ASHOKA AND THE NINE UNKNOWN

Book Name: Ashoka And The Nine Unknown

Author Name: Anshul Dupare

Publisher: Rupa Publications

My Opinion :

Before speaking about the book, let us appreciate the cover. A strikingly beautiful cover which has Ashoka and nine unknown.

When one speaks of Emperor Ashoka, the things that people associate him with are Kalinga War and the conversion to Buddhism. But from time to time, there has been speculations about the nine people who were said to have powers. Magical powers.

The plot starts from aftermath of the Kalinga War. Though Ashoka is transforming, his actions have sowed the seeds of hatred in some. He summons his minister Radhagupta to create nine unknown who will have to preserve information. Then there are people who want to use this for their own evil ways.

There are many things which are woven into the story like Sphinx of Egypt, Chinese dragon, concept of Yin Yang and Lost World of Atlantis.
Mayong village in Assam is where another character Amartya gains boon of immortality but the author shows the bane. That part, I felt was little scary.
Ashoka wants to stop war using these nine unknown but there is a traitor amongst them. Further questions are promised to be covered in next book.

Overall a good read but I felt it would have been better if the story was covered in a single book. The reader gets to know in the end that there’s another book. This was, for me, little frustrating.

THE STUPID SOMEBODY

Book Name: The Stupid Somebody

Author Name: Rohit Dawesar

Publisher: Self-publishedThis story has two tracks- one the protagonist struggling with his stammering problem, how he overcomes it and becomes a motivational orator while the other being his relationship with his girlfriend Sheryl.There are many funny moments, deep insights on both career and relationships. In short, it is a delicate beautiful balance between both. The language is simple.This is a self-help book written in a fiction form. Yet the story felt like a routine one, exception of how the protagonist overcomes stammering problem.

BECOMING

Book Name: Becoming

Author Name: Michelle Obama

Publisher: Penguin

My Opinion:

In this story, a simple canvas is painted of a simple family in the south side of Chicago. This family can be any simple middle class family. It took me some first 30 pages to get into the story because I take time to set myself into the story.
When the author narrates about an incident she had experienced while she was a second-grade kid, you feel that incident is insignificant. But that’s when you realise those were helping in development of her personality. As an individual, her story helped me feel motivated when I had hit a rough phase and I had started doubting my own capabilities. Books can uplift you, inspire you. This book does that.

This phase of the book captures the author’s professional life, meeting her future husband and change of her career from an accomplished lawyer to something that he liked doing always. It narrates how she coped with the loss of her father, marrying Barack Obama and birth of her two daughters.
She tells us to learn from people around us on how they manage certain things which you’re unable to figure out managing them.
She describes how her husband’s application for presidential nominee asked for her career sacrifice, how she wanted to give a normal childhood to her daughters, away from media and paparazzi.

This part of the story tells about her role as the FLOTUS (the First Lady of The United States) without using the conventional handbook. She describes how her life changed with having the Secret Service security around them. As First Lady, she accomplishes growing a garden on White House grounds which would initiate a campaign, Let’s Move, in order to send out a message for the childhood obesity epidemic in America.

Her autobiography teaches the importance for education and the power to be known and heard in your own voice.

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE

Book Name: And Then There Were None

Author Name: Agatha Christie

Publisher: Harper Collins

My Opinion:

One Soldier Island. Ten Guests. A nursery rhyme hanging in the rooms of ten guests. Ten China clay soldiers. In the party, one of them dies, according to the rhyme. Then the murderer strokes again. Maybe amongst one of them is the murderer. Or maybe not, for there might have been another person hiding in the island. In the epilogue, even the police is unable to solve the case.

This is the first book I am reading of the author, Agatha Christie. She knows very well how to play with her reader’s mind. The twists are jumping in every page, making you think about the facts you knew, twice. I bet that you won’t be able to guess the murderer till the last page. The language is simple.

The beauty of the story is you know the nursery rhyme, you know that the murderer is following it but you don’t when they will strike the people alive on the island.
I can’t tell more else I might reveal the plot. If you’re a fan of murder mystery with a dash of horror, then go for the book.

THE DANCE OF DURGA

Book Name: The Dance of Durga

Author Name: Kanika K Dhillon

Publisher: Harper Collins

My Opinion:

When I came to know that the writer of some of my favourite movies Size Zero (Telugu), Kedarnath (Hindi), Manmarziyaa (Hindi) and Judgementall Hai Kya (Hindi), Kanika Dhillon has written this book, I decided to read it.

The story talks about everything – love, belief, lust, betrayal and politics. It is divided into two parts- Rajjo and Durga.

Rajjo is a beautiful girl from a village in Punjab who has the gifted ability to predict future. She was a wild child, always questioning, falls in love with Kashi who later leaves her.

(My observation – Kashi is where Lord Shiva is usually shown in husband form and not the yogi form. Here, Goddess Parvati is shown as a dutiful wife – is it why Rajjo doesn’t leave with Kashi because she was destined to become Durga?)

She is then married to an abusive old man and her tale of harassment left me in tears. She runs away from the house and then she joins Rani Maa’s ashram.

She embarks on a journey to replace Rani Maa and become Durga Maa.
This story has many layers to Rajjo and it talks about transformation of Rajjo to Durga.

The author doesn’t paint the complete picture which leaves the rest to reader’s mind for their version of interpretation. This was a fresh story because it is set in rural setting unlike most of the novels that is set in urban ones.

CHEATERS

Book Name: Cheaters

Author Name: Novoneel Chakraborty

Publisher: Penguin Books India

My Opinion:

The book comprises of 9 short stories. Each story is short crisp and written to play with your mind. Each story takes to the situations where you start judging the protagonists of the stories as cheaters but they are not. I tried many times not to fall into the trap but I did. This is how author cleverly uses the judgmental stigma around us.
My favourite story amongst these nine were ‘The Flight Is On Time’ where a simple email conveyed everything the story wanted to – making you believe that the wife was a cheater but it was otherwise.

THE BUDDHA OF THE BROTHEL

Book Name: The Buddha Of The Brothel

Author Name: Kris Advaya

Publisher: FingerPrint Publications

My Opinion:

The Buddha of the Brothel- the name rings a sense of surprise, I had bought it out of the curiosity of the title and story blurb.

It says it is based on the true and personal experience of a Slovenian person who visits Pune in India to learn Ayurvedic massage techniques. It’s not his first visit to India, he had visited India many times to learn meditation and chanting techniques. But it’s this visit, near the red light district of Pune he sees his Radha. Dark and beautiful. Yet her job- in the flesh trade market, doesn’t allow him any easier to meet her.

The story was never boring for it had puns and sarcasm. There was Indian English and Indian English from a foreign tourist point of view. The language was good, the story went a bit overboard with excessive descriptions but the humour made it up.

Did I mention the cover? It’s so artistic and beautiful. The cover gives away a lot of information and I could relate to all the art pieces after reading the story.

100 SHADES OF WHITE

Book Name: 100 Shades of White

Author Name: Preethi Nair

Publisher: HarperCollins

My Opinion:

Maybe there are one hundred shades for explaining truth, a spectrum of light to dark, depending on the vulnerability of those who have to hear it. Things are not always so clear-cut, they are not either black or white, life just isn’t like that.

They say there is black, white and grey shades depicting bad, good and the balance between it respectively. This book is about all those 100 shades of white in the white-black spectrum.

The book tries to find good in everything and every situation.
There are different points of view from grandmother, mother and daughter which made things little repetitive because the same situation is described from two or three point of views. Yet Maya’s self realisation was the best part in the whole story. The story blends different perspectives of mother and daughter with cooking.

But all the Indian themed books written outside India have similar plot- a woman tries to make her own identity by making Indian culture famous. I have no issues with that but seriously many books having same theme is a bit repetitive and boring.

THE FAULT IN OUR STARS

Book Name: The Fault In Our Stars

Author Name: John Green

Publisher: Dutton

My Opinion:

I wish that every girl gets her Augustus. I wish that every guy gets his Hazel.

Disclaimer: Mind you, the book will make you cry. If you don’t like books with sad endings, this one isn’t for you.

Very often I would wonder what would be the lives of cancer patients. The author, John Green, has presented them in a normal manner. He has written about their day-to-day activities and a part of them dealing with their condition. This representation could have easily evoked a sense of sympathy but it doesn’t. It helps to gain their perspective and that’s what I liked the most about it.

There is Hazel, a case of tumour-shrinking medical miracle, who meets Augustus Waters, a cancer kid. I could relate to Hazel at different levels like her concerns when she meets Augustus for the first time, her thought process after reading Imperial Afflictions and the insatiable quest to find out what happens later in the novel. I thought her character was more real.

Augustus! I can safely say that he is the kind of fictional boyfriend I have.

I did a great mistake by watching the movie first and then reading the book. The movie doesn’t do complete justice to the book. If you like a romance book that gives a message and has a sad ending, do read this book.

LOOKING FOR ALASKA

Book Name: Looking For Alaska

Author Name: John Green

Publisher: Dutton

My Opinion:

This book is the debut book of John Green. Enters an introvert Miles who joins a boarding school and befriends his roommate Chip. He joins their prankster gang where he meets Alaska Young. It’s a good book for teenagers as they can easily relate to it.

The book is divided into two parts- Before and After. I am not going to give you more details about this.

Then there is Alaska. She is a bright spirited character who has sudden and extreme mood swings. One cannot gauge her exact reactions. Such a beautiful and complex character!

Since I had already read ‘Turtles All The Way Down’ I had expected more from the book. Also, I had guessed the plot twist so I just stuck to the story to check if I was correct. Yes, I was.

The end seemed a little abrupt and unexpected. If you were to read this book, read it before you read any of John Green’s books. Overall a good book to read.

Did I mention how perfect and minimalist the cover is? The cover reveals a lot and it helped me guess the plot twist.