Book Review #87: One Indian Girl By Chetan Bhagat

Title: One Indian Girl
Author: Chetan Bhagat
Publishers: Rupa Publications
Genre: General Fiction/Bollywood script
Pages: 280 (Paperback)
Source: Personal Copy

Having read his previous works of Chetan Bhagat, I was somewhat skeptical about his new novel. Because, the haunting experience of Half Girlfriend is still afresh in my mind. After all, I had thought of giving a benefit of doubt to the author and took this book. Once again, I was wrong. This man cannot write properly. He has done more damage in this novel in the name of feminism.

Yet again, Chetan Bhagat has completely lost. The book has promised at the beginning, it might be a better offer than his predecessor Half Girlfriend. But, its completely opposite after first few pages. How in the world does the author claims this book is about feminism? The book failed to even touch a base point in that aspect. Its basically a sorry tale of a successful working woman that portrayed as too naive, vulnerable and pretentious. Before any one pull their trigger it as too prejudice to judge the characters and paint a fiction out of it, let me remind you that, the author has a huge fan base of mostly teenagers. He has set up a bad example of feminism by giving the most ridiculous ideas ever.

The plot seems more similar to his earlier novels. The author may be having this gut feel that, the more he writes a triangular love stories, the better the cash flow. But, he went a step ahead and wrote this garbage, where the character lacks the basic conscience and morale. The story mainly revolves around this woman Radhika, that has no thoughts in her mind other than sex or whom do I go to cuddle up. I am really sorry Mr. author, this is not the feminism that India needs.

The main character Radhika, who once was a studios girl, now wants attention of every men that she ogles. Oh, what's up with the Brazilian waxing stuff Mr. Author? Does going down again and again makes the character feel more fabulous than anything else? The author makes the character Radhika as someone who is suffering from AIDS (Attention Immune Deficiency Syndrome). This is not a true example of feminism. The author has abused this feminism and women empowerment in the most obnoxious way.

Does having sex with the boss on a business trip is an alternate to erase the past? I have no idea that this could work. The author feels that, the more he paints a bitch out of his heroine, the more empowered she is. Come on, get a life. The character Radhika feels that, the more praises (about work, about her looks, about her achievements, etc) she gets from her man, the more love that exists. Really? How in the world does that justify? There are certain sections that is ridiculously written. For example: When her mom confronts about her drinking whisky before the dance, the daughter is all worked up and says, "Mom, you need a drink I guess". What more can you expect from this outrageous line? Does smoking up, binge drinking, having sex with boss out of trivial reasons all count up to how empowered our woman in this book is?

When all such things crop in your mind while reading, and there you go, the discussion at 5AM in the morning by inviting her exes to face each other and giving a long lecture about how they are expecting a wrong person in her? Why don't she do it at the first place? Hasn't she done all that already?

There's more to write but I don't think it is quite important. You all can watch this outrageous feminism movie at the big screen down in few months. It seems Chetan Bhagat is setting a wrong example to his female fans. He is secretly championing them that it is completely okay to sleep here and there, since you're more empowered to take control of it. If this is the definition of feminism that author has portrayed, then he is wrong on many levels. This novel is stupid, callous and misleading. Not a recommending stuff.

My Rating:
1/5

Book Review #83: Bettada Jeeva By K. Shivaram Karanth

Title: Bettada Jeeva

Author: K. Shivaram Karantha

Publishers: Sapna Book House

Genre: General Fiction

Pages: 150

There are few book which haunts you for some time though you’ve finished reading it. Bettada Jeeva is one such book where it is almost impossible to forget the characters or the story as such. Set up in a remote mountain village of South Karnataka, the book captures the scenic beauty of the entire village and mountain as well as the subtle tragic events of a family. This book is short with just 150 pages. The story that the author had written is brilliant in many aspects leave alone the main plot of the novel.

The book has a prominent plot which carries the story till the end with its elusive narration. There are multiple protagonists in this novel and the main characters are the old couple Gopala Bhat and his wife Shankari and a visitor guest to their house Shivarama. The story appears as simple as it sounds in the first few pages of the book, but, as you read through it, it has something else to offer. The tragic and secluded life of the elderly couple will remain a focal point in this novel.

The story begins when Shivarama, another protagonist in the novel loses his way towards his hometown Puttur. While roaming in the forest pathway to decide which way to go, two strangers appears who were heading to a different village and offers their help to get Shivarama to a nearby village. As it was already night and there was no way that Shivarama could get any bullock cart to find his way, agrees to go along with those men and finally lands in the house of the elderly couple.

Shivarama received a warm welcome from the oldies and they treat him as one of their own relative. They offer him the best food and shelter and knows his whereabouts. As they begin their conversations, Shivarama was awestruck by the liveliness of these old couple and tries to get along with them. He speaks about their life in that secluded village and in that single house. Shivarama learns that, the old couple had two children, a boy and a girl. While the girl married at any early age and due to the complications in her pregnancy, the girl loses her life. While the younger son was the only solace for these couple, but he turns out to be a bigger disappointment in their life.

To get higher education, the son leaves their hometown and heads to Mumbai. Months and years passed and there was no sign of him. The couple became old and vulnerable waiting for their son’s arrival. 12 years have passed since then, and there was not even a single letter from their son. Dejected by their son’s behavior, the old couple comes to term with the situation and continues to live their lives by accommodating any new guests in their villages and treating them as if their own kith and kin has arrived. This was a turning moment for Shivarama and he decides to stay in the house for few more days to hear the couple narrate their entire story.

As the story drifts further, there are other short tales of how the elder couple adopted an orphan person Narayana and raised them as their own son. They got him married and provided him the land to till and build his own life. Now, this orphan person has two kids, which the elder couple feels them as their own grandchildren. There are also few short stories of visiting the deep forests, hunting down a tiger in the traditional village way and roaming around the water falls deep within the forests and so on.

As the days progressed for Shivarama, he approaches the elder couple and asks them few question regarding their lost son and promises them to find him in his next journey. As soon as he sees the photograph of their son, he remembers the face is quite known to him. He immediately says to the couple that he has met this person somewhere in Pune and promises them to find him out. The old couple lives with a renewed hope.

My Rating:

5/5

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 #74: Durgastamana By Ta. Ra. Su

Title: Durgastamana (Durga’s Sunset)

Author: Taluku Ramaswami Subba Rao (Ta. Ra. Su)

Published Year: 1982

Genre: Historical (Non-Fiction)

Publishers: Hamsa Sahitya

Pages: 650+ (Hardbound)

This novel is easily considered as one of the MAGNUM OPUS in the Kannada literature in the field of Historical writings. The author Taluku Ramaswami Subba Rao famously known as Ta. Ra. Su has literally given his life to complete this novel. He started writing this mammoth novel in the beginning of the year in 1981 and completed it in just under 5 months. By end of the year 1981 this novel was completed and by the early 1982, this novel has been released to the public. From that time, till today, this novel has stood against the time and tide and keeps inspiring many young writers who wants to take up the writings of a historical novel.

This novel has been awarded with the Kendra Sahitya Academy (The 2^nd highest literary award in India) in the year 1985. Unfortunately, Ta.Ra.Su wasn’t alive to receive this award by himself. His wife accepted this award on behalf of him in the year 1985. The massive research that author has done in creating and writing this novel is evident in every page of the book. Probably, this can be considered as a single reference book to known the life and details of the last ruler of the Chitradurga, the indomitable, the ever loved Madakari Nayaka. 

Reading this novel requires a dedication and patience. It is not at all easy to read a mammoth book of more than 650 pages and grasp every details of it. It is that much detail oriented and it gives us an ample amount of information that need not be verified with any other books.

The novel opens with the death of the King, Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka II, the erstwhile king of the Chitradurga. The wife of Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka II decides to adopt the 12 year old Madakari Nayaka, the son of Bharamanna Nayaka and Ningavva that lived in a village called Janakalludurga (Nearby village of Chitradurga). Soon enough, the young Madakari Nayaka ascension to the throne has been done, and he was soon inducted in to the royal school to learn the art of administration, of war, of ruling, etc… under the able leadership of the Queen mother Obavva Nagathi and the ever loyal minister Kalli Narasappayya. As expected, Madakari Nayaka excels in his studies, his other education specifically designed for to be king. The time has already come to test his knowledge to the use in a small battle against the Rayadurga (Neighbor province of Chitradurga). The young Madakari Nayaka was invincible and soon enough he gains the trust and love of his people by his undiminishing attitude as a ruler. The people of Chitradurga has found their true ruler and extended their support and loyalty towards Madakari Nayaka. During his younger days, Madakari Nayaka has gained the trust of his royal court, his ministers, his family and his citizens and grew up as a much loved King.

The book further explores the details regarding Madakari Nayaka’s learning years and his marriage with Bangaravva, Padmavva and his love interests with the city devadasi girls Kadoori and Nagavva. He remained as a true lover to both of his wives and remained an ever loyal lover to the other two. His family details and discussions were discussed in many chapters and it is connected with the story, which I am omitting in my review.

As the book progresses further, Hyder Ali who was the ruler at the Mysore province and on expedition to expand his kingdom towards north. Initially, he approaches Madakari Nayaka for the much needed help, which was offered by Madakari Nayaka after consulting and taking advices from his minister Kalli Narasappayya. With the extended help from Madakari Nayaka, Hyder Ali was able to win over many Maratha provinces and their friendship grew day by day until an unfortunate event. This Hyder Ali was not a friend and not an enemy to any of his fellow kings, he only wish was to be the undisputed ruler across the India. To make that possible, he was ready to go to any extent. With these crooked thoughts in minds, Hyder Ali places his spies in Chitradurga’s kingdom to collect the information of the war details, like, number of soldiers they had, number of horses they had, number of weapons, bombs, foot soldiers, etc… of Chitradurga’s kingdom. During all these times, his minister Kalli Narasappayya wasn’t aware of these spies, but, not Madakari Nayaka.

Parashurama Nayaka, the younger brother of Madakari Nayaka, who grew up in the school of Minister Kalli Narasappayya, has gained much knowledge in the ministerial proceedings of his Kingdom. Madakari Nayaka appoints his brother to spy on his Minister Kalli Narasappayya to fetch the details regarding the spying from Hyder Ali’s men. To his astonishment, Madakari Nayaka finds out greater details than he was expected, which he questioned his Minister Kalli Narasappayya in the open court, that lead to the resignation of Kalli Narasappayya on the grounds of treason. But, Madakari Nayaka, didn’t take any action on his Minister, rather, Kalli Narasappayya himself resigned from his post and left the city along with his wife to some pilgrimage. 

Days become tough for Madakari Nayaka. After collecting enough information about Hyder Ali, Madakari Nayaka decides to break his friendship with Hyder Ali, which made Hyder Ali furious and decides to go for a war. In these times, Madakari Nayaka writes to Maratha Kings asking their support to fight against the Hyder Ali and his lakhs of man force. But, Maratha’s kings keeps Madakari Nayaka in wait as they were not able to resolve their own internal conflict. The rest of the details are explained brilliantly in the book. 

The final war sequence which covers almost half of the book is what this book is all about. As per this book, the war between Hyder Ali and Madakari Nayaka that went on for almost 8 months to an year is a battle that was never seen before and never after. The intensity of the battle was imagined brilliantly by the author, supported by his strong words and anecdotes. As expected, even in Chitradurga, the Muslim warriors from the Chitradurga’s side will betray Madakari Nayaka at the last stage. They secretly tied up with Hyder Ali and took a vow on Quran to never fight against the infidels. This betrayal cost Madakari Nayaka a great deal. Apart from this, the few leftover Maratha warriors argued about payment issues and never took part in the war whole heartedly. All these events led Madakari Nayaka to face the mighty force of Hyder Ali with his few thousand warriors, with a least hope of saving his kingdom. The results need not be mentioned here, as everyone knows what might have happened. The sun of Chitradurga a.k.a. Durga has set. That is “DURGASTAMANA”. 

Even after these many hundred years. The life story of Madakari Nayaka inspires everyone. His fearless attitude, his untainted charisma, his able administration, is a true testimonial of how great the Chitradurga during his time. A true classic hero of Indian history. Till today, several forts of Madakari Nayaka has been preserved in Chitradurga and made as a tourist place which attracts thousands of tourists every year. A must visit place for everyone. If you have read the book before visiting this place, you might long for those tiny details that you have read in the book. A great compilation by the great author. I recommend this book for everyone. 

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #70: Ooru Bangha By Viveka Shanabagh

Title: Ooru Bangha

Author: Viveka Shanabagh

Publishers: Akshara Prakashana

Genre: General Fiction

Pages: 250+ (Paperbound)

Source: Personal Copy

There are few books where it gets popularized without a reason and when you read it, you're left with a big disappointment. This book titled “Ooru Bangha” by the well acclaimed Kannada author Viveka Shanabagh does comes under this category. This novel tries to convey a message using story inside a story concept, but failed large at the idea. I am not sure whether author was trying his best to finish this novel or he just wrote because he had to. I was totally disappointed after reading this book. This is not a contemporary styled novel, nor a philosophical novel, neither a romantic novel nor even a story oriented novel. But where do I categorize this book at the first place?

The protagonist of the novel is Manamohan, a corporate employee, a writer and a romantic person to say the least. One fine day he gets an invitation from his colleague to attend house-warming ceremony. As expected he visits his colleague’s new home and after all the party, he accidentally meets a person called Shami, a young girl who is probably in her 20’s and our hero offers her to drive home. With all the initial greetings, our hero develops an interest in this young girl and he often finds trivial reasons to meet her and wanted to spend time with her. He joins her in the morning jogging hours and due to his writing background, he created an interest in this young girl about his village story and other details. So this girl pleads him to tell all those stories. Our hero begins to narrate few stories every day.

Cutting the story back to 70’s, our hero narrates a dramatic story about his village and about a person called Lawyer Kimani and his lifestyle. The dry narration by the author couldn't make it enough for us to read this story further.  There is lot of disconnectedness as it gets boring further. This Lawyer Kimani’s story occupies almost 2^nd half of the book. There was no concrete end to this story.

As the book progresses further, now our hero is much into this young girl Shami and he gets his long awaited chance of having sex with her. With no clear intentions whatsoever, they both started to make out in her house, in car, and in some stupid places. Shami, being a modern girl, never forces our hero for a 2^nd marriage. This eats up the 3^rd part of the book.

From nowhere, the author brings up a character called Dr. Sunkapur, a legend in our hero’s village. Author tried to connect the stories of Lawyer Kimani with this Dr. Sunkapur and failed miserably at that. Both of these stories end abruptly without a logical end.

Cutting the story to present, our hero and this young girl Shami will have some heated arguments over a trivial reason and will go apart. Our hero, guilt ridden and feeling sorry for his wife and son tries to forget this young girl. But, he couldn't get over with the charm of this young girl. He tries to meet her again. To his disappointment, he failed to do so. That’s the end.

I have omitted few parts from the book for the sake of the review. It just couldn't get any worse than these kinds of books coming to market and lure people to buying it. May be the author would’ve waited for some more time to perfect this story than to publish it unfinished.

My Rating:

2/5

Book Review #68: Karma By Karanam Pavan Prasad

Title: Karma

Author: Karanam Pavan Prasad

Publishers: Conclave Media

Genre: General Fiction

Pages: 164 (Paperbound)

Source: Personal Copy

A first time debutant novelist, who took greater risk to write a novel on a subject like Death, Hindu Funeral Rituals and practices, etc… This novel is a blend of age old rituals, beliefs and traditions versus the modern cosmopolitan, scientific, questioning generation. This novel deals with a very taboo subject such as Hindu funeral practices, which is also called as KARMA, hence the title of the novel Karma. The book poses some serious questions, at the same time, gives its readers a sense of newly crafted novel. Not that, this kind of novel has ever come before, in fact, it has come at various stages and in various forms. But, the mixture of modern aspects like smartphones, IT, KFC, drinks, parties juxtaposed with that of traditions, practices, beliefs and other things is a new way.

The protagonist of this novel Surendra was responsible to carry out the last rites rituals of his father that just demised. Being working in a city as an upscale Engineer and married to an ultramodern woman Neha, he didn't seem to get adjusted to all those rituals, practices and traditions. He just toys around like a puppet listening to the head priest and following his younger brother in those rituals. During these proceedings, Surendra refuses to gets his head shaved, whereas, his brother Narahari agrees to it. (This is one of the rituals, where, the sons of the deceased person should get their head shaved in order to carry out this ritual, it’s called VAPANA). Day to day proceedings was making our protagonist lose his cool and made him act like a weirdo. He was always suspicion about his wife. He often gets these thoughts that; his wife is cheating on him with another man. This is strongly believed by him due to the past actions of his wife on numerous occasions before marriage. His wife had many partners just like him. However, his manly thoughts were not convinced to agree on such things.

The regular circumstances of those rituals have made him to come to terms with the traditions and he actually starts believing in everything. He often reaches out to head priest to understand the basics of the rituals which he finds occasionally funny. Sometimes, he indulges in serious conversations with the head priest and was asking any ritual practices so that he could father a child and so on. This kind of dilemma and regular taunts from his wife for being too orthodox has made our protagonist weak day by day. He gets mocked by his wife for conducting those ‘pointless’ rituals which was seriously offending Surendra. He also concludes that, he didn’t get a proper wife or he didn't become a good husband. This made him to get back to his last love interest ‘Vaani’ who was his Aunt’s daughter. Even here he faces serious disappointments.

As the book progresses further, we will realize many facets of these funeral rites, and this must be the take away from the book. The detailed explanation and beliefs behind each practice and tradition has explained pretty neat. There is an absolute twist at the end of the novel, which I am not including in my review. I ask people to read and savor the story.

All said and done, the novel has some weak points. Few of the characters were given little space. The entire novel could’ve been extended to about 30 pages. The background story of important characters was missing or was kept low. The Sanskrit verses and their meaning throughout the novel is a good attempt at explaining few traditional aspects.

Overall, a great attempt by the author and a fantastic rendition. He has a long way to go and this is just the beginning. I hope to see more of such amazing work by this author. Though, this book can be easily considered as a contemporary novel. It doesn't exactly belong to any specific genre. A must read novel. I recommend it for everyone.

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 #51: Gruhabhanga By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

A book that is full of tragic events. A book that is full of emotions. A book that is full of family problems. A book that is full of foul language. Yet, this is a book that speaks about a woman. This is a book that speaks about the hurdles overcome by a strong woman. This is a book that speaks about what it takes to live life. Finally, this is a book that speaks about strong will.

Gruhabhanga is a stirring, emotional and tragic novel from my favorite author Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa. The title “Gruhabhanga” can be fairly translated to English as “Destruction of a house”. Well, this is a literal translation. The real meaning or the crux of the novel speaks about a household. It speaks about various people from this household and their little stories. This is one of the epitomes of Indian Novels. This novel has been made into a daily serial or popularly called as sitcoms. It was such a huge hit at that time and even today this book marks as the only few books that got translated into all Indian official languages. This novel was originally published in Kannada language.

The entire story of the novel takes place in somewhere between 1920’s till 1950’s spanning close to 30 to 35 years. Due to the backdrop of village in this story, this novel strikes a chord with its readers. The main theme of the novel can be considered as a mere family story. But, the stirring images of each and every character are what make it as a class apart.

The main protagonist of the novel is a woman called Nanjavva.  She was fairly educated girl and her father Kanthijoyeesa is a well learned Brahman. In one of the unfortunate events, Nanjavva will get married to a person called Chennigaraya. Chennigaraya had a mother Gangavva (A widow) and a younger brother Appannayya. Chennigaraya was a village revenue collector. His job was to collect the revenue from the farmers, counting the number of acres that each farmer is cultivating, and type of the crop they are cultivating and amount of the crops that they grow each year. He has to sum up all these calculations from across 40 other villages and should submit these records to a nearby government office. He will be given commission based on this records collection.

During Nanjavva’s initial marriage days, everything was going smooth and happy. In just few months, her mother-in-law Gangavva, a bad mouthed woman will unnecessarily interfere with the affairs of Nanajvva and Chennigaraya. This intrusion has become worse day by day as such, one day, Chennigaraya who is a momma’s boy, will start beating Nanjavva and he even stopped going to revenue collection. This was the turning point in this novel.

Having learnt all these things, Nanjavva decides to take care of her family. Now she is a mother of 3 children. She begins herself to go for revenue collection and she starts to write all the records and only she would get the signature from her husband. Few learned members from the village will be aiding Nanjavva in her quest towards raising her children. During all these years, Gangavva, the mother-in-law of Nanjavva will be badmouthing her and often tries to link up illicit relationship with other men in the village. These events made Chennigaraya to abandon Nanjavva forever.

Later part of the novel is simply mind blowing. Author SLB has made this Nanjavva a role model for all the working women out there. Nanajvva slowly build her identity in the village. She often begged for few days in order to feed her children. She stayed in racks of an old abandoned house and making leaf plates to make the meets end. By this time, her elder son Ramanna was about to finish his school and his elder daughter is the age of marriage. Due to the help of few kind hearted villagers, Nanjavva was able to conduct her daughter’s marriage in a simple ceremony to a school teacher Surya Narayana. Surya Narayana, who is a school teacher in a neighbor village, will inform Nanjavva that, he will find a house and then he will take his wife there. Till that time, Nanjavva’s elder daughter will stay at her mother’s house.

Here, the fate plays an unfortunate incident in Nanjavva’s life thorough the author’s imagination. The entire village was attacked by plague epidemic starting with her house. Unfortunately, both her elder son and elder daughter passed away on the same day in a span of 3 hours who was suffering from plague. This incident made Nanjavva to lose faith in god. Fearing the same death for her younger son, she sends him off to her brother’s house and starts to live alone.

Nanjavva had always dreamt of her own house in the village. She works very hard to save the required amount of money and buys an old house and she starts to reconstruct the house. But fate was planning something else for her. As soon as she finished the construction of her house, there was another tragedy that struck in this household through the death of Nanjavva herself. She was attacked by the same plague epidemic and now the entire novel takes it turn towards climax.

In all these events, Chennigaraya the good for nothing husband of Nanjavva was seen with no emotions at all. Brainwashed by his mom, he expresses no grief over the death of his wife or children. He didn’t even bother to check on his younger son who is staying at Nanjavva’s borther’s house. He ended up visiting prostitutes on a daily basis.

What happened to Nanjavva’s younger son? Was he living peacefully in his uncle’s house? To know the answer, one must read the book. I think there was no better climax given to this book than this.

The above synopsis seems very simple. But, the vivid story described in this book will make anyone weep while reading this novel. The choice of words seems very daring. Since, no other novelist was dared enough to write such foul language in any novel. These words include Bastard, Son of a Bitch, Fuck You; Fuck your mom, Slut, etc... Etc… as I said, this is a village backdrop story, hence, the foul words is an apt choice of expressing one’s anger or resentment.

Overall, I feel this novel will stand tall as one of the greatest novel ever written in the history of Indian literature. At the same time, this novel will make the readers understand about the cultural practices, traditions, caste systems of a 1930’s India. I recommend this book to be read by everyone. It’s like a once in a lifetime.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #45: Anveshana By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

This book is a sequel to SL Bhyrappa’s highly acclaimed novel Grihabhanga. The story starts from the point where Grihabhanga has been left off. It is such a nice attempt of SLB sir in this novel that, we can easily remember all the stories, characters from the novel Grihabhanga.

For those who haven’t read Grihabhanga, let me tell you the crux of this novel. So that, readers can actually relate to this novel Anveshana. A small fictitious village in Tumkur and a poor farmer family was living in that village. Nanjamma the main protagonist in the novel Grihabhanga was married to a loaf called Chennigaraya. She faces many hurdles and difficulties in her life throughout the novel. She loses two of her children who were suffering from plague. Her husband is a good for nothing man, who wanders day and night around the village doing nothing and spends the money eating in hotels and other illegal activities. So, it was Nanjamma who takes care of her family and starts earning money so that she can build a home of her own. The only surviving child of her, Vishwanatha, who grew up with a monk leaves the village once his mother dies. Vishwanatha has a maternal grandfather called Kanthi Joyisa who stays in the outskirts of the village doing black magic and other stuffs.

In Anveshana, the story picks up from the phase where the grandfather Kanthi Joyisa who became terminally ill, wanted to see his grandson Vishwanatha for one last time. He wanted to leave his belongings, money and other stuff to his grandson. So he sets out on a journey in search of his grandson. This epic journey is called as Anveshana.

Kanthi Joyisa wanders many neighbor villages, town and other cities to know the whereabouts of his grandson. He meets many acquaintances of Vishwanatha and follows the route information that he gets from them. On his final voyage he meets a childhood friend of Vishwanatha. He is a tailor in a small village. He informs Kanthi Joyisa that, the last time he saw Vishwanatha was near a movie theatre, where Vishwanatha was working as a ticket collector. And the journey of Kanthi Joyisa continues.

Here author introduces the character Vishwanatha and his life journey in subsequent chapters. Vishwanatha who leaves his village settles down in a town and works as a hotel waiter for some time. Later, he moves to the house of a lawyer and works as a cook for some time. He leaves that place and travels to Mumbai and works as a Tonga Walla for some more time. And he continues his journey leaving no trace of him for his friends or relatives.

The magic of the novel is in its immense detailed explanation of Vishwanatha and his way of living life. Author introduces us to a phase where Kanthi Joyisa, the grandfather of Vishwanatha loses all his hopes of finding his grandson. He informs the tailor friend of Vishwanatha and goes back to his village and dies in isolation. This scene closes the curtain to the character Kanthi Joyisa.

Author introduces us to various traits of Vishwanatha throughout the novel. His love interests, his marriage, his college life etc… the vivid description of Vishwanatha’s love life, married life and college life and renunciation is a treat to read from the book. From this novel, we will come to know that, Vishwanatha has a habit of writing diary. As he leaves his final destination to the renunciation life, the school teacher of Vishwanatha discovers this diary and starts to read it and tries to understand the character Vishwanatha in a better way. This marks the end of the novel.

The striking gesture in this novel is the character Vishwanatha never appears in this novel as a first character person. He was often remembered, described, referenced but never in any way appears as the main protagonist of the novel, yet, he is the hero of this novel. All credits to the magical writer SLB sir. He has marveled in each of his novels. I have no words to explain more about this novel.

My Rating:

5/5

Book Review #30: The Palace of Illusions By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Who doesn't love Mahabharata ?? An epic of thousands of tales intertwined together in a mesmerizing story. And even more awesome feeling is, when you read the same Mahabharata story in different angles, different perspectives and different dimensions. All in all, a book which is certainly unputdownable. After reading many books on Mahabharata, especially after providing the review of Parva and Jaya in my own blog. I am here to give you all, yet another version of the tales of dice or simply the Mahabharata.

As the title of the book itself says, this story is all about the Illusionating Palace that Draupadi had dreamed off. The title is so apt for this book, since, the main theme of the book revolves around this palace. Divakaruni's attempt of narrating The Mahabharata from Draupadi's point of view is an excellent feat. Keeping Draupadi as the main protagonist of the novel, Divakaruni had achieved full effect the novel for what it meant to be. Loaded with heavy feminist viewpoint, you get to read the complete, different Mahabharata from Draupadi's point of view. Even arranging the chapter names is in a different style, as it is not numbered, rather, it is the theme of the story that she is narrating in that chapter. For example: Chapter name is Fire - it contains the Yagna that Dhritarashtra performs in the name of Rajasuya Yaga.

I am not going to give you all a review of Mahabharata here. That has been told many times over and over again. Here I will highlight the events and actions that unfolds through the eyes of Draupadi.

What was much fascinating was, Divakaruni's attempt of picturising Draupadi or Panchaali (The way she expects everyone to call her) is vivid and full of surprises. Draupadi also enjoyed the name "Sakhi" and "Krishnaa" (the female version of krishna) when Krishna used to call her. Draupadi's childhood is not a regular childhood of any little girl, since, it follows a different route. Draupadi, who was raised by his fond Dhai Ma, had a different view of the world such that, she always opposed the ritual of Women were not allowed to enter the Royal Courtroom, Women were not supposed to study after a certain point, Women had no choice of her own while selecting her groom (Yes, the Swayamvar!!), etc. etc..

Throughout the novel, we can get to see the lost love of Draupadi for Karna. Draupadi always longed for the love of Karna, which is not by compulsion, but by pure love. She had admonished him in the Swayamvar proceedings of his lower birth, not knowing Karna's true birth!!. Almost in every chapter, Draupadi's love for Karna is described very passionately, which is a must read from the book.

Without forgetting, having married off to 5 Pandava brothers, Draupadi had her share of fight or rather doubts against Kunti, her mother-in-law. She had to start her daughter-in-law life afresh in the new house, adjusting to the environments, getting along with people,etc.. You will sure enjoy the regular SAAS-BAHU cat-fights from this novel. When Draupadi learns that, Kunti had approached Karna to reveal his true birth and offered Karna to becomes the Sixth husband of Draupadi, towards the end of the novel!, Draupadi loses her cool and was about to shout at Kunti for not bringing this to her notice!!. This is for sure a spiced up story to read from the book.

What at all a review, if I do not bring the Palace of Illusions ??. This is the main theme or crux of the novel as I said before. What follows after their lac house was burnt and they get their share of barren land Indraprastha to start a life. Pandava's had called Maya to construct a beautiful palace that was never done before and will not be done after. As expected from this women centered novel, Draupadi becomes the chief architect for planning and suggesting what and all to include in this palace. The pillars, The waterfalls, The fish ponds, The rooms, The walls, The paintings, etc.. Everything was done according to Draupadi's instructions, which is the sole reason or the stepping stone for the entire Mahabharata. When Pandava's invited Kaurava's to visit their palace of Illusions, with much to the dismay, when Duryodhan accidently steps on to a pool which was looking like a glass floor, followed by Draupadi mocking him in front of her maid-servants, that led to the game of dice, followed by War of Kurukshetra is all a regular telltale!!.

Surprising stuff which I believe is that author's brought up story is, Draupadi had a boon from Sage Vyasa that, she can visualize the happenings across a far away place. When she was younger, Vyasa had already informed her that, she will be the main reason for thousands of deaths, also, she will get married to 5 brothers, etc.. Even in the war of kurukshetra, Draupadi already knew who Karna was, and she was tempted to reveal this to her husbands, which she didn't do, since, Vyasa asked her not reveal anything until what he wrote already must happen. 2 things we must notice here, First Vyasa giving boon to Draupadi to visualize future but not to reveal anything. And Second, Vyasa had wrote the Mahabharata much before it took place ?? (This is sure a debatable topic)

Towards the end of the novel, all Kaurava's side have been killed and Pandava's side have ruled for several years and it was time to take up the vanaprashta-ashram. 5 brothers along with Panchaali heads towards Himalaya that ascends to the greater heavens. The struggle and the hardship that Draupadi goes through this phase is a treat to read from the book. Because, Dhritarashtra had told his brothers that, none of them will help anyone if they fell down while ascending the himalayas. So, as foretold by the oracles, Draupadi falls much before. But to our surprise, Divakaruni had brought Krishna in this scene, who will lead Draupadi into the safer heaven.

Overall, a fresh aspect, a bold attempt of Mahabharata or I can call it as Panchaali's Mahabharata!!. A section of Krishna teaching Bhadagawad Geeta to Arjun was kept bare minimum, which should've been extended a bit further. Other than that, a must read book for all those historical fiction buffs.

My Rating:
5/5

Book Review #17: A Suitable Boy By Vikram Seth

This book is a complete challenge for the readers. Massive in its appearance and thousands of pages makes this book as the longest novel ever written by an Indian author in the 20th century in a single volume. Story ranging from activities of political parties from the post-independence time in India, the Zamindari abolition bill in the parliament, the shoe manufacturing process, cricket, poetry, triangular love stories, family sentiments, etc., etc, etc,.. you name it, you will have it in this book.

Vikram Seth, the author of this book A Suitable Boy, made his readers spellbound with this amazing book. Spread across 1500+ pages, it is difficult for any readers to keep track of the story. Personally, I felt, this is challenging for me to read. I often felt like stopping reading this book because I was getting bored at times. Nevertheless, It kept me going page after page and it took me almost 3 weeks to complete this book.

As the title of the book says, the story of the book is about finding A Suitable Boy (or groom) for the heroine of our novel Lata Mehra. This is one side of the novel, which never loses track of the readers. Apart from this, there are stories about the political activities of all political parties especially congress after the Indian Independence. There is also stories of Poetry, Spirituality, Cricket, Shoe manufacturing process, University proceedings, Court drama, Parliament meetings, Hindu-Muslim riots, love, revenge, sex, songs etc..

It is a lifetime experience to read such books. It is a tedious job to write a review even. It is always good if you read the physical copy of this book rather than going for a digital copy. The joy in reading this book by holding it in your hands is priceless. Going page after page will give you immense pleasure and a sense of satisfaction that you are bound to achieve something.

Before setting the plot for the novel, Author had given an introduction of the all the characters and the family tree of the characters. Since, the novel involves around 40 characters and almost 5 families which intertwined in the novel deeply. It is certainly expected of the readers to forget some of the family connection at the beginning of the novel. Readers can always go back and refer to the family tree to keep track of the persons and their relationship with another person in the novel.

The plot opens when Mrs. Rupa Mehra is conducting the marriage ceremony of her elder daughter Savita Mehra with Pran Kapoor, the son of Mr. Mahesh Kapoor, the then revenue minister of Purva Pradesh.

As the story further reveals in further sections, various characters unfolds in front of us. It is best not to mention those characters in this review, otherwise the review itself will go to many number of pages.

As the novel progresses, Mrs. Rupa Mehra is in a search of a suitable boy for her younger daughter Lata Mehra. But, Lata was already in love with a Muslim boy called Kabir Durrani, the university cricket player, the son of Dr. Durrani, the mathematician. Reluctantly, Lata agrees to see all the boys that her mother proposes in front of her. Among these, Amit Chaterjee from the Chaterjee family, a successful poet, but always moody. Another person, is Haresh Khanna, a confident young man, who is a foreman in a shoe manufacturing company. The story revolves around these 3 people and the book keeps the surprising part of who will Lata agree to marry.

As we go deep into the novel, Author introduces us to a lot various sub stories, which includes politics, riots, Hindu-Muslim fights, Abolition of Zamindari Bill, Friendship, Murder, love interests, prostitutes, shoe manufacturing process, cricket match, parliament sessions, animal hunting, general elections, Nehru's resignation from Congress and rejoining phase, Poetry, deaths, pilgrimage, spirituality and what not. One must not skip even a single page from this novel. Sometimes, readers may feel like, this is a never ending book, but, you will cherish every minute you spend on reading this book.

Whatever can be written about this book is still very less according to me. This is simply the magnum-opus of Indian fiction literature in English. Recommended for everyone who is keen to read such novels.

My Rating: 5/5

Book Review #11 - Matadana (Casting Vote) By Dr. S.L. Bhyrappa

Matadana (Pic Source: Internet)

This is a simple but elegant novel penned by Dr. S. L. Bhyrappa. Unlike his other novels, this novel is not interwined with so many characters. Rather, it is quite straight forward. The main theme of this novel is about the elections, politics of a small village. Interlaced with engaging characters and adding a portion of Tragedy and family problems makes this novel as one of the best fiction novels of Kannada literature.

With a strong plot this book makes it an easy adoption for movie. Without surprise, this novel has been adopted to movie that goes with the same name as "MATADANA" directed by one of the renowned directors of Kannada movie industry T.N. Seetharam in the late 1970's. This movie has won the best regional movie golden award from the President of India at that time.

The main protagonist of this novel is a well educated, MBBS grad, simple man Dr. Shivappa, who was practicing in his village by serving poor people. Shivappa's family consists of his mother Kallamma and an elder sister. His father was already dead even before the novel starts.

The other main characters of this novel is, Ramalingappa Gowda the popular contractor of neighbour village. His 2 daughters Kempalakshmi (elder) and Rangalakshmi (younger). His son-in-law Putta Tammayya who married Kempalakshmi. Mr. Appaji, the local elected MLA, now a minister. Mr. Sadaravalli and his son Mr. Prakash Sadaravalli, who was the political rivals of Mr. Appaji and Ramalingappa Gowda. Mr. Appaji and Ramalingappa Gowda were close acquaintances. Through Mr. Appaji, Ramalingappa Gowda has acquired many contract works in his village. And lastly, Cheluvashetty, a close friend and adviser for Dr. Shivappa.

The plot opens when Dr. Shivappa goes to see Rangalakshmi for a marriage proposal. This meeting was setup by Shivappa's mother Kallamma. Reluctantly, Shivappa agrees to see this girl, but never accepts for a marriage. Shivappa had a thought in his mind that, once he marries, he has to increase his earning, which makes him to leave the village and start his practice in some city, which is totally against his principles. Shivappa had always thought to server poor people and hence he has declined serveral high paying jobs from various hospitals from city and decides to practice in his own village.

Though Shivappa liked Rangalakshmi and it was reciprocated from Rangalakshmi as well. Shivappa declines that marriage proposal once and for all. He continues his practice without giving a much importance to his marriage.

As the story further reveals, Kempalakshmi would die of pnuemonia and hence Putta Tammayya along with his kid Manjayya comes to Ramalingappa's house to ask him to get married him to Rangalakshmi again. Here author tries to tell us that, through Mr. Appaji's influence, Ramalingappa had succeeded in getting a good government job for Putta Tammayya, which was supposed to go to Prakash Sadaravalli. Ramalingappa agrees to this marriage proposal reluctantly, and hence Rangalakshmi was married off to Putta Tammayya for the 2nd marriage.

Now the actual plot opens up, when the general elections was declared in the country. And, all political parties were in a frenzy in selecting their candidates and canvassing for them, etc... Even few lawyers and other influential people from city comes to Shivappa's house one day and asked him to contest for elections, because Shivappa as a doctor has garned much respect and popularity in the neighbour village. Finally Shivappa agreed to contest in elections. Even Mr. Sadaravalli's son Prakash Sadaravalli is also contesting in the same constituency along with Mr. Appaji, thereby making it as a triangular fight between himself, Shivappa and Appaji.

Now, the twist in the novel appears, though Shivappa agreed to contest in elections. This was a sheer game plan of Mr. Sadaravalli to finish the political carrier of Mr. Appaji by appoiting an honest man like Shivappa to contest in elections, mainly for the reason of polarizing the votes that used to go to Appaji, now will go to Shivappa and his son Prakash. Without understanding these things, Shivappa with full enthusiasm particiaptes in campaignings, meetings, gave speeches. One day, his close aides reveals him that, the opposition parties are distributing money and they must also do the same with villagers. Speeches alone cannot help to win elections in village and they demand money as well. This was again a plan of Sadaravalli to distribute money to villagers in the name of Shivappa. Villagers till now beleived Shivappa as an honest man, now in a doubt once Shivappa started distributing money.

Off late, Shivappa understood that he was made as a scape-goat in the elections. Without a surprise, Shivappa lost the elections and Prakash Sadaravalli have won with a huge margin winning against Mr. Appaji.

Soon the new government was formed, making Appaji powerless. The new government in which Prakash Sadaravalli was also a part of, ordered a probe against Ramalingappa's contract work. They set up a committeee to investigate all the contractual works of Ramalingappa. Ramalingappa has minted lot of contractual money when he was getting the support from Appaji. Now, he became helpless, he decides to seek support from Appaji. He was disappointed that Appaji couldn't able to help him in any way. Here the new committee has ordered Ramalingappa to pay all the money that he has minted in contracts. Ramalingappa tries to seek his son-in-law's support, disappointed there also, he sells his land in the village for a nominal price and tries to settle some of the dues. Having learnt that, the new committee is all set to put Ramalingappa in jail. Frightened for his reputation in the village, Ramalingappa commits suicide by jumping into a nearby dam in the village.

Here, Rangalakshmi decides to leave her husband Putta Tammayya comes back to her village and decides to take up the nursing course and was wishing to work with Dr. Shivappa.

Having lost his mother and damaging his reputation as an honest man by contesting in elections, Shivappa had no interest in practicing in his village. He seeks his friend Cheluvashetty's advise on this. One day when Shivappa was treating Cheluvashetty's wife in a hospital. He saw Rangalakshmi working as a nurse in the same hospital. Without a second thought, he goes and proposes to Rangalakshmi. Wishing for the same, Rangalakshmi had also agreed for this proposal. And they lived happily ever after.

My Rating: 4/5

Book Review #4 - Kavalu By Dr. S.L.Bhyrappa

KAVALU (CLEFT)

Before I begin the review of this book. Let me put it straight-forward, according to the major critics and some of his loyal fans "This book is not one of the major works of Dr. S.L.Bhyrappa". Main reason being, the subject of the novel that the author took in this book, is entirely a contemplation of everyone's modern day-to-day life of Indians. And, this book depicts those society that is populated with a coward, timid people.

The primary argument that the author was trying to portray in this novel is about the feminist movment that has raked up in recent years, and misuse of the laws by these "so called" feminist activists to harrase a major portion of the male population in the name of domestic violence, dowry, etc.. This book hits right on the face with reality that this country is going through at this moment. That may be the best reason why even some of the ardent fans of SL Bhyrappa is not able to completely digest this novel. Rather, they were disturbed at the thoughts and questions raised in this book. This reality is in a pure need of introspection among the masses. If you ask anyone the subjects covered in this novel, instead of accepting the grave realities, rather they will go in a defensive mode and pretend nothing is wrong with their family system.

What began as a movment in post-independent era of India for bringing gender equality in the name of Feminism agenda. Today it has taken a deep turn and used as a last resort for exploitations, torture against innocent male popluation. I am in no way support of domestic violence, I am just articulating what author is trying to bring out the issues.

The introduction to the novel itself is quite disturbing, a big industrialist Mr. Jayakumar was arrested on the domestic violence charges and was put behind the bars. Later it got revealed that, the complainant is none other than his own wife (2nd wife) Mangala, who was an active feminist.

Mr. Jayakumar was an example of rags-to-riches in those days. Married to Vaijayanthi a supportive female who helps Jayakumar to build his industries and held a responsible position to develop it. They had a daughter Puttakka. It so happened one day that, Vaijayanti and Puttakka met with a severe accident and result of which their daughter had sustained serious head injuries and became mentally challenged for rest of her life. Whereas, Vaijayanthi is dead.

Now, author explains how Mangala became wife of Jayakumar. Mangala was appointed as a personal secretary of Jayakumar in his business. She seduces Jayakumar with her paegent beauty which lands Jayakumar to invite Mangala to have a sexual contact with him. This illicit relationship was going on for a while, later it got revealed that, Mangala is now carrying Jayakumar's child in her womb. This was a blow to Jayakumar, since, this relation was just on a mutual consent and neither of them agreed for marriage. Later, Mangala forces Jayakumar to marry her, otherwise, she will stage a protest against him and bring down his reputation. Locked with no other choices Jayakumar marries Mangala.

One must understand what the author is trying to say here. Though they were married to each other, their marriage life never took up on the path of happiness. Infact, Jayakumar was always repenting for his decision to have a sexual relationship with Mangala. Being a feminist from her college days, Mangala, never accepted anything that her husband used to insist. Daily they used to fight over petty things. In one such incidents, when Jayakumar was helping his mentally challenged daughter for dinner, Mangala abused Jayakumar that, he has a sexual desires for her 14 year old daughter. This is where the novel takes it twist.

When author tries to bring out the college days of Mangala, he introduces a character "Ila". She was the lecturer of Mangala. Studied in England, she returns to join this college as a lecturer on social studies and reforms. In no time, Ila became the favorite person of Mangala, due to the feminist thoughts of Ila on various issues. Infact, Ila went a step ahead and asked her students (especially female students) to participate in one of the forums where they discussed about having sex before marriage. She insisted that, sexual desires are equal for both men and women, and one shouldn't have a fear or something to talk openly about this. Listnening to all this speeches, Mangala was so enthralled and decides to become an active feminist in future.

During this time, Author brings up one more character, Prabhakar who is a fellow student in her college whom Mangala was in love with. They were the most talked couple of college, since, their love relationship is known to each and everyone in college including lecturers and professors. It so happened that, Prabhakar indulges in an unprotected sexual contact with Mangala one day, and later when Mangala found out that she is carrying Prabhakar's baby. She insists Prabhakar to marry her. Prabhakar declines marrying her and rather suggests her to get an abbortion. Mangala brings this issue infront of Ila her lecturer, Ila also suggests Mangala to get abborted and break her relationship with Prabhakar. Also, she encourages Mangala that she has done no wrong and it is just nothing but desire and she should not feel herself sorry for doing this. This is breakthrough in Mangala's thoughts.

Author SL Bhyrappa also introdues the family of Ila. Ila was married to a successfull professional Vinay Chandra and they have also have a daughter Sujaya. Even Ila tries to dominate her husband on all issues and decisions. Due to this Nagging wife, Vinay Chandra thought of separating from her and gets his job transferred to Delhi. He insists her to change her job and move with him. He already knew her decisions, and when she said she can't come and neither she will be sending her daughter with him. Vinay Chandra moved alone to Delhi and visited his daughter once in every 3 months. Being separated from Wife, Vinay Chandra has been involved in having sexual contacts with Call Girls. Here the Author brings up the main causes of the breakdown of marriage.

Even Ila, having separated from her Husband, though she decides to leave her job and go and join Vinay Chandra in Delhi. Her feminist ideologies stops her from doing so. She thought herself that, "Why only female's have to adjust everytime. Why can't he quit his job and search for a new job in this town itself.?". This is the case with majority of the population of India today.

Years have passed, and now Ila's daughter Sujaya is already 18 years now. One day, she finds out her mother Ila having an illicit relationship with a minister of the town in her own house. Horrified at this incident, Sujaya not dared to ask her mother Ila about her acts. But Ila herself, one day reveals that, she needed a partner who will satiate her sexual desires and she tries to justify it by saying that, Vinay Chandra is also having relationship (not one, but many) with call girls. And, she openly says to her daughter Sujaya that, she is already 18 now and she can have her own relationship with a person whom she likes. And, advises that, safe sex should be practiced. Having understood everything, Sujaya decides to move out from her Mother's house and calls her dad and explains everything and she moves into a Hostel.

Later Vinay Chandra files a divorce from here wife Ila.

Here Mangala finds out Prabhakar again in one of the Feminist meetings in the city. It brought down all her memories down the lane. Then she decides that, rather than living a dead life with Jayakumar, it is good to get separated from him. She befreinds Prabhakar again, and, their relationship beguns to grow day by day. She invites Prabhakar to her house when no one is there and indulges in sexual activities. Mangala one day forces Prabhakar to marry her and she is ready to divroce Jayakumar. Even this time Prabhakar declines and says this was a mututal consented relationship and on top of that, he is happily married now and he cannot have a second wife now.

Jayakumar's mother is another important character in this novel which is introduced much later. A woman who speaks of the strength of the values that she has found in living in a hard life through her entire years. The twist in this novel appears, when Jayakumar's mother visits him in Jail and finds out that Mangala is sole responsible for this entire fiasco. She says "He is my Son, and he needs me now". This is the right discousure on the other side of the novel.

The other small character which appears in the novel is Nachiketa, Jayakumar's elder brother's son. Who lived in USA and lost everything and returned empty handed to rebuild his life. Even his story reveals that he was the victim, who was abused by domestic violence laws. An young man, migrated to USA, at first lives-in with a white woman, who walks out this live-in arrangement within 2 years. He then falls for another elderly white woman who is a mother of two. She traps him in a marriage and grants him freedom when he agrees to pay everything that she has demanded from him. In the end, he marries Jayakumar's mentally challenged daughter Puttakka to start his life afresh.

The male protagonists in this novel Kavalu is of a mere symbolic representations and nothing much importance given to these characters. Mr. Jayakumar being shown as a sober, socialist person who wants to get in the good books of society. But, lacks courage to encounter his personal exploitations from his own family members and he stood gazing at his personal downfall. Whereas, Vinay Chandra a sophisticated professional ubran lad, who doesn't hesitate to manipulate the things that he wants either by hook or crook. And lastly Nachiketa, a loser who lost everything abroad and returns pale to start his life again.

Overall, the two stories that is emerged in this novel is disturbing and dangerous. We have often created lot of Mangala's and Ila's in our society in the name of feminist agenda. Both of these 2 characters fails to understand their family bondings and kept their personal agenda atop. Ila, not only fails to understand her daughter Sujaya personally. Whereas, Mangala, inspired by the Ila's personal conviction about feminist ideologies kept every step in wrong direction, which failed her in every relation that she had.

One must understand, why people with their eyes tied blind, albeit sincere to their ideologies are rigid by the very same ideologies. And live their life in denial and always seeks an opportunity to blame other people for their current situation than to introspect a bit.

Despite a total tragic end of both the families, every male character in this novel tries to bring back their family together and tries to fix up their shattered love life relation. Failing to do so, Jayakumar after getting separated from his wife and completing his tenure in jail, starts a new consulting business with the help of his elder brother's son Nachiketa, who married Jayakumar's daughter Puttakka.

The readers of this novel needs to create a picture of their own according to his/her own beliefs, mental positions, character, imagination, sophistication and a profound expirience. For most of the people this novel can't be digested soon, they need to re-read entirely to understand their social stands.

My Rating: 4.5/5