Book Review: Carrie by Stephen King

Pages :  198

Read on : Kindle

Goodreads Rating : 3.88/5

Review:  I was recently mocked by a good friend for reading this book (playfully, of course). Stephen King has no shortage of fans globally and a good majority of people begin their reading journey with his works. Carrie being a turning point in his writing career. I do admit, that after hearing so much about Carrie as a popular fictional character in the literary world and watching the really cool trailers and viral prank videos (the cafe one in particular) curiosity got the better of me. 
Pretty much everyone existing on Earth will know what Carrie is all about (unless you're living on another planet) and I will not repeat the mundane. The devices that Stephen King uses to narrate her story is quite clever. Some from people who knew her, victims, towns folk and news stories. Despite being one of the most mentioned books in the 'Horror' genre, It didn't really terrify me due to the lack of details, I personally felt. I'm downloading the movie as we speak and am half expecting the visuals to do all the talking. 
However, what did terrify me was Carrie's overtly religious and insanely cray-cray momma who.... I'm just going to say it..... is completely batshit mental. I'd probably run away if I was Carrie. Perhaps this was the entire trigger in the film that explains Carrie White's budding telekinetic powers. What I don't understand is, there wasn't a whole of scenes depicting her exercising this power. She has to do a mental flex and objects can be manipulated to move as her will. I wanted to see more of that. To a point where her skills did seem borderline terrifying instead of going all out with a surge of power. 
Why was Carrie White mocked at school so miserably? Was it just because of her awkward introvert nature or was it the fact that her mother was mad into religion? I wish there was a little bit more depth to that or the characters around her. When I say depth, I mean I would love to have a closer look at how evil Chris and the girls were, than seeing just a mean prank and the revenge that followed.
May be I have really grown out of this phase and it's quite likely that adolescent me would have been frightened enough. I have read other books by Stephen King and somewhere somehow he does fall short in his storytelling.
I did draw one conclusion that those who do commit heinous crimes actually might come from a background of bullying or ill-treatment or deep misunderstandings that leads to a build up of angst and anger. That's just a thought I had.

Final Rating : 2/5

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Book Review: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Pardon me if my reviews seem to be on the shorter end lately. As we are already towards the end of August,  my commence toward the book challenge is at snails pace and I REALLY need to get on it.

Pages :  268

Read on : Paperback

Goodreads Rating : 3.34/5

Review: This book is not for everyone. In fact it's not for most people unless you are a literature major or something along those lines. The story follows the humiliation and sufferings of Hester Prynne in the 17th Century. Yup, it's pretty dated. Well-known in the literary world as a stand-out for it's strong outlook on the puritan society and a fair glimpse about what would happen to a woman, if she committed the most heinous crime ever, adultery.  

For a feminist, it's a piece of work that can't be dismissed. Hester Prynne is dis-owned by her towns folk and is branded with a scarlet letter 'A' embroidered on her chest, she's with child and refuses to name the man who she had relations with.  

Despite being a good natured and pious woman, the moment of weakness where she did indulge begins to define her life and starts affecting her child quite adversely. Innocent questions are being asked where Hester has no proper answer to and the townsmen are quick to point fingers at her.  

It took me a good while before I could get past the language. I haven't had much experience in grasping old english other than a few lessons in school and a failed attempt at reading Huckleberry Fin. You'll probably end up needing some references from SparkNotes or other reviewers who are more seasoned than I am. However, the honour element and will to carry out the punishment for as long as she could is commendable. The story did drag on for a good while, it also helped reflect on the burden of having the scarlet letter etched on her bosom. Her 'crime' was unforgivable even though several years had passed by. 

The main reason as to why people read The Scarlet Letter is to understand how progressive it was for something written in 1850. i'm not going to lie, the sole purpose for me to read the book was for that very reason. I didn't enjoy it as my other literary adventures but it was something that needed to be done. I did get bored in a lot of the parts and I guess that would be the reason why Hester's punishment felt endless. 

Not something I would recommend to anyone. I honestly read it just for educational purposes.

Final Rating : 3/5

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Splatter Days

Paintings by Mehreen Shaikh

Sometimes I just crave a blank canvas to spill out everything that's bottled up in me. Like a gush of paints and ink splatter. In no order or any sense, yet hoping you will read off your screens and nod your head,barely able to understand what I'm trying to say and still be able to say to me telepathically, 'Hey, it's okay, we all have our days'. Splatter days I want to call them.

    

It's like waiting, endlessly for something you have no idea about. Like waiting at a curb looking for cars to pass by or in a hospital corridor at 3 AM with just the breeze of doors being pushed around. You don't see anyone and it gets quiet again. You try to hear something familiar to you or something that holds a faint meaning. But instead, all you see is blank spaces. So blank, they make you feel all eerie inside. You see random people occasionally who've seen and dealt with the situation themselves or could be battling their own inner demons, handing you obscure advice. More splatter. You think you don't need that advice till one day it all begins to resonate. Can you still call it a painting if it isn't complete? Will it ever be complete?

I see mimes with all the upside down smiles, shaking their heads. No. They pat my head, trying to console me. There, There. They don't convey anything more than that. They can't. There is nothing left to be addressed. They know it's my journey and I'm on my own.

I take a few steps ahead in the name of moving on. For the sake of moving on. Let's try to collect more splatter - I can't help look back again and again as I go forth. I move ahead a few steps more till I can actually walk by myself..... steady.......steady.......I look back lesser now.......but I still look. Hoping the deeply missed splatter shade will bloom on my canvas some day.

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Book Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Hi! It's been forever since I put up a post for which I'm going to whip out the mundane 'I was busy' excuse. Well I was genuinely busy due to the holy month of Ramadan and Eid celebrations. Now that I'm back, expect some obscure posts in the coming days.

On with the review!

Pages :  550

Read on : Kindle

Goodreads Rating : 4.35/5

Review:  As you may know, I didn't have the best start to my year in terms of reading. I waltz around way too long with forgettable stories. To most people in the book blogging world, that's a crime. Then when the TBR Jar spits out ' The Book Thief ' I knew it would be something worthwhile.

How did I know you ask? I cheated a bit and watched the movie with my family last year and remember falling in love with Liesel and Rudy. The others around were in perfect harmony. The book has been around for a while and the hype about it is well justified. I stared into the abyss, shaken by the literary adventure I had. I cried till my heart felt sore and then I fell in love with it all over again. It's just one of those stories that give me chills I enjoy. The writing was absolutely beautiful. How? Just how can some one be spot-on in narrations and characterization? It's magical.

Although it's set during the holocaust, the story revolves around Liesel and the scraps of her life she shares with her neighbors and friends. She steals books and uses them to escape the harsh realities of her surroundings. I adored her foster parents for their unusual way of showing love which at some stages did turn out comforting. 

Then there's Rudy.

Rudy. He steals the show. He kills you with his spirit, he'll make you laugh till your sides hurt, he'll make you care about him like your own and it will hurt you. Rudy is a fantastic character for someone so young and everything that happens with him is probably the biggest reason why my heart felt like it was ripped out and shredded to bit because it hurt so much.  

May be that's why I have this unhealthy attachment with The Book Thief. It made realize what life is all about. It will put you in the worst of situations to test your own morals, it will make you happy momentarily, it will steal something you love most dearly and most of all it teaches you compassion. The most routine things leave the biggest void when they are no longer in existence and that pain leaves you helpless. 

Its one of those books I devoured in no time. I did hear that The Book Thief does slow down in some spots, however that wasn't the case for me. Despite watching the film ( which was also very good, by the way ) I was hungry to know more. What I don't really get is the reason as to why it's a Y.A novel? I would highly recommend this people irrespective of age.

Final Rating : 5/5

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Book Review: Living Dead Girl by Elizabeth Scott

Pages :  170

Read on : Kindle

Goodreads Rating : 3.84/5

Review: Most of my book recommendations come from Booktubers and bibliophile bloggers and this was stacked somewhere in my To Be Read pile without much thought given.

So when my TBR jar spits out 'Living Dead Girl', I anticipate a horror or dark comedy. Something morbid but funny and I get into it blindly.

It felt like I was hit by a bus.

Unputdownable is a mild way of saying it, but I don't think I have ever come across something as horrific as the Living Dead Girl. The story is about 10 year old 'Alice'  held captive by a man named Ray who refers to himself as her father. Alice is a name Ray prefers to call his victims while he sexually and mentally abuses them and also physically tortures them. 'Alice' has been in captivity for 5 years with the fear that if she ever manages to escape, bad things will happen to her parents as it happened to the 'Alice' before her. The neighborhood is such that no one seems to notice anything unusual happening nor do they seem to care. In order to escape Ray, 'Alice' needs to look for a new girl who will take her place as 'Annabelle' and the terror never seems to end.

Oh boy. For people who might be wanting to read this, please be warned this book will scar you for sure; Till a point where you just might have nightmares and wouldn't want to let your kids out of your sight even for a minute. Elizabeth Scott is one gutsy lady who has not spared a single detail to our imagination. The graphic description will assault any idea of innocence that you may hold as it's more of a running yet passive narrative of a child facing abuse from the age of 10 to 15. What pained me the most in the book was that she thought one day she would reach out for the knife and plunge it into her own chest - her only route to 'freedom'. Ray doesn't even feed her adequately, the point being that Alice remain small and as child-likeas possible. The perfect ruthless Pedophile profile was created in the form of Ray.  Even now as I write this review and think about that book I fight back tears and the fear in my heart. How many innocent children might have been taken from their families and subject to a kind of tortured that will disturb even the most strong-willed. Are children really that safe?

There's no bright-side to the book. Yes, you will know of the dangers lurking outside for the young ones and what possible can happen to them. Knowing that is vital, however if you are a mom, you just might have a hard time to fathom the concept and still look at your children the way you always did. I have no clue as to why 'Living Dead Girl' is deemed as YA. The recommendation doesn't even extend to teenagers or sensitive adults. Everything in the book was so wrong, it manages to rip your heart out. You'll end up feeling sore and tender. The sense of helplessness will takeover your mind and body. I didn't know whether to cry or scream or do both.

This is one of those situations where the book is absolutely terrible at the same time manages to be highly rated.

Final Rating : 5/5

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Book Review: Fasting Feasting by Anita Desai

Pages :  240

Read on : Paperback

Goodreads Rating : 3.28/5

Review: A bit disappointed by Ms Desai. I didn't expect a book so closely missed for the Man Booker Prize 1999 to be such a drag. In all fairness, I picked Fasting Feasting for that nomination as a vouch for it's credibility and the assumption that it might be her best to almost attain such an esteemed tittle. Near miss nominations must not be exempted. You never know what treasures it might hold. This however was a let down of a whole new level.

As per the description, the story is of two siblings, Uneducated Uma and her brother , Arun who is sent to Massachusetts for University. Uma is stated as dull, not very pretty and unmarried. Her lack of any appeal has made it difficult to find an suitors thus she is now spending her existence on serving her parents. Arun is the promising child in the family. Under the burden of his parent's aspirations, poor Arun is shipped off to USA for college where one summer he has a strange encounter with the Pattons. Other than Uma and Arun, there's Aruna, the middle daughter- pretty, married and distraught. Caught in her own tides of having everything perfect. 

I'm not going to go into much detail about the story because honestly I really didn't understand what was the whole point of the book. Harsh but true. At several stages we do understand that this book is a direct hit to the kind of society India used to have. Uma was pushed and pulled by her family for their whims and fancy and there Arun was the only semi-liberated one with the easy access to high-quality education. Aruna was as pointless as a doormat. She was there, she was pretty , she was in demand and she was married off. The end. 

Even though I have come across books that lack a definite plot, at least the characters manage to salvage it. However here if anything I felt Uma was constantly made a mockery of. In no way were there any good things about her mentioned which saddened me. Surely she must have had something to her or someone who went close to understanding her. With way too many things happening in Uma's share of the book, it was impossible for me to draw any connection with any character.  On the other hand, there's Arun who encounters all kinds of absurdity in the Pattons house. New to the American 'culture'  but he could see the imbalance in both the households despite the cultural difference. The only part that I somewhat liked and also a marginally better ending than Uma's tale.

Desai's writing is simplistic to where she is to the point yet the whole concept has gone completely amiss. She opens her chapters sharply and quickly with no dilly-dally. That is the only reason I rated it as such. If you were intending to read 'Fasting, Feasting', don't bother. You aren't missing out on much.

Final Rating : 2/5

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Perceived Mistresses and Married men

I guess I needed some serious shaking up when I just analyzed and found out majority of my friends are all much older to me. Lately the people I've been casually chatting with are all men much above my age but me being frivoulous or foolish free-spirit ( call it what you may ) I don't think of consequences, unless I foresee it to happen rather too soon.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to roll my eyes (LIES!)  at the 'marriage talk'. Considering now that I am approaching a certain age, the gossip spreads like wildfire more among relations than anywhere else. My problem here is of a different kind. Ignorance is bliss as they say and at times we never think such-and-such thing could ever happen to us. Until it does. 

Two words. Married. Men.

Before you jump to conclusions, let me clarify I am NOT talking about affairs. But hey, interest taken can be misinterpreted in several ways. Easy to slander regardless. 

There are two sides to this, like every story. There are friends you have know since the being of time who get hitched and then there are those who become friends while they are sailing in the ' I'm married ' vessel. The former = no troubles. The latter however, cause of all troubles.

One of my closest girlfriends is getting married in under a month and I'm the one losing my sh*t. ( No, I don't have diarrhea, thankyouverymuch )  It's because I feel like I'm about to lose something. Relationships equations change, priorities change and I'm praying desperately she doesn't become one of those people who starts suggesting marriage to anyone one of us with zero prospects. ( JK Bluwis ).

Naturally, the people surrounding my work area are mostly men. Married men, to be precise. A casual cup of tea and a catch up seems harmless to us, but not to the world around us. If my momma was to find out, I'd be slapped right in the face. Because good women don't befriend married men.

It doesn't always strike me that the mere exchange of words in the same room can be misled to believe that something is on -going. Believe me when I say, I'm just a friend. Till that side of their life is well concealed, I don't tend to pay much attention to it. At times, when I do learn the fact that they are married, I gradually pull away. By then it dawns on me that what I've done was probably not  wrong but not right either. Lets just say it wasn't appropriate. Part of me says why not? You were just friends. Can't married people have single female friends?

Can they really have single female friends? Newly made friends I mean.

While researching on the topic, I read words of caution from women AND MEN saying that if your hubby is spending time or talking a lot about a new friend of the opposite sex, you've got to be careful. When I read it that way it does make it sound like something's up. Although from the other side, the woman might have been a genuine friend and nothing more.

My conscious only starts to tug on me when I'm introduced to the wife herself. I begin to think, what would I do if I were her? How would I feel if my husband went on and on about a woman, a young one that too. Hurtful, isn't it? Even when you've managed to spending so many trusting years and do not want to begin being the nosy, nagging wife, still the mind can't stop racing. A mountain is made of a mole hill. Or may be the root cause was me from the very beginning.

'But we were just friends!'  The opposing side of me says. A mistress is well hidden, but not a friend.
It could be highly possible that doubt might also make it impossible to give friendship a fair shot among the two women.

It's amazing to see how fragile relationships are and  to nurture them, we treat them with utmost tenderness. We try our best not to falter. Sometimes it just happens.

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