Weaving of Arachne

“Which is better, a cheap happiness or lofty suffering? Tell me then, which is better?” The characteristic trait of Dostoyevsky novels is that they portray the ‘real man of Russian majority’ and lay bare his ugly and tragic existence. Notes from Underground  is a brilliant novel as it not only brings forth the absurd and tragic life of the tormented protagonist but also takes the reader inside his brain to experience first-hand the turmoil within. The novel is divided into two parts. In the first section the protagonist expounds his absurd, contorted, paradoxical ideas, while in the second section he writes about one of the most harrowed experiences of his life in a confessional mode. Dostoyevsky effortlessly gets within the skin of his unnamed protagonist and lets him speak for himself. The protagonist who feels isolated from the ‘normal’ society lashes out at the absurdity and hypocrisy of the accepted social conventions. Though he expresses his ideas in a muddled and inco...

Dream Big  – This phrase represents the essence of the novel Adarsha Hindu Hotel  by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay. The protagonist Hazari Devsharma Chakroborty is a cook at Bechu Chakroborty’s hotel in Ranaghat. He is a man of humble means but that does not deter him from dreaming big. His most cherished dream is to have his own hotel which he wishes to name Adarsha Hindu Hotel. He is a diligent, honest, hopeful man who does not shy away from labouring hard in order to fulfil his dream. The novel emphasises that industriousness is the key ingredient for staying young at heart. The novel is extremely well written with a tight woven plot and well-developed characters. Each and every character takes a life of their own with their own dreams, aspirations and struggles. Interestingly, Hazari gets the requisite financial support to fulfil his long cherished dream only from the women characters. It might be because since the women had no official right over their own money which...

The Blacker the Berry…  A Novel of Negro Life by Wallace Thurman is probably the most powerful book that I have ever read. Before reading it I was quite apprehensive about the quality of the novel. I have read many literary critics who criticised the writing as not being refined; even Therman B. O’Daniel in his Introduction to the novel was being dismissive about the writing ability of Wallace Thurman. I lament the fact that such an extraordinary book is obscured by the canonized highfalutin ‘classics’. And I am gald that despite the negative reviews I chose to read this wonderful, thought-provoking novel. The novel deals with the “haunting chimera of the intra-racial colour prejudice.” The protagonist of the novel, Emma Lou Morgan is a black girl, darker than her fellow black mates. From an early stage of her life she is made to believe that there is no place in the world for a girl as dark as her. She is looked down upon by the light-skinned Blacks for being darker than them...

Persepolis  by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel which presents a first person account of Tehran in the 1980s through the eyes of an adolescent Iranian girl. It is an autobiographical account of the author’s adolescent and young-adult years. Graphic novel is a fantastic medium which exploits the seemingly light-hearted medium of caricatures to represent important issues. This book employs the black and white comic strip format to bring forth the early years of Satrapi’s life. I believe that books by third-world authors are doubly important because they dispel the stereotypes and prejudices against their country and people; and Persepolis  does so very effectively. The novel challenges the stereotypical view of Iranians as boorish, fanatics and terrorists. It once again emphasizes the odiousness of generalization by presenting the repressed, humane face of Iran which media does not bother to show as. It is certainly an engaging and thought-provoking novel yet it cann...

The Kite Runner  by Khaled Hosseini is a tale of love, loss, friendship, betrayal, faith and redemption. It is the heart-wrenching tale of two friends, Amir and Hassan and how one event impacted their entire lives and even of those around them. The plot, though magnificent in itself, is enhanced manifold by the powerful writing style. It is one of the most well-written novels that I have ever read. The novel is a first person account of Amir’s experiences and takes an almost autobiographical/confessional tone. The author intimately explores personal experiences within the broader framework of oppression, violence and exploitation. The novel poignantly describes the plight of the war ravaged Afghanistan but it does not dwell at length on the gory details of violence, that is, Hosseini does not sensationalise violence which many authors, perhaps inadvertently, end up doing. Rather, the novel focuses on the plight of common Afghanis and their quest for survival. Hosseini empathis...

There are some books which are written so powerfully that they suck the reader inside their world of words. The words of such novels are so enchanting that the reader is obliged to let them carry her into their fictional world which becomes more real than the real, visible world. But, the only downside of such enchanting novels is that they come to an end and the reader is obliged to leave this enchanting world and return to the mundane reality, nevertheless, always carrying a shred of that enchanted world in her heart. Ichhamati by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay is one such book for me. While reading it I was transported to the Palli Bangla village on the banks of river Ichhamati of the 1850s-1860s. It was undoubtedly a magical experience. Neither can I describe in words my feelings while reading the novel nor do I want, for I feel that experience is too sacrosanct to be expressed in words. I dare not confine the infinite ecstasy which I experienced while reading it within the bounds ...

Reading Convenience Store Woman  by Sayaka Murata was a novel experience for me. I have never read anything like this before. I didn’t know anything about this book until a few days ago and picked it up on a spur, and, I must say, this is one of the best decisions that I ever made. It’s very difficult to classify this book. It can either be labelled as a dark comedy or an existential novel. However, it defies all attempts of labelling and classifying it, and which I think is the main purpose of the novel, that is defying all classification. The novel is a first person account of a thirty six years old, misfit convenience store woman, Keiko Furukura. She doesn’t fit into any of the roles assigned by the society and therefore she is termed a misfit who is ought to be cured. The novel, just like Keiko Furukura herself, is apparently simple and mundane. But one has to look beyond this façade of simplicity to comprehend the real gems that the novel has to offer. The novel is rep...