Love, That Shit!

Love, That Shit! by Chandru Bhojwani

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When an old couple were asked how they managed to stay together for 65 years the woman replied, “We were born in a time, where if something was broke. You fixed it… not throw it away”. This piece of wisdom was making rounds in social networks sometime back and it had me pondering about it now and then. Love, that Shit by Chandru bhojwani is a light-hearted take on both fixing and throwing away as the case needs be. It is neither cliched nor preachy. It lets you step back a little and look at your relationships with renewed perspective and sense. Every chapter starts with a nice and apt quote followed by the author`s humorous and mature handling of the content. I really liked the way the author points out issues like high expectations and less tolerance. Another credit to the author is that he spoke for both gender without indulging in any over-hyped feministic theories.

Haveli

Haveli by Zeenat Mahal

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's always a pleasure to read a Indireads novella, the winning point being its quality. So far, I have read four and I never had a complaint about the characters, writing or the the story. The stories, being a novella, are just a slice but still you can get a hang of the whole picture. The characters aren't flat but have depth. The writing is undoubtedly above average, infact a few novellas make a distinct mark. I am now confident that Indireads is doing a sincere job handpicking deserving stories and author.

Talking about Haveli, its all that's mentioned above. The lead character Chandni comes across as a confident, egoistic women at the surface but she reveals her naive, dreamy little girl side to us, the readers. Orphaned at birth and brought up by her grandmother, she goes through a phase of illusioned love. The 'literary' conversations between Chandni and Taimur are interesting but would have become a overdose had it not been a Novella. Another aspect which of course did not bother me while reading but left me wondering later on was the story's setting. It's set in Pakistan in 1970s but that makes little difference to the story. Overall, another quality work from Indireads.

Add this book to your Goodreads account...

Buy this book from...

Oleander girl

Oleander Girl by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

My rating:  4 out of 5 star

Oleander girl is the second book am reading, by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, after Palace of illusions. And am thoroughly convinced what an excellent story teller she is.

The Eyes That Drowned Uyuni

The Eyes That Drowned Uyuni by Prashant Chopra

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The eyes that drowned Uyuni is a short and captivating read. The narration beautifully swings between the present and past of Parag, of how he lost his beloved wife Mriga and how he had won her. The portions expressing Parag's love for his child tugs at your heartstrings. I also loved the way the author brought out the intimacy between Parag and Mriga without getting into too much details. On the contrary, with its enigmatic end, this paranormal romance, or so I believe, had me reading it twice over because I wanted to make sure what I understood was what is implied. And in the process it made me speculate a little! (And a trivial observation is that the author tends to describe and express everything thrice, in different forms and ways).

View all my reviews

Add this book to your Goodreads account...

Buy this book from...

Love's Labor

Love's Labour

Andy Paula

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this book at one go and later wondered what kept me glued when the story is such a simple, typical one. It's definitely the author's storytelling skills. The blossoming of love between Sathya and Piali, the way they take it forward and their families stance are realistic and never appear cliched. A couple of conversations between Sathya and Piali are actually cute. I would have loved to read more of their sweet nothings :-) And this novella definitely 'captures the very essence of being South Asian', as Indireads claims itself to be. On the flip side, I felt the book ended a little abrupt.

Add this book to your Goodreads account...

Buy this book from...