A Thousand Splendid Suns

Khaled Hosseini

"Only the hardest of hearts could fail to be moved" Glamour

It’s a classic tragedy which portrays the war affected, devastated Afghanistan through the eyes of two ladies whose paths of life cross each other. It tells us about the political context of Afghanistan starting from the Soviet Union domination to the fall of the Taliban and the beginning of the Hamid Karzai reign. In this book, Khaled Hosseini creates magic with his writing, with his amazing power of providing intricate details…which probably is the reason why the seemingly repetitive war descriptions didn't strike as monotonous. But in all fairness the book was too long for its own good!

This is the second book by the writer. I have been especially excited to read this one after reading his first book, the masterpiece-the kite runner.
Both the books give us a sneak peek into the lives of the Afghans during the extended, horrific aggression period. I read about the distress of the people in newspapers…followed it on tv,  but nothing gave me such a comprehensible perspective of what it was actually like-being an Afghan, living, growing up, enduring death, loss, massacre and hopelessness-as this one single fiction did.  The poignancy behind the misfortunes of their lives is what characterizes this book. It got me shaken and sometimes restless with the despair, the grief.

The plot is based on the lives of two women.
 One, Mariam, born illegitimate, living alone with her mother in a secluded shack in Herat , plucked out of the society to veil the father’s disgrace.  The girl, inspite of all her inhibitions and bindings-dreams; looks up to her regular adoring visitor-her father. Till all her aspirations come crashing down, when the father declines to let her in his house, in his company. And later marries her off. Thus commences the beginning of her harsh fate filled with violence, intolerance and the lack of any warmth or sense of belonging.
Meanwhile little Laila loses her brothers in the name of jihad which lives her mother almost lifeless, disinterested in the daily affairs of life or even her. Laila grows up motivated by her father’s vision for Afghanistan and her father’s belief in her.
Fate brings these two women together. They look out for each other, loving selflessly. They face the cruelties of the war and the war prone, prejudiced society which becomes especially unbearable for the women.

Why should you read this book-because one rarely gets to read such a soul wrenching fiction these days, one rarely gets such an accurate and lucid picture of a crumbling society.

Is it as good as ‘the Kite Runner’? - In terms of the plot and story-line  not so much. But in terms of giving a true and moving picture of the afghan crisis, this is the book! 

A Time to Kill: John Grisham

Carl Lee Hailey-a black vet- finds himself helpless after his 10yr old daughter, Tanya gets raped and beaten up by two rednecks.Tanya identifies the two and with the help of a local sheriff they are arrested.But Carl does not have faith in the Clanton justice.He would not and does not accept the verdict based on who has the better lawyer.The town reacts with horror until the girl's father takes justice into his own hands.As he gets his hands on M-16 he shoots the two, and by this process the two rapists gets killed and a deputy, severely injured.He then goes straight to his brother's lawyer Jake Brigance,to get him off.For Jake, this is the case of his career. A young lawyer, out on his own and barely making ends meet, winning this one would set he and his family up for life. And with the assistance of his old friend Lucien, a dirty smart divorce lawyer named Harry, and a surprise godsend of a paralegal nick-named “Ro-Ark”, he might just be able to see this one through.
Jake fights his way through but in this process he puts Carl's,his and his family's life at stake.Eventually the Klan gets involved so does other racist and a chaos situation is created.Burning cross,threats,slogans and banners saying "set Carl lee free" is all over the city.For days the nation sits spellbound as the defence lawyer struggles to save his client's life and then his own.The city takes a different face that no one has ever seen before.The national guard are called into the small southern town to keep the peace, and the clashes with protesters and Klan are heightening by the day. And, of course, the unavoidable problem... which way will the jury go? Can Jake maintain his sanity, his life, AND win the biggest case in his career?

This is one among the other court room dramas of Grisham.But this particular one is action packed,full of drama and suspense.You will feel your heart hammering fast along with that of Carl and Jake.Of course, you could tell where his sympathies lay, but for a first novel his ability to write impartially was very impressive.

To kill a Mocking bird - Harper Lee

"Shoot all the bluejays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird."

Set in the small Southern town of Maycomb, To Kill a Mockingbird follows three years in the life of 8-year-old Scout Finch, her brother, Jem, and their father, Atticus--three years punctuated by the arrest and eventual trial of a young black man accused of raping a white woman. Though her story explores big themes, Harper Lee chooses to tell it through the eyes of a child (Scout). The result is a novel dealing with issues like race, class, justice, and the pain of growing up.

Like the slow-moving occupants of her fictional town, Lee takes her time getting to the heart of her tale. The begining might get a bit boring but it does show the gradual character build-up. At first the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape of Mayella Ewell, the daughter of a drunk and violent white farmer, barely penetrate the children's consciousness. Then Atticus is called on to defend the accused, Tom Robinson, and soon Scout and Jem find themselves caught up in events beyond their understanding. During the trial, the town exhibits its ugly side, but Lee offers plenty of counterbalance as well--in the struggle of an elderly woman to overcome her morphine habit before she dies; in the heroism of Atticus Finch, standing up for what he knows is right; and finally in Scout's hard-won understanding that most people are essentially kind "when you really see them." Lee won the prestigious Pulitzer Award for this book.

The God Of Small Things - Arundhati Roy

An award winning book in all its right, The God Of Small Things will take you to a different realm entirely. But it's up to you whether or not you may like that realm. The novel delves into a the lives of two young siblings in the heart of South India as they go through happiness and tragedies alike. The narrative of this novel is the most unique thing I have ever read. Hard to believe this is Arundhati Roy's first novel, and to this day remains her only novel.

We read the novel through the mindset of the two children; this takes us through very serious subject matters, but in the innocent view-point of two children, bringing a unique and almost disturbing quality to it. Also extraordinary are the nature of its central characters, Estha and Rahel, the two twin siblings who are said to be Siamese twins; but joined not at the body, but said to have "shared a single soul". If you don't read closely, this book will seem only strange and weird to you. But this book is in reality, an in-depth study of the human nature, and its primal instincts and behavior. Yet, strangely enough, this book is centered mostly on the socio-political circumstances of a post-war, communist South India. But this is only expected out of the most famous columnist in the Indian-Subcontinent, as social commentary must be a second nature to her, if not a duty.

A word of caution: this is not a light read. In fact, this is the hardest book I've ever had to read and even more so, to understand. This book deals with racism, child abuse, and at one point, incest. But you have to read through that to find out why this book enchants every adult who reads it, and is Award-Winning to say the least. No wonder readers are demanding a follow-up of this novel. After all, how many times do we come across a classic in this side of the twentieth century?

Doctors by Erich Segal

Gentlemen, I urge you to engrave this on the template of your memories: there are thousands of diseases in this world, but Medical Science only has an empirical cure for twenty six of them. The rest is...guesswork.’ Erich Segal in Doctors.
Graduating from Harvard himself this is one of the best works of Erich Segal centering around the lives of Harvard medical students. This is one of my all time favourite books. The story is based on the two central characters Barney Livingstone and Laura Castellano. It has Kenneth who rises above racial discrimination to excel in his field.. It has Seth who is a mad genius.. All in all it is a book about doctors who lead such a glamorous yet unglamorous life.......
The book is written in a simple and lucid language. You don't need the oxford dictionary by your side. All you Sidney Sheldon readers will be pleasantly surprised by the lack of 'you know what!' The book says that doctors have higher suicide and drug addiction rates than the rest of the population due to the rigorous demands of their profession. We learn that many wannabe doctors give up their lives (or end up demented), as they are unable to cope with the intense pressure of their work. We learn the inner secrets of what happens when doctors goof up in their practice and the politics that affects even this profession. Concepts like euthanasia and doctor’s ethics are touched upon, not to mention the adrenaline of the operating room. There is a lot of medical knowledge to be found here and many exciting hospital room scenes.
All in all 'Doctors' is one of the great master pieces written by none other than a legend himself. It is one of the best books I have read . And when you do close the book you are going to have the fuzzy feeling you have after you finish reading a book with a great plot and story-line. So enjoy!

As the crow flies---Jeffrey Archer

Jeffrey Archer's amazing storytelling ability, completely enchanting characters, and surprising twists all combine to make a totally enjoyable novel. AS THE CROW FLIES is no exception.Archer uses his rags-to-riches theme with Charlie Trumper, young barrow boy from the Whitechapel area of London's East End. Charlie masters the fine craft of becoming the best fruit and vegetable man in all of the East End, a talent he gets from his grandfather and one that stays with him for life and gives him his greatest thrill.The reader watches Charlie grow from eight-year-old urchin to World War I soldier and chairman of his own London department store. Along the way both triumph and tragedy are his companions, but it is his bitter and hate-filled feud with the Trentham family that will leave you aghast and shocked, but always mesmerized and turning the pages.
An interesting part is Archer narrates the entire story from the direct point-of-view from all the major characters.Having 800 pages, though the book might turn a bit boring at parts but that will not deter a reader to put the book down.

The Master of the Game--Sydney Sheldon

We all know Sydney Sheldon for his page-turning and twisted plots. Sheldon keeps his signature style and brings us MASTER OF THE GAME which will surely keep you at the edge of your seat making you want to know what exactly happens next!! The story begins in 1883 where we meet the young and ambitious Jamie McGregor on his way to Africa to make his fortune in diamonds. Overcoming duplicity and hardships he finally makes it rich and starts the Kruger-Brent company. Enters Kate McGregor, his daughter, whose entire life spans around how to make this company one of the worlds largest conglomerates. Her thriving ambition doesnt get deterred by any of the thorns in her path. Kate -the master of the game- manupulates her kins and competitions alike to see her company thrive in the corporate world.

Sheldon takes us on an amazing journey told in an enticing and binding manner.You might not like all the characters but that surely would not stop you from liking the book. The twists and turns of each character and how one is connected to the other by improbable forces create a book that is not only entertaining but spellbinding.

A sneak peak into Kane & Abel--Jeffrey Archer

The book dates back to pre-first world war era,in a small town in Poland,where a child discovers or rather delivers a newborn from an ailing mother who dies in childbirth.Mistaking it for a new animal his family could eat,the child brings the new born into his family,where his mother readily accepts him as the ninth member of the family,calling him Wladek.As fate would have it ,one day the baron of the city adopts him to offer "competition"to his son in studies. A thousand miles away a son is born to a rich family of bankers in united states, christened William Kane.Both these children live completely different lives,one in riches of the bankers’ family,while the other has to live in dungeons of his own castle during the siege of war saw by Russians.Wladek’s world is shattered when the baron dies after being held captive in his own castle for nearly four years,while William loses his father to titanic. While Wladek migrates to U.S. illegally,William can already be seen fidgeting with hundreds of dollars in his ledger book.Their lives run critically parallel to each other , until one day they cross paths.After a strange turn of events which deals with what is called the "period of depression" of ’thirties.Wladek ,now called Abel Rosnovski,who is the manager of a defunct hotel which is mortgaged to kane’s bank holding William Kane responsible for all his misfortunes ,swears to destroy kane ,a man who holds the chair to one of the biggest banks in U.S. The sequence of events that turn up after this, as well as the description of world war 2 ,when the two men meet once again has been dealt with possibly in the best manner by Archer. the book is descriptive enough to the extent of a moving picture but has the same pace,though. The end a rather critical one ,is agreeable at the same time.

Strong points : powerful narration.fast paced,sensitive handling of matters

Flip side : the author seems to have taken a leaf out of Hindi movies, about the rivals’
children to fall in love with each other and marry against their wishes.The world isn't
that small,or is it?