Book Review #106: The Perfect Murder Collected and Compiled By Ruskin Bond

Title: The Perfect Murder

Collected & Authored by: Ruskin Bond

Publishers: Rupa Publications India

Genre: Thriller/Murder Mystery

Pages: 132 (Paperback)

Source: Advanced review copy from the publishers

Ruskin Bond, the name is enough to go and grab the book. The stories that he chooses or writes are pleasant always. Since my childhood, I’ve always been a big fan of Ruskin Bond. Being a thriller fan, I adore each and every story told by Ruskin Bond. It is always a special feeling to read his books.

The Perfect Murder is a short story in the book also the title of the book. The book also contains several short stories from various acclaimed authors like Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Edgar Allen Poe and WW Jacobs. There is also a story written by Ruskin Bond. The book consists of eight different stories.

The very first story is the Perfect Murder, where two brothers Paul and Henry would wait for an opportunity to kill their aunt, so that they can inherit the property left by their uncle, but only on the condition that, the property would reach these brothers only after their aunt has passed away. Given the financial condition of the Paul and Henry, they were not in a position to wait that longer. Henry, a married man with four children, wasn’t able to meet the demands of his family, and he often finds himself borrowing money from his brother and his close friends. Whereas, Paul, unmarried, and wasted himself by drinking and roaming around. One fine day, Paul decides to meet his aunt and pretends to fall sick in her home. A generous, well behaved aunt takes Paul in and provides him the necessary food and medicines time to time. This hasn’t gone well with Henry and he decides to meet his brother Paul and take matters in to his hand. Paul agrees to his brother’s demands and asks him to get fine grained glass powder so that he can poison his aged fragile aunt. Henry does the needful and waits anxiously for the following day. But what followed is a shell shock experience for Henry, as he learns that, instead of his aunt, his brother Paul was found dead in his aunt’s house by consuming the glass mixed food. This story will surely keep the readers hooked to the book till it gets completed.

The other story which I liked and enjoyed is the Red Headed League by Arthur Conan Doyle. This particular story involves an investigation by the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his doctor friend Watson. The story is epic in its own accord. The sharp observational skills of Sherlock Holmes and how he helped a distressed pawn broker who was cheated by his employer. The quick wit displayed by Holmes is a well known phenomenon of Arthur Conan Doyle. For sure, this is the story where you will be reading again and again to appreciate the intelligence of Sherlock Holmes.

One more story written by Ruskin Bond himself was about his uncle that murdered a person by poisoning. This story captures the ill motives of his uncle even after he got released from Jail. His uncle tried to poison Ruskin when he visited him. This story was repeated in Ruskin Bond’s other collected stories in other books. But, quite a good story to read.

This book is a nice collection of the light thriller genre stories. The book is an easy read and you can finish reading this in a few hours or a day to the most. You will certainly appreciate the taste of Ruskin Bond that made this collection of some of the interesting stories in this book. Though it is not a recommending read, but to re-live your childhood by reading some epic stories collected and penned by Ruskin Bond.

My Rating:

4/5

Note: I received this book from the Publishers in exchange for an unbiased review.

Book Review #75: 1Q84 By Haruki Murakami

Title: 1Q84

Author: Haruki Murakami

Publishing year: 2009 and 2010

Translated to English by: Jay Rubin (Book 1 & 2) and Philip Gabriel (Book 3)

Publisher: Schinchosha

Genre: General Fiction/Science Fiction/Fantasy

Pages: 1000+ (All 3 Books) eBook Edition

Source: Personal Copy

When it comes to the Fantasy genre, there are no specific rules on how do you write your story and on what basis does it stands. It all happens too fast and by the time you realized, you've already read something bizarre, something overwhelming and something odd. The book 1Q84 by the author Haruki Murakami fits in this category and breaks all those barriers of standards and gives us an immense and a riveting story that certainly keeps ringing in your head even after finished reading it. Reviewing this book was highly a difficult task considering its massive number of pages and many characters that lurks in the book like a magic.

The protagonists are also somewhat special knowing the kind of the businesses they deal with. Tengo, a mathematician and a teacher who teaches at a cram school and also a writer who aspires to become a full time novelist. Whereas, Aomame, a physical trainer who teaches fitness at a martial school and a murderer in her alternate profession who kills people that might have caused damage to someone or the other. These two protagonists were classmates long back for a brief duration and they have this traumatic childhood that leads them to build their own life from the beginning of their childhood all by themselves.

The main story unfolds in a dramatic way. Aomame was heading to kill someone gets herself stuck in a strange world where she couldn’t really understand. It was the year 1984 in reality, but, for her, this is actually the year 1Q84, because she witnesses some strange activities in her surroundings and not only that, she also sees two moons up in the sky during night times. She didn’t really understood what these two moons really indicated. She somehow realized that she is not in the same world as she was before. She continues what she does best (training in fitness center) and cared less for what was happening.

The Tengo, a part time writer gets a request from one of his friend Komatsu, an editor at a publishing house, with a strange story called “Air Chrysalis” written by a teenage girl called Fuka Eri a.k.a Erika Fukado. Komatsu sensed a strangeness in that story and asked Tengo to ghostwrite this story for a competition. Reluctantly, Tengo agrees to ghostwrite this story after consulting with the guardian of Fuka Eri, Prof. Ebisuno. Tengo didn’t realized initially that, what he was going to rewrite could lead him to a strange problem in later part of his life. He just attracted by the beauty of the story and writes an elaborated copy of the story and submits this story for the competition.

What follows after these events are beyond the level of understanding. The story that Tengo ghostwrites was actually happening in real. Tengo meets this teenage girl who actually wrote the “Air Chrysalis” and tries to understand the story from her point of view. He learnt that, this girl actually narrating a true event that has happened with her. But, he wasn't sure of how these “Little People” emerge from a Goat’s mouth or how they were building the Air Chrysalis and what they actually intended to achieve finally. He believes that, this will lead him to somewhat bigger surprises.

As the story further progresses, the author introduces us to the parents of this young girl Fuka Eri. The father of this girl was a friend of Prof. Ebisuno long back during their younger days. This father figure now heads a communist kind of group, now an officially recognized religion in Japan, called Sakigake. As soon as they found this religion group, they abandoned the entry of normal citizens to their fort and almost became a cult. Soon enough, this father rose to the new heights and became the Leader of this religious group. And, somehow, the girl Fuka Eri escapes from this group and she was well guarded by Prof. Ebisuno.

Due to some strange events, the young girls in the vicinity of this Sakigake group was tortured, raped and mutilated to the core. There was a woman called The Dowager, a powerful, wealthy woman that runs a destitute home for abandoned women and young children. She finds out that this Sakigake group is responsible for those rapes and tortures. She decides to hire someone special to look in to the case. This was handed over to Aomame, a certified fitness expert and a murderer.

As the story keeps us occupied and making us to guess what would happen next, Aomame prepares herself to murder this Leader of Sakigake. Several strange events do happen when she meets this Leader and she was surprised to witness these events with her eyes. She also learns that, she is destined to meet her long last friend, now her boyfriend, Tengo. Even in case of Tengo, he gets the mysterious assurance from this teenage girl Fuka Eri that he will be meeting Aomame.

The climax part of the novel is where the real story or the story inside story is kept hidden. Both Aomame and Tengo unanimously agrees that they are living in their strange world. Aomame termed it as “1Q84” whereas Tengo termed it as “The Cats Town”. What happens to both of them? Will they be able to meet at last? What does this Sakigake group will do once they found out that Aomame was involved in the murder of their Leader? Was Aomame and Tengo will be able to return to the normal world of 1984? These are questions for which the answers should be read from the book alone.

It is highly impossible to write the review of this book in a few lines or paragraphs. The book (including the three books) is more than 1000 pages. For a normal reader, it is even difficult to keep track of the story leave alone consolidate it for a review!! I was immensely impressed at the sheer brilliance of the author to write such bizarre story. The entire story is connected brilliantly at the right time and at the right place. The English translation work is just awesome. For sure, you would actually question yourself whether the story is happening in 1984 or 1Q84!!

I would highly recommend this book to be read by everyone. Though you may not understand it at the beginning, but as you immerse yourself in the story, the experience is vivid and it’s not possible to put down the book. You will certainly enjoy living in this fantasized world of 1Q84 throughout the novel.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #72: Crime and Punishment By Fyodor Dostoevsky

Title: Crime and Punishment

Author: Fyodor Dostoevsky

Publishing Year: 1866

Genre: Philosophical Fiction/Classics

Pages: 570+

Let me begin my review with two quotes about redemption…

“Redemption is not a favor, it’s a reward!!”

“True redemption is seized when you accept the future consequences for your past mistakes!!”

Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment is a story of redemption and liberation through a rare form of suffering. Extreme form of suffering generated by the protagonist’s destructive thoughts. The heart wrenching novel that explores the human soul’s susceptibility to sin and regret.

This book is brilliant, intelligent, cleverly written and it keeps engaging its readers through the page one till the end. We had to accept the fact that, this book is not a “light” read. It tests your patience like anything else. At times you feel like you had to give up reading this and there is no way you can decide to do that. The theme of this novel seemed like Crime (which is murder) and punishment in the most generally understood terminologies. No, it is not.

Raskolnikov, our protagonist in this novel and his arrogance in placing himself above his other counterparts and thinks he is of the same elite personality as that of Napoleon. His feelings or his opinion on certain matters has taken its toll and he brought himself in the most unimaginable situation in this story, which he regrets, at the same time enjoys, from his own standpoint. Raskolnikov is a conflicted character; he is showing a lot of interest in the classes and thinking he is of a higher class than others believes he has the right to commit murder. Contrary to the title, this novel doesn't really focus on the crime or the punishment but rather the inner turmoil of Raskolnikov as well as the impact on his intellect and emotions. It is not until the very end that the sense of guilt overwhelms him and he confesses and ends his alienation.

This novel is certainly about the psychology of a crime and the punishment it measures. But more than that, the novel features exceedingly contrasting views. These views, contrasting and even paradoxical, can sincerely confuse a man. But, these seemingly contrasting views when scrutinized are really just the product of a struggle inside a man's very being. His final struggle of whether to finally detach himself from society, from life, from his humanity, or to finally succumb to it.

Raskolnikov is one such a man who didn’t care if he died, didn't eat, didn't care about his illness and yet coward enough to commit suicide. He is enjoying this rare form of suffering or we can call it as a delirium? Anyways, he commits two murders without knowing the consequences or was he prepared for everything? That’s least bothering point. At times he was being suspected of the crime and several police officials confronted him and inquired him. But, Raskolnikov was simply denying everything, but deep inside his heart, he knew that he was the one. He knew that, today or tomorrow he had to succumb to his punishments.

The novel begins in two separate tracks, one following the inner turmoil of a murderer and the other chronicling the melancholic destruction of a family due to a flighty, alcoholic patriarch. Dostoevsky deftly weaves together a multitude of unforgettable characters as they interplay through their tangle of plotlines. Each character is carefully balanced with their foil, each character is written with their own unique style of speech and language, and the novel seems to tie every thread together with such perfection and care as it churns forward, raining destruction on the lives of its characters to bring them toward their own personal redemption or demise. 

There are many characters in the book which is equally important as Raskolnikov. Especially Mr. Razumihin. He is a man of good heart and he is deeply interested in helping Raskolnikov and his family. He often went and arranged everything to defend his dear friend Rodya a.k.a. Raskolnikov. He eventually marries Dounia. That’s sort of a relief from this novel. The character Sonia Sofya Semyonovna is also a role to be remembered for. She has suffered equally as that of Raskolnikov. Only thing is, she didn't commit any murder. Rather, she has sacrificed herself for her family and her siblings. Raskolnikov was deeply moved by the affection that Sonia had expressed for him. He felt, at last that, he had loved her. Sonia took all those pains and sufferings and moved to Siberia in order to be with him, visiting him during those punishment years, eagerly waiting to start her life with Rodya altogether anew.

Over a century has passed since its initial publication, yet Dostoevsky’s message is still as poignant today as it was when it was first inked onto paper. Crime and Punishment features an immensely engaging blend of intrigue; philosophy; political, social, moral and religious commentary, that all thread together to create a masterpiece of literature that captures the deep, raw core of the human condition when it is at its most gruesome and vulnerable. The exquisite literary genius of the novel evoked a strong emotional resonance in me and the timing of my reading was just right to forever wed me to my love of books.

Conclusively, a fantastic book and it is highly recommended from my side. If you are a true reader and have an adjective as voracious, you must read this book once in your life time.

As I end my review, I have some excerpts from the book which I think it is worth mentioning in my review:

"Go now, this minute, stand in the crossroads, bow down, first kiss the Earth you've defiled, then bow down to the whole world, on all four sides, then say aloud to everyone: 'I have killed!' "

"Accept suffering and redeem yourself by it, that's what you must do."

"He went on down the stairs and came out in the courtyard. There in the courtyard, not far from the entrance, stood Sonya, pale, numb all over, and she gave him a wild, wild look. He stopped before her. Something painted and tormented something desperate, showed in her face. She clasped her hands. A hideous, lost smile forced itself in his lips. He stood a while, grinned, and turned back upstairs to the office."

"But all at once, in the same moment, she understood everything. Infinite happiness lit up in her eyes; she understood, and for her there was no longer any doubt that he loved her, lover her infinitely, and at last the moment had come... " 

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #56: Everett By Jenifer Ruff

Title: Everett

Author: Jenifer Ruff

Publisher: World Castle Publishing LLC

eISBN: 9781629891439

Genre: Psychological Fiction

Pages: 237

Source: Review Copy

There are few books that take its readers like free flowing water. This exceptionally awesome book Everett by the author Jenifer Ruff is beyond your expectation. I actually felt like I am watching a suspense filled psychological movie by sitting at the edge of my seat. I am not exaggerating here, but, I really loved this novel.  After reading many psychological based stories, this book has kept me hooked till the end.

The plot of the novel looks very simple at the beginning. Everett is the name of the college where our protagonist Brooke is studying. Author had done a great job by introducing Brooke's character to the readers slowly. Brooke is a very silent, nerdy and a fitness freak girl. She enjoyed her regular fitness classes as much as she enjoyed her college classes. In fact Brooke was one of the fitness instructors from Everett. Brooke had a boyfriend called Ethan that had relatively a lesser role to play in this novel except on few occasions. Brooke had fewer or no friends at all except for Ethan; this was due to her tight schedule that was filled up with college classes and her fitness classes.

Brooke had a very strange and unusual characteristic that will be revealed slowly in each chapter. I really appreciate the author to write such an unusual introduction to the dark side of a protagonist!! Brooke was one of a kind, and she never feared for something to experiment on her own. She expressed her interest of going to medical school and become a surgeon with Ethan. During one of her meeting with Ethan, Brooke slowly opened up herself and explained how she wanted to become a surgeon and explained the story behind it. It was one of the awful experiences for Ethan, since; Brooke was actually explaining about her surgical tryst with a dead cat!!! May be this incident lets the reader know about the dark side of Brooke.

Brooke's unusual style of looking at things was not new. During her childhood she had dissected enough animals to know it better. But all these events made her a pure psychotic. Brooke's one of the weird wishes was to dissect a person to check out their heart and study them. Her psycho activities were witnessed when she drove her dorm mate Jessica's car and vandalized without having a second thought.

The climax of the novel is very surprising. The ending is where the pure psychological traits of Brooke will be revealed. Brooke actually commits a murder of someone that is very close to her and instead of getting scared she was so elated to dissect the dead body in an isolated place. But due to heavy storm and snow fall outside, she had no option but to dispose the dead body. But will Brooke get caught? Will she get punished for her crime? What was her thoughts after committing all these crimes? Will her college authorities ever discover about Brooke's real character? The answer lies in the book. I am highly recommending this novel to all who wants to read a marvelous psychological story.

This book will not be the end of Brooke's story. Author had written a sequel for Everett and its called Rothaker which will be out soon.


Buy this book from Amazon

My Rating:
5/5

Book Review #52: Puppeteers of Palem By Sharath Komarraju

Pic Courtesy: Internet

I read a completely new style of paranormal action based novel. The sheer brilliance of the author Sharath Komarraju is exceptional. I believe this book "Puppeteers of Palem" is a class apart. It carries all those spookiness, creepiness, horrifying scenes, mad people, dreaded killers and what not. Certainly, this novel is a much needed break for the readers who are reading the same old love stories, or some kind of regular thrillers.

Right from the beginning of the book, the story takes the grip of its readers making them not to put down the book. The plot of the novel is what makes it as a must read.

5 friends that grown up in the same village, Rudrakshapalem, in short called as Palem will head back to their village after receiving a mysterious letter. What makes more interesting is all 5 of them receive similar letters, but, they will realize it when they met each other in the village.

The story takes its twist in the opening scene of the novel. There is a murder in the village. The victim is one of the 5 friends that came back to village. The Police were investigating the case and soon the police will realize that, 2 crippled boys with wounds and bruises were somehow responsible for this assault on the dead man. By questioning the local villagers about these boys, the police will take these boys into their custody for little verification. A news reporter cum journalist called Sonali was covering this murder incident. She questions every person in the village, she also questions the parents and guardians of the victims and also she questions those 2 boys about this murder incident. Sonali feels something is not going right in this investigation and she decides to stay in the village for some more time to cover this in greater details.

The author introduces us to the younger days of these 5 friends that grew up in this village. There is an old man in that village who was narrating stories to the kids almost every evening. Expectedly, these 5 kids are regular attendants of this story sessions. Here, the author introduces us to a very important story through the old man’s narration. This story is a true incident happened in their village few years ago.

One day, this old man narrates a story of a woman or we can call as a mad woman, Lacchi and her drunkard husband Sangadu. He described the story in greater detail, to which, all the kids listened to him in great intent. He concluded the story saying, the woman had murdered her husband with a stone. And, she kept her husband’s dead body on her lap throughout the night singing a chilling song. The old man also told the kids that, she is still living in the outskirts of the village, near the shivalayam (Shiva Temple). 

The kids who grew up listening to this story was curious enough to check out this old temple, so all these 5 friends will head out to this temple one day and decides to spend the night there. Once they returned to their homes, they were not the same, something has happened to them and nobody knew what it was. They were feeling strange throughout the week and felt someone is watching them from behind. After few years, they left their village for their higher studies and soon forgot this temple and the madwoman story.

This point sets the stage for the novel. As the book progresses further, these 5 friends that returned to their village Palem will find it very difficult to come to terms. They will behave as if each other have written the letters to each other asking them to come to village. Slowly one after the other will die in a suspicious way. Nobody knew who had killed the other one. This has brought the rift among them. Who is the puppet here? Who is the puppeteer here? Who has written those letters to them asking them to come back to village? Was the old man responsible for all these miseries? Was he the actual puppeteer? What might be the conclusion to this killing spree? Was the mad woman Lacchi that killed her husband is taking any revenge by taking the form of a ghost? These are the questions that pop up regularly as we read through the novel.

As we approach the climax to the novel. There is only 1 friend left among the 5 friends. Of course, the old man is still alive. And the journalist cum reporter Sonali who stayed back in the village is still in the village. She wrote too many notes in her diary addressing her sister Shilpi. She explained everything that was happening in this sleepy village. But she never posted those notes neither she was aware of writing those notes. So, was Sonali responsible for these murders? Did Lacchi has crept into Sonali’s mind and making all these things? The million dollar answer lies in the book. One must read this book to understand who the puppet is and who the puppeteer is.

Overall, I find this book very interesting and refreshing. It is certainly a break from the regular thriller. Combined with the paranormal activity and keeping the village as a backdrop makes this book even more awesome. The cover image of the book looks very promising and at the same time brings that curiousness among the readers. I recommend this book to everyone. You won't regret reading it. You’ll enjoy each and every page of it.

I said there is a chilling song that Lacchi sings holding her husband’s dead body. What is that song is all about? Well, read it in the book.

My Rating:

5/5

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