Friday, 20 August 2010

Book Review - Sultry Days

Sultry Days 
(Shobha De')
Nisha, a college student, falls in love with Deb (or God as everyone calls him), who is crude, ragged and somewhat a cynic. She falls for exactly what others think detestable about him. He also quite likes her. But their love story is sporadic as it is interfered by a lot of unavoidable circumstances as their life progresses and finally comes to an end as one of the two dies.
Deb was born as a slumdog but as he grew up, he learned to live by himself. He struggled his way through the life by writing poems, working as a freelance reporter, working for a politician.
In this book Shobha has described a number of personality types living in Bombay which includes women who are rich, women who are very rich and women who are even richer, corporate bitches, whores etc. But at some points in the book I found that the author digressed from the theme which spoiled the fun of reading. In all, the book is full of masala.
Rating 7/10   

Book Review - Speedpost

Speedpost
(Shobha De')
Shobha De' apart from being one of the best Indian writer, is also the mother of 6 children. This book comprises of her letters written to her children as they grow up. The book is a compilation of 35 letters written by her to her kids on subjects like love, smoking, relationships, religion and a lot more. It contains plausible messages about morals, values and emotions. But none of these were of my interest. So I would say the book is either meant for kids in their early teens or their mothers. If you are into reading emotional stuff then may be you can try your hands on it.
Rating 6.2/10

Thursday, 19 August 2010

Book Review 10- Not a penny more not a penny less

Not a penny more not a penny less
(Jeffery Archer)
Harvey Metcalfe is a shrewd person who wants to become rich at the expence of others. He has so far succeeded in his evil pursuits, but no longer will, this time, as he comes across four easy preys : An art dealer, A doctor, An oxford don and a heir to an earldom. Harvey manages to fleece off with their money. But these people won't part their money easily and are working their ass-off to get back their hard earned money back.
The 335 page novel is interesting but it did not stand up to my expectations. It lacked spice like the other works of Jeffery. It was far from the "larger-than-life" theories and description of his other works.
Rating: 6/10

Monday, 31 May 2010

Book Review 9 - The Prodigal Daughter

The Prodigal Daughter
(Jeffrey Archer)
The prodigal daughter is the story of a girl Florentyna Rosnovski, who is the daughter of a Polish immigrant Abel Rosnovski. The author has described the indefatigable will and enthusiasm of her to live to her ultimate dream i.e. to become the President of the United States. In the first half of the book the author has described the journey of the girl as she grows into a woman who is self-confident, self-assured and self-sufficient. This part is particularly interesting, but as soon as I read through the second half of the story I was deeply disappointed as I found out that it contains nothing but the political struggle of Florentyna to reach the highest office of the U.S., which is not what I would be interested in. The last 200 pages of the 464 paged novel contains detailed description of the U.S. political system which is not what I expected. The book is quite or more of an inspirational one and you could give it a try. The language is simple and comprehensible.
Rating: 7/10

Wednesday, 26 May 2010

Book Review 8- A romance with chaos

A romance with chaos
(Nishant Kaushik)
The naive writer has somewhat succeded in bringing out the same theme of romance and chaos in a slightly different way as this time its not a student but a professional who falls in love. A MBA Nakul is an employee at an leading IT company and is quite satisfied with his job unlike his accomplice Vishal who keeps sulking. But his frustration ends as he is offered to represent his company for a project at London. This leaves Nakul frustrated as he is not granted this opportunity and this is where the chaos starts. He starts to hate his boss all the more, thinks of quitting his job, looks for a new job, is screwed with a paradoxically orthodox roommate, loses his beautiful girlfriend because she thinks he is not rich enough, falls in love again and soon discovers she's a lesbian and is finally betrayed by his best friend Vishal.
However the chaos is settled as he gets his acts together.
The 291 page book has its own scintillating moments and is palatable if you are looking for some light reading stuff. Book is full of anti-climax and shocking moments as well.
Rating: 7/10

Book Review 7- Paths of glory

Paths of Glory
(Jeffrey Archer)
This was the first time I read a book authored by Archer and I would surely like too read a lot more of him.
This story is very encouraging one in which a man persues his dream after undergoing through much troubles. George Mollary who's the son of a preist Reverand Mollary of the church in an English village. His father discovers soon that this child is different from his other siblings. He has a great appetite and aptitude for mountain climbing. His inclination to climbing is encouraged by his teachers and parents which leads him to become the climbing leader for the first ever mission to conquer the apex of the world: Mt. Everest (Chomalungama hill). But this is only after he proves his skills and ability by conquering various peaks and steep mountains like Mt. Blanc. The first mission however had to be aborted due to a disaster and George decides not to embark again on such a mission in which he has to leave behind his wife Ruth and daughter. But he has to move out again, this time to serve his country as a soldier during second world war. After returning from the war for which his wife waited for what seemed like a lifetime he finally decides not leaving his family again. It was only then, when his friends and wife persued him to fulfill the dream of his life: to reach Chomalungama. He sets off again to his final mission with his team. This time he din't come back losing but is victorious as he becomes the first man to climb the formidable hill. But ................

You feel victorious as you come to the end of the story.
Rating: 7.5/10

Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Book Review 6 - The White Tiger

The White Tiger
(Arvind Adiga)
The book is actually a one way conversation between the author and an Chinese high-ranked official, in which the author tells him about the secrets to become an entrepreneur in India. Author has also described to him that there exists two India : The darkness and The light.  
Its based upon the story of a boy form Laxmangarh(a small village) or Darkness as the author says. Balram Halwai the son of a rickshaw-puller is from a small village, is different from the rest of his brothers as he has great aspirations. He starts of washing cups and cleaning tables at a tea shop but his desire to change his destiny takes him to Dhanbad. He learns driving and gets a job as a driver by a rich family there. After working honestly and faithfully for his master (Mr Ashok) he is taken along with them to Delhi. This is where he understands the true world.He starts getting cunning and knave. He begins to cheat his naive master. Finally, one fine day, he kills his master and runs-off with his money. The servant now becomes the master. He goes to Banglore and starts off with his entrepreneurship.

The 321 pages of the novel are raw and bold at its display about the realities and truths of life. The rusticity of the language adds to the fun of reading.
Rating: 8.2/10