Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 
  - J. K. Rowling
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you have read and enjoyed the Harry Potter series, you can't miss this book – love it or hate it. I found it reasonably engrossing, though it is definitely not in the same league as the earlier series. The content on the magical side felt weaker, but it compensated by exploring a troubled parent-child relationship in a wonderful manner. It also explores the strain placed on a young child’s shoulder by his/her parents’ fame or notoriety.

The premise is interesting, however, I would have preferred to read something on similar lines, though not a continuation of HP. Essentially, it is not the eighth book in the Harry Potter series – the content, as well as the tone and treatment is very different. In a way, it is a good thing, since any addition to a (nearly) perfect thing will only make it less perfect.

For all it’s apparent size, it is quite a short read. I was able to finish it one evening/night after work. I borrowed it from a colleague, and when I returned it the next day, he was rather shocked and actually asked me if I had changed my mind about reading it!

Scion of Ikshvaku

Scion of Ikshvaku
- Amish Tripathi

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Amish started off well, but it appears that he ran out of his well-known imagination midway through. And this made me dislike an otherwise interesting and imaginative story.

Some of the deviations from the story as we know it, were quite interesting, such as old existing enmity between Dashratha and Ravana, and portrayal of Manthara as a shrewd businesswoman. However, quite a few of them strained imagination, specifically the depiction of Rama as an unwanted, unloved son.

Incorporating the deplorable "Nirbhaya" incident in Delhi to support the idea of Ram's dedication to law above all else, was highly insensitive and vulgar. I thought he could have come up with some other, better reason for Manthara's hatred towards Ram. And I wonder if he confused Ramayana and Mahabharat – he ended up matching Draupadi's swayamvar onto that of Sita – where Ram shoots an arrow through a fish’s eye while looking at the reflection. If an author wants to present the facts (can they be called facts?) from an epic in a different manner, I’m all for it, but borrowing from another source (and an equally well-known one at that) is unpardonable.

Bad editing in first work(s) of an author can be excused (at least I can), especially if it is counter-balanced by an imaginative story or good content. And you expect an improve in subsequent works, both in readability and in content – hence I had a higher expectation from this series though I found the third book in the Shiva trilogy quite average. But this book failed so miserably on both accounts, that I cannot bring myself to read the book 2 (Sita) or any subsequent works of his.

The Shadow of the Wind

The Shadow of the Wind
  - Carlos Ruiz Zafon

You adore some books for their beautiful language, and love some for their amazing plot. What do you call one that combines both in a magnificent work? - The Shadow of the Wind!! It is the best work of fiction I have come across in a while, and whatever I write about it cannot do justice to the sentiments it invoked.

The book starts off with a scene that embodies the stuff that a book-lover’s dreams are made of – the hero Daniel (then a mere boy, all of ten years old) is introduced by his father to ‘The Cemetery of Forgotten Books’ – an ancient, mysterious place that is a labyrinth of passages, tunnels and bridges, housing rows upon rows of bookshelves, full of books rescued from libraries and bookshops that had closed down. The books are living souls, forgotten by time, and this magical place is their secret sanctuary, until they find a new reader’s love.

“In the shop we buy and sell them, but in truth books have no owner. Every book that you see here has been somebody's best friend.”

This is a book about books, and a story within a story.  On his first visit, Daniel is allowed to choose a book to make his own and cherish forever. The book titled “The Shadow of the Wind” is written by an unknown writer named Julian Carax; it makes a deep impression on his young mind, and the insatiable curiosity and passion it ignites in him marks the course of his entire life from there on. He makes it his life’s mission to find and read other books by this author, and to learn about the fate of the author himself. However, Daniel finds that rarely anyone has heard of the author, and his books are impossible to find. As the events progress, Daniel collects bitter and sweet experiences of life – love and heart-break, fear and friendship, and grows up from a boy into a young man. As he proceeds with his quest to unravel the mystery surrounding Julian, he uncovers stories of/from people who had been a close part of Julian’s life, but each tale leads him into a new mystery. His search inadvertently sets off a sequence of disastrous events, and he himself gets entrenched into a web of things that he has no knowledge about.

“It’s a story of love, of hatred, and of the dreams that live in the shadow of the wind.”

The way the plot unfolds is simply delightful - many inter-woven tales with a multi-layered mystery – you peel one layer, only to find another one underneath. The manner in which Daniel’s life starts taking a parallel course to that of Julian, and eventually becomes closely intertwined is marvelous. The suspense builds up gradually and steadily, and these stories keep one engaged and intrigued. The revelation is not sudden as is typical of suspense thrillers, rather it also builds up as a story and tapers down to tie up all the threads. Though I feel that this was somewhat long-drawn, and could have been crisper.

The imagery is rich and vivid, wonderfully conveying the feel of fascinating buildings and squares of Barcelona, as well as the despair of the war-torn city. The prose is lyrical and the language enchanting, and all of this comes together to create a wonderful feeling of magical realism. It is a treasure house of phrases and quotes – the kind that you can keep turning in your mind again and again and still be captivated by their beauty.

“In my schoolboy reveries, we were always two fugitives riding on the spine of a book, eager to escape into worlds of fiction and secondhand dreams.”

“Books are mirrors: you only see in them what you already have inside you.”

“The moment you stop to think about whether you love someone, you've already stopped loving that person forever.”

“There are few reasons for telling the truth, but for lying the number is infinite.”

 “A secret's worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept.”

 “. . .sometimes one feels freer speaking to a stranger than to people one knows. Why is that?" “Probably because a stranger sees us the way we are, not as he wishes to think we are.”

“Presents are made for the pleasure of who gives them, not the merits of who receives them.”

The nurse knew that those who really love, love in silence, with deeds and not with words.”

“In this world the only opinion that holds court is prejudice.”

To be honest, I had guessed the suspense or the suspect quite early on, but I kept hovering between certainty and uncertainty of my guess. But the point is that even if you get it right, it doesn’t really matter, because what is important is the story, which will keep you hooked. I can speak for myself – I found it impossible to put down, and one Saturday when I didn’t have other pressing demands (like work ;-)), I read almost non-stop for 8 hours.

I feel that it is a great example of story-telling, it sways your thoughts in one direction or other, and you may turn out to be right or wrong. At some point, I had even anticipated paranormal elements. Another thing I loved about the book is that the underlying stories are an integral part of the whole – unlike several other books I have come across in recent times, where the sub-plots are either deliberate red-herrings or dead-ends.

To sum up: a fast-paced narrative, wonderful plot, beautiful language, sprinkled with subtle humor throughout – a thoroughly enjoyable read!

The Silkworm

The Silkworm (Cormoran Strike #2)

-          Robert Galbraith (J. K. Rowling)

I finished reading The Silkworm in two days (and one of them a working day 😃). Of course, being a murder mystery, it kept me hooked till the murderer was revealed, but I have to confess that I didn't quite like it.

I had fairly liked the first book in the Cormoran Strike series (The Cuckoo’s Calling). It was a clean mystery, somewhat reminiscent of Agatha Christie - even though it was a bit slow, and I felt as if Rowling created deliberate red herrings. But I had hoped to find improvement in the sequels. In that respect, this one was better in terms of narrative, as there weren't as many deliberately misleading threads. But - it was too gruesome for me ☹️. Thrillers and mysteries have been my favorite genre, but I have given up on reading the contemporary works in this area, because they usually derive their thrill from psychopathic elements. And this goes right into that territory, deep into it. I also can't shake off the feeling that (as with the first book) this was longer than it should have been

I was also disappointed to find her perpetuating stereotypes. The female characters are almost all stereotyped, and the one that isn't - Robin - just drives this point further by over-stressing that she is not like other girls (There are more, but a mention of them would make this review a big spoiler.) Frankly, that was not what I expected from the creator of Hermione Granger. And the male characters are portrayed in the same clichéd style too – the brilliant, moody and down-in-the-dump detective, and the shallow and jealous fiancé.

I was quite disappointed, and not sure if I want to read the next one in the series.

The Mountain of Light

The Mountain of Light

  - Indu Sundaresan

The first book by Indu Sundaresan that I read was ‘The Twentieth Wife’, and I was absolutely enthralled by it. I loved the sequel (The Feast of Roses) too. On a visit to Blossoms, I had been looking out for her collection of stories, ‘In the Convent of Little Flowers’; I didn’t find it, but I came upon ‘The Mountain of Light’. It belonged to the same genre (Historical fiction), and the subject – The Kohinoor (or Koh-i-Noor, as is described here) – appeared very interesting.

After I bought it, it kept on lying for almost two years (I was mostly in my non-reading phases during this time), before I started reading it on a flight. I finished about 105 pages in a single sitting on that short flight! The narrative kept me hooked, and at that point I didn’t regret buying it solely on the strength of the previous works I had read by the author. However, my conviction did not last the entire length of the book. It is undoubtedly a well written story, but I found it disappointing, and it failed to live up to the expectation I had from it.

The actual origins of the world’s most well-known diamond – the Kohinoor – are unknown; this book tells the story of the magnificent diamond from the time it reached into the possession of legendary Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab to its passing into the hands (or crown) of the empress of Great Britain, Queen Victoria. The diamond is also said to have a curse – a man cannot safely wear it in a crown, which is why the Mughal emprerors had it embedded in the Peacock Throne, and Ranjit Singh wore it in an armlet. The promise – as you can imagine – is irresistible. And this is where this fails. I felt that the book is composed of four distinct tales, only loosely bound by the Kohinoor.

The first part of the book narrates the events that led to the acquisition of the diamond by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Shah Shuja, the exiled king of Afganistan, and his wife Wafa Begum, are imprisoned by the Maharaja – he rescued Shah Shuja from imprisonment in exchange for diamond, but later Wafa Begum is reluctant to hand him the diamond as promised. At last, they have to surrender it to the Maharaja, who retains it, as well as the vast Punjab empire, till his death. During this timeline, the story meanders into an account of Lord Auckland’s sisters, Emily and Fanny – which would have been very well, had it had a relevance to the events that take place later on.

The second story deals with the boy king Maharaja Dalip Singh, the heir of Ranjit Singh, whose empire is annexed by the British. He is raised under the guardianship of the British regent (John? Henry? Cant recall the name) and ultimately exiled to England. The author seems to have completely skirted the unpleasant part of the British takeover of Indian kingdoms, and portrayed the regent in a very compassionate light. While I was approaching this part, I was apprehensive about the traumatic details of British oppression, however I found the completely benevolent tone difficult to digest too. A large part of this story is devoted to the life and affairs of the regent, and again, has hardly any relevance to the central theme.

A third story captures the actual transfer of the diamond from India to London, and as expected, is considerably dramatized. A little too much, I would say.

Then we find the exiled prince (or self-proclaimed Maharaja), old and dying, in Paris. Interspersed are his reminiscences of his early life in Britain. His initial years are covered with a lot of excitement, and a grand life where he has the queen’s favor, though he also starts to get a first-hand experience of deep-rooted racism. How and when he got from that privileged life to the current destitute state, is either not mentioned, or I am unable to recall after a couple of months.

There is no doubt that each story is wonderfully told, in the same delightful style that I found so captivating in ‘The Twentieth Wife’ – great narration with a rich imagery of people and places. However, that is what it amounts to – a string of stories, where the primary character (the Kohinoor) makes only a few fleeting appearances. The author has clearly stated that several events have been a product of her own imagination, but here the imagination appears to have taken the predominant role. The entire tale that is meant to be a historic fiction, was more fiction than history, and felt like it (I didn’t feel that so much in the books on Noor-Jahan’s life). It would not have rankled, if these sub-plots had a role to play in the central story. It was as if the characters made an appearance, engaged you, and then fizzled out. Overall, a good read, but unsatisfying.