Two Books

Thanksgiving is here. Doesn't look like this is the year I'll finally prepare that Turkey Dinner. No worries since my son is assured one at our friends'. Thus guilt free, I am sitting down to write about two books that I read, each a different experience.

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding
A book I didn't think I'll ever read. I am not one to refuse a book if it comes to me. In this case a friend had it with the others she had for me. Is it not great to have a good book friend who never fails to think about you when it comes to books? She was sure I will like it when I expressed my reservations on seeing the title. She was right. It is so contemporary that I did read it with a certain pleasure till it was finished. But once I was done, that was it. Nothing is leftover from it for me to ponder about or wonder about. Yet, if you want to read it, go for it as it has a certain charm. It has been made into a movie, and since I like Renee Zellweger it probably is a good movie to watch too.

The book is of course about Bridget Jones who tells the story in the form of writing in her diary. If you like Pride and Prejudice (which I absolutely do) then you will find the storyline familiar complete with a Mr. Darcy. Be forewarned that being rather old fashioned I couldn't digest some words that occur throughout the book however perceptive they were. These broke the flow many times till finally I got used to it and glossed over without flinching:-) Read here , here and here about the book, movie and author.

The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
Another book that I didn't think I'd read but eager to keep when I saw it. I had seen the movie and had loved it. So it was a little surprising to find the Indian Sikh character (Kip) appears to be as prominent as the English Patient and his lover in the book. The nurse's character too runs central in the story while the movie didn't leave that feeling. The actress won the Oscar for Best Supporting actress though. I was disappointed at first but later figured that both the stories - that of the Englishman and the woman & that of the nurse and Kip - are equally strong and the movie indeed is well made on the side it decided to track. One thing I have to say about the movie is that whoever picked Christian Scott Thomas to play Katherine Clifton made a brilliant choice as she was the perfect fit for that role. She is a personal favorite who reminds me of the Malayalam/Tamil actress Suhasini in acting skills. Read here and here about the book. The movie won nine Oscars, all well justified considering how difficult of a task it was to convert it to a visual medium.

It is difficult for me to get back to the book from the movie. eh? The time the story takes place is during the tail end of World War II when the Germans were retreating and the Allies were advancing slowly through Italy having to wait for an extraordinary amount of leftover bombs and mines that needed to be defused. It is about a completely burnt man being cared for by a military nurse alone in a villa in Italy that was taken over as a wartime hospital and abandoned for all purposes when the war was winding down. The nurse Hana stayed on when the patient refused to move. They all believe him to be an Englishman but as he talks it is revealed that he could be a counter spy named Almasy. Further revelations show him merely to be a man trying to return to his lover whom he had to leave in the desert after an accident. The book is immensely interesting as the Enlglish Patient is a history buff and is able to relate everything in the present day world to something that happened in the earlier centuries. Even through the fire he didn't lose his book The Histories by Heredotus which also served as his jounal. He was a desert explorer charting maps and discovering lost landmarks in the desert for the Geographical Society at that time.

Author Michael Ondaatje is from Srilanka and has lived in the UK and Canada. As I was reading about Kip (Kirpal Singh of the bomb disposal unit) I was amazed at the author's perception of his character and how accurately he was portrayed. Of Indians taking part or not in a war that is not theirs and almost on the cusp of Independence. Kip is a talented engineer learning to assimilate into this new world he is thrown into. I didn't miss a word of his bomb diffusing episodes. The author's adept story telling kept it from getting too mechanical or technical. Kip and Hana slowly fall in love. While Katherine do not really enter the book till almost into 2/3rd of it, Kip is presented much earlier. Both seem all pervasive at the end of the book. Hana is an unusual person who has matured early through her life experiences and her deep sorrow in losing her father Patrick to the war in a burning death. Then there is the one other character Caravaggio who is a spy as well as a friend of Hana's father. I couldn't really define his presence in this book except perhaps to provide the final explanation of the English Patient's story. It is endearing how the Englishman bonds with young Kip through Rudyard Kipling's Kim. The atom bomb that dropped on the Asian continent was what ultimately exploded in Kip who was endangering his life to save mostly European lives. He felt betrayed by that act and eventually returned to India to become a doctor who saves lives.

Almasy and Katherine Clifton were real people and the story uses part of who they were. The similarities end there. These two had never met in real life and their characters and the events in the story are complete fiction. Ondaatje has written a book that will forever be appreciated by the reading public for the incredible depth of its story and characters. I had read his 'Anil's Ghost' sometime back which while a little difficult to follow, also left me with similar feelings. The English Patient won the Booker Prize. Read here for more on the author.

Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca

The previous post briefly touching my undergrad years brought on a precious memory that is well suited for these pages. In those years when we stayed in the hostel, friendships were never confined to the one particular class you were in. My good friend who was from another class always made sure that I got to read all the books she got too before returning it. Since her class sources had better books I was rather grateful for this habit of hers.

One time I took a fancy to Daphne Du Maurier's 'Rebecca' after reading a glowing review on it. I went crazy through the streets and shops of the college town I was in, looking to actually buy this book and there was no end to my disappointment when I couldn't. Guess what my dearest friend got me as a parting gift at the end of the undergrad years? Yup. 'Rebecca', with a little note for me written in her familiar script. I don't know how much trouble she had to go through to buy the book but the fact that she cared enough to remember my affliction was what mattered. Of course I couldn't wait to read all of it and is a special treasure among all my books.

As for the book itself, what can I say. If you are a fan of Du Maurier's unique style I don't need to elaborate. If not I'd say without doubt that you have to actually read one of her books before passing up. Rebecca is a personal best of hers I'd think. Du Maurier stories tinge on the mysterious and she makes it effortlessly palpable. . "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again". This is how Rebecca starts and I was hooked from this first line. I won't spoil the story for you, but read here , here and here for more on the author and the book.

Living To Tell The Tale - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Today I am setting out to write about a well known author that people usually can't wait to read. Yes, it indeed is the Nobel Prize winning author of 'One Hundred Years Of Solitude'. I have developed an affection for this author's books that I hadn't when I first read him sometime during my undergrad years.

One of my brothers was home for the holidays and I saw him sitting quite engrossed in this book. Being a book magnet I passed up close enough and found that it was 'One Hundred...". Marquez had just won the Nobel Prize and I hadn't read any of his books before. His name and book's name were all rather intimidating unlike for example 'Ayn Rand' and her 'Fountainhead' which I had no difficulty gobbling up with no second thoughts when it made its rounds in the girls' hostel. Anyway I don't think I read the book right then but I did get to it not too late. A saga full of lively characters, it will not fail to raise your interest in Marquez. I have yet to read his 'Love In The Time of Cholera' but when I came across 'Living To Tell The Tale' at a sidewalk sale, it intrigued me as I hadn't heard of it. It turned out to be one of the best buys yet.

This is an autobiography and is as entertaining as any of his books or more. Reading it enlightens us as to how he came to be a writer through sheer love and persistence. Guess he just couldn't become anything else as he was born to be a writer. The prolific amount of characters, the beloved town of his stories all begin to beautifully fall in place with this book. He credits his Grandfather Marquez on his Mother's side as a pivotal figure in his life. He grew up in his Grandparents' house, you see. When you put the book down you will have developed an affection for young Gabriel who spent his early years in politically troubled Colombia's Caribbean coast so fertile with characters. The cover picture shows Marquez when he was 2 years old. He lives in Mexico City now according to the book. Please don't miss the eventful life of this most beloved writer. I hope he will come up with a sequel to fill in the latter years as indicated. Even if they are better recorded than the early years, I know it will be a treat to hear it all in Marquez's own mesmerizing words.

As always: click away here, here and here for more on the author and his books.

Thalamurakal - O. V Vijayan

A book that I bought on one of my visits to Kerala just because it was written by the much revered OV Vijayan. I believe Vijayan's style of writing revolutionized or at least opened up a whole new set of possibilities for Malayalam writers. You never read one of his books without feeling that you have come across something great. The wonderful part is, this happens with every single book of his I have read so far. 'Madhuram Gayathi', 'Gurusagaram' etc stand out and of course the much famous 'Khasakhinte Ithihasam' (Legends Of Khasak) . I'd even go as far as to say his writing is the Malayalam prose equivalent of Kahlil Gibran's poetry. I confess I have not read Gibran as much as I have read Vijayan and that could be why. The Gibran poems that I have read and the Vijayan books leave me with the same feeling of awe about the writer.

In 'Thalamurakal' (Generations) Vijayan tells the story of the ancient family of 'Ponmudi'. It is written as told by one of its last generations through the numerous family legends he was told and heard and witnessed. Vijayan's use of rarely used words are stitched seamless into the narrative and never stands apart. It looks at the different casts and religions of Kerala over the years with a discerning and leveled eye.

It almost feels like a biography where the narrator is Vijayan himself. 'Ponmudi Tharavad' has found a special place in my memory shelf. Click here to read an excerpt in Malayalam.

Anya Seton's The Winthrop Woman

I have passed by Anya Seton's books many times. I have this unreasonable liking for her name but was afraid the she is a romance novelist. Not that I have anything against novels being romantic but when I spend my precious time on a book, I'd like to have more than just only that.

The other day I stopped once again in front of Seton's books and bravely took this book out from the lot. The author's note in the beginning was quite reassuring as to the contents and for a history buff like me this was the perfect book to bring home. At first I imagined the title talked of many women from the Winthrop family but it was about one in particular. This one's life ran rather like that in a movie with stories and sub stories strewn all over.

Elizabeth Winthrop was a cousin as well as married to one of the Winthrops. Winthrops being among the first of many puritan families to arrive from England on ships in the hopes of making a puritan community thrive away from the persecutions at home. The most famous among the ships being The Mayflower I guess. The first thirteen colonies of the US appear all over this book based mostly on documented facts. It also attests to Elizabeth's courage and iconoclastic nature even in those times and her steadfastness to the family she had. A very satisfying read filled with geographical history and of the many kinds of people who sawed the seeds to the making of this nation with open tributes to the original inhabitants. Elizabeth's first marriage to Harry Winthrop, her deep friendship with his brother Jack who was the early Governor of of the state of Connecticut, her uncle and their father John Winthrop who was the first puritan Governor, her second marriage to the prosperous goldsmith Robert with a touch of madness in him and her last and peaceful marriage to Will Hallet and her many children and her relationship to the Native American woman 'Talaka' all form a wonderful kaleidoscope of real stories and real revelations. I didn't know that New York was once a Dutch territory and was called New Amsterdam for instance. Go here , here , here and here for more on the book, the author and the heroine.

The Palace of Illusions &The Kitchen God's Wife

Palace of Illusions
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is a favorite author whose books I know I will enjoy. So I couldn't wait till this her latest was available in the Library. Surprisingly her writing style was quite different in this book. I know because I have read almost all of her books. Check here for a list of her books and more info on the author. I am a fan of her lyrical style perfected in 'Queen of Dreams', Mistress of Spices' etc. and so missed it in this book. It is still a fascinating book to me because of two things. One, this is a concise book on the various stories of Mahabharata told in an easy to follow narrative; two, it is told from the unique point of view of Draupadi, wife of the Pandavas. So do read this or even buy one as I am planning to do if you were one of those kids who thoroughly enjoyed the mythical stories of Mahabharata and Ramayana but had only read stories from it in bits and pieces. This page and this has more on the story. The palace in question is the magical palace that Maya built for the Pandavas/Draupadi for that relatively peaceful period when they were ruling their half of the Kuru Kingdom.

The Kitchen God's Wife
While Divakaruni's books are a must read because of the additional pleasure I get being from India, Amy Tan's books are depended on when I am in need of an easy read with no hassles and am in no mood to start searching for one. I have read quite a a few of the author's books and know for sure that eventually I will finish all. But why hurry a sure thing? This book, like other Tan books portrays mother-daughter relationship in all its intensity. I do get her books mixed up in that I can't separate the characters from one book to the other. It does not interfere in the reading pleasure at all as each storyline is distinct and will remain a 'rainy day' source for me if I don't finish them all up too soon:-) Check here and here for a synopsys of the book and here for more on the author.

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

When I came across this book I had a good feeling about it. But I didn't know I'll come to love one of the characters so much. The initial attraction for me was that it was written by a Maori about the Maori's of New Zealand. If you liked The Whale Rider ( the book) then you will no doubt find this book quite readable. The book is heavily laden with Maori language which you hardly notice while following the story that is being told. Keri Hulme has a special way with words. The book at first glance appears as if it's been hastily put together or not edited well. But pretty soon you are so engrossed in the book that this fails to matter! I said this is a Maori story but the story is so universal, that in the course of reading the book one almost forgets this aspect. The author's characters are strong but are not ostensibly so and the whole book is on its way to being a classic if I have any say:-)

The central and most endearing character is a mute, rebellious and possibly abused little boy who was washed ashore on a stormy night into the lives of Joseph (Joe) Gillayley and Kerewin Holmes (sounds a lot like the author's name too!). Kerewin is a loner who took an immediate though reluctant liking to this window breaker and petty thief of a boy and was rewarded in return with his love and trust. The boy who was named Simon lived with his foster father Joe when they met and the unlikely threesome were an item afterwards. Keri Holmes has succeeded so well in portraying Simon that even after I finished the book I kept wishing it didn't. I actually missed reading more about Simon! Read more about the book here, here and here.