiety. Each chapter makes you wonder whether you will know what’s happening. The plot has been put together so well.

What I liked best is the ending. God is truly all-forgiving, even in his avatar as a banker.

I am really looking forward to reading the other books by Ravi Subramanian. Only my cynical mind keeps worrying that the rest of them should not sound repetitive. Fingers crossed!

My only peeve about the book: It has been published by Rupa & Co. The book has not been proofread thoroughly. At a glance, while reading, I found at least 70-80 errors. I was extremely disappointed. This might not matter to most readers. But for me who does a lot of proofreading work, this was very distracting. I sincerely hope Rupa will polish the book well before they go for the next edition.


Reviewed by Sundari Venkatraman



Publisher: Rupa (1 May 2007)