fiction - Comfortably Numb

Book review: Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup

Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup (HarperCollins Books). What an assured debut! Shubhangi Swarup`s Latitudes of Longing is in one short succinct word, astonishing. Writing like a geologist with a magic pen, Swarup spins a story that at its core, is a love story to the mountains, to the sea, to the earth and the…

Book Review: The Friend by Teresa Driscoll

A child is fighting for his life in hospital. The mother is far away, stuck on a train and desperately trying to reach that hospital. She may be responsible for her child having come to grievous harm. Then again, she may not be. Teresa Driscoll’s psychological thriller begins on this explosive note. Former…

Book review: The Baptism of Tony Calangute by Sudeep Chakravarti

The Baptism of Tony Calangute by Sudeep Chakravarti. Aleph Book Company. Chakravarti`s book was released in 2008 with the title Once Upon A Time In Aparanta but he felt it didn’t reach enough people. A decade later, it`s out again with a new title and a new publisher. I`ll confess I preferred the earlier title…

Book review: Girls Burn Brighter by Shobha Rao

The enduring flame Shobha Rao’s debut novel Girls Burn Brighter is poignant, powerful, a moving read. Reminiscent of the Elena Ferrante books, this book too delineates a deep, enduring bond between two women. As the protagonists move from village to city and finally across oceans, so does the story. The book’s two…

Book Review: The Night of Happiness by Tabish Khair

The Night of Happiness by Tabish Khair. A businessman works late on a rain-drenched evening with his faithful right-hand man. He thinks it`s only decent that he drops the man to his home. So he does. The man, for his part, thinks it only decent to invite his boss upstairs for a bowl of halwa….

Brief Review: All The Lives We Never Lived by Anuradha Roy

All the Lives We Never Lived By Anuradha Roy. Hachette India Books. Anuradha Roy is like Anees Salim. With each new book by these two authors, the reader knows they are in for a truly immersive experience; this is virtual reality of another kind. In this intriguing read, Roy picks up strands of history like…

Book review: Rafina by Shandana Minhas

And they all fall flat A dramaybaaz protagonist, but where’s the drama? Shandana Minhas wrote this story in 2004; it saw the light of day 14 years later. Luckily, the story, that of a determined if rather naïve girl’s attempt to carve her niche in the world, is such that it can’t really…

Book review: Hush A Bye Baby by Deepanjana Pal

When the cradle falls Deepanjana Pal`s Hush A Bye Baby (Juggernaut Publishers) is a police procedural where the action shifts focus continually amongst a small group of participants, rather like an Agatha Christie mystery. Mumbai socialite and gynaecologist Dr Nandita Rai (we get a cracker of an intro to her) stands accused of female…

Book review: The Story of a Long Distance Marriage by Siddesh Inamdar

A marriage of inconvenience Rohan and Ira are an “unjinxable couple” (Rohan’s words, not mine) and that, of course, tempts fate. Ira goes off to NYC to study, Rohan stays behind at his newspaper desk job, and a series of jinxes proceeds to hit them. A gulf begins to yawn between them, their…

Book review: Jasoda by Kiran Nagarkar

Jasoda by Kiran Nagarkar. HarperCollins. We meet Jasoda the eponymous hero/heroine/protagonist of Kiran Nagarkar`s novel as she takes a quick break from working the family`s barren field to deliver a child. The moment she sees it’s a girl, she quickly puts it between her thighs and squeezes till the little girl is still. Because Jasoda…