Nishita's Rants and Raves

A Thousand Splendid Suns – A Book Review

Nish — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:06:32 +0000

Love that she's walking in high heels across the rocky terrain

Khaled Hosseini’s second novel, A Thousand Splendid Suns, is a story of two women and their lives in Afghanistan over the past 30 years spanning such tumultous events as the Soviet takeover of Afghanistan, the years of Mujahideen resistance, and the rise and fall of the Taliban.

Mariam is an illegitimate child who is forced to marry Rasheed, an abusive husband at age 15. Rasheed is an ugly, cruel man who breaks Mariam’s spirit time and again. Laila is an attractive girl who lives just up the street. She is born to educated, liberal parents and enjoys the freedoms Mariam is restricted from. She has a boyfriend, but their plans to marry get derailed when he has to leave the country and move to Pakistan as a refugee. Although he offers to marry Laila and take her with him, she opts to stay back with her parents who need her.

During the wars of the 1980’s and 1990’s, a rocket destroys Laila’s home and family. Finding herself alone and pregnant with her boyfriend’s child, she decides to accept Rasheed’s offer of marriage and becomes his second wife. The story then deals with how Mariam and Laila form an almost impossible friendship, and how they support each other through all their travails.

My Review:

A Thousand Splendid Suns does a wonderful job of giving glimpses and insight into the daily life in Afghanistan through the eyes of two very different women who become friends and allies.

I was very apprehensive to pick up this book. I hadn’t much liked “The Kite Runner”, and all that I read about this book made me feel it would be a tear-jerker, overly emotional kind of novel. The sort I normally try to avoid.

Anyway, I did eventually read it, and I must admit that I loved this one so much better than The Kite Runner. I really loved the 2 main characters. They are not spineless at all, but each show maturity and strength in the midst of unimaginable hardships. The ending of the book is superb, redemptive, and hopeful.

Khaled Hosseini paints a stark picture of what it means to be a woman in a culture where they are valued only for how well they keep a house, and how many sons they produce. A culture where they are subject to the whims of men. Those that value them as worthwhile human beings are welcome oases – they seem to be the exceptions in their world, rather than the norm.

To my surprise, there were also some subtle humorous passages in the book.

There is a hilarious aside in the book about a painter who is forced to draw pants on his paintings of flamingos to hide their “nudity”. I also loved reading about how people worked around the Taliban ban on TVs by burying it in the garden during raids.

What horrified me in the novel was the actuality of how rubbish daily life really was under the Taliban regime – no TV, no cinema, no books (apart from Islamic religious texts), no kite flying, full burqas, no cosmetic use, women could not travel without a man to escort them. What on earth did people do for recreation? I mean all the simple pleasures of life were taken away.

I am not even looking at this from a gender perspective. Life would have been hellish for men too, I am sure.

There are some nice bits of Islamic poetry and songs scattered through the novel, which I loved.

I will be posting a longer poem in a separate post, but I thought I would end this review with an excerpt from this shorter, very lovely ghazal that was included in this book, and which epitomizes its very spirit. This ghazal is by someone called Hafez:

Joseph shall return to Canaan, grieve not,
Hovels shall turn to rose garden, grieve not,
If a flood should arrive to drown all that’s alive,
Noah is your guide in the typhoon’s eye, grieve not.

In short, this book is every bit as splendid as the title suggests. Go read!

Certain Girls – A Book Review with Some Mild Spoilers

Nish — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 13:04:08 +0000

Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner

I picked up Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner, because it was a kind of sequel to “Good In Bed”, which I had read many years back and enjoyed thoroughly. Jennifer Weiner is also one of the better “chick-lit” writers out there whose books always offer something a bit more meaningful than the Sophie Kinsella-esque fluff that is so common these days.

If you have not read “Good in Bed”, do read it if you get a chance. It is a really good read; and far better than it’s rather suggestive title and cover would imply. It is also far better than this rather tepid sequel.

Certain Girls takes place about 15 years after Good in Bed ends. Cannie Shapiro (the heroine in Good in Bed) is now happily married to her dream guy, and she has a 13 year old daughter (from a previous relationship). She spends her time ghost-writing some science fiction novels and planning how to organize her daughter (Joy’s) upcoming bat mitzvah.

Cannie’s husband Peter is dreaming about having another baby and convinces his wife to try out for another baby. Following the trauma of Joy’s birth, Cannie’s not able to have more children, so it means finding a surrogate.

Joy is struggling with an identity crisis. She feels stifled and embarassed by her mother’s over-protectiveness. She has also stumbled across an old book written by her mother, which reveals certain family truths that disturb her.

The story alternates between Joy’s and Cannie’s points of view, so it makes it easy for the reader to understand their motivations.

Eventually, this is a family story that revolves around how mother and daughter resolve various issues that are tearing the family apart, and the life lessons they learn along the way.

My take on this novel:

I don’t know what I was expecting when I checked out Certain Girls; but it definitely wasn’t this.

The first half of the story was quite predictable and I found the mother-daughter fights to be a wee bit on the hysterical side – way too much drama for very trivial things.

For example, for half the book there is an ongoing drama about a Badgley Mischka dress that Joy wants to wear for her bat mitzvah and to which her mother strenuously objects. I just didn’t get why there was so much fuss over what seemed to be a non-issue. Cannie objects (not for financial reasons, which might make sense), but because it is too party-like for what is essentially a religious ceremony. I really felt that she was being quite unreasonable there. A young girl on the brink of a ceremony that symbolizes her entry into adulthood would definitely want something a llittle grown-up. Also, the dress sounded prefectly lovely and perfectly suitable to me.

In addition, I was quite disappointed by Cannie’s character. She was very lively and witty in Good in Bed, but here, she seemed to have settled down into becoming a suburban and somewhat whiny mum. She is unable to forget and forgive the people who have done her wrong in the past. I found that rather childish; I mean it’s been more than 10 years for God’s sake. Surely, you can’t still be holding a grudge against people!!

Well, anyway the hysteria builds up to a point where Joy decides to run away from home. And I must say, that is the point onwards where the story direction starts to move in a very unexpected manner. The end of the novel is a complete shocker; I just did not see it coming and neither will you.

In the end, I think the final bits of the novel redeemed it for me. I know the ending would have disappointed some other readers who were looking for something more upbeat, but for me I felt it was the only way to end the story in a strong manner, which gives enough substance to the rest of this otherwise lukewarm novel.

Be warned, it is a tearjerker though. Just perfect for those rainy days when you just want to curl up with a book under a blanket and go sob, sob, sob. I must say, I ended up with a rather runny nose after reading this one!

The Bad Girl – A Book Review (Warning: Spoilers Ahead)

Nish — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:39:47 +0000

The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa

There are some men who equate love with pain; who crave love that brings them misery and unhappiness. The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa is the story of one such man.

Ricardo Somocurcio is the protagonist, the soft-hearted man who has no ambition in life other than living in Paris. He meets the girl of his dreams at the tender age of 16 in his hometown of Miraflores in Peru, and falls under the spell of her “mischievous laugh” and the “mocking glance of her eyes the color of dark honey.” From then on, they follow a crazy cycle where she betrays him time and again, only to return back and be forgiven.

The story moves from Peru to London, Paris, Tokyo, and Madrid where the two encounter each other. He calls her “the bad girl”, and she calls him the “good boy”.

For the rest of the book, they pretty much play according to these good boy/bad girl stereotypes, until the final end to their love story.

My thoughts on this book:

While the love story itself is nothing much to write home about, I loved his descriptions of the places and the actual events that occurred at the time period they lived in.

I loved the peek into Parisian cafe life in the 1960s; the idealism of those times that prompted well-established young men to chuck their lives in the cause of bringing communism to their countries; of a time when Fidel Castro was considered a hero among the leftists; when terms like Maoism were not just words that were bandied about, but actually an ideology that was taken seriously and which promised to change the world.

I loved 70s swinging London when AIDS first makes its scary appearance, and his descriptions of Peru and the political turbulence of that time.

In many ways, this book mirrors the movie “Forrest Gump” – both are based on simple people who unconditionally love one woman. Both make a lot of references to important world events that occurred during the course of the story. Both the stories also have a pretty much similar ending (there I have given the ending away, but then it is something easily guessed!). The only difference is that this book is lacking in the schmaltz factor and the one-liners that evoke the tears.

What I mean to say is that I enjoyed this book, loved it even, but read it with a feeling of slight detachment. Not for one moment did I truly care whether the two would have a happy ending or not. This book did not evoke any kind of stronger emotion in me – rage at the bad girl, or sadness when she betrays him, nothing, de nada.

I don’t know why is that. Usually, I really get sucked into such type of stories.

Finally, before I conclude this strangely unsatisfying review (I feel I have so much to say about this book, but the words are not coming to me), I must say that I did enjoy it better than Love in the Time of Cholera. Two similar books, but the writing styles are very different. I must say that I much prefer Mario Vargas Llosa’s modernism compared to Marquez’s magical realism.

Before writing this review, I did some research on Llosa, and it appears that “The Bad Girl” is one of his lesser books. I quite liked this one, so I definitely do plan to read more.

What about you? Have you read any of his other books? Which one would you recommend for me to read next?

I love Awards!

Nish — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:31:56 +0000

Thanks to the lovely Sumana over at I Read for giving this award to me.

It is my pleasure to pass on this award to:

Sharry from Always Dreaming
Amrit from The Midnight Sun
7akifadi from I Talk to Myself
Josette from Books Love Me
Grace from Books Love Breathing

A special mention to Shilpa from A Rose is a Rose is a Rose who has already been awarded this award so many times. Thanks for the great blog posts, Shilpa

The Great Blogoversary Book Giveaway!

Nish — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 12:23:24 +0000

So, here’s the giveaway I mentioned in my previous post!

I was scratching my head because I could not decide which book to select for the giveaway and then decided not to bother too much about it. Let’s give you the freedom to choose

I will give any book that is present on my reading list to one lucky person. You get to choose the book you want.

Here are the rules:

Leave a comment on this post with the following information:
- Name and email id
- Book that you want and the reason for wanting it
- Feedback on my blog – suggestions, complaints, anything…
One extra point for tweeting about the giveaway (please provide a link)
One extra point for recommending this giveaway on your blog or Facebook (please provide a link)
Two extra points if you follow me on Twitter (or start following)
Two extra points if you”digg” or “share this” link.

The giveaway is open internationally. Last date for accepting entries is Nov 25th.

Good luck!

Kicking off a Weekend of Celebrations!

Nish — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:30:03 +0000

Today is a double whammy of a day. Not only is it my blogoversary, but it is also my wedding anniversary.

I started blogging 3 years back when I just had to record a particularly blissful day trip to Pondicherry. And thus, a blog was born!

How do I celebrate??

For my blogoversary, I am hosting a fun giveaway. However, hopelessly behind me has not thought/planned ahead, so I will be hosting a giveaway but probably a little bit later once I am a bit sorted in life and work. Have a little more patience with me, por favor…

My wedding anniversary celebrations are also getting postponed because Mr. K has a couple of highly stressful telecons to attend this evening.

So, today evening will be a quiet one sitting watching TV on mute, while anxiously noting Mr. K’s stress levels go steadily up.

This weekend, we have 3 birthday parties that the snubnose absolutely “HAS” to attend. There is a Children’s Day celebration also as well. In between ferrying her around to different destinations, we hope to have a quiet dinner or lunch outside. Let’s see how much luck we have with that!

I can’t wait for next year when our anniversary will fall on a Saturday

Blog Thoughts!

Today, I was randomly going through my old posts; and feeling pleasantly surprised by the variety. Pat on the back for me!

Although I mainly review books, I have also reviewed films, posted topics pertinent to blogging, and shared quite a bit about my life. I have also improved on my blogging frequency, and I think even the quality of my writing has improved a bit. I find that I write more fluently and quickly; and am now able to crank out posts with hardly any effort.

Since, my day job is also as a writer (albeit of a different kind), writing faster has helped me professionally as well.

The Year Ahead!

I am not sure that I am uber ambitious about my blog, per se. I would like to write more book reviews. I also want to add some lighthearted wit to my blog. I feel I cannot write funny; in person I can crack a joke quite well, but somehow that doesn’t translate to writing.

I also want to try my hand at writing fiction. So many of my blogging buddies are taking part in the Nanowrimo that I am feeling quite inspired myself. I need to be honest though and say that it may not be realistic. I already have my hands full with my current job, looking after the snubnose, and writing this blog.

I’d also like to put myself on a better review schedule. I’m finding that I have put too many books on Mt. TBR (To Be Read), and as life is prone to do, I get busy and can’t accomplish or keep track of all I need to read. There is a slight intimidation factor for me in book blogging, as many bloggers read much more voraciously than I do. I don’t think I read slowly, but I do get side tracked pretty easily, and find that I have to read on my own terms.

I also would like to change the look of my blog. I am thinking about getting into self-hosting, but I don’t have the courage just yet. However, I would like to continue playing around with the look of my blog.

Last but not the least:

Thanks and hugs for everybody who has visited, read, and commented on this blog. Through your posts and comments, I’ve had the chance to meet and discuss books, topics, and general chit-chat.

For every one of you who have stopped by and commented on a review, posted a kind word, or passed on an award…thanks. You are all too wonderful!

And watch out for the upcoming giveaway!

The Future of Shopping?

Nish — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:47:47 +0000

How I wish shopping was this easy and this quick! No more long waits at the changing rooms, and running back and forth worrying about fit.

Btw, for those techies out there reading this blog. Can you help me understand how this technology works? How does the ISR G2 actually function to make this possible? How cutting-edge is this really?

What I want to know really is how soon can we see these in stores

Cisco makes the best advertisements ever!

And even though it was for a short duration, it makes me feel proud to have worked in Cisco. If I had been lucky enough to work in Cisco advertising, I just might never have left!

The Thief Lord – A Book Review

Nish — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:47:32 +0000

The Thief Lord

Two orphan boys, Bo and Proper, escape from their evil aunt to the city of Venice. In Venice, they come under the protection of the Thief Lord and his gang of orphan/delinquent children. They live in an abandoned cinema hall and depend on the Thief Lord for everything.

Prosper and Bo’s evil aunt manages to track them to Venice and there they hire a private investigator to bring them back. They plan to adopt Bo, but leave Prosper in a boarding school.

Meanwhile, the Thief Lord gets an opportunity to pull of a huge heist, the proceeds of which could once and for all take care of all the children’s needs and end their rather hand-to-mouth existence.

However, the Thief Lord has his own secrets that almost tear apart the gang. The private detective is hot on Prosper and Bo’s tracks; and everything that could go wrong with the heist goes wrong.

Can they all make their fortunes? What happens to these children? Are Bo and Prosper caught and delivered to their aunt?

Well, you gotta read the book to find out

My thoughts on this book:

I read The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke as part of completing the Young Adult reading challenge.

I was surprised to find that I quite loved this little book. It is Cornelia Funke’s first novel; so there are a few places where the book is all over the place. However in spite of this, I found this book compares quite favorably with her far more famous Ink series.

I found The Thief Lord to be a very neat and concise book. The pace does not flag; and the page count is just right for the story. The Ink books could have done with some editing.

I loved that Venice is the setting for this story; it provides the perfect fantastical backdrop. There is also an almost Dickensian aspect to the story. I could see the parallels between the street children thieving on the streets of Venice and and the street thieves in Oliver Twist. When I read Oliver Twist as a child, I was enchanted by the concept; and I think the same enchantment carried me through for this novel as well.

I also loved the characterization of Prosper and Scipio (the thief lord). Bo is somewhat annoying and childish though; he blurts secrets out every time getting all the other children into hot water, and throws tantrums at all inappropriate times. I think he really was in need of a spanking.

Another aspect that I loved was how all the children stick together during tough times. At times, it would have been easier for them to give up on Prosper and Bo; but never is this option even seriously considered.

All in all; a great book for some lighthearted reading and channeling your inner child!

Note: I have classified this book as a Fantasy novel. Although this is not hard-core fantasy, there is an element of magic and a fairy tale-ish quality in the book (I have not revealed it in my review because I quite enjoyed the surprise and hope you will too) that prompted me to tag it as a Fantasy novel.

If I were a baby again…

Nish — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 05:35:48 +0000

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 4; the fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

As one more year draws to a close, it is an appropriate time to sit back and reflect…what would it be like to be a baby again?

to have nice, soft baby skin again
to have absolute strangers break into a grin when they see you
to have a potbelly and thunder thighs and yet to be called “cutie pie”
to have only two responsibilities in life – eating and pooping
to have your entire life in front of you with the chance to relive it all over again

but then, I wouldn’t be able:

to drive
to watch movies of my choice
to travel or do adult stuff on my own
to do what I want when I want
to do so many other things that this list would be just too long

Hmm…forget about being a baby, could I just be 20 all over again??? it seems like the ideal age- all the advantages of youth with all the freedom of maturity!

What do you think? which age would you like to go back to?

Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment – A Book Review

Nish — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 05:15:25 +0000

The Angel Experiment

I read this book for two reasons, firstly; the cover looked awesome, secondly because I was on the lookout for a book that fulfills the criteria for the 1st in a Series Reading Challenge.

The book is about a bunch of kids who were raised by scientists after being created using 98% human DNA and 2% bird. The leader of this flock is “Maximum”. All these children have escaped from the cruel experiments these scientists do to them. The 6 children (Max, Fang, Iggy, Gasman, Nudge and Angel) are in hiding from these scientists for years until one day they are found and they kidnap the youngest, Angel who is just 6 years old. The first half of the book is about finding and rescuing Angel; the second half deals with finding out where they come from and trying to track their families.

I started reading this book when a sense of familiarity came over me. Something about the writing style seemed horribly familiar. I went back to my blog reading list and found this – an old review of a book I had loathed – The Dangerous Days of Daniel X.

Uh!oh! I was ready to drop this book right away and move on to something more palatable. But, I hate leaving books unread; and I know this would be a quick read. And so, I persevered.

And you know what, this book was not too bad. I can’t say I loved the book or the writing. But, I did like the characters and the concept. The book drags strangely in places (the numerous narrow escapes from sticky situations got real tired real soon). I also did not like the concept where each time they are in a spot, one of the kids discovers some strange power within themselves to solve the problem. One example of this is when the kids need to hack into a computer. They are stumped because the various password combinations they try are not working. One of the children puts her hand on the computer and is suddenly able to visualize the password. Voila! they key it in and they are good to go. I hope James Patterson in the later books has some explanation for why these children suddenly develop these powers. As such, it just felt like lazy writing to me.

However, in spite of all these deficiencies, the end of the book left me curious to read more about these characters and their adventures.

And that’s a good thing for a book that is the beginning of a series.

The other books in the series are:

School’s Out – Forever
Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports
The Final Warning
MAX: A Maximum Ride Novel
Fang: A Maximum Ride Novel