Insanity personified

“Insanity is doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting different results.” 

I have no idea who said this but I know now that I am insane by definition. I have been struggling with my Digital Communication project. Well, I don't know how it happens but it starts acting like a total stranger every now and then. I am actually doing the same thing again and again but it also gives new results every time. So its more like a tie in insanity between me and my project. I may sound a bit defensive here but well somebody has to take the blame. And it will be better it this somebody is the project rather than me. For morale.

At the same time my computer has turned into a turtle. I know it wins at the end but I am not looking for end here. Simulations are already pretty time consuming without adding the contribution from my computer's speed.

 Thank God it doesn't take a MATLAB simulation to write a new blog post.

Reminiscence -2012

Tomorrow is going to be the last day of 2012. If I start thinking now, I realize that there will be a lot to remember this year 2012 for. However at this time I just want to recall all the books I read this year. In this year, it was more than usual especially in the later half. I don't know if I will be able to name them all but lets try...

1. Mata e Jaan Hai Tu by Farhat Ishtiaq---easily the best romance I have ever read. It was a little spoiled by the drama serial but still I will never forget Ibad and Hania of the novel

2. Hamsafar by Farhat Ishtiaq --- I read it because I hadn't watched the drama which is so famous. It was good, though the cliche story was only enlivened by Farhat's great ability of describing emotions.

3. The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins--- it was very good. All three books, though I liked the first one best.

4. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier --- simply the greatest of all

5. Happy Birthday by Danielle Steel --- I can still feel irritated

6. Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks --- good one

7. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks --- another good romance novel

8. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks --- not bad

9. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson --- one of those that affected me very much. It was a good thriller but you are just left horrified by the end.

10. The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson --- not as good as the first book in the trilogy

11. Divergent by Veronica Roth --- one of the very good ones

12. Sidney Sheldon's Mistress of the Game by Tilly Bagshaw --- a fairly good attempt at imitating Sheldon's writing style but the story wasn't very strong

13. Shab e Arzoo ka Aalam by Aneeza Syed --- one of the most favorite in urdu

14. 4:50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie --- for the first time I understood why Agatha Christie is so widely liked

15. The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga --- very true account of rural life in countries like India

16. Coraline by Neil Gaiman --- cutest fantasy ever

So that is all I can remember now. Currently I am reading The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman and also started The Casual Vacancy by J.k. Rowling. And I have a long to-read list.  

Currently reading The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

A little while ago, I was fussing about wanting to read The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling. Well, I started reading it. Its a common story about a town called Pagford. Probably its the story's demand but there are so many characters that every day I pick up the novel and fail to recognize almost any character mentioned. I reached almost 100 pages when I thought that I should start again. Its not that I didn't enjoy it but I realized its just something you have to take time with. So I am not rushing. I have put it down for a while and started another book I have been putting off for some time: The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks.

I think Sparks's books should be the comforting read that is needed after a more demanding book. Its not the case with me this time. I just finished reading A Walk to Remember just  a couple of days ago. I just opened it on an impulse. Its another simple (so far) yet special love story. Its about the very basic need of human beings of remaining close to nature. The picturesque imagination of natural beauty is something that can literally take the reader under a spell from which its just hard to recover. I want to read it again and again, especially the chapters Moving Water and Swans and Storms.

More on it later when I finish the book, which I expect will be soon. Its quite a short novel. 

A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks

Update March 29, 2013:

Sometimes when I review a book immediately after reading it, I think I am probably more excited than rational about it, both in like and dislike. Later, my opinion tends to deviate from the review. I was revisiting my older blog posts today when I just could not understand what I have written myself. A Walk to Remember was a good time-pass, but I don't know why I called it great. It was simple and cliche, the subject more suitable for a short story than for a whole novel. To sum it up: it was average. (Rest can be found below, but just try to filter out my excitement from it).

December 23, 2012:

It was simply great! The kind of story of an angel who teaches everybody how to love and help others.  The kind people call cliché. That you read as fairy tale as a child. But the best thing is that its not a fairy tale but a story that has all those common yet special characters we have around us in real life. Deeply moving.

It is a short novel with a slow and steady pace. Jamie was a good-natured but an oddity-by-teenagers-standards girl. Landon, the narrator, is just an average person. Somehow they come to work together for a play. As Landon gets to know her, he finds himself falling in love with her. It is one of the best things about this novel: its not the usual caught-by-breath-taking-beauty and love-at-first-sight teenage romance (which irritates me unbearably), it’s the true love inspired by the goodness of character which can really have the kind of depth the story describes. I loved the character Jamie. She knew she was right and stood by her principles and inspired others around her to be like her. And I cried for her as much as any of the characters in the story. Like Landon, I also kept hoping for a miracle throughout the last chapter. One of my favorite excerpts:

"Jamie was more than just the woman I loved. In that year Jamie helped me become the man I am today. With her steady hand she showed me how important it was to help others; with her patience and kindness she showed me what life is really all about. Her cheerfulness and optimism, even in times of sickness, was the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed"

Nicholas Sparks has a great gift when it comes to the genre of romance. He know how to keep his audience captivated with such a simple story. And in spite of sad endings, he always gives a hopeful insight. He never leaves the lovers miserable and dejected but they always manage to find solace from their love. I admired him for the same thing regarding Message in a Bottle.

So I am even bigger fan of Nicholas Sparks. And I’ll soon start another of his books. But right now I am turning to the much-awaited The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling.

Turning to Nicholas Sparks's

I am dying to read The Casual Vacancy by J.K Rowling but I thought I should give myself a break and read something lighter and less challenging and also something I am sure will be enjoyable. I have spent last three weeks with Stieg Larsson's Millenium (first two books) and I seriously need a change from murder mysteries and complicated plots.

That is when I turn to the genre of romance. Since Message in a Bottle, I have been wanting to read more of Nicholas Sparks. He has got a great gift in style of writing down his equally or even more gifted imagination. Among all the attributes of literature, writing style is what I value most. So Nicholas Sparks is one of my most favorite.

So I have started reading A Walk to Remember.

The Girl who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

Update: Completed reading

I have to re-enforce my previous review: it was a disappointment. It took me two long weeks to drag myself with the story. I just couldn’t find it engaging which is completely opposed to my experience with the first book. I think that this book needs considerable editing or probably it is not one of the best translated novels. Nevertheless, it contains too much unnecessary and annoyingly detailed accounts of things that have nothing new or interesting to tell. There was absolutely nothing in almost first 200 pages. It has a strange pace. It drags on and on and on and then suddenly everything wraps up. Earlier I praised a journalist's vision. I still do but the writing style in this novel is more like I would like to read in a crime investigation report.

The story was rich with mind-spinning twists and turns with so many characters and places that I kept forgetting who was who. Larrsson has an art of clustering all types of odd characters together.

All in all the novel was all right but I couldn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted and expected to.

Continuing with Millennium Trilogy

It’s somewhat disappointing after The girl with the Dragon Tattoo. After reading almost 100 pages, it has told nothing but Salander's shopping details. Larrson has probably tried to emphasize it as a big change in her life but I don’t think she was described particularly to be living hand to mouth in the previous novel. Her shopping frenzy is over emphasized.

I don’t even find the descriptions of her consistent with her previous image of an extremely autistic person. She has suddenly come to be at ease with having long conversations.

Salander's newly found interest in mathematics is funny and somehow that does go with her image of a nosy investigator.

And there should be at least one woman around Blomkvist who is not having an affair with him. I tried to ignore it in the previous novel but all his relationships start in a very stupid, lame way and without any kind of context.

The writing style in the previous novel was also better. Now it just seems to drag unnecessarily. It looks like Larrson was just trying to fill the pages.

I hope the story will be good and as enthralling as the previous one, once it starts. I hope it starts soon. More than hundred pages is a little too much for telling the context.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larrson

The book's synopsis says: "Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there's no turning back". Nothing can be truer about this novel. I have come to realize that journalists can be very good story-tellers because they have a field of vision is much broader than a common  novel writer. The real world is actually more dramatic than any imagination.   I read "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga, who is also an Indian journalist a month ago. I am not comparing the two but I enjoyed both of them. I actually have a much greater fondness for novels that address more practical and bigger issues than the problems of three or four main characters.

The book tells about investigative journalism, high-level financial frauds, psychological problems and vulnerable position of women in Sweden. I don’t personally have any idea about women's position in Sweden but the facts presented in this novel are simply horrifying, if they really are facts. It tells in a frightening way how rotten someone can be behind a façade of wealth and glamour.

So the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo starts with a prologue which makes its impact right away. I am generally not impressed by prologues because mostly there is hardly any word that the reader can understand from them and I usually read them again at the end to make some sense. But in this one, it’s the prologue alone that can make sure that the complete story is read.

The story starts with magazine Millennium's editor Mikael Blomkvist recounting the recent events that led to him being sentenced for two months in prison and a heavy fine. He had tried to expose a fraud billionaire industrialist Wennerstrom but he had been unable to prove his allegations. So he leaves the magazine thinking it would be better for all and goes on leave. At the same time, another industrialist Henrik Vanger, 82 years old and retired, offers him evidence against the Wennerstrom in exchange for his services in solving the mystery of his grandniece's disappearance 37 years ago. For the old man, nothing has ever been more important for the last 37 years. He lost all interest in his business which had to faced huge amount of loss. He is psychologically handicapped when it comes to forgetting her grandniece's disappearance. He has devoted entire 37 years to try to work out what happened to her and believes that someone in his own family murdered her. Now as he thinks he will die soon, he wants to make one last effort. For that, he contacts Blomkvist, who believes that there cannot be anything  left to be unraveled after 37 years. But it turns out there is yet a lot to be discovered from old photographs and diaries and old newspaper articles and in less than a year the mystery starts to unfold and reveals unspeakable horrors still prevailing within the Vanger family.

Now there is a strange character called Lisbeth Salander, the girl with the dragon tattoo. She is a social outcast and has some extraordinary talents, not all legitimate. She works as a freelancer and provides services as n investigator. The mysteries about this character have not been revealed in the novel but it is hinted that she suffered from some mishaps in her past that left her socially incapable. But her mind was not affected and she was still a very gifted investigator. She is engaged by Blomkvist to help in his research about the 37-year-old murder mystery. She lives with Blomkvist and he becomes closest thing to friend she ever had and she falls in love with him. Together they expose the dark truth about Vanger family.

After they finished their job, it turns out that Henrik Vanger's knowledge about Wennerstrom was useless. Here again Salander, using her talents in hacking, finds all the evidence against Wennerstrom for Blomkvist who publishes the whole thing and Millennium finds back all the glory, a happy ending.

The only thing I don’t understand is why the book is named as it is. Salander is one of the main characters but the story is not about her. I think the name is a bit misleading.

I was a long story but so compelling that it was impossible to put down. Not at a single point did it lose its pace. And I am dying to read the sequels.

4:50 From Paddington by Agatha Christie

 

I picked this book randomly, without expecting much from it. I am not a big fan of Agatha Christie. I have read her Nemesis, Sparkling Cyanide and a couple others whose names I don’t remember. I found them good but not exceptionally engaging. I liked the character of Miss Marple from Nemesis but wasn’t a big fan of her. So when I picked this one, I thought it would be a good time pass but nothing too demanding (actually I am still having my exams). 

It turned out that I was wrong about this one. I have never written a review of a mystery novel before, so I apologize in advance for any spoilers. Its very hard to discuss this one without taking away all the fun but I will try.

This novel is composed of a chain of extremely uncommon circumstances. Really its hard to digest the fact that all of them occurred in the same story. First, an elderly lady Mrs. McGillycuddy (no offences to anybody, I spent some time enjoying the name, trying to pronounce it correctly.. I don’t think I succeeded though) witnesses a murder taking place in a train running parallel to hers. Now it was extraordinary how the window curtain of that murder-train flew at the right time in front of the right person because Mrs. McGillycuddy was going to visit her friend who was none other than Miss Jane Marple, the Nemesis, the old lady with remarkable detective instincts.

So Mrs. McGillycuddy, being a responsible citizen, reports the matter to the authorities. However, no evidence of any murder was found. Now Miss Marple, on her own, starts investigating the situation. She makes quite an effort in travelling back and forth in the train. She gathers some ideas about what might have happened. She has a theory that the dead body of the victim was buried in a house. She then engages Lucy Eyelesbarrow, who is a "professional domestician" to get a job at the house and find the body, which she manages quite soon. Personally, I think Lucy Eyelesbarrow was an odd character although intelligent and pretty and graceful and all that but somewhat out of place. I mean are there really "professional domesticians"in England. Its an odd occupation to choose.

Then begins the search for the murderer. Local police and Scotland Yard get involved. The investigation part is mind-boggling. There is a twist and a turn on literally every page. It was impossible to put it down. The extraordinary events never fail to happen. At last, the most unlikely and good-natured person turns out to be the murderer. This, I think, is Agatha Christie's favorite result of any investigation. I must say that the murderer was also exceptionally intelligent.

But the most ironical part is that after all the efforts by police, it was only a question of a witness identifying a criminal which was arranged by Miss Marple based on her knowledge of how human brain works.

I really like Miss Marple's character. I liked her from Nemesis and I like her more now. Its funny how she relates very different people and draw conclusions about them. How she places herself in their place and predict what they would do. She makes it all so simple by saying that all her capabilities come from knowledge of human nature. It sounds somewhat like Sherlock Holmes's "nothing is ever new" philosophy. 

I enjoyed this novel very much and I am going to read more of Agatha Christie.

Coraline by Neil Gaiman

I am having my mid-semester exams right now. I picked this book expecting it to be a relaxing bed-time read. It turned out to be good, though I had to struggle hard to keep myself from opening it during study time.

It was my first experience with Neil Gaiman’s novels. It was great. I think to some people it might sound childish, but then I would love to be a child. So no worries there. Although I cannot imagine myself being a child like Coraline. I fell in love this cute, odd, intelligent, curious, strong-willed and daring character of Coraline in the very first chapter. And loved her even more as the story develops.

Coraline is a little girl living with her parents who have recently moved to a new house. She is spending her summer holidays, so she spends her time exploring. She has a deeply curious nature. She likes to go outside the house, meet new people and find new places. The most remarkable thing is that she is not at all nervous about going to new places or rather her curiosity is so strong that it easily overcomes her nerves. She likes to spend her time with new people she discovers and make friends with them. Coraline is so self-sufficient that she does not even brood over her parents’ indifference since they always remain busy in the story and tell her to go and play and not disturb them. I think I can go on and on about Coraline’s qualities.

Now her boredom and curiosity leads her to a door in there house that remains closed all the time, and there is a solid brick wall behind this door. But later she discovers that there is another world, a distorted version of her own, behind that door. She steps into this worlds and discovers her “other parents” (to be a part of the world, it was necessary to have black button eyes). There is a witch who lures children into that world she has created. To lure Coraline, she steals her parents. Its so fascinating how she manages to live alone in the house until she discovers who had taken them. She does not even get nervous about being alone in the house. Every word in this novel spells fantasy; every character and their actions.

When she discovers where her parents are, she takes it upon herself to bring them back. She does not even think twice before stepping into the dangerous world. She loves her parents enough to risk everything for them. In spite of being odd, she is a loving and dutiful daughter. I loved the part where Coraline recounted the incident when her father had willingly let a swarm of wasps sting him in order to let her escape. It shows how deeply she thinks and how intelligently she can infer.

As you read further, Coraline’s determination, her strong will, and her smartness and above all her courage continue to be a surprise. She has an incredible combination of unwavering will and a kind heart. After facing a number of frightening obstacles, she finally manages to rescue her parents and three other children who were captured by the witch earlier.

After this episode in her life, she realizes the importance of what she has in her own world and loves her parents. She even stops feeling nervous about her school after facing much more worse things.

I also liked the cat character. Sarcastic and proud on the outside but inwardly scared by the witch.

Its funny that I picked this book only because it had only 160+ pages (I am having my mid-semester exams and do not want to read something too involved). It certainly was an enjoyable read.

I am giving it 5 stars (on goodreads) happily although I think it was an ordinary horror story, written very intelligently. The reason is that I don’t like horror fiction in general (after my experience with R. L. Stine) but I enjoyed this one thoroughly.

Divergent by Veronica Roth

One Choice Can Transform You!!

Enjoyed this book very much. I picked this book because it won reader's choice award on goodreads in two categories and found that it did deserve it.

The story is of a young girl living in a society divided into different groups or factions, each representing a firm belief in only one of the virtues of honesty, intelligence, kindness, selflessness and bravery. These qualities are, to a great extent, considered to be mutually exclusive, although many do not believe so. The people believe that, given the aptitude, every human being can be trained to focus on only one of these qualities. 

There are some rare people who cannot think that way and they are termed as "divergent".

I once heard a motivational speaker commenting about extremism. I don’t remember the context but he said that extremism is not bad in itself but it depends upon what it is about. And he proudly said that he was extremely honest, extremely kind and extremely truthful. So its nothing to be ashamed of or nothing to be defensive about either. I was very impressed by the argument. After reading Divergent, however, you will probably feel the urge have to rethink what it can mean to be extremely honest and that you cannot be extremely honest and extremely kind at the same time. That definitely is an interesting theory. Of course, its true only if you take "extremism" in its truly literal meaning. There has to be a boundary before reaching at an extreme of one good quality to give room for another.

Its very interesting how the writer attributes different qualities of human nature to a specific function to be performed in the society. And how she makes them look to fit perfectly well in their respective situations. And then reveals how the whole society falls apart as a result of inculcating only one of the virtue in every member while ignoring other important qualities. Its ironical yet fitting that the faction representing knowledge and intelligence is responsible for all the cruelty and destruction.

The protagonist Beatrice decides to choose the Dauntless (representing bravery) faction with apparently no actual passion for being brave but more by eliminating the alternatives, as she feels herself misfit in her original faction Abnegation (the selfless) and despises the Erudite(the intelligent) for their greediness, which was predictable as she was raised in Abnegation. So she chooses Dauntless without realizing what it takes to learn to be brave. Almost whole book describes the process of "initiation" in the faction, which the 16-year old have to qualify in order to be members of that faction. During this process, the writer tells how Beatrice adjusts to her new environment, how she makes new friends and how her fellows who came from different backgrounds adapt to the new ways of Dauntless, how she gradually gains strength through her new experiences and how some of her fellow initiates fail to do so. How she, after closely watching former Erudite members, experiences conflicted emotions towards her brother who chose Erudite.

Then comes her falling in love with Four, which was very much predictable from the start. I was actually waiting for it to happen. 

Its not just a science-fiction or an average young-adult novel, I found in it a deep analysis of human nature. 

I agree with some other reviewers that the real story began a little late than it should have. But it was still thoroughly enjoyable.

I am really looking forward to reading the sequel Insurgent.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

It was great!

The narrator is a young woman who gets married to Maxim de Winter who is the owner of the an estate called Manderley and is much older than her and who supposedly could not forget his late wife Rebecca. The novel tells how this new girl who didn't have the right background to be the mistress of an estate, falls victim to insecurities and inferiority complex. She is haunted by the memory of Rebecca, which is kept alive by the house maid Mrs. Danvers. She constantly feels that she doesn't fit in the new position of being a successor to Rebecca who was adored by everyone who knew her and was great as a wife and mistress of Manderley. She constantly compares herself with Rebecca and repeatedly declares herself incompetent. It is a great depiction of how dead are kept alive by their memories.

But the mysterious personality of late Rebecca is not actually that adorable. Although how she managed to be liked so widely and sincerely is amazing. 

I think the novel as much about Manderley as it is about the characters. Hats off to du Maurier's imagination. The account of Manderley makes it sound like another central character of the novel.

Most importantly the novel is about human nature. How it can become insecure enough to be affected by the dead even more than they are affected by the living. The young Mrs. de Winter, in spite of being the mistress, let herself be dominated by the servants which is so strange but understandable. As she thinks that her husband still loves Rebecca along with everybody among the servants and their social circle, instead of making an effort to make herself distinguished, she immediately gives in and becomes defensive. She is supposedly from a weak financial background and worked in a minor situation before getting married, so due to her low self-esteem and lack of self confidence and the communication gap she had with her husband when it came to talk about his first wife, she accepts that she cannot replace Rebecca and let others make decisions while she just kills the time at the house without participating in anything at the household because she was frightened to be compared with Rebecca. So she let the customs set by Rebecca live even she herself was dead.

The girl's insecurity might be annoying and her being dominated by servants is really idiotic but her innocence and simplicity is endearing. 

I am going to read more of du Maurier's and I hope she has created more magical places like Manderley.

Rebecca was simply great from beginning to end!!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

This book was recommended by a friend some time ago. It was quite a new experience altogether reading about a social setup that I know more closely being a Pakistani than the western culture which is usually expected when picking an English novel. Not just the culture but the sarcastic tone of the narrator was something unanticipated. I was rather expecting a depressed voice. Hats off to Aravind Adiga. This one truly deserved the Booker Prize. 

It was easy to pick pace with. It is one of those rare experiences when you don’t have to struggle with initial chapters. It just takes off and you don’t even realize that you have read almost fifty or sixty pages.

The book comprises of narrator's letters, or rather his diary in which he addresses a Chinese Government official. He hears that this Chinese official is coming to India on a visit and wants to meet entrepreneurs. The narrator calls himself an entrepreneur and wants to tell what it can take to become one in a country like India, where a very large part of population is deprived of even the very basic needs as a result of caste system and feudalism. The narrator is skeptical about everything but he makes his tone so innocent that the reader can start falling for him immediately. The whole novel is about his confession of committing the murder of his employer.

As the narrator Balram relates his story, I couldn’t help being impressed by the depth of knowledge the writer has about his country's customs and how deeply he feels for the people's deprivation. A lot of it must have been the result of his occupation as a journalist. He present the bitter facts about the nation generally known to be prosperous. I would add that it is not the complete picture but a considerable portion of it.

Balram was just another common man in a tribe of "Halwaiis" or sweet-makers. It’s a common thing in our villages that you are forced to take up a profession defined by your caste. This is a custom defined by the powerful feudal lords to keep their countrymen oppressed and needy and so badly caught in fulfilling their very basic needs that they can never rebel. But over time these customs are so religiously taken up the tribes that they do not feel the need to change anything. Balram, however, was the odd one out. He was intelligent and hungry for knowledge and was given the title of "White Tiger " by a teacher for his intelligence amidst all the dumbness of villagers. His father wanted him to study but he could not continue in school. Thanks to yet another custom of compulsion of dowry that her sister needed in order to get married. He relates the incident of his father's painful death, recounting the lack of any sense of hygiene or any medicine or even the doctor in the only hospital that was accessible by the poor of his village. Similar conditions are described regarding the so-called school in which he studied. So after leaving the school, he is forced to work with his brother in a teashop. There he picks up an idea of becoming a driver. He has a hard time convincing her grandmother, who was the head of family, to let him be a driver. At last he succeeds. He then learns how to drive and gets hired after lot of effort. This was supposedly a revolution in the sweet-makers' family.

In the course of his job, he learns about one his fellow servants in the same house who was a Muslim pretending to be a Hindu so save his job, because Hindus and Muslims cannot tolerate each other in their houses.

The thing that Balram ridicules the most is that India is known for democracy. He tells how the politicians buy entire tribes to vote for them. He tells how the politicians use the poor for playing their political tricks.

So Balram continues his job as Mr. Ashok's driver who was a feudal lord recently returned from America with an American wife. He tells how he learnt new things while listening to them while driving. He even tries to imitate his clothing and other habits. Then he moves to Delhi with them where he drives Mr. Ashok around so that he can bribe the politicians to get unlawful benefits for his family. He and all other servants in that house were supposed to do whatever their masters wanted. His position as a driver didn’t spare him from having to do cleaning, washing, cooking and massaging. It was not employment but slavery altogether.

I loved the part where he described his "rooster coop" theory. How the people in underdeveloped countries are so used to being deprived that they somehow feel comfortable enough to not even thinking of rebelling. They just feel a sense of resignation. That’s how Balram felt when he was asked to take the blame of a road accident committed by Mr. Ashok's wife. He says that even if somebody tries to get a better life for himself, his tribe does not let him do that and they make him an outcast. That is the punishment of wanting to prosper.

Balram killed Mr. Ashok simply because he wanted to steal the money he was carrying to bribe a politician. He insists continuously that he does not have any bad feelings about his employer and continuously felt guilty when he was killing him and stealing his money but he was still determined to win a better life. He knows that his whole family might be killed by the victim's father and brother but he just tries not to think about them. The police fail to catch him only because of their inefficiency. Its funny how he stands in front of his own "most wanted" poster in a crowded railway station and nobody recognizes him because his picture was blurred. The only man who recognizes him was illiterate and so could not understand the description with the picture.

Then he describes his "murderer's life on run ". How he tried to avoid tracked by the police and how he cannot even dare ask about what happened to his family.

Balram manages to start a "rent-a-car" service, for which he called himself an entrepreneur. He insists that he does not treat his employees the way he was treated as a servant. But in the process, he just becomes another briber, another hand in corruption. So that was the price he had to pay for a better life: become a murderer and just the same person as his victim was.

He also tells continuously how lonely he felt with nothing but chandeliers to talk to and that he wants to have a partner.

I can still continue to write about it but the review is already too long. I want to point out that as far as I know, this is definitely not the big picture of India. It is just some of the curses for the poor of villages that continue to prevail even after all the development and modernism in the cities. 

Finally I want to say that the book was a complete package: it has story, a message and an easy-to-read style that will keep you engaged.

Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks

This is the novel I would name as an ideal romantic novel. Sparks has beautifully portrayed the depth of emotions.

Some of my favorite parts from the letters to the ocean:

"I miss you, my darling, as I always do, but today is especially hard because the ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together."

"At night when I am alone, I call for you, and whenever my ache seems to be the greatest, you still seem to find a way to return to me. Last night, in my dreams, I saw you on the pier near Wrightsville Beach. The wind was blowing through your hair, and your eyes held the fading sunlight. I am struck as I see you leaning against the rail. You are beautiful, I think as I see you, a vision that I can never find in anyone else. I slowly begin to walk toward you, and when you finally turn to me, I notice that others have been watching you as well.

“Do you know her?” they ask me in jealous whispers, and as you smile at me, I simply answer with the truth.

“Better than my own heart.""

"But now, alone in my house, I have come to realize that destiny can hurt a person as much as it can bless him, and I find myself wondering why—out of all the people in all the world I could ever have loved—I had to fall in love with someone who was taken away from me"

"Life passes by now like the scenery outside a car window. I breathe and eat and sleep as I always did, but there seems to be no great purpose in my life that requires active participation on my part. I simply drift along like the messages I write you. I do not know where I am going or when I will get there. Even work does not take the pain away."

The story has its own uniqueness although the characters are entirely common people. The male protagonist Garrett is deeply aggrieved at his wife's accidental death. He writes letters addressed to his late wife for his own catharsis and throws them, enclosed in bottles , into the ocean. Now Theresa, a column writer living in another city, discovers one of these bottles and is deeply moved by the depth of Garrett's love. She has some serious trust issues with men after having to endure her husband's infidelity. So she is automatically attracted to Garrett who is faithful to his wife even after her death. And she decides to find him. In this way, they enter into a relationship.

As Theresa gets to know him more closely, she feels emotionally conflicted about his love for his late wife. And eventually it leads to their breakup. Later, Garrett realizes that he has to move on but here destiny comes into play.

The best part is the beautiful message conveyed by the story as Theresa writes in a final letter.

"Because of you, I am hopeful that there will come a day when my sadness is replaced by something beautiful. Because of you, I have the strength to go on"

She is not left depressed forever but finds strength from her love for Garrett.

 True love is that which gives you hope and strength instead of leaving you dejected that happens in all the famous classic love stories. And that is why it has that uniqueness and likability. 

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

When you like the first book in a series, two things happen: you are already biased in favor of the second and at the same time you are a little too demanding. Well, I liked The Hunger Games , mainly because it was a different kind of story compared to those I had been reading lately (actually I read this book in October last year).

Catching Fire has a depressing tone from the beginning as opposed to the furious one in The Hunger Games, which suits the story perfectly. Katniss Everdeen, now a 'Victor', has come back to live with her mother and sister and the Victor's previlleges. But the oppressions from the capitol are not yet over, in fact they are far from being over than they appear at first. After becoming a killer against her wish, she now has to actually boast about it in front of the families of those who were killed. But for better or worse, she has somebody to share the pain with. Peeta and Katniss are both having nightmares and have difficulty in adjusting with the new life in which they both have to live with themselves.

I must say Suzanne Collins has got quite an imagination when it comes to emotional cruelty, that is inflicted upon the Victors continuously. As it turns out that it was only a delusion that being a victor will mean anything good. Most of all, they were forced to live artificial lives and their services to the Capitol were far from over.
Meanwhile, there is some kind of rebellion against the buiding among other districts.

Some time ago I had a discussion about the first book and somebody said that the first one was good enough. Why did the author feel the need to continue with the story for two more novels. Well, I think the story was moving towards this rebellion from the very first page of the first book. I mean if Katniss was just another Victor among so many others, why would anybody bother to tell her story. All Victors must have passed through the same conditions, more or less, to win that is to say that upto the first book, there was not much difference created in the world. True, there were two Victors for the first time but the Capitol has ways of making that far worse than good.

While boasting for being killer, Katniss is also at cold war with President Snow. The description of President Snow made me actually fear that this was turning into a vampire novel. Thank God it did not. I wouldn't be writing this review. Suzanne Collins has painted such vivid images of each character that their very names speak for what they are. But the good thing is that the story is still so unpredictable. I mean who would think the Capitol would avenge Katniss's mere signs of rebellion by pulling her once again into another Hunger Games. Though it turns out that there were not just signs of rebellion but a whole conspiracy. Another thrilling and even more dangerous Hunger Games begin to demonstrate Collins imagination. 

I was torn between giving it 4 or 5 stars. 5 because its a good and innovative story. 4 because it was depressing. But then if it can leave an impact, depressing or not, it has to be good. So 5 stars be it.

Normally I would end by saying that I am going to read the next in series but I have already read it. So I end by saying that I shall write a review for the third book some time later.

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The best thing about The Hunger Games is that it is a fresh story, at least for me. Its about the lengths the powerful can go to ensure their position and how the oppressed are threatened about the safety of their loved ones that lead them to suppress their protests.

I didn't like the writing style very much but the bitter tone of the protagonist fits very well with the story.

The Hunger Games is a story about a city called Panem with a glorious Capitol and 12 surrounding districts. Each district is assigned a specific profession for the benefit of the Capitol.

The only thing I found missing was a proper historical account of how the Capitol took control of districts and what did their rebellion caused the Capitol that they invented such violent games. There should have been some justification, however feeble, of the violence inflicted by the Capitol.

Anyways. The Capitol wanted to make sure that the districts do not rebel out of their misery of not being allowed the benefit of work they did tirelessly, so it made their lives even more miserable. It set a tradition of yearly Hunger Games in which a boy and a girl, both teenagers, from every districts were compelled to participate. Only one of them could win and all others had to die. That was both a punishment for districts for their earlier rebellion and an assurance that they would not rebel in future: to either see their children die or watch them become killers and worst of all to remain in constant apprehension that their kids could be next.

Now Katniss Everdeen belongs to District 12, the poorest of all. She had to hunt illegally to keep her family fed, which she had to take care of at very young age. She is bitter and unfriendly and tough but loves her family more than anything and is determined to make both ends meet despite the circumstances. Tragically, her younger sister gets selected for the Hunger Games and she volunteers to go in her place. At this point she did not think that she could win; she had actually chosen to die instead of her sister.

So she goes to the Capitol for the Hunger Games. The torture inflicted by the Capitol does not end only on shedding blood but the chosen ones called 'tributes' have to put up with fancy dress shows and interviews and it is necessary and unavoidable because only that way they could expect to be helped during the Games.

As the Games start, this novel becomes literally un-put-downable. The war is thrilling and frightening. The arena and the creatures and monsters and the emotional drama, including the romance between Peeta and Katniss, are all rich in imagination.

So 5 stars minus writing style and lack of history... is still 5 stars, Because I cannot bear to call it bad after suffering from insomnia over it.