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monitaroymohan's reviews
1093 reviews
The Fishermen by Chigozie Obioma
2.0
I realise I am in the minority when I say I didn't like this book nor understand it. Perhaps it's because I am truly not so literary as to read between the poetic text and dig out its meaty essence.
While I cannot fault the author's unwavering ability to imbue the English language text with a traditional African feel, the story itself with its overly explicit scenes of.... bodily functions was too much to take in. I guess I just like my stories a tad more sanitised.
The brotherly relationship at the heart of the story was true to life and definitely kept this book afloat. It was deeply affecting how one callous act ends up destroying a bond that all the characters in the story would have believed unbreakable.
The author does make the story overly tragic, which, at times, felt unbelievable. I'm not saying people don't face inordinate amounts of tragedy, but it felt a bit like the Agwu family couldn't ever catch a break. Seriously harsh punishment for such a benign bunch of people.
At the time of writing, this book has been shortlisted for the Booker 2016 prize. Will it win? Can it? Part of me believes it was chosen, selected, purely for its otherness - it would be rather novel for the majority of the regular Booker reading audiences. Maybe I'm just cynical, but this book just didn't work for me. The writing style may have been poetic, but it's insistence on getting down and dirty, sometimes I felt, needlessly, made it unreadable at times.
Maybe I'm just the wrong kind of audience for it.
While I cannot fault the author's unwavering ability to imbue the English language text with a traditional African feel, the story itself with its overly explicit scenes of.... bodily functions was too much to take in. I guess I just like my stories a tad more sanitised.
The brotherly relationship at the heart of the story was true to life and definitely kept this book afloat. It was deeply affecting how one callous act ends up destroying a bond that all the characters in the story would have believed unbreakable.
The author does make the story overly tragic, which, at times, felt unbelievable. I'm not saying people don't face inordinate amounts of tragedy, but it felt a bit like the Agwu family couldn't ever catch a break. Seriously harsh punishment for such a benign bunch of people.
At the time of writing, this book has been shortlisted for the Booker 2016 prize. Will it win? Can it? Part of me believes it was chosen, selected, purely for its otherness - it would be rather novel for the majority of the regular Booker reading audiences. Maybe I'm just cynical, but this book just didn't work for me. The writing style may have been poetic, but it's insistence on getting down and dirty, sometimes I felt, needlessly, made it unreadable at times.
Maybe I'm just the wrong kind of audience for it.
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
3.0
Beautifully written portrait of a family based in Baltimore. Anne Tyler's 20th novel follows the intricate dynamics of the Whitshank family. Patriarch Red and his wife Abby receive some startling news from their son Denny. And this starts off the tale of how the family functions.
While there's a lot to love about this book and it's occasional plot twists or heart-wrenching phrases, it pales in comparison to the other Booker shortlisted entries. I'll be harsh with it because the Booker is a big deal and this book does not do its place in the competition any favours.
Though Tyler paints a vivid picture of the Whitshanks, Baltimore is missing from the picture, as is the family's connection with other people. Also, the uneven lengths of the parts really took me out of the book. Doesn't help that parts 2, 3 and 4 were not at all interesting.
Part 1 felt like a complete book in itself, and showcased an arc for most of the characters. I am still really annoyed that the author uses the gay card to open her book, but then it just becomes a red herring. It infuriated me because I immediately thought this would be a really good relevant book for 2015. Dangling the diversity carrot in front of readers' faces only to take it away (and never mention it again) seems insensitive and it's definitely a big part of why I can't like this book.
Part 2 was contrived and clichéd. Yet another female character loves the bad boy while ignoring the nice guy who she's grown up with. Please! Get over it.
I intensely disliked Part 3, though some of the people I've met absolutely loved it. I just don't think it's all that appropriate to include a precocious 13-year-old girl in your book for the sole purpose of her duping an older fellow into a relationship. Let's be honest, most 13-year-olds don't do that, not voluntarily, and books like this feed into the popular mindset of girls and women always using their sexuality to get their way. It was disturbing to say the least, mostly because I kept reading it in today's context.
Part 4 tried hard to evoke some emotion, but it fell flat, because it was not a resolution.
While I understand that life is pointless for the most part, a book about a pointless life needn't be. 'A Spool of Blue Thread' just ends up as aimless as Denny's ambitions.
While there's a lot to love about this book and it's occasional plot twists or heart-wrenching phrases, it pales in comparison to the other Booker shortlisted entries. I'll be harsh with it because the Booker is a big deal and this book does not do its place in the competition any favours.
Though Tyler paints a vivid picture of the Whitshanks, Baltimore is missing from the picture, as is the family's connection with other people. Also, the uneven lengths of the parts really took me out of the book. Doesn't help that parts 2, 3 and 4 were not at all interesting.
Part 1 felt like a complete book in itself, and showcased an arc for most of the characters. I am still really annoyed that the author uses the gay card to open her book, but then it just becomes a red herring. It infuriated me because I immediately thought this would be a really good relevant book for 2015. Dangling the diversity carrot in front of readers' faces only to take it away (and never mention it again) seems insensitive and it's definitely a big part of why I can't like this book.
Part 2 was contrived and clichéd. Yet another female character loves the bad boy while ignoring the nice guy who she's grown up with. Please! Get over it.
I intensely disliked Part 3, though some of the people I've met absolutely loved it. I just don't think it's all that appropriate to include a precocious 13-year-old girl in your book for the sole purpose of her duping an older fellow into a relationship. Let's be honest, most 13-year-olds don't do that, not voluntarily, and books like this feed into the popular mindset of girls and women always using their sexuality to get their way. It was disturbing to say the least, mostly because I kept reading it in today's context.
Part 4 tried hard to evoke some emotion, but it fell flat, because it was not a resolution.
While I understand that life is pointless for the most part, a book about a pointless life needn't be. 'A Spool of Blue Thread' just ends up as aimless as Denny's ambitions.
Satin Island by Tom McCarthy
4.0
From all the Booker shortlist picks, 'Satin Island' was the one that stood out as different enough to be enjoyable.
Tom McCarthy is a volatile figure in the literary world and is obsessed with all things avant-garde. Well, at least that comes out in his book as well. I haven't read anything else by him, but 'Satin Island' felt the most relevant among the shortlisted entries. Not because, U the protagonist is an anthropologist, but because the corporate mechanisations that he is embroiled in feel familiar and realistic. (For all intents and purposes, U is male, though I don't recall any direct reference to his gender).
There is no plot to the book, in fact the narrator states emphatically near the beginning of the book that if the reader is looking for events they're not likely to get any. And honestly, the book doesn't need a plot, because life has no plot.
Probably the only weak link in the entire book is Madison, our protagonist's part-time girlfriend. Off late I've realised that when a man writes a book they give themselves away - usually through their female characters. They are unable to write these women as characters, they must be very different, very 'other'. This 'otherness' always seems artificial and contrived. Madison's backstory, shoe-horned into the book in chapter 13 is the definition of 'otherness' - written to subvert our expectation it continues to keep her femaleness outside of the normality spectrum. I kept thinking, while reading that chapter, that the author would not have written these events for a male character or even thought of them in context with a male character. Why such treatment just because Madison is a woman?
All in all, however, this meandering tale of nothing was an enjoyable read and despite its senselessness it made a lot of sense.
Tom McCarthy is a volatile figure in the literary world and is obsessed with all things avant-garde. Well, at least that comes out in his book as well. I haven't read anything else by him, but 'Satin Island' felt the most relevant among the shortlisted entries. Not because, U the protagonist is an anthropologist, but because the corporate mechanisations that he is embroiled in feel familiar and realistic. (For all intents and purposes, U is male, though I don't recall any direct reference to his gender).
There is no plot to the book, in fact the narrator states emphatically near the beginning of the book that if the reader is looking for events they're not likely to get any. And honestly, the book doesn't need a plot, because life has no plot.
Probably the only weak link in the entire book is Madison, our protagonist's part-time girlfriend. Off late I've realised that when a man writes a book they give themselves away - usually through their female characters. They are unable to write these women as characters, they must be very different, very 'other'. This 'otherness' always seems artificial and contrived. Madison's backstory, shoe-horned into the book in chapter 13 is the definition of 'otherness' - written to subvert our expectation it continues to keep her femaleness outside of the normality spectrum. I kept thinking, while reading that chapter, that the author would not have written these events for a male character or even thought of them in context with a male character. Why such treatment just because Madison is a woman?
All in all, however, this meandering tale of nothing was an enjoyable read and despite its senselessness it made a lot of sense.
The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams
3.0
This was ok, but not as fun at the first one. Would have preferred a more focused storyline which dealt with the Restaurant - it didn't feel significant enough to have the title of the book named after it. Also, the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy book doesn't provide that much information in this book.
It felt a little too muddled and I didn't really care for the quips, gags or situations.
It felt a little too muddled and I didn't really care for the quips, gags or situations.
The Martian by Andy Weir
3.0
Well, that was fun. It's an exciting, humorous and intense adventure as we follow the struggles of Watney, stranded alone on Mars. It's quite technical as well, with a lot of scientific and spec details. Don't know if all of it has been corroborated by NASA but it sure sounded good.
I like the fact that Weir added the administrative shenanigans. And how cool is that, there's an Indian character in there as well.
I enjoyed it thoroughly and was enthralled by the characters' escapades. It's well written. I was tempted to give it a higher rating, but Weir tows some familiar lines and I... kinda got annoyed by that. There's a stupid romance thrown in, and some.... non-PC stuff which would have been funny a few years ago but just grates on today's reader.
I'm still glad I borrowed this from my sister, the resident space nut. I'm not surprised that the book has been made into a film, it lends itself well to the visual medium.
I like the fact that Weir added the administrative shenanigans. And how cool is that, there's an Indian character in there as well.
I enjoyed it thoroughly and was enthralled by the characters' escapades. It's well written. I was tempted to give it a higher rating, but Weir tows some familiar lines and I... kinda got annoyed by that. There's a stupid romance thrown in, and some.... non-PC stuff which would have been funny a few years ago but just grates on today's reader.
I'm still glad I borrowed this from my sister, the resident space nut. I'm not surprised that the book has been made into a film, it lends itself well to the visual medium.
Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty
2.0
Apple Tree Yard opens in a courtroom. The first-person narrator is on trial for an as yet undisclosed crime.
The entire story is written in flashback, as Yvonne Carmichael narrates a chance encounter with a mysterious man that leads to the events in the courtroom.
Ostensibly the story is intriguing and at points it is quite compelling. It is extremely hard to write in first person, and the constraints of writing in this form shows throughout the book.
It doesn't help that the main character is, as I put it, a simpering pedant. Granted, when have we not looked upon someone we love and thought of them as absolutely beautiful and perfect? Having said that, the writer tries to paint Yvonne and her life as true perfection, while happily throwing sometimes unnecessary curveballs in her path, to make it look like a 'normal' family. There is nothing normal about the Carmichaels, for the simple reason that she is one of the few women to enter the scientific field and stay there, so her life can never be normal.
What makes Yvonne, Yvonne never comes through. There is something so problematic about the way women characters are written, even when they're written by women. They are always passive characters, swept away by the flow of things. They never act, always react. If Yvonne is a rarity in her field, there must have been an extraordinary amount of determination and gumption that got her to where she has. That never comes across. In fact, how and why Yvonne got into her specific field is never explored, whereas a male character's career path is always lovingly spelt out.
I like that this book made me really angry about how the courts treat women's crimes. It does a great job of riling us up, and that is incredibly important.
For the majority of the book, I wanted to claw my eyes out, the writing was so frustrating. And the endless use of 'my love' as an indicative of the other party on trial really made me want to tear the book apart (I couldn't, as it was office property).
I understand Doughty worked pretty hard in making the courtroom scenes credible and believable. But there is just so little I could like about this book. Unbelievably and stupid characters, cliched plot twists, poor writing. It's close to being a disaster, but isn't.
The entire story is written in flashback, as Yvonne Carmichael narrates a chance encounter with a mysterious man that leads to the events in the courtroom.
Ostensibly the story is intriguing and at points it is quite compelling. It is extremely hard to write in first person, and the constraints of writing in this form shows throughout the book.
It doesn't help that the main character is, as I put it, a simpering pedant. Granted, when have we not looked upon someone we love and thought of them as absolutely beautiful and perfect? Having said that, the writer tries to paint Yvonne and her life as true perfection, while happily throwing sometimes unnecessary curveballs in her path, to make it look like a 'normal' family. There is nothing normal about the Carmichaels, for the simple reason that she is one of the few women to enter the scientific field and stay there, so her life can never be normal.
What makes Yvonne, Yvonne never comes through. There is something so problematic about the way women characters are written, even when they're written by women. They are always passive characters, swept away by the flow of things. They never act, always react. If Yvonne is a rarity in her field, there must have been an extraordinary amount of determination and gumption that got her to where she has. That never comes across. In fact, how and why Yvonne got into her specific field is never explored, whereas a male character's career path is always lovingly spelt out.
I like that this book made me really angry about how the courts treat women's crimes. It does a great job of riling us up, and that is incredibly important.
For the majority of the book, I wanted to claw my eyes out, the writing was so frustrating. And the endless use of 'my love' as an indicative of the other party on trial really made me want to tear the book apart (I couldn't, as it was office property).
I understand Doughty worked pretty hard in making the courtroom scenes credible and believable. But there is just so little I could like about this book. Unbelievably and stupid characters, cliched plot twists, poor writing. It's close to being a disaster, but isn't.
To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
3.0
Wistful, nostalgic and melancholic, this tale is quintessentially Woolf. Semi-autobiographical in its descriptions, the story gives heed to the workings of a woman and her creative mind.
It is visual and atmospheric, she paints a picture as thorough as those painted by her character.
It is a thought-provoking read to calm your senses.
It is visual and atmospheric, she paints a picture as thorough as those painted by her character.
It is a thought-provoking read to calm your senses.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again by Frank Miller
1.0
What was this bull crap that I just read? Was it supposed to be satire? Or was it serious? I just can't figure out the point of it all.
The illustration, done by Miller himself, was rushed and substandard. I'm not sure uf he was trying to prove a point with all the one million hypersexualised female journalists, but it certainly didn't come across as a commentary on the defraded world of the book.
Even the story appeared far-fetched and paranoid. The characters appeared to be shadows of the heroes we are used to seeing.
Where the original comics were respectful to the characters and the women of the story, this one appears to only want to showcase them in the typical Escher Girls style - that's if you can make out anything at all given the pathetic drawing.
This entire series felt like it was tryingtoo hard to pit one set of heroes against the other.
I, however, did love that revelation near the end - the setup of the reveal was good too.
Why didn't Miller think of making that revelation and that angle central to the story? It would have effectively made Batman and his sidekick the centre to the story as well as incorporated the fight between heroes. The central emotion behind that reveal would have made this story a much weightier one.
The illustration, done by Miller himself, was rushed and substandard. I'm not sure uf he was trying to prove a point with all the one million hypersexualised female journalists, but it certainly didn't come across as a commentary on the defraded world of the book.
Even the story appeared far-fetched and paranoid. The characters appeared to be shadows of the heroes we are used to seeing.
Where the original comics were respectful to the characters and the women of the story, this one appears to only want to showcase them in the typical Escher Girls style - that's if you can make out anything at all given the pathetic drawing.
This entire series felt like it was tryingtoo hard to pit one set of heroes against the other.
I, however, did love that revelation near the end - the setup of the reveal was good too.
Why didn't Miller think of making that revelation and that angle central to the story? It would have effectively made Batman and his sidekick the centre to the story as well as incorporated the fight between heroes. The central emotion behind that reveal would have made this story a much weightier one.