Book Reviews - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Sita, Warrior of Mithila by Amish

The sacred feminine Amish`s Sita is canny, aware, intelligent and interesting, too. I have to say this, right at the start: Amish has found his mojo again. After a terrific trilogy on Shiva (Immortals of Meluha, The Secret of the Nagas, The Oath of the Vayuputras), his Ram katha, Scion of Ikshvaku had…

Book review: The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy

The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy. Penguin Books. This take, rather than a full-fledged review, is in three parts. I Just started on the book a few days ago and find my lips quirking into small smiles every few paragraphs. Smiles of recognition of people, places, situations. Smiles of amusement at the weirdly…

Book review: The Small-town Sea by Anees Salim

This boy’s life An account of a young life lived on a cliff overlooking an ever-changeable sea. Anees Salim remarked in an interview that the success of each book was making it harder for him to write the next book. Well, it is also getting harder for the reviewer assigned to critique his…

Book review: Loyal Stalkers by Chhimi Tenduf-La

Observing the undertow These stories zoom in on what lurks just beneath; sometimes it`s sweet, sometimes it`s seedy. Chhimi Tenduf-La follows his well-received books, The Amazing Racist and Panther, with this collection of short stories that strap you into the carousel seat, then takes you on a rapid-paced ride through the suburbs of…

Book review: Granta 138/Journeys

Granta`s offering for the yet-to-arrive winter of 2017, Journeys, juxtaposes a fine set of travel writings with brief succint takes on whether travel writing is dead, by the likes of Ian Jack, Colin Thubron, Pico Iyer, Samanth Subramanian, Geoff Dyer, Mohsin Hamid and co. The writings run the gamut of stories, essays, observations, photographs, the…

Book review: White Magic by Arjun Nath

This is more a brief take than review. White Magic by Arjun Nath. A HarperCollins publication. This book works on many levels. It`s an account of a druggie in rehab, his third or fourth stint. It`s the story of a boy trying to subdue the ever-present rage boiling inside him, a boy who grows up…

Book review: Baaz by Anuja Chauhan

Blue skies, eye candy Anuja Chauhan`s latest offering doesn’t stray too far from her template: feisty heroine, gorgeous hero, as much external conflict as internal (maybe more of the former here, given that the backdrop here is the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War), much toe-curling passion, a very interesting gaggle who make up the supporting cast…

Book review: Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinsborough

Sarah Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes keeps you guessing, and even if you think you know where the story is going, you still want to go down that path,to get there at closure point. Throughout, you relish the mystery and the deliberate holding back of information because you know it’s building up to something big,…

Book review: Adi Parva by Amruta Patil

This is more a brief take than review. Amruta Patil`s marvellous-marvellous-marvellous ADI PARVA is a book I go back to oftentimes. The thought-provoking text and astonishing artwork in this retelling of the Mahabharata meld so seamlessly, so mellifluously, the reader is richly rewarded over and over again. Here, Indra`s ruby-embellished Indrajaal; Ganga entering…

Book review: Bullets and Bylines by Shyam Bhatia

This is more a brief take than review. Bullets and Bylines (Speaking Tiger publications), veteran journalist`s Shyam Bhatia`s accounts from conflict zones, contains one particular story which, for this reader, was worth the price of the book. On a visit to Tehran after Khomeini has consolidated his grip inside the country, Bhatia keeps a low…