Book Reviews - Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

Sheila Kumar's Storehouse

Book review: Chronicle of an Hour and a Half by Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari

Prelude to a riot In his debut work, Saharu Nusaiba Kannanari sets the mise-en-scene at a measured pace, introducing the reader to the various characters of Vaiga village in the foothills of the Western Ghats, with the rain in the vanguard of the cast. Even for Kerala, this is torrential rain, pouring down relentlessly, bringing…

Book review: This is Salvaged by Vauhini Vara

Rooted in reality Vauhini Vara’s debut, ‘The Immortal King Rao,’ a Finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was, simply put, an amazing book. As a work of speculative fiction, it had an imagined world of impressive proportions. In this, her second book, a collection of short stories firmly rooted in reality, Vara changes…

Book review: Kashmir by Manreet Sodhi Someshwar

Hellfire in a heavenly valley With Kashmir, Manreet Sodhi Someshwar ends her moving Partition Trilogy. The first book Lahore dealt with the conflagration that flared up in the northwestern part of a then unified India at the time of Partition, and the many innocents that conflagration consumed, even as Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Lord…

Book review: The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz

The Sweet Life in Paris by David Lebovitz. Broadway Books. Released in 2009. This book is delightful. The tagline reads: delicious adventures in the world`s most glorious – and perplexing – city. Which to the perceptive reader, makes it clear there`s no needless snark or sarcasm involved about being an American chef who relocated to…

Book review: Prophet Song by Paul Lynch

A dirge for our times The political becomes the intensely personal in this brilliant book which has just won the Booker Prize for 2023. The dark allegorical story shows us a dystopian version of Ireland in the near future with a populist right-wing government at the helm. While set in Ireland, it reflects multiple political…

Book review: The Mistress of Bhatia House By Sujatha Massey

The woman of substance returns The Mistress of Bhatia House by Sujatha Massey, the newest book in the Perveen Mistry series, is set in pre-Independence India, has a clutch of interesting female characters, and draws the reader into a world that is enjoyably brush-stroked as well as focussed at the same time. This book follows…

Book review: Western Lane by Chetna Maroo

The many ways of dealing with grief Chetna Maroo`s Western Lane was on the Booker Prize 2023 longlist, then moved to the shortlist. This slim debut book, the story of a squash prodigy named Gopi and how her family of two sisters and a father cope with the enveloping sorrow of losing their mother and…

Book review: The Fast and the Dead by Anuja Chauhan

Murders in the ooru Anuja Chauhan brings her deceptively mild-mannered sleuth ACP Bhavani Singh back with her second murder mystery, The Fast and the Dead. The book has everything fans of her work like and look for: enough red herrings, a whole slew of interesting people with enough motivation to make the cut as suspects,…

Book review: Sakina`s Kiss by Vivek Shanbagh

SAKINA`S KISS by Vivek Shanbhag. Penguin Vintage Books. Shanbhag makes the reader work, asking more questions than supplying answers, in Sakina`s Kiss. The story presents us with Venkataramana/ Venkatraman/Venkat, who seems to be your common or garden irascible old man. Until you realise he`s not that old. Until he gives vent to his political beliefs,…

Book review: Red Sauce Brown Sauce by Felicity Cloake

RED SAUCE BROWN SAUCE by Felicity Cloake. Mudlark Books. The writer has us at the Pooh quote on breakfast right at the start of the book, and it`s a fun ride from there on. In 2019, Felicity Cloake released her One More Croissant for the Road, a delightful culinary travelogue of her tour de France,…