Book Review: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life

Author: Mark Manson
Genre: NonFiction, Self help
Rating: 1/5
Verdict: Don't give a f*ck about this book.

I have been quite wary of self help books and staying away from reading them mainly because most of these books are never one-size fits all. This book was another reaffirmation to that fact not because it was good and just doesn't fit everyone, but this was just a boatload of self-indulgent rubbish, extremely sexist and random pieces of content put together. The writing was abysmal as well. I cannot believe this topped the best seller's list at some point. After reading the first 25 pages, I was in complete rage. Getting life advice from a 30 something slacker of a dude who takes pride in being a complete "f*ckboy" during his youth rather than being remorseful and objectifies women as material possessions isn't exactly something I would call a deserving best seller. Casually saying he has a wife and there is nothing glamorous and exciting about it reeks of arrogance, misogyny and entitlement. It was quite an irony that there is a chapter about relationships and giving a f*ck about them in the book. That aside, the content in the book isn't remarkable, just felt like a bunch of blog posts thrown together without any research whatsoever. Most of it was just 'duh' and things you learn naturally in life as you grow older and wiser. I'm annoyed at myself for having fallen for picking up this one to read. The only reason I gave it a 1-star is for some chapters that there is actually value in reading it for. 

Book Review: THE GENE: An Intimate History

Author: Siddhartha Mukherjee
Genre: Science, NonFiction
Rating: 4/5
Verdict: An incredibly well-written book with a comprehensive history on genetics.

This book was Genetics 101 for me. I knew very little about genes, heredity and genetic engineering before I picked up this book. The author takes us through the history of genes starting from Mendel and Darwin through Watson and finally right up to China announcing the first genetically modified human embryo. It was fascinating to read how much we have advanced in genetics in the last 40 years. It is a really well researched book and takes a good amount of refreshing of high school biology to absorb all the facts but it was a real page turner overall. Mukherjee also gets us thinking about the moral dilemmas we face today about genetic testing and gene therapy. I paused for a few minutes when I read about the perils that scientific advancements can and are causing today. It is quite a challenge writing about science for all kinds of audience but this was an amazingly clearly written book. It was a real slog to finish it due to the sheer volume of the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading about life itself. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter and the diagrams and pictures are a treasure. I now look forward to reading his Pulitzer prize winning book on the biography of cancer.

Book Review: Becoming

Author: Michelle Obama
Genre: Autobiography, Memoir
Rating: 5/5
Verdict: One word - Wow! Buy it - It's a keeper.

Let me start by just saying that I'm pretty sure I'm going to be reading this book again and again for years to come. When I feel depressed, when I am in dire need of hope, something to cling on to, when I want to be uplifted, motivated and inspired. I've always loved, respected and admired Michelle Obama. Her intelligence, grace, class and commitment to her country, her husband and kids has been very inspiring. After reading this book, my respect and admiration for her has increased by leaps and bounds. 

Becoming is an honest, endearing and passionate memoir about Michelle's life right from her journey from Chicago to the White House. Michelle takes us back to her childhood days in the South Side of Chicago where she was raised by devoted parents, her father, a blue collar city worker and a mother who dedicated her life for Michelle and her older brother Craig. It was inspiring to see how her entire family (extended family too) stressed the importance of good education and exposed her to a variety of things from very early on - Something that I have always strongly believed in and extremely thankful for.

Michelle's writing is so intimate and powerful that makes you feel like you are sitting right across from her while she reveals her life story. She keeps you turning pages rapidly as she takes us through her early years in Chicago, through high school and college. I really enjoyed reading about Michelle and Barack Obama's first encounter, and their subsequent courtship period where she describes about Barack Obama's passion for reading and his core values that made her fall in love with him. What was more heart warming to read was that she was not at all uncomfortable to reveal that they worked really hard on their marriage, and that they even had gone to marital counseling when things got out of both their control sometimes. Revealing such personal details so honestly is not an easy task to do and Michelle has done it remarkably well.

The more I read, the more I realized that Michelle is so much like many of us, with dreams, doubts, the challenges with raising kids while having a husband who had to be away most of the time, the compromises, the everyday struggles of juggling school pick-ups, meal times, a full-time job and finally relenting to hiring a person to cook dinners at home. I love that the book has a bit of everything. Michelle's determination to succeed being a woman of color, her love for Barack and standing by him being his rock during ups and downs and the heart of their hearts - their girls - Sasha and Malia. I loved reading every bit about Barack as a father and their time together as a family. The book gives us a glimpse of their years in the White House and despite all the fame and frenzy, Michelle talks about how they were forced to live in a bubble always under constant scrutiny, security and surveillance and about how she and Barack struggled to give their daughters a "normal" life. I also loved how she worked towards issues that bothered her the most and her and Barack's accomplishments during their time at the White House. The photographs in the book are a treasure to see. 

I got so swept into reading this book that I read it until the wee hours of the morning and finished it. This book will go into my library collection as one of the best I have ever read. Thank you Michelle for sharing your life story with us and for BECOMING. 

Some of my favorite quotes from the book:

"You’ve got to be twice as good to get half as far."

"When they go low, we go high."

"Life was teaching me that progress and change happen slowly. Not in two years, four years, or even a lifetime. We were planting seeds of change, the fruit of which we might never see. We had to be patient."

Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Author: Ransom Riggs
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Mystery
Rating: 3/5
Verdict: A novel that starts out interesting and bizarre, but a tad too long and disappointing when it ends!

Synopsis:
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. A strange collection of curious photographs.
A horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

This is my second YA novel in a row. I found the start to be quite intriguing and creepy/bizarre exactly how it was supposed to be. I really loved the plot - that there are special species in the human race, the "peculiars" who have strange abilities including time travel. The pictures throughout the book were super cool and the visual effects added to the charming storyline. It was great until the point when Jacob goes to Wales to dig up his grandfather's past. After that, the story was all over the place during the second half. There were really no twists and turns nor any suspenses except for the one with Dr.Golan. I took a really long time to get through the second half of the book and I found myself struggling to stay interested. I was happy to just finish the book.

It wasn't as spine chilling nor was there anything related to horror. It was just bizarre at best but fails to live up to its expectations. But this was my first peek into the world of fantasy, I think I will give a few more books in this genre a shot before deciding if its my cup of tea! 

Book Review: Climbing the stairs

Author: Padma Venkatraman
Genre: Fiction, Young Adult, Cultural, War,
Rating: 3.5/5
Verdict: A wonderful YA novel about Indian freedom struggle and brings Chennai right to your living room!

I have to admit, I am a sucker for Indian authors and stories that are set in South India. I just love novels that talk about places and the customs that I grew up with. I hope that bias doesn't cloud my review here, I've tried to be honest :)

Climbing the stairs is the story of a 15 year old girl, Vidya living in Bombay around the time of WWII. She has a loving family and dreams of going to college which her parents approve of. Her life turns upside down when a tragedy strikes their family and they are forced to live in her grandfather's house as a joint-family with her aunts, uncles and their families. Vidya and her mother are ill-treated by everyone in the house, but they don't have a choice to go elsewhere. Vidya finds solace in the form of books in the upstairs library in the house. As days go by, she gets to know Raman, a young man who lives in the house who treats her as an equal and encourages her dreams. Just as Vidya finds comfort, her brother makes a shocking decision to join the British in the WWII. How Vidya deals with the consequences of the decisions of the men in her life forms the rest of the story.

I really enjoyed the book because it spans through an entire year with various Hindu festivals and the customs and rituals. The first part of the book is set in Mumbai and the second part in Chennai. The description of both these places were absolutely wonderful and brought back so many memories of Chennai, especially. I could relate really well to it and I think that is one reason I have given this a 3.5 because I feel not everyone can relate to the Brahmin customs/rituals. The parts about Vidya's father's freedom struggle and what happens to him is heartbreaking and painful. I also liked the fact that Raman's character was not sketched as this perfect man and how Padma has rather portrayed him as a man who makes mistakes like everyone else and accepts it too at the end. Would have loved to know more about Vidya's brother, father and Raman - all the men in her life!

A wonderful story about the determination and strength of a young girl who wants to pursue her dreams beyond what her cultural traditions and society would allow!

Book: Parthiban Kanavu

Author: Kalki Krishnamurthy
Genre: Tamil historical fiction, classics
Verdict: A beautiful imagination and fast-paced classic by Kalki!

My fondness for the Tamizh language and anything and everything in Tamizh started from my childhood. All thanks to my father. Whenever I read anything in Tamizh, I recall with a heavy dose of nostalgia my childhood days learning thirukkural, bharathiyar kavidhaigal and loads of other tamil books. Sadly, I have lost touch with it ever since I went to college. This year I am making an honest attempt to read as many Tamizh classics I can. My introduction to that was Parthiban kanavu. I am not going to review it here as I don't think its justice in any form to review this fantastic novel written by Kalki.

It was pure joy reading this book. Time just flies in this book - right from page 1. It makes you travel to the Chola-Pallava dynasty, you see the kings/queens through their birth, adolescence, love life and their ruling of the kingdom and the people. Though this is a fictional story, attributing the resurgence of the Cholas to a king's dreams who lived 300 years ago is exceptionally creative. Kalki's writing was so simple but the description of the scenes - be it war between the Cholas and the Pallavas or the romance between Vikrama Chozhan and Kundhavai - I could visualize every single scene and it made it so much more enjoyable. Now my urge to visit Mahabalipuram is even more stronger.  A true masterpiece by Kalki and a complete package. I can't wait to re-read this again! 

Book Review: Madhorubhagan (One part woman)

Author: Perumal Murugan
Genre: Fiction, Cultural
Rating: 4/5
Verdict: A powerful book which captures the taunts aimed at the childless by the society.

About the author:

There was a huge controversy surrounding this book last year, and the author Perumal Murugan decided to quit writing after the controversy broke. His Facebook page said:

"Perumal Murugan, the writer is dead. As he is no God, he is not going to resurrect himself. He has no faith in rebirth. As an ordinary teacher, he will live as P Murugan. Leave him alone."

While I am not sure why there was a huge deal made about it 4 years after the book was published, I read this book to show my support to the community of authors and freedom of speech. The controversy and the book is about a ritual that was practiced in Tiruchengode, Namakkal district a century ago. As per the ritual, a woman could go with any man on the night of the festival and a child born out of this relation is treated as a child or a gift from God. In the novel a couple is childless for 12 years and the wife and the entire family (with the exception of her husband) wants her to take part in the ritual. It is the sexual permissiveness that was protested against.

Now about the book - 

Kali and Ponna live in the Tiruchengodu area enjoy and a happy and fulfilling marriage but are childless. They yearn for a child and are subjected to open attacks, heated arguments, cruel taunts and the society pinpointing their barrenness at every possible juncture. They are deeply hurt by this and recede to their own shell after a while.  One night when both their mothers construe a plan together, Ponna is curious to know what it might be and it is at this moment the ritual and the details about it are revealed. The entire family is in support of Ponna going to the 15th day of the chariot festival, while Kali is opposed to it. Ponna after going through 12 years of insults and insinuations is ready to oblige if Kali agrees to it, but Kali is shocked when he hears her readiness. What happens after that and the emotions and turmoil they undergo on the 15th day of the festival forms the rest of the story.

Perumal Murugan has pained quite a picture with his description of the lives of people in a certain time period. I read the book in Tamil and really enjoyed the local dialect throughout the book. 

I was expecting more about the Arthanareeshwarar temple and the chariot festival itself when the pages moved to the 15th day but he focused more on Ponna and Kali's feelings which may have been the right thing to do to think more about it. While some may think of Ponna's acceptance and the final few chapters of the book as her new found liberation and happiness, I cannot come to terms with her decision, even though it was to procreate. While Kali vehemently disagrees to his family's plans of his second marriage because he thinks Ponna would be wounded by it and Ponna has expressed the same multiple times, I didn't see any such feelings from Ponna about how her decision would make Kali feel. I could not accept the fact that her childlessness has overwhelmed her to such an extent. I could perfectly understand Kali's pain and anger when he comes home on the night of the the festival and find the entire family has gone to the festival. The last few scenes in the book were bizarre and when you close the book you are left with so many questions and wanting to know more about these traditions/rituals! A very poignant read and we need more bold authors like Perumal Murugan. I wish he gets back to writing soon.