Review: Still Loved…Still Missed!

Still Loved…Still Missed! by Mridula
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a set of 14 short stories and a poem. The stories are the short - short story variety – averaging 3 pages or so, except for a few exceptions. With these it is important the theme is strong as you cannot develop the characters with depth. This book does that well, and each of the stories has a nice theme reflecting largely on life and nature.

There is an undercurrent of philosophical exploration in all the short stories. The first story is about a sepal and it’s selfless nurturing of the flower. There is the other story about a girl who wants to chase her passion for paragliding at great personal risk. There are other stories which cover animals, death etc. “Still Loved, Still Missed” is the story after which the book takes it’s name, and yes – I liked the story and the story deserved to be the title one.

While the stories have good themes, are nice and easy to read, they are also forgettable. They leave you with faint impressions and had far more potential - if they had had more incidents/depth for readers to remember them by.

However, since short stories move along smoothly, they are recommended as light, easy and relaxing reads.

I received my copy of the book at no cost to me, to provide an honest review.


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Review: An Indian Loser

An Indian Loser by Uzma Hameed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

An Indian Loser centers around the story of the ambitious Peeyush. He has the aspirations that many of the middle class have – of obtaining a good education and getting a decent paying job. As he looks forward to his 10th standard, everything looks promising. Peeyush, however, fails his chemistry exams and gives up hope, well almost. He runs away from home and goes on to become a labourer at a construction site. His friends though encourage him, and he takes the supplementary exam, this time clearing it.

Life now seems to be returning on track, though he has to downgrade his educational aspirations by enrolling in an arts course. He grows to be especially close to Mustang, who is his roommate. Peeyush thinks of a good social experiment as a project, but backs off from participating actively in it. This offers the chance for his friend Mustang to emerge as a leader. Jealousy bites Peeyesh, and he grows distant from Mustang. His relationship with Radhika, and later Swati go through ups and downs as a result of his mood swings.

Peeyush, fancies a career in politics and grows close to Chunnu Bhaiya, who is himself looking to win an election. Peeyesh has an idea of starting coaching centers for students (a chain named Prayas) as a way to improve political clout with the youth. This hits it off well with the local youth, and the initiative is a great success. And yet, the hard work and demands of politics causes his relationships with his parents as well as his girlfriend Swati to suffer.

It requires a moral crisis during the election campaign for Peeyush to rethink his priorities and approach to life.

The story is good, and the treatment is very detailed - from Peeyush’s aspirations early on to his emerging political career. The narration though could have been a lot crisper, would have benefitted with either more humour or pace to enliven proceedings, and the relationships approached with more depth.

This is a very credible story for a first book by the author. I read and reviewed this book at her request.

My rating: 3.25 / 5.

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Review: Daredreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes

Daredreamers: A Start-up of Superheroes by Kartik Sharma
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Wisdom tells us that there are two ways to live life – make the most of the situation you are in and cope with it on a daily basis, or be brave – follow your dreams and almost always you will find your way. Good books find a way to make this point with stories which engross. This book is fairly successful at that.

Rasiq completes his MBA and gets a job at a leading investment bank. He is one of the few from his college to get selected and is proud of that, as well as the salary he gets. In return for the good salary he draws though, he is expected to slog long hours, meet unsustainable deadlines and be part of a culture which is not exactly considerate or respectful. This takes a toll – on his mental peace as well as his relationship with his girlfriend Ruchika. The stress combined with the feeling of elitism his salary brings to him, makes Rasiq unpredictable and in one instance he beats up an attendant over a simple parking matter. He also goes out and buys a Harley Davidson bike on impulse, while his relationship runs into rough weather. This early section of the book narrates a very typical scenario well, with a touch of humour in parts.

Rasiq leaves his job, has a serious accident and very soon has lost most of his savings. However, his dad subsequently encourages him to pursue his passion of creating a startup for emergency services. Rasiq launches DareDreamers and the team he builds is a diverse one with Nick (a tech geek and collegemate), Halka (a security personnel), Natasha (worked as body double stunt woman), Arjun (a marksman) and Vyom (an imaginative and intuitive doctor). The team pulls off some dramatic rescues and saves lives. This, however, worries Rakeysh (the CEO of GForce – a security services company) and he is determined to see them fail. The story subsequently is about the successes and challenges the DareDreamers face – can they survive as a company and make money or will they have to fold up?

The book has a number of things going for it - a good & different story, strong characters and good messages. There are aspects which could have been better though – one rescue involving a minister is silly, and a few others are overly dramatic & far fetched, and the personal relationships of the characters finds less space than it should (especially that of Rasiq in the later part of the book).

A book I certainly recommend. It might make you dream as well.

My rating: 3.75 / 5.

I received a free copy of the book for an honest review.


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Review: Milltown

Milltown by Shane Joseph
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Milltown is a story which combines aspects of cultural diversity and a good story to make an engrossing read. There is a subtle undercurrent of racism & prejudice which the book tackles very well.

Sam Selvadurai is a fairly recent immigrant to Canada, escaping violence in his country of birth – Sri Lanka (he is a Tamil while his wife is Sinhalese). He and his family (wife Malani, daughter Sarojini and son Mahesh) settle down in Milltown and open a South Asian restaurant, which they hope will do well. It isn’t easy in the midst of greed, corruption, prejudice and contacts from the past continuing to pursue and harass them.

A powerful lobby calls the shots in Milltown – primarily Mayor Frank Morgan, and Art Hamilton who is the key investor. Art has an interest in getting Sam to move from the place. Sue feels stuck in her job as Frank’s assistant but with a young son Billy who she hopes will go to college and make a good career, she has few options and feels weak against Frank’s advances. Sue looks to Rick Jones, who stood for election against Frank and lost, to help her. Billy and Sam’s daughter Sarojini fall in love, and matters soon get out of control. Events take a violent turn when Art’s troubled son Andy escapes the facility he is in and enters Milltown.

The author’s in depth understanding of Sri Lankan cultural and events allows him to weave an entirely authentic cultural background for the characters. As the story developed, I liked many of the characters – their values and motivation (Sam & his family, Billy and Rick). Sam’s struggle to fit in and succeed - by working hard, being broad minded & respectful of the new culture is very well narrated. An area the book could have done better - there could have been a richer dialogue between the characters exploring the intermingling of different cultural backgrounds even more.
The book alludes to the violence Sam escapes, but prefers to leave a lot unsaid – this was not difficult for me as I have a good understanding of the events in Sri Lanka, but this background might be a little on the shorter side for those who are not aware of this (all of this is public information and easily accessible though).

A book I recommend you read for its good story, strong characters and mature interweaving of different cultural backgrounds.

I received a free eBook from the author for an honest review.


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