I am moving!!

Dear friends,

I am moving my little blog to a new home. I have been contemplating the change for a while but kept avoiding it for one reason or the other. The hiatus gave me some time to think about the options and now I am ready.

Hop over to Literary Grand Rounds 

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© Shweta's Book Journal . No part of this post to be reproduced without express written permission.

The Artist Of Disappearance by Anita Desai

Anita Desai's collection of 3 novellas is set at a leisurely pace in sleepy forgotten towns of a bygone era, in hills stations on the verge of exploitation, delving into the lives of 3 people who are unconnected by story lines but connected through the art of story telling by Anita Desai. I had expected the book to be one complete novel but what I found instead were three very thought provoking stories.

The first one is an account by a public servant about the time he spent in a technology forsaken place during his youth only to discover during his tenure a museum of curiosities so splendid but at the same time subjected to so much neglect that the memory of it is painful. The second one is a look into the mind of a middle aged translator and the consequences of attaching oneself to some one else's literary work.If this would have been a full fledged book I would have loved to read the evolution of the main character.The third one is again located in a idyllically hill station with memories of bygone era and the harsh realities of urbanization and one man's attempts at making his world different.

The punch that these novellas pack unto them gives you a very good idea as to how a novel would have an impact on the reader. I guess during my next visit to the bookstore, Anita Desai's books will be on my To Buy list

Source: Review Copy from Random House India

© Shweta's Book Journal . No part of this post to be reproduced without express written permission.

Custody by Manju Kapur

I read awful lot of books meant for young adults. The contemporary YA books I usually end up reading, have teens with dysfunctional families and more often than not it has an influence on how they grow up emotionally. These books that I am talking about are written usually by authors from US or UK and I have many a times wondered if I would some day read a book which could capture this exact theme that's slowly emerging in India. 'Divorce' - a taboo term a decade ago is now not so unfamiliar in families around our nation. So its time we have literary fiction which reflects what it means to be a part of such families.

When I say dysfunctional families, I include those which have separated or divorced parents where in children under the pretense of legal rights and parental ego battles are shuttled between those two individuals, who in the very first place were supposed to give them a happy, carefree and contended childhood. Saying it does not affect the child's emotional health would be outrageous. Custody by Manju Kapur is an excellent example of a broken marriage and its consequences on children who are played like pawns in a game of legal chess.

Manju Kapur is known to write books on women centered themes and I expected that book would have somewhat prejudiced view or should I say, more female oriented take on end of long term marriage, divorce and the subsequent custody battle. Surprisingly, what I found was a very sensitive exploration of what had gone wrong and not just a one sided view but a prodding into intricate emotions and all the external influences which could affect a marriage. The aftermath of a divorce isn't pretty but the author never shuns from taking the readers into the minds of the protagonists. When she gives her male protagonist, Raman Kaushik the center stage, I as a reader fully sympathised with this helpless ex husband and now a father looking desperately for some ray of hope, I understood the anguish and his need to make his errant wife pay. However the author also showed how a modern day housewife can think of not wanting to stay in a relationship and look for liberation and happiness outside her home and even that did not make me want to hate her for her choices. Achieving this balance is an art and Custody did just that. 

More appreciative was the insight into the difficult situation divorce puts the children in. Through Arjun and Roohi we are shown how a perfect childhood can get messed up and how the caretakers egos and their personal desires can take a toll on the innocents.  Some of the most well written chapters were those involving the kids and how the adult's fiddling with their mind can not only coerce them but as well leave a lasting impression that might eventually make them into adults with troubled emotions.

I have recently started focusing on literary fiction after a severe withdrawal from YA lit and I would say that Custody was a great start in the genre for this blogger. Going by this book, I have decided to read through Kapur's backlist of titles. I have been told her others books are as well written and thought provoking as this one. I would recommend it to readers looking for books written with amazing clarity and insight into the minds of  modern Indian couples and their tribulations while navigating the tight rope of matrimony. 

Source: Review Copy from Random House India 

© Shweta's Book Journal . No part of this post to be reproduced without express written permission.

A Mysterious Death At Sainik Farms by Rukmani Anandani

When the rich businessman Ugrasen is found dead in his upscale Sainik Farms residence, the case is brought to the notice of detective Ganapati Iyer by the deceased's niece Anjali, who suspects some sort of foul play. Ganapati accompanied by his friend and flat mate Vinayak reaches the crime scene to find a bunch family members who may be privy to lot more information than what they are letting on. Here on, its a cat and mouse game to find the killer and solve the mystery shrouding the death of Ugrasen.

By the time you are invested in to this book say by 20- 25 pages, you very well know that you are reading a desi Sherlock Holmes mystery. Having been a crazy fan of Sherlock movies and the BBC Sherlock series that I fan girl so often on Tumblr, I really loved the idea of a home grown detective duo on lines with Arthur Conan Doyle's famed detective and his friend Dr. Watson. Though Vinayak here isn't a doctor :) The similarities though many for a keen Holmes fan, are never on the fore front. The focus is entirely on the plot which is both fast moving and gripping. I did have a problem with so many characters thrown into the mix but if it was not handled with the care I would have given up on the book. However the story being fast paced didn't linger much on the sub plots and   moved on to the main theme and kept me interested. As for the the deceased relationship with his wife and children it did start to sound a bit soap operaish but then again it worked well for the book in my humble opinion. 

On the character development of the lead duo, I do think there was a lot of scope. Though the author gives us a sort of short detailing of their lives, it would have been interesting to know more about the detective and his friend , their personal lives to add more meat to the story line.  This is just an observation and I hope if there are other books with these main characters, author takes a note of this issue.

Overall A Mysterious Death at Sainik Farms is a quick, witty read and I would eagerly wait for the comeback of the  duo in other such mysteries.

Source: Rupa Publications

© Shweta's Book Journal . No part of this post to be reproduced without express written permission.