Book Review #58: A Different Life By Alice Taft

Title: A Different Life

Author: Alice Taft

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd.

ISBN: 9781849639064

Genre: Autobiography

Pages: 210

Source: Review Copy from Publishers

There is always a tough situation when you are reviewing an autobiography book. You can’t really judge the person and their story by merely reading 200 odd pages. It appears to be too judgmental when you sort of rate an autobiography. This becomes even more difficult when the autobiography you are reading is not a famous personality. That’s the exact situation I felt when I offered to review this book “A Different Life” by the publishers. This book is the story of a woman and her household and her entire journey from the age of 7 till the age of 60 plus.

The person, whom this book talks about, is a person who is living right next to our door. They might not be a celebrity, yet they make their life memorable in a way Alice Taft has made her life. I did really enjoy reading this book. She explained her simple life in a more simplistic way without hyping anything of that sort. She is not a big shot or a big business tycoon or even a TV personality. She is a woman that led a different life. Hence the title “A Different Life”

So, what makes the story of Alice Taft a different one? Well, to speak of everything, one must read this book to understand it better. Born in a bigger family with 11 odd siblings, for sure, she didn't have the best of the childhood that we can talk off. She faced numerous hurdles as early as possible. With such a large family, she and her other few siblings were forced to move to different houses where they could get a proper childhood. She survived her childhood in many houses. She worked in most of the unusual circumstances and yet she didn't let go of her spirit. In all these events, she made sure that, she kept in contact with her siblings, no matter where they stayed for the rest of their lives.

As she narrates her story in subsequent chapters, she did numerous odd jobs to stay alive. She worked as a cook; she worked as a baby sitter, etc… I think her life took a leap when she started to work in Royal Household of England. She made a career for herself by working in Royal Kitchen. She explained her tryst with cooking in the Royal Household in a greater detail. She explained the numerous occasions where she saw and interacted with the queen and appreciations she received from queen, etc…. She also didn't forget to mention her love interests and her date with few men who had taken interest in Alice.

She did mention her marriage, her loving husband and her charming kids etc… as far as her story is concerned, her husband Tony Taft has been a great support for her. Without his constant encouragement and support, she wouldn't have been able to build her career. She also mentions about her great friendship and talks good about her colleagues and her neighbors.  

Overall, I feel this book is a good read and you will come to know about Alice Taft. She is such a fine lady and I believe she lead a happy different life. Rating this book is somewhat injustice according to me. She is one in a million who lived and retired without becoming famous. But, this book gives a glimpse of Royal Kitchen and the food preferences of the Royal Household, and more than that, this book gives us firsthand information.

Book Review #57: The Second Coming: A Love Story By Scott Pinsker

Title: The Second Coming - A Love Story
Author: Scott Pinsker
Publisher: Scott Pinsker Publishing
ISBN: 1500167215
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 238
Source: Review Copy


I was approached by the author Scott Pinsker to review his new book - The Second Coming - A love story.

My initial thought about this book is "This is a strange book!!” Yet, it keeps you hooked till the end. The language is simple and the writing style is more lucid and engaging. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I was also skeptical when I saw the cover image of book, it resembles Jesus Christ. And, I thought, is this a religion based story? Since, I really didn't want to read and review a religion based book and throw in my feedback that could actually upset or offend somebody. But, I was proved wrong. :-D

This book actually speaks off 2 demigods (I use the term demigods, since; both of the protagonists are claiming to be the second coming of Jesus himself). I am quite not sure why the author had decided to name his protagonists as "Israel" and "Joe"!! Anyways, these 2 demigods claim that they are the second coming of Jesus Christ and they would try their best reasons to back it and win the hearts of the people of United States of America.

While doing so, both Joe and Israel wins some serious believers. Joe gets his true follower, a lawyer, Ms. Margareta Magdala. And, Israel gets his loyal follower, an ex-speechwriter, a gay man, David Shepherd. Followers in both the groups try to win the hearts of people by campaigning for their respective second coming of Jesus Christ. This sort of becomes a cult system, where half of the country on Joe's side and other half following Israel's side.

As the book progresses, both sides campaign restlessly and struggles to pass on the message to the masses. In this due course, Margaret Magdala finds many big shots that least interested in her campaign and more interested in the beauty and charm. As expected, this resulted in the negative publicizing of Margaret. Even her own people started doubting her. She was getting enough monetary support from some of the bigwigs in exchange of bodily pleasures with her. This includes a famous radio broadcaster, an industrialist, etc… On the other side, David, the true campaigner of Israel, wins the monetary benefits of a big Arab business tycoon at the cost of his boyfriend Michael. Michael and David were in a gay relationship for quite a long time. Their relationship were short lived in this novel due to the differences between them in this cult worshipping.

As the novel approaches towards a logical end, a stage will be set up in public for both of these second comings claimers. Both Joe and Israel were well prepared to woo their followers. The entire debate was headed by a third person who devised a calculated time frame for each of them to talk which was followed by a QA session.

Well, the real crux of the novel is in the last chapter. Author had written some exceptional arguments about what is god, who is god etc... In a more matured philosophical way. It is indeed the philosophical thoughts that Joe and Israel exchange between them whilst they're proving themselves. I did really enjoy this part of the book.

The burning question of who was actually the second coming of Jesus Christ? Is it Joe or was it Israel? Were they able to prove to their followers? The answer lies in the book. It’s a very great attempt by the author to write this kind of fiction. For sure, those who read the book will find themselves witnessing some answers that they are searching for all their lives!!

Conclusively, it’s a different book. It is thought provoking and with full of amazing quotes. I would definitely ask the readers to read more such books and encourage the author.

My Rating:
4/5

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 #55: Jalapatha By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This is a short book with full of wisdom and full of philosophical thoughts. This book “Jalapatha” by my favorite author, philosopher and a great human being Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa has created a much debatable platform of the subjects like birth, marriage and procreation. The protagonists from this novel are a mere representation of the current society. The thought that runs in these minds is way beyond imagination and it gives us the right amount of information to ponder over and makes us to churn for answers. Jalapatha can be translated to English as “Water Falls”.

As a philosophical buff, I adored this book very much. Though this book might not be one of the popular novels of SLB sir, but, it doesn’t mean that, it lacks the USP of SLB. It has everything that one is looking out through a philosophical mind. This book mainly explores the idea of marriage, explores the idea of having kids and also explores the idea of creating an art that stands on a platform of morals. After all, who doesn’t like to debate about the right time to having kids or when will be the right time to get married? 

These are considered to be taboo among the conservative orthodox Indians. For them, these kinds of debates or discussions must confine to the 4 walls of their bedroom.

The protagonist of this novel is a freelance artist named Sripati. He had his own set of ideologies about life and its oddities. He was living with his wife who is a graduate. They were living in a small town like area in Bombay. They both had a son who was going to school. They often wondered about their respective lives. Sripati always used to wonder, whether his wife should work to support his family or she should stick to take care of the household chores and help in bringing up their son in the right way. They often used to discuss about extending their family with one more child, but, with an instant, their idea itself seems very dirty and ambiguous. Sripati had a colleague where he used to submit his art works. She was attracted towards Sripati and often expressed her interest in him. Initially Sirpati was not so interested to go for this extra marital affair. But, later, he gets attracted towards this lady and he begins to go her house every alternate days.

In another track of the novel, the neighbor family of Sripati, a doctor by the name Nadagowda living with his wife. He is more of a scientist than a doctor; he was specialized in animal science. This doctor had a special notion and belief within himself that, whoever is bound to have children whether its humans or animals, will have to adhere to the best of breeds. He used to explain in his own terms that, only a strong male and female must have sex in order to conceive children. If anyone of them is weak or their ancestral background seems to be weak, they must abandon having kids, because, this will get resulted in the birth of weak children. This is the reason that the doctor had never indulged in sexual intercourse with his wife. He believed that, his diabetic background will result in a child that is prone to diabetic diseases. He discussed this topic with Sripati on various occasions. Having a weird feeling towards this thought, Sripati used to ignore him.

During one fortunate or unfortunate incident, Sripati decides to break the vow of celibacy with his wife and invites her to have sex with him. This resulted in Mrs. Sripati to become pregnant for the 2^nd time. During this time, both Sripati and his wife decide to visit a water falls and there they encounter something which is beyond the explanation for both of them. They thought their act of having one more kid is not only a noble cause but it’s a natural phenomenon. They both visits the same water falls on numerous occasions. Sripati decides to draw an epic piece of art that captures the pregnancy of his wife every month. He draws a piece of art that not only makes them both happy but also made them realize the secret of birth. Sripati dedicated this painting to his wife and said that they must not get feared for having another child. This philosophical dialogue exchange between both of them is a treat to read from the book.

In another track of the novel, the doctor who was living next to Sripati’s house will commit suicide. The cause of the suicide is never known. But, this doctor leaves his personal diary with notes about his thoughts of marriage and birth. Sripati reads this script from start to end and feels awe for the doctor who just died. The doctor’s wife will also commit suicide by jumping off from train. This has deeply moved both Sripati and his wife. They decided to cease their city life and heads back to their ancestral village. There Sripati will face the hardships like never before. He even starts to sell his belongings to make the ends meet. Having no money to treat his newborn daughter from a rare fever resulted in the death of his daughter.

Deeply disturbed by all these events, Sripati decides to head back to his former job as an artist. But, what he realizes by witnessing the events in his life is beyond the imagination. After reading the novel, I was left with numerous questions than answers. Is sex and marriage are both linked together? Or is it altogether a separate decision of the husband and the wife? Is having kids is the only aim of a successful marriage?  

I recommend this novel to everyone.

My Rating:

5/5