fiction - Comfortably Numb

Book excerpt from Two by Gulzar

And somewhere in Gulzar`s re-visitation of the trauma of Partition, a novella titled Two, is this throwaway line: Before Pakistan took shape on the map, it started taking shape in the minds of the people. This was true of both Hindus and Muslims. The untouchables had been similarly alienated centuries ago. In one masterstroke the…

Book review: Still Me by Jojo Moyes

A romance at its heart For those readers who didn’t know that the film Me Before You was originally a book – it was. It did well, as did the movie version of the story, with the author Jojo Moyes also writing the screenplay. Still Me is the third book in the series that followed….

Book review: Stuck Like Lint by Shefali Tripathi Mehta

This is more a brief take than a review of the book. Reading my friend Shefali Tripathi Mehta`s book, the evocatively titled Stuck Like Lint (Niyogi Books) was like taking a walk down a moss-hedged path in a secret garden. A contemplative walk, the surroundings lush and green, almost overwhelmingly so, and the branches…

Book review: Uncommon Type, Some Stories by Tom Hanks

Pounding on the keys So, here it is, Tom Hanks’s literary debut. But then Hanks has had stints with the written word before, having written screenplays for the HBO docudrama From the Earth to the Moon. He is an intelligent and articulate man as has been clear to those who have followed his…

Book review: American Assassin by Vince Flynn

Skip the book, watch the movie! America`s James Bond is written up in a very unoriginal style. American Assassin by Vince Flynn, is the first of a series of books that feature the protagonist Mitch Rapp. Visit Flynn’s website and you see fans sending in emails about how Rapp is their favourite character,…

Book review: When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy

When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy. Juggernaut Books There`s no getting around it, this book is a wrenching read for the reader, all the more so for the female reader. The unnamed narrator, a poet flying high but yet to get to the top of her game, decides to, rather suddenly, marry a man…

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: 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…