Book review: Go set a watchman

My rating : Average (3 stars)

This was touted as one of the mini-literary sensations. A second book, after so many many years, by Ms Harper Lee. To make it even more appealing, if it were possible, a sequel to her most beloved first book. While I cant say I am a huge fan of “To kill a mockingbird” the book, I must admit that Gregory Peck’s protrayal of Atticus Finch remains one of my personal favorite performances in all cinema. For that reason alone, I decided to pick up Ms Lee’s second book for a read. As it usually happens, I am left with mixed feelings about the book.

There is a patchiness about the progression of the book. I am not sure what the book was meant to be. The first half of the book is a meandering walk through of Jean Louis Finch’s vacation. She walks round with her boyfriend visiting and reliving old incidents. They have some charm but it leads nowhere. It almost feels like prose to fill up the pages. The writing is sketchy as well. There is none of the polished elehance of prose that was evident in Mockingbird.

Then well into the second half of the book, we get into the real conflict the book was actually meant to be about – her discovery that her father is not the liberal-minded God-like man she had imagined. A quarter of the book following this discovery is about her sense of desolation, frustration and anger. Her faith is ishaken, she questions haer roots. For a while, it is suppressed emotions. Then she opens out her frustrations to her uncle, boyfriend and finally, her father. These were unquestionably the best parts of the book. But mind, the depth of Scout’s despair can be felt only if you have read and watched “To kill a mockingbird” a few times. Atticus Finch is as much a God-like figure to us as he is to his daughter. We feel the sense of let-down as severely as his daughter. You feel as angry and as frustrated as the daughter. I felt every word she screams to her father.

This father-daughter scene sets up the scene for a potentially great climax. But it never comes. That was another huge let-down for me. Out of nowehere comes Finch the uncle, puches her on her mouth – and suddenly, the world has become different. Atticus aint as bad as she had thought, her uncle loved her Mom, she wont marry a negro anyway.. sh what is the whole thing about? I felt very let-down by Ms Lee. She had it going and then she beats a cowardly retreat. Hence, I end up empatchizing or sympathizing with none, not particularly liking anyone and discovering everyone in the book is eventually selfish with a narrow view of the world.

I learnt that this was the first book written by Ms Lee that was rejected by a publisher and the editor worked with her to rework the idea to make it a “To kill a mockingbird”. As I said, I am not a huge fan of Mockingbird either but really, you have to admire the editor who managed to draw the best out of Ms Lee’s idea.

Book review: A tangled web, by L.M.Montgomery

“A Tangled Web” is one of the very very few “adult” novels penned by Lucy Maud Montgomery. The Canadian author is  primarily renowned for her creation of Anne Shirley. perhaps the most beautiful creation of a child in all fiction. She also created many other works of children fiction – Emily of Silver Moon, Pat of Silver Busy, Jane of Lantern Hill and more. She achieved immense success as a writer of fiction based on children. But her adult books did not receive as much success. Blue Castle was a very interesting book indeed – a woman is pronounced to be suffering from an incurable disease with a limited time to live. The book is about how she tries to achieve all her dreams in the time remaining. The theme is beautiful but Montgomery couldn’t make it a gripping account. She meandered and tried to make it as pleasing an affair as the child stories. The well-written story hence fell flat.

A tangled web has a good theme. An elderly aunt prepares for her death and as one of her last actions, bequathes her precious heirloom, an old jug, to an unnamed relative to be announded after a year. There is a big family, each one of whose members expects the jug to be their gift. The book is almost completely abou tthe lives of these members and how things change over the course of the year. The theme of the book is very interesting as I said. Being part of a big family myself with strong senior ladies, I could relate to a lot of action early in the book. To me, the book very quickly became a very confusing affair. There are just way too many characters and keeping track of each one of their stories in parallel was too difficult a task for me. By the time you got familiar with the people and relate to their stories, the book was almost over. Due to the number of stories being spawned, I felt a certain shallowness to the characters. I could connect with none. I had the same experience as watching one of the Harry Potter movies – just a quick assembly of different images with no emotinal connect anywhere. This from Ms Montgomery was a huge disappointment. For the most essential win about her “child” books are about the emotional connect you feel with the chief characters. Anne, Mathew and Marila for instance. Ms Montgomery appears to have rather a limited view of what an adult book means. To her, it appears it must means more swearing and more kissing. Otherwise, the adults just seem to be the simpletons they appear in her child books.

Despite all of this, the book is still not a bad read. The disappointment is high only because of the expectations going with the author. Its a typically gay, light read marks Ms Montgomery’s books. Once you know to recognize the characters by their name, the chances are you may actually start liking them – at least some. So it may not be a complete waste of time. But dont go into it expecting a brilliance you may (justifiably) expect from the author who wrote “Anne of Green Gables”. There is no such flair here. But the prose is lovely as ever and you font feel bored. Just confused.

Rating: 2.5 on 5

A special man.. [part 1]

M.S.Viswanathan is no more with us in the physical world. But I firmly believe men who create great art never really die. For, they induce a bit a of their soul into the art they create. For almost the past nine decades, Indian cinema has become the most influential forms of music in India. It has managed to penetrate into every nook and corner of the country, as no other music has. I have seen this in every small town and village I have visited and been astonished at the extent of knowledge and tastethat it has uncovered. In rural Tamil Nadu, there is no function that can exist without film music blaring from the speakers- and more of then not, you would encounter songs created more than five decades ago still being fondly played and replayed and enjoyed by the young and old alike. MSV is truly very very unique in this regard. He, with Ramamoorthy, have created music that wowed critics and masses alike. The songs that thrill the  senses of connoisseurs are also immensely popular with the public. Few have understood the dynamic of film music as well as MSV did and managed to blend creativity with mass-appeal as he did.
As I look back over my musical tastes, I find I owe a lot to three music men- Naushad M.S.Viswanathan and T,K,Ramamoorthy. These men were the ones who initiated my deep dive into the cine music of yore. While I weaned away from Naushad with time, my admiration from Viswanathan and Ramamorthy has only  grown, and grown exponentially in recent years. As I play back the most popular of their songs again, I find new delights in their music. Their music was a combination of the orchestral brilliance of C.Ramchandra, the unpredictable genius of Salil Chowdhury, the east-west fusion flair of O.P.Nayyar – all tying up the great poetry that emanated from such men of words as Kannadasan, Nattukottai Kalyanasundaram and later, Vali.

What do I findo magical about MSV’s creations? Well, as with all great music, it is mostly inexpressible. For the small part that can be expressed -first, it is about the beautiful way in which the words meet the tune – you can never discern whether the words were written to a tune or the other way around. Both MSV and TKR enjoyed great comeraderie with the lyricists they worked with, particularly Kannadasan. The chemistry between them is very apparent. Very note of the tunes of MSV-TKR seem to fit every syllable of the words penned by Kannadasan. There is hardly ever a “filler” needed, very very rarely would you experience the awkwardness where the notes struggle to meet the words. I take a break now to let you experience this for yourself in one of their superlative songs..

Then, there is the orchestration. I can go on and on about this. There are so many many great music directors the land has produced. But very few of them really comprehended the nuances of conducting the music to their songs. Everything about MSV’s music was genius, not just the composition. You would find very often that people singing their songs sing the prelude and interlude music also with the “taaaen.. taaaen..” sound. Their orchestra could be as Indian as you want or as western as you want. They could do anything but always being very very melodious. There are plenty of songs that I could present for this.. some of the songs whose orchestration I consider to be outstanding are mayangugiraaL oru maadhu, oLimayamaana edirkaalam, kaN pOna pOkilE, pEsuvadu kiLiyaa, malarndu malaraada.. the list can go on forever. I put together a small montage of some of my favourite orchestral pieces from their music.. hope you like it

I wish to convey a lot more about their orchestration.. but I am going to break now. I will continue this tomorrow. I leave you with a melody that emphasizes the genius of Viswanathan-Ramamoorthy’s orchestration. I am going to go to sleep listening to this wondrous song in a repeat mode. Hope you enjoy it too..

Till tomorrow..

Book review: The Four Feathers

At Villa Rose was my first introduction to A.E.W.Mason’s writing – and that was his entry to the mystery genre which became his claim to fame. I found the book little more than a pulp novel. That delayed my next tryst with Mason. I switched to this book as a temporarary distraction from Dune, a read which was going much slower than expected. Over the next few nights, I found myself spell-bound by this tale of cowardice and courage, adventure and romance, loyalty and duty, love and nobility. Yesterday late into the night, I turned the last page on what was definitely one of my best reads of this year so far. This is the story of a man’s realization of his own capabilities, his deep desire to prove himself worthy – and the story of the strength of true love.

Henry Flaversham is born to a life with the British Army – his father has so ordained it. He hears tales of how army men lose their heads in the face of battle. He believes himself to lack the heart for fight himself and assuming so, resigns from the army when there is a call for battle. Three of his friends realize what he has done and send him one white feather each, the feather representing an accusation of cowardice. Henry who is engaged to the charming Ethne Eustace, receives the feathers in a post while with his finance. When questioned, Henry discloses the complete story to her. As he ends his tale, he is stunned to find an additional feather – Ethne’s own accusation. She breaks her engagement to him but in one of the memorable passages in the book, they spend one last evening participating in a country party organised by her father. The next morning, she asks him to leave, he doesn’t have to meet her father as she has already told him of the broken engagement. But Henry stands firm, “No. It is right that I meet him and explain”. You as the audience realise that this man is no coward. But Henry realizes it not himself. He undertakes a perilous adventure to redeem himself in his friends’ eyes and get them to take back their feathers.

This is his story but it is not only his. Mason paints each character most lovingly, taking us into their hearts and thoughts with immense sensitivity. All major characters of the book are equally memorable – Ethne. Durrance and Henry are most prominent of course. But Trench, Willoughby. Sutch, Lord Faversham – they are equally memorable in their own ways.

Beautiful prose and the tender telling of an inspiring story has made this  one of the few  books I rate five on five. Outstanding !!

Review: Green for danger

Green For Danger by Christianna Brand

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In the wee hours of the morning, I closed Ms Brand’s “Green for danger” with a satisfactory sigh. It is not often that a murder mystery manages to surprise me now. Thanks to having read and re-read Agatha Christie zillions of times, I assumed that I was up to every trick that a mystery author could throw at me. But Ms Brand successfully managed to fob me off. As in Agatha Christie’s “Cards on the table”, we have a limited set of suspects. The puzzle is tantalizing. You know you should expect the unexpected but the problem was defining the unexpected. Quite brilliantly done.

As much as the solution to the mystery is brilliant, what makes this a most notable work is the picture it paints of the World War and how medical units operated during those days. We get but fleeting peeks into this life but they are what make this book distinguish itself from just-another-murder-mystery. The air raids, the procedures to be taken during air raids, how hospitals and its personnel reacted to such incidents – these are truly captivating. This is not a historical novel – Ms Brand was simply recounting life as it existed then, which makes this more like a live document of the times.

Despite all these positives going for it, the book somehow has a rather “pulpy” feel to it and I strong suspect the rather sloppy romance to be the cause. Ms Brand can write mysteries well enough but she is definitely no romance writer. The romance in fact brought to my mind bad, forgettable scB-grade and some war time Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 40s. I love the movies of that period but the B-graders were pretty obvious. When the book begins to read like such movies, you are turned off.

Inspector Cockrill was good fun for most part, but somehow somehow, not all that memorable at the end of the book. I watched the movie adaptation after completing the book. They have done a marvelous job with it and Alistair Sim is particularly brilliant as Cockrill

View all my reviews

Review: Rendezvous with Rama

Rendezvous with Rama by Arthur C. Clarke

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This Arthur C Clarke book has oft been touted as a landmark of science fiction literature and highly recommended by friends. Science fiction has not been my favorite literary genre and whenever I pick up such a book to read, its usually got Isaac Asimov marked as the author. But I did finally read “Childhood’s End” by Clarke a while ago and liked it, not hugely but significantly. Significant enough to at last turn my attention to this, his renowned work. And I must say I hugely liked it.

The story is well known. A celestial body (apparently so) makes an appearance in a future solar system, a future where man has managed to find home on other planets and satellites- Mercury, Mars, Moon et al. This new body excites the curiosity of the humans and a group of space explorers take on the onus of exploring this world. What follows is a fascinating exploration into a new world. Mr Clarke’s genius as a writer is immediately apparent. There is first the clear visualization of the world, the details are simply mind-boggling. What imagination and such detailed imagination at that. Then there is the way you are taken into the world. This is the crux of the book. The book does not really havea plot beyond the depiction of this world. So what becomes most important is how well the author interests you in this aspect. And I was mesmerized through it. Mr Clarke makes us feel part of the world. We feel almost personally involved in the whole affair. We are surprised and shocked just as the authour means us to be. Its truly brilliant.

At a certain level, I feel this to almost a romance. It perhaps is. It is Arthur Clarke’s romance with Space, a romance with Science. Rama seems to be as lovingly as depicted as Emma was by Jane Austen. It is with deep regret that we bid farewell to Rama at the end of the book. The end is however where I have a grouse with Mr Clarke and makes me withdraw a star from the rating. He created so much aura around the world but we are left only explorers who are given a sight of the world but nothing more. No answers to the oh-so-many questions that leap from every page. What was the science behind it all? What were the creatures? What was the sea? Was this a machine? Nope.. no answers. Clarke meanth this to be a standalone book. Considering that, I felt a trifle cheated at having the answers withheld. It was like reading an Agatha Christie novel with the last chapter torn away. Well.. not as bad as that perhaps, but close. Thats how Clarke wanted it to be and so it must be. But I just wish it wasnt so. But all in all, a great book indeed. Genius of imagination and writing.View all my reviews

Review: The Franchise Affair

The Franchise Affair by Josephine Tey

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As a Josephine Tey fan, it was with great anticipation on this mystery not credited to Inspector Grant (though he does make an appearance in the story). Overall, it was a book which gripped, tantalized but did not really deliver.

First, let me set that all you love about Tey’s writing remains valid in this book too – a true genius for turn of phrase. Many a times through the book, I found myself re-reading a sentence that with minimum words just conveys a wealth of information. Brilliant ! The mystery is not a murder but very interesting. A claim to kidnapping has been made against two ladies by a young, apparently innocent girl. The book is around the lawyer trying to decipher the facts behind the problem.

Actually, its not the discovery of the “facts” behind the problem. Its more the lawyer’s crusade to prove the innocence of the accused. This is where I had a problem with the book and it is not something unique to this book. I have found and bemoaned Miss Tey’s tendency to have her chief protagonists heavily opinionated based on physical traits. In this book, I was frustrated by how Mr Blair, the lawyer in question, so blindly accepts the innocence of the accused women though all evidence is proven to the contrary. We are never given to understand why this is so. The whole investigation is based on the assumption that there is a false accusation. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the book is bad but it leaves me with the feeling that not all is uncovered.

This has been a tendency in other Tey books as well, most famously in “The daughter of time” where Inspector Grant builds up a whole case simply based on the facial looks of a person. The arguments are all ingenious but that the basis is on physical traits rather detracts from the arguments. The same here. The author puts up a case for blue eyed people vs cross eyed ones blah..blah. All very interesting but not surely to drive the solution of a mystery.

The characters are all well fleshed out and you enjoy their company through your time with the book. It is eventually the rather simplistic and “miraculous” way in which the finale is reached that leaves you unsatisfied and with open questions on the nature of the investigation. Thankfully, Mr Blair catches a plane to Canada at the end of book and hopefully was not called in by Josephine Tey to indulge in criminal investigations again.

View all my reviews

Review: The Jury

The Jury by Steve Martini
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 stars.. a rather typical courtroom potboiler surrounding a murder. Most of the book is to do with the proceedings in the court and the investigation of the Defense. This is the better part of the book. It gets rather dull at times but you still are encouraged to keep moving through the book.There is a small portion of denouement which is very weak and rather unnecessary.

Overall, a decent snappy read.

View all my reviews

Review: Excellent Women

Excellent Women by Barbara Pym
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was referred to this book by a blog which listed as a book to read if you are a Jane Austen fan. As I meet that criteria rather overwhelmingly, I decided to pick the recommendation up. I am glad that I did. The book is a delightful comedy of manners set around a bunch of everyday nondescript folks whom we barely take a second look at. Miss Pym makes magic out of the cast and creates a book always warm and funny.

The book is told in first person by Mildred Lathbury. She makes a most sharp, witty and interesting observer. We walk through days where nothing appears to happen – they must be pretty dull days indeed – but the book itself is never dull. This to me is the author’s biggest achievement. Its not too difficult to grab a reader’s attention when you have a strong plot or a great character or more. Ms Pym keeps us engaged right through without either of these in any strong measure. The reason for this is the beauty of her prose and the humor that is extracted out of seemingly mundane events. Setting up of a junk sale appears to become so very interesting- anthropologists become humorous – vicars the most romantic of people.

Ms Lathbury herself is a rather hapless creature. She is frustratingly self-deprecating prone to be a door-mat letting herself be walked over by one and all. But as we see things through her eyes, one cannot help but like her and wish her well. We see her most of the time in the kitchen, making tea most of the time.Which brings me to tea. Whats with this drink anyway that makes it almost a character by itself in the book. Everyone seems to be making or drinking tea all the time. Be it the church or the junk sale, a tragic event or a celebration – a tea is always around.

I can see why the book was so highly recommended for a Jane Austen enthusiast. Like Austen, Pym makes the dullness around us appear full of life and fun. There is humor at every turn. Witty observations making for memorable quotations are studded through the book. But one big thing though – Austen’s books convey “life” and “light” to me. The excellent women in Pym’s books do not quite convey those emotions to me. But that doesnt detract from the excellence of the book. It was a great read !!

View all my reviews

Review: The Silkworm

The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars…

It was with much anticipation that I started on the second account of a Cormoran Strike case. I had enjoyed Cuckoo’s calling immensely and the chief characters of Strike and Robin in particular. I reestablished with pleasure my acquaintance with them in this book. The best part about this book for me was getting to know more about these two characters, both extremely appealing albeit in different ways.

Strike continues to cast a dark and deep spell on the book. We get into the workings of his mind a little more, get to see a little more of his social set.. but there is just a little more to the man we first met in “Cuckoo’s calling”. As a detective though, our hero has some way still to go. I was continuously put off by the continued determination with which Cormoran claims his client to be innocent. Come on- remember the golden rule of detection? Dont trust anybody – and we see the detective grossly violating that rule. My advice to the detective- Go read up some Hercule Poirot. Doesnt that wise fellow always warn his clients “I am for the truth”. In this book, Strike seems to be driven by proving his client’s innocence rather than solving the mystery. This may not be bad but it appears to break a golden rule of detective books.

We are left hanging over Charlotte who floats around nebulously through Carmoron’s mind – and thus through most of the book. I would have thought that she was done-and-buried character but she seems to be making desperate attempts to remain relevant.

Robin was my favorite character in the first book – and I grew much fonder of her this time around. Her torn allegiance between her heart’s desire and the man of her hearts is beautifully conveyed. She is a delightful creation and brings the much-needed warmth and cheer to an otherwise dark book.

The plot itself is interesting and well developed. The prose is quite brilliant with a number of memorable quotes. Rowling has also the gift of subtlety where she is able to convey a wealth of emotions with just a phrase or two. Robin’s conflict between her fiancee and her professional call is so conveyed most of the time.

All this is great but I do have a few grousses with the book. One of the big ones is that the key players of the mystery itself were left dangling. They were like pawns on a chess board which Rowling did not bother moving forward beyond their first moves. This left a lot of questions unanswered. This was also something Ms Rowling did in the Harry Potter series. There was a certain lack of neatness in the way she concludes her books. The whole plot is built up brilliantly – the climax – then the end. Again, I have only one advice for Ms Rowling as Robert Galbraith – read the masters of detective fiction and in particular, Agatha Christie.

I also found the climax ludicrous. The whole thing read like a cheap thriller and it underwhelmed the plot and how it had been built up.

But all in all, a very satisfying read. Rowling’s mastery over the prose and her chief characters, Robin in particular, make this a most engaging read.

View all my reviews