book review | Comfortably Numb

BOOK REVIEW: SUNDAY HERALD/POSTSCRIPT by CECILIA AHERN

A measured journey of picking up the pieces and carrying on Cecilia Ahern debuted with PS I Love You in 2004, which went on to be No 1 on the bestseller lists in Ireland, the UK and across the pond, in the US too; win awards and get adapted into a movie with Hollywood stars…

Brief takes: In Search of Heer by Manjul Bajaj

Having decided on a retelling of the fable of Heer and Ranjha, writer Manjul Bajaj has dipped her pen verily in a lyrical stream. Lushly packed with evocative descriptions of young men and old, of nubile girls and timorous old women, of men with evil on their mind, a swiftly flowing river, cattle both fine…

LITERARY REVIEW: THE SWAP BY SHUMA RAHA

DARK ROMANCE | REVIEWS Love, sex and dhokha: Review of Shuma Raha’s ‘The Swap’ ‘Soon to be a major web series,’ a blurb announces on the cover of The Swap by…

Brief Takes: The Sixth Finger by Malayatoor Ramakrishnan

The Sixth Finger: Malayatoor Ramakrishnan, translated from Malayalam by Prema Jayakumar Publisher: Ratna Books Genre: Fiction Extent: 372pp Price: Rs 399 You would imagine that the origin story of a nascent godman would make for a compelling read. This, unfortunately, is not entirely the case here. Malayatoor Ramakrishnan`s protagonist Vedaraman is introduced to the…

Brief Takes: Panjab by Amandeep Sandhu

I open my New Year account of book reviews with a book I read slowly, attentively, absorbing everything it had to give. Amandeep Sandhu`s PANJAB is many things to many readers. There are those like me, who was once familiar with the pinds and the jind of what Sandhu calls the outlier state (and you…

BOOK REVIEW: THE RADIANCE OF A THOUSAND SUNS by MANREET SODHI SOMESHWAR

Poignant memories A young Sikh woman in NYC tries to deal with the inheritance of particularly painful memories When the winds of independence blew in 1947, it carried within it a monster gale that wreaked damage on Punjab and its people. Thirty-seven years later, those marauding wind storms visited Punjabis yet again, this time in…

BOOK REVIEW: SUNDAY HERALD/IS THERE STILL SEX IN THE CITY By CANDACE BUSHNELL

Chick-lit for older chicks? Here, relationships and ageing are more engaging than either sex or the city. With its standout title, Candace Bushnell`s memoir Is There Still Sex In The City? sets up some major expectations, of beautifully made-up, expensively dressed young women dealing with the trials and tribulations of love, sex and everything in…

BOOK REVIEW: SUNDAY HERALD/RAAVAN by AMISH

Book Review: Raavan, Amish Sheila Kumar, Aug 25 2019 Insidious villain And now, the origin story for Raavan. Unlike in the lacklustre telling of Ram`s story in Ramachandra, Scion of Ishkvaku, and Sita`s tale which, apart from the big reveal, was a pretty straight affair, Amish gives his Raavan enough of an edgy personality so…

BOOK REVIEW/SUNDAY HERALD: THE COURTESAN, THE MAHATMA AND THE ITALIAN BRAHMIN by MANU S PILLAI

History in sixty takes An absorbing collation of historical tales from across India Manu S Pillai, our desi Dalrymple, gives us another round of Indian history, this time in a collection of essays touching upon one interesting character after another, some well-known, some not, one or two quite obscure. The book is a compilation…

LITERARY REVIEW: THE STRAWBERRY THIEF by JOANNE HARRIS

In her latest book, Joanne Harris brings back Lansquenet-sous-Tannes` friendly neighbourhood witch, Vianne Rocher. Vianne`s making and scrying with chocolate again; her elder daughter Anouk has stayed behind in Paris and the younger girl Rosette is now a silent sixteen. She believes that her Maman has made a sinister pact with the wind and let…