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3.84 AVERAGE
3.84 AVERAGE
The book started will lots of promise but delivered only a few. The writing is simple and easy to read. Stories narrated are a bit disjoint and provide hardly any background regarding the subject that are discussed. A fair attempt to recount memories from different walks of life. Every story here deserves many more pages that would flushout the storylines and lessons learnt.
Of the 11 stories narrated here, It is hard not to connect with most of them. The Importance of understanding the problem and your limits, how to approach a sensitive issue. Need of guidance and how to assess and accept failures (story one). Story two discusses the need for adjusting the lens of understanding gender roles in the modern era. Then the lines are a bit blurry. Stories of god, worship, luck, fate. Too much of randomness for me. This book had potential for greater things but settled for a small victory.
Of the 11 stories narrated here, It is hard not to connect with most of them. The Importance of understanding the problem and your limits, how to approach a sensitive issue. Need of guidance and how to assess and accept failures (story one). Story two discusses the need for adjusting the lens of understanding gender roles in the modern era. Then the lines are a bit blurry. Stories of god, worship, luck, fate. Too much of randomness for me. This book had potential for greater things but settled for a small victory.
This book is so beautiful! I wanted to cry in between just by reading the incidents.
I just want to say that now I respect Sudha Murty more than anything!!
I just want to say that now I respect Sudha Murty more than anything!!
This book was an impulsive purchase at the airport. Despite having numerous books on my iPad and with my brother as my travel companion, I knew I would not read this book over the barely an hour-long flight. Still, as soon as I saw a new book by Sudha Murty, I just couldn’t resist. And my brother acted as an enabler in my book addiction. He grew equally excited and in no time this book found its way into my bag.
I haven’t traveled a lot or met a lot of people. But while reading this book (as with any Sudha Murty’s book), I felt like I am traveling with her, seeing what she is seeing and experiencing what is going on in her stories. So, I traveled to a small village in Karnataka and felt the plight of women forced in the life of “Devdasi” custom. Then I cried when I read about the struggles of the women who travel to the Middle East in hopes to earn money and build a better life for them-self and their families. Once in the Middle East, they are subjected to different kinds of abuse before they realize that they are trapped with no way out. Thankfully this story had a happy ending for few women at least. But it led me to realize how many more untold stories are there of women still trapped there. I found a new appreciation for my own country which has given me and other women like me freedom and a chance to be independent.
All the stories in this collection are not so serious. She also gives us a glimpse of a day in her life as she works at Infosys Foundation. It helps us appreciate how much work goes behind the scene to make someone's life better.
My favorite story is about alcoholism. I had this idea that life is not black and white and everything cannot be categorized as good or bad. But real life stories like the ones in this book hit this point way too hard. When we think of an alcoholic abusing his wife and child, our sympathies are exclusively for the injured party - wife, and child in this case. And we vehemently support the decision of the wife to leave and build a better life for her child. But then we find out how the husband struggles and gets sober eventually. Then do we question the wife’s decision to leave? Or would we question if the wife had stayed through this ordeal? There is no one correct answer to this. It's too difficult to even imagine how we would react in a similar situation. All I can say is that every story has thousand sides and a thousand and one perspective. And it's not our place to judge anyone.
That's what Sudha Murty does in her stories. She never judges anyone or takes any sides while narrating her stories. Maybe that's why they leave such deeper impact. She paints a vivid picture via her words and then leaves it to her readers to interpret the image as they seem fit.
I have read every one of Sudha Murty’s books be it stand-alone novels or other collection of short stories. And every time I love how she develops the characters and keeps the story to the point. This book is no different. Even the collection of stores is a well-balanced mix of serious social issues and some not so serious reflections on life.
Looking forward to reading more books by Sudha Murty.
I haven’t traveled a lot or met a lot of people. But while reading this book (as with any Sudha Murty’s book), I felt like I am traveling with her, seeing what she is seeing and experiencing what is going on in her stories. So, I traveled to a small village in Karnataka and felt the plight of women forced in the life of “Devdasi” custom. Then I cried when I read about the struggles of the women who travel to the Middle East in hopes to earn money and build a better life for them-self and their families. Once in the Middle East, they are subjected to different kinds of abuse before they realize that they are trapped with no way out. Thankfully this story had a happy ending for few women at least. But it led me to realize how many more untold stories are there of women still trapped there. I found a new appreciation for my own country which has given me and other women like me freedom and a chance to be independent.
All the stories in this collection are not so serious. She also gives us a glimpse of a day in her life as she works at Infosys Foundation. It helps us appreciate how much work goes behind the scene to make someone's life better.
My favorite story is about alcoholism. I had this idea that life is not black and white and everything cannot be categorized as good or bad. But real life stories like the ones in this book hit this point way too hard. When we think of an alcoholic abusing his wife and child, our sympathies are exclusively for the injured party - wife, and child in this case. And we vehemently support the decision of the wife to leave and build a better life for her child. But then we find out how the husband struggles and gets sober eventually. Then do we question the wife’s decision to leave? Or would we question if the wife had stayed through this ordeal? There is no one correct answer to this. It's too difficult to even imagine how we would react in a similar situation. All I can say is that every story has thousand sides and a thousand and one perspective. And it's not our place to judge anyone.
That's what Sudha Murty does in her stories. She never judges anyone or takes any sides while narrating her stories. Maybe that's why they leave such deeper impact. She paints a vivid picture via her words and then leaves it to her readers to interpret the image as they seem fit.
I have read every one of Sudha Murty’s books be it stand-alone novels or other collection of short stories. And every time I love how she develops the characters and keeps the story to the point. This book is no different. Even the collection of stores is a well-balanced mix of serious social issues and some not so serious reflections on life.
Looking forward to reading more books by Sudha Murty.
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
This book has snippets from Sudha Murthy's life mentioning her childhood memories , challenges faced by her to choose her field of education and the success stories of how lives of certain underprivileged groups where changed by her while working as a philanthrophist along with her team in Infosys foundation. The stories were quite interesting. The only put off for me was I found the tone a bit boastful and exaggerating contradictory to the author's image known to be very humble. Rest all good. Can pick if you are a beginner
2.75 stars
Unpopular opinion: I felt that Sudha Murty somes from a place of privilege and comfort, and while she's had her own struggles and achievements, this book failed to inspire.
Unpopular opinion: I felt that Sudha Murty somes from a place of privilege and comfort, and while she's had her own struggles and achievements, this book failed to inspire.
Was this book a compilation of her short stories or did she write this book with intention to talk about certain pivotal incidents? If it is the latter then it could have been more coherent. Regardless, some stories made me smile and a few others left me wishing she had elaborated more.
What really stands out about this book is a cumulative impact of diverse events from the author's life, her captivating story telling accompanied by careful and unbiased reflection of the events to drive the effective purpose of her motivational writing which can be summed up as:
"We all lose a few battles in our lives, but we can win the war. There's always hope."
"We all lose a few battles in our lives, but we can win the war. There's always hope."