Book Reviews - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Nanda Devi, a Journey to The Last Sanctuary by Hugh Thomson

Nanda Devi, A Journey to the Last Sanctuary by Hugh Thomson, Hachette India publishers. At 25,650 ft asl, Nanda Devi is India’s highest mountain; Kanchenjunga, which is higher, is on the border of India and Nepal. It has been closed to climbers by Indian authorities for years, since 1982 in fact, because of its sensitive…

Book review: The Burning Forest by Nandini Sundar

This is more a brief take than review of the book. There are book and then there are books. The Burning Forest (Juggernaut Books) was the hardest read of my life. Nandini Sundar`s clear-eyed look and calm but compassionate telling of just what atrocities are unleashed on the mind, body, spirit and dwellings of the…

Book review: The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre

The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre Reminiscences from the spy who can string a sentence or two. And how. Behind the smoke and the mirrors, this book, by this onetime MI5 agent, is a master class in the art of story-writing, because every one of these stories from his life are fascinating anecdotes. And…

Book review: The House of Oracles by Chandini Santosh

In Chandini Santosh’s novel The House Of Oracles, the Manikoth House of the title assumes the mantle of an important character. The ancestral house is a big brooding presence, casting a dark shadow on the people living there. The deaths that stalk them in various ways, is considered a legacy of the house, yet darkness…

Book review: South Haven by Hirsh Sawhney

Hirsh Sawhney`s debut novel South Haven is a quiet piece of work. You could call it a coming- of- age novel, a slice- of- life story; it tries to stay just below the radar quite like its protagonist, Siddharth Arora. But this is polished writing and will not stay hidden. Not surprising since Sawhney is…

Book review: Mrs C Remembers by Himanjali Sankar

Remembering, but not quite Himanjali Sankar`s first novel for adults, Mrs C remembers, is the story of an average Bengali woman Anita Chatterjee, part of Calcutta haut monde circles, mother to obedient son Sudeep and rebellious daughter Sohini, both who love her in unquestioning and questioning fashion. Her husband is busy climbing the ladder to…

Book review: The Exile by Cathy Scott-Clark and Adrian Levy

This is more a brief take than review. Who was OBL? Savant? Monster? Sage? The horcrux of all evil? A person with illusions of grandeur trapped in the gaze of his mirror? Or maybe a man who set something in motion and watched as it took a shape of its own and rapidly mutated…

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…