Book Giveaway: The Sea of Innocence by Kishwar Desai

Kishwar Desai is the author of the bestselling books ‘Witness the Night’ and ‘Origins of Love’. In both her previous books, she has taken inspirations from topical issues to build fast-paced thrillers. I loved both her books.

I was waiting eagerly for her third book: ‘The Sea of Innocence’

And guess what? I also have 1 copy of the book for Giveaway.

Giveaway copy is sponsored by MySmartPrice Books. MySmartPrice Books offer a smart way to find the best online deal for books.

ABOUT THE BOOK: From the Publisher’s website:

Goa, south India. A beautiful holiday hideaway where hippies and backpackers while away the hours. But beneath the clear blue skies lies a dirty secret…

Simran Singh is desperate for a break and some time away from her busy job as a social worker-come-crime investigator. And so the unspoilt idyll of Goa seems just the place - white beaches, blue seas and no crime. 

But when a disturbing video appears on her phone, featuring a young girl being attacked by a group of men, she realises that a darkness festers at the heart of this supposed paradise. And when she discovers out that the girl is Liza Kay, a British teenager who has gone missing, she knows she must act in order to save her.

But first Simran must break through the web of lies and dark connections that flourish on these beaches. Everyone, it seems, knows what has happened to the girl but no one is prepared to say. And when more videos appear, and Simran herself is targeted in order to keep her quiet, the paradise soon becomes a living nightmare.

Read more about the book here, and an Author interview here. Here’s the book’s GoodReads page.

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

You just need to follow these super- simple steps:

1. Leave a comment at the end of this post if you are interested in this book.

2. You need to ‘ Like’ the Facebook pages of this Blog and MySmartPrice Books. So, please leave your Facebook IDs with your comments.

RULES:

1. Each person can comment only once.
2. The last date of this Giveaway is 15^th June 2013.

3. The winner will be chosen through Random.org.

4. The book will be sent to an address in India only.

5. After the result is announced, the winner must respond with his/her address within 7 days.

So, what are you waiting for? It can't get any more simple! 

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THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED NOW

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Book Review: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes

Title: The Sense of an Ending

Author: Julian Barnes

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 150

Price: Rs 299

Genre: Literary Fiction 

Rating: 9/10

Format: Paperback

‘The Sense of an Ending’ by Julian Barnes is one of those books which you can read and re-read, and every time discover something new. The joy of a well-written, open-ended book is unparalleled. It is amazing how much is packed into this 150-page, fast-paced work of fiction with a twist at the end (though I got an idea about the twist somewhere towards the middle).

The book is divided into two parts. In part One, Tony Webster, now in his 60s, is trying to recall the memories of his past life. But as he often admits, memory is not always reliable. He says right at the beginning “… what you end up remembering isn’t always the same as what you have witnessed.”

Tony, Alex and Colin formed a clique in school, joined by Adrian later. Adrian was certainly more serious and intelligent than the rest, expected to win a scholarship and do well in life. Now retired, Tony considers his own life ordinary and uneventful – a normal career, single marriage, amicable divorce and cordial relations with his only daughter. In his twilight years, he says almost with regret: “I had wanted life not to bother me too much, and had succeeded - and how pitiful that was.” 

He also talks about his ex-girlfriend Veronica, his attempts to impress her, her sense of superiority, and his memory of their relationship. The author never fails to tease you every now and then about ‘memory’ and ‘history’ – that they are not trustworthy and what we recall from past is just a perception of how things happened, may be selectively remembered.

Where part One takes time to establish Tony’s character and the dullness of his life, part Two is fast-paced till the end. Due to the turn of events, Tony comes in contact with Veronica, and it sparks a slew of memories pertaining to her. Veronica was an unfinished chapter of his life and now, almost 40 years later, he felt drawn to her. May be age and time mellowed him to empathize with her.

She keeps saying to Tony “you just don’t get it”, which some readers may find irritating but I felt her character is quite complex and I would expect her to say something like that without offering explanations.  On one hand this drives the reader to the wall while also creating a sense of urgency to uncover the mystery.   

The best part of the book is of course its writing. Despite its number of pages, the story is never rushed, the characters are leisurely developed, mystery is withheld and rationed out in bits and pieces creating suspense, phrases are delightfully crafted and the warmth of subtle humour makes you break into smiles every now and then. The narrative often gets philosophical but never boring.

Sample these beautifully constructed phrases:

“the small pleasures and large dullnesses of home”

“But time...how time first grounds us and then confounds us. We thought we were being mature when we were only being safe. We imagined we were being responsible but we were only being cowardly. What we called realism turned out to be a way of avoiding things rather than facing them. Time...give us enough time and our best-supported decisions will seem wobbly, our certainties whimsical.” 

Need I say more? By all means, read it!

Note: I have consciously stayed away from discussing the story, and its twists and turns because reading it without any pre-conceived notions will be much more enjoyable experience, like I had.

Review Book courtesy: MySmartPrice Books - Get the Best Deal on Books!

Image source: Author Website

Book Review: Nobody Can Love You More by Mayank Austen Soofi

Title: Nobody Can Love You More

Author: Mayank Austen Soofi

Publisher: Penguin Viking (Penguin India)

Pages: 240

Price: Rs 399

Genre: Non Fiction / Society / Anthropology

Rating: 10/10

Format: Hardbound

‘Nobody Can Love You More’ by Mayank Austen Soofi is an attempt to bring out the ordinariness in the extraordinary lives of the women of GB Road, the notorious red light area of Delhi. The author is gently probing, deeply observant and extremely patient in following the lives of sex workers of kotha (brothel) number teen sau (300) for three years. The best thing about this book is that though it keenly observes, it never judges; neither does it seeks pity for those women. It never interferes in your own inferences as a reader.

The author started going to GB Road to teach English to Sabir Bhai’s (a brothel owner) children. The children lost interest in English after a couple of months but Soofi found himself “fascinated by the ordinary aspects of the lives of people who, I think, have been shepherded by circumstances into living extraordinary lives.”

Kotha (brothel) number teen sau houses the malik, Sabir Bhai and five women – Sushma, Fatima, Phalak, Nighat and Sumaira (and Mamta and Roopa for some time). Soofi finds it easy to talk to the elderly Sushma who talks about her experiences, her distant past and her dreaded future, her ‘working hours’; and even cooks for him.

In the stories of these women, are the reflections of several others who are cooped up in the dingy brothels (80 of them) in 42 buildings of GB Road. There are chapters on the lives of sex workers, their children, the brothel owners, pimps, people connected to the sex workers or GB Road like shopkeepers below their brothels, priests and caretakers of a temple and a Sufi shrine, people who knew about the evolution of these brothels over the years, and so on. Each chapter starts with a black and white picture that sums it up.

Although the author is repulsed by the idea of eating food, drinking water or sharing meals there, because of the filth and lack of hygiene; yet he understands that he cannot expect them to open their hearts to him if he does not even agrees to share food. He admits that sometimes it was suffocating and depressing to be part of lives of those people; his own life was in complete contrast to their’s. 

The lives of sex workers are surprisingly ordinary. They cook, pray, raise children, fight among themselves, earn money and have ‘working’ hours. They do not behave differently anywhere except at the place of their trade and during their ‘business hours’. They are modest in places of worship, and like any other customer when in a shop.

It is interesting to find out about the evolution of kothas over the years. Earlier rich and royalty used to be their patrons. The nautch girls were associated with courtesy, etiquettes and sophistication. Things took a dramatic turn after independence, and more importantly after Emergency. Over the years, the condition of kothas deteriorated. Now the red-light districts are full of dingy, dirty, tiny cells where women sleep with strangers for a measly sum of Rs 100-200 and a constant fear of losing youth. Their mannerisms are crude and in-your-face.

What stood out for me was how their daily routines were effortlessly entangled with the conversations with Soofi. On one hand Sushma talks about her past, while she cooks dal for him and also wonders how he can have just boiled dal. Also, in the scene where Soofi is conversing with Roopa and Nighat, they behave like any other ‘shopkeeper’. When they get customers, they go with them, return in a couple of minutes, take the money, ask the customers to come back again, and join back the conversation with Soofi – all with matter-of-factness. 

It is also ironical how this section of society generates intense curiosity and yet behaved as if they do not exist. For example, the shopkeepers below these brothels say pointedly that they have nothing to do with those women; they never talk or wish each other on any occasion. Also, as Hasan Khurshid, the ‘legal’ journalist points out that they were told to never look up while crossing GB Road because it brought shame to be found looking at those women.

The cover page is impressive; and it suitably teases you with the hints of what lay inside the book. The image of cheap cosmetics and ornaments with the blurred image of a woman on the cover page, and a green locked door with jasmine gajra on the handle reeks of a brothel.  

Nobody Can Love You More is a remarkable work of non fiction that handles a sensitive subject delicately, while at the same time offers an intimate commentary about the lives of women of kotha number teen sau and their surroundings. 

Review Book courtesy: MySmartPrice Books - Get the Best Deal on Books!

Image source: Penguin India

Book Review: Holy Cow by Sarah Macdonald

Title: Holy Cow! An Indian Adventure

Author: Sarah Macdonald

Publisher: Bantam Books (Random House)

Pages: 320

Price: Rs 375

Genre: Non Fiction / Travel / Memoir

Rating: 8/10

Format: Paperback

I first read ‘Holy Cow’ in 2006 or 2007. It was interesting to look at Indian diversity and idiosyncrasies through the eyes of an outsider who wanted to make sense of the chaos. I loved it. But in order to appreciate this book, you must have the ability to laugh at India’s eccentricities. It is one of the very few books which I have re-read and enjoyed.

Sarah Macdonald, an Australian journalist, broadcaster and presenter, did not like India on her first visit and never wanted to return. But she returns to India after almost 11 years to be with her boyfriend Jonathan Haley. “Holy Cow” is more of a spiritual journey of the author which takes her through interesting experiences and people.

She writes right at the beginning: “India is Hotel California: you can check out anytime you like, but you can never leave.”

In her early days, her cynical self only finds the problems: widespread poverty, no respect for time, no sense of space and privacy, people gawking at western women, dirt and filth, the unbearable heat, poor medical standards, etc., etc. But soon she decides to make the best of her stay in India, since Jonathan was away most of the time for long duration owing to wok commitments. Sarah’s experiences were diverse: finding anything but peace in the spiritual ‘market’ of Rishikesh, brushes with death in the forms of earthquake and double-pneumonia, making sense of the Indian marriage scene (its close connection with family and honour), cleansing of mind and finding inner peace through Vipassana, learning about Sikhs and meeting a unique group of white Sikhs, grim realities of a paradise lost in Kashmir, experiencing Jewish rituals, getting blessed by Mata Amritanandamayi, meeting film stars, exploring Christianity at our Lady of Velangiri, to name a few.

There are several such books by western travellers / journalists / explorers but Sarah Macdonald has a distinguished voice. Some may find a few of her observations or comments offensive, but you must remember while reading this book, or any such book, that this is a personal journey of the author. In this particular book, we find Sarah Macdonald transform from an atheist to someone who begins to enjoy the expansive spiritual roads India offers, its many religions. At the end of it, she is humbled by India’s accommodating culture, affectionate people, diversity and experiences. At the end, if you really read it with an open mind, there is not a thing to offend. She sounds a little conceited in the beginning but I think, it is purely to bring out the contrast in her transformation from someone not amused by the situation in India to someone who had begun to enjoy the “organised chaos”. 

Few gems from the book:

About the Hindi she learnt from her teacher who scoffed at the use of street language:

When I thought I was asking a taxi driver to take me somewhere I was really saying, ‘Kind sir, would thou mind perhaps taking me on a journey to this shop and I would be offering you recompense of this many rupees to do so, thank you frightfully humbly.’ And I have been greeting filthy naked street urchins with, ‘Excuse me, o soul one, but I’m dreadfully sorry, I don’t appear to have any change, my most humble of apologies.’

These lines beautifully capture her thoughts on religion:

“I realise I don’t have to be a Christian who follows the church, or a Buddhist nun in robes, or a convert to Judaism or Islam or Sikhism. I can be a believer in something bigger than what I can touch. I can make a leap of faith to a higher power in a way that’s appropriate to my culture but not be imprisoned by it.”

She says about her trip to Pakistan:

“I feel like I’ve travelled between two divorced parents who are trying to outdo each other.”

About war against Afghanistan

This war has shattered my Great Australian Dream – the fantasy that I could be part of the world community with all its benefits but isolated enough to be safe and separate from its violence and brutality.”

And finally, her thoughts on India towards the end:

”India’s organised chaos has exuberance and optimism, a pride and a strong celebration of life. I truly love it. There’s no place like this home.”

It is an interesting book; and people who love to read about India, or Non Fiction in general or travel stories in particular will love it.

Review Book courtesy: MySmartPrice Books - Get the Best Deal on Books!

Image source: MySmartPrice Books