Review: The Girl Across the Street

The Girl Across the Street by Vikki Patis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a very well written book, about two women who run into each other accidentally and find themselves drawn to each other. The build up to the suspense though is too long – and large portions of the book are devoted to developing the characters in a lot of depth.

The book is alternately told from the perspectives of Isla and Beth. They meet while trying to help an accident victim. They find they have something in common – abusive partners. Isla is married to Jake, who abuses her almost since their marriage. Beth’s boyfriend Kyle lives off her income, and wastes his time with his friend Steve. It is a constant struggle for Beth to make ends meet, and her frustration mounts. Circumstances force Beth to move in with Isla temporarily, and there are secrets which unravel as the story progresses.

As the women get together, they see some hope. The story till almost the end centers around the abuse the women face, their constant state of stress and fear. This is extremely well written, and the mental agony of Isla & Beth, especially Isla, jumps out at you.

While as I mentioned, the book is well written and the events feel very real and natural, the build up to the unravelling of the suspense is too long, resulting in a slack pace for much of the book.

Overall, a book still well worth reading for its story and the quality of the writing.

Thanks to NetGalley, Bookouture and the author for a free electronic copy of the book for providing an honest review.

My rating: 3.25 / 5.


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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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Review: A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons

A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons by Robert M. Sapolsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read Robert Sapolsky’s ‘Behave’ recently and really liked it for its tremendous insights on human behaviour. And so, as a recently turned fan of his writing, I looked up his other books and chose “A Primate’s Memoir”. This book however is more about his experiences in Africa to study baboons, and not a deep science read like ‘Behave’. This book is interesting in its own way – Sapolsky combines humour while narrating his experiences very well.

Robert Sapolsky has this strong urge to study baboons in their natural surroundings and welcomes a break from lab work. He goes to Kenya (to the bush near Serengeti) and studies a baboon troop closely over several years. He personalises the experience very well – each baboon has a name, and their behaviours are described in ways we can easily relate to. There is a social hierarchy among the baboons and power is attained by the Alpha male after being tested & accepted by the rest of the troop. There is a lot of interesting information on male – female pairing, aggression, emotions and other behaviours. To study the impact of hierarchy and events on baboons parameters, he goes around shooting anaesthetic darts at the baboons and taking blood samples. This becomes more and more difficult as the baboons start looking out for him and recognise the dart gun.

There are large portions of the book on Sapolsky’s experiences with the local Masai tribes, local culture, corruption and conflicts. His interaction with the local tribes makes for great reading. He also makes tribes to Uganda when Idi Amin’s regime falls, survives the aftermath of a coup attempt and makes a difficult trip to Sudan. He critically examines the legacy of Dian Fossey (I did not know about her story earlier), though in a mature way. There is a situation he covers towards the end of the book where a few baboons contract tuberculosis, and he finds it frustrating in battling a corrupt system to save the baboons.

Sapolsky explains his fascination with studying the brain to the fact that his father suffered from brain disease. This is the portion I was uncomfortable with in ‘Behave’ as well, but the issue comes more directly in this book. Sapolsky briefly relates how lab animals live miserable lives – confined and put through great cruelty causing them acute pain & suffering (sometimes for nothing). He goes on to mention that he did not see an alternate to this with the larger good in mind. I do not think this is adequate examination of a very serious issue. There are some tragic incidents as part of his darting experiences as well, however careful he tries to be.

I recommend this for the absorbing writing of his experiences, description of baboon behaviour and new cultures. I found ''Behave’ to be more impressive, but then, just maybe my expectations were too high after reading it first.

Also, this is my first audiobook! I do admit to struggling with it a bit though – I found it more difficult to focus – I was more prone to distraction, and had to invest more time in completing the book (in comparison to reading). However, there are surely other obvious advantages and hope to get better at listening to my next audiobook.

My rating: 4.25 / 5.


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Review: Magic Square

Magic Square by Salini Vineeth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Magic Square by Salini Vineeth is a short novel. Coincidentally, I see a trend of many short novels or long short stories (however we want to refer to them) under 100 pages over the past year. While I would have thought that it would be difficult to build depth of characters in such short novels, this book does disprove that view. Magic Square does this with only a few characters and a very focused story. The story is different and holds your interest, well till the end.

Amudha and Dheeraj are doing their PhD and not quite by choice. Dheeraj, her senior is finding the going tough with Prof Murthy and isn’t quite sure when he will complete his PhD. Amudha grows to hate job interviews and the puzzles which have become an inherent part of the selection process, and settles to do a PhD. They grow to be good friends and the incidents around their lives in the lab is good fun to read.

As Dheeraj struggles with a tough assignment, Amudha suggests they visit a bookshop which has many old and less known books which might help. A book finally comes to Dheeraj’s rescue – it has all the questions which Dheeraj has to answer with the solutions scribbled by one “L V Sreenivasan”. Amudha is fascinated by Sreenivasan, as he comes across a brilliant person based on the solutions he has scribbled. Sreenivasan has also written a very short poem in the book.
Amudha goes in search of Sreenivasan – and that is the rest of the story. Where & what did he study, and what is he doing now?

The story is different, original and flows smoothly. The book would have benefited with better editing, though it is a minor issue. While the build up of the story is excellent, it had far greater potential. A lot of the discoveries are very lucky coincidences (quite a few of them) and the last section could have been far better.

An impressive debut novel which I recommend for its good story, and for being a short & easy read.

My rating: 3.75 / 5


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