Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Review : A Suitable Boy
Netflix has showcased the web series based on Vikram Seth’s iconic novel “ A Suitable Boy “ . I had read about the book a lot , though I am yet to read the novel. I have read another book titled “ Two Lives “ by Vikram Seth .Its a love story about his Uncle & Aunt against the background of the Jewish massacre by Nazi Germany,World WaII ,et al. I loved the book & was therefore, looking forward to watching this web series on Netflix.
“A Suitable Boy “ is one of the longest novels in English & was priced at a whopping Rs 500 when it debuted in 1993 ! The novel consists of 19 parts .The title of each of the 19 parts is described by a rhyming couplet.Vikram Seth has penned notable poems as well.
The web series “ A Suitable Boy “ is directed by the Indian American filmmaker Mira Nair who has many films to her credit on the international cinematic arena .Some of her acclaimed films are Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding, The Namesake, et al. It is produced by BBC & is one of the most expensive ones at a budget of 16 million pounds ! And it is the first BBC production to have almost the entire cast of coloured people .
The series opens with the wedding of Lata's sister to a Professor who is the elder son of the Revenue Minister. Lata’s mother starts harping that she has to start looking for “ a suitable boy “ for Lata now that the older sister is married. Lata’s mom never tires of reminding Lata that her daughter must marry the boy ,she chooses for her because mother of course knows best. Her mother seems very controlling right off the bat, and wants to take charge of Lata’s life. We see these parallels run often in Indian homes even today, echoing how history tends to repeat itself. Lata’s mother definitely has a liking for the dramatics and will apply it to any window she might see.
Lata is torn among three men ,who are besotted with her. One of them, is her college mate. Another is a poet modeled perhaps on Vikram Seth , who himself is an acclaimed poet & author & the third one, is a shoemaker .Incidentally, Vikram Seth’s father was a shoemaker & worked at Bata . I learnt about Vikram Seth’s family from a reading of an autobiography by late Leila Seth, mother of Vikram Seth.Leila Seth was a woman in her own right. She was the first woman Chief Justice of a High Court & also the first woman judge in the Supreme Court.
Lata is too independent, to simply toe the line that her mother wants her to take .Lata refuses to obey her brother’s choice of a befitting suitor Yet, Lata is unsure ,if the one she likes is going to turn out to be the one worthy of her .
The search for the ideal bridegroom for Lata goes on ,against the background of the general elections being held in India, in its dusty villages & towns. A country, where the zamindars are up against the abolition of zamindari . India, where people may befriend others from different communities & yet, this can rarely translate into marriages. A country ,where society will look down upon relationships with a prostitute & yet ,men pine for her company in secret. A nation where one’s faith makes them question the beliefs of others to supposedly strengthen their own creeds . And these scenes make one wonder whether India has changed at all now or remains as it was in those days ?
A politician, who is fed up of corruption & hesitant to ask for favours when his son is in jail tells us that such people existed & some continue to hold on to such exemplary ideals even today. A son, who is deviating from a path which brings disgrace to his family & yet ,he may be the one who perhaps inherits his father’s legacy. These short & eventful narratives are woven into the main plot & make it more engrossing.
The ladies who are part of the series are bold & independent. The women enjoy their wine & sherry & a fling or two. And they seem to be ,on an equal footing with men. And finally, Lata manages to choose her life partner. And who is her groom ? The series is only six parts long The dialogues are slow .Perhaps, keeping with those times, where life moved to an unhurried pace.
The set design is truly magical. The costumes, the décor, and the whole vibe is accurately representative of India in the 50’s. With all of that vintage touch, the director aims for all the nostalgia & one can feel it.
Some of the actors have a Bollywood background,& others are from the television industry . Some of the acting can definitely be improved upon.Yet ,as a unit ,they managed to create an engaging narrative . There are many characters & each character has a wonderful presence .The actors who play them are nuanced .This makes it a simple & engaging tale.
And though viewers may be wanting more, they may have to wait for Vikram Seth’s “ A Suitable Girl “ to be published .Mira Nair may, direct season two of the web series in the future.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Book Review : Crossed & Knotted.
"Crossed & Knotted " is a novel penned by 14 authors.This itself is quite interesting as a thread of a story is woven by so many writers ! The novel consists of 14 chapters .Each chapter is by a different author. Each chapter is a story, which is complete in itself and yet ,a part of the novel.The fourteen stories add up to make the complete novel ! The publisher is Readomania.
The first story is about Sudip & how he falls for Megha .They marry & then begin the revealations.It unfolds like a marriage going wrong .Do they divorce or separate ? What about the child ? What is the fault of the child ? Who is at fault ?
The second story is about James or is it Joseph Varughese? How are they connected ? Is it about re birth or someone is playing tricks ?
The third story is about Siya & her family.Her son never seems to sit still.He is restless. Is there a reason for that ? Or is it just a hyperactive kid ?
In the fourth story ,there is a thread connecting Joseph Varughese.It begins to get scary. Do such things happen ? Its like being on the edge.The next story scared me even more.It has some eerie effect to it.
And so on....the 14 stories weave a magic .It never feels that each chapter is penned by a different author.The themes are so varying & yet fit into each other like a jigsaw puzzle.There is murder,rebirth,terrorism,love affairs, super naturalism ,etal !
There will be sequels to this novel as some stories seem to end though the readers would want them to continue further.
The first story is about Sudip & how he falls for Megha .They marry & then begin the revealations.It unfolds like a marriage going wrong .Do they divorce or separate ? What about the child ? What is the fault of the child ? Who is at fault ?
The second story is about James or is it Joseph Varughese? How are they connected ? Is it about re birth or someone is playing tricks ?
The third story is about Siya & her family.Her son never seems to sit still.He is restless. Is there a reason for that ? Or is it just a hyperactive kid ?
In the fourth story ,there is a thread connecting Joseph Varughese.It begins to get scary. Do such things happen ? Its like being on the edge.The next story scared me even more.It has some eerie effect to it.
And so on....the 14 stories weave a magic .It never feels that each chapter is penned by a different author.The themes are so varying & yet fit into each other like a jigsaw puzzle.There is murder,rebirth,terrorism,love affairs, super naturalism ,etal !
There will be sequels to this novel as some stories seem to end though the readers would want them to continue further.
Crossed
&Knotted
India's
First Composite Novel
The
Blurb
Crossed & Knotted is India’s
first Composite Novel, a book written by fourteen authors in close collaboration with each other. The
chapters, each a story in itself, are knotted with one another through characters, events, settings and
emotions. The result is a read that criss-crosses through a multitude of emotions bringing out deep
rooted human desires. They narrate tales of love and betrayal, suspense and mystery, courage and
dilemma, along with hope and resilience. Read it for a taste so tantalizing, that your mind will surely be
craving for more!
Buy @
Watch
It
ABOUT THE
EDITOR
Sutapa Basu is an Honours scholar from Santiniketan and
holds a Masters degree in English Literature. Her professional career has seen her as a teacher, editor,
and publisher. She has worked with renowned international publishing houses like Oxford University
Press and Encyclopaedia Britannica. In the last five years of her professional career, she has launched
111 educational titles, 33 CDs and digital products, a language lab and a website. She has also developed
and edited over 450 books over the last thirteen years.
ABOUT THE
PUBLISHER : READOMANIA
India has traditionally been the land of storytellers and a lot
of us have an inherent skill of creating good plots, stories and narrations. With a little encouragement
and support, many more authors can be widely read. This is the essence of Readomania-an initiative
that nurtures emerging stars of the literary world.
Readomania is an online content discovery platform that
brings to life a whole new literary world, with stories, authors, books and a lot more. We also have a
publishing house that takes the best of Readomania from the online format to print editions and
launches debut authors. Our focus is to bring to the market, new authors and novel concepts, a
composite novel being one of them. Our previous book, Chronicles of Urban Nomads, a collection of
short stories, was also an experimental publication.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Readomania is
the talent hunt in fiction that goes a step beyond, nurtures talent and showcases it to the world, in the
process, creating a powerhouse of content.
Our website also has a lot in store for the reader. Since the
content is edited and curated, by a strong team of editors, readers get quality reads on a platter. The
variety on Readomania is impressively vast; we have romance, emotions, thrills, travel, humour and
drama.
Accessing Readomania makes for a perfect break of fifteen
minutes from your daily grind. The website was launched in January, 2014 and is already very popular
with about 3500 registered users, of which 300 members are active contributors and authors. The site
also boasts of 800 online publications and more than three lakh page views till date.
You can stalk
Readomania @
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Thursday, March 20, 2014
Book Review :The Missing Connection
This novel is by an anaesthetist, Dr Ketaki Patwardhan Nirkhi.This is her second novel after her debut book, "Those enchanted four & half years ".Poems & short stories by Dr Ketaki have been published in numerous e magazines like Indus Women writing,Bloggers park,Litizen,Muse India,Wishbo,Writer's Cafe`,etc.
It is published by Moment Publishers based in Ahmedabad,Gujarat.On the reverse of the cover page ( the cover page at the end of the book ),is a list of the numerous partners in Media,Magazine Online Social Media,Community,Technology etal.
The cover of the book shows a woman whose eye is blue or reflecting a blue light from something at which she is staring.Her lips are slightly open.Strands of her hair are covering her upper cheek & parts of her face.Behind her, is another image of a woman with down cast eyes & a hand, which seems to be hanging as if helpless.The title of the novel is printed on the cover with mirror image of N in the title.The author's name is also printed.At the upper part of the cover, on the left hand side is the logo of the publishers M in red & a bit of yellowish orange below a ziz zag blue line.
The story is about a doctor,Dr Neha Dixit, who is an anaesthesist at a Mumbai hospital.A patient ,named Susan, is brought in one day, for treatment & she seems familiar.Yet Dr. Neha, cannot recall, why she seems so familiar. And then, Susan disappears from the hospital.Now Dr Neha cannot contain her curiosity & she starts searching for Susan.Dr .Neha learns that Susan was haunted by something.What is that,Dr Neha wonders.Dr Neha seems to spot Susan at some places .Is it real or just a figment of Dr Neha's imagination ? Will Dr Neha be able to locate Susan ? And who is Susan ? Dr. Neha's husband is perturbed that his wife is taking more than a professional interest in her patient. He feels that his wife desperately needs to see a psychiatrist. Does he give in & support his wife ?Does Dr Neha seek the help of a psyschiatrist ? What happens to Susan ? Is she finally cured ? What was that which was disturbing Susan ?
This book opens with a few lines penned by Mother Teresa.Next, is the Acknowledgement wherein Dr Ketaki thanks all who have helped her in penning this novel & getting it published.She thanks the publishers,her family ,her colleagues etal.This is followed by Prologue& then the novel begins....with date & time.The book goes back & forth in time as there are some past diary entries.This is like flashback & present scenes.Admirable.The chapters are short & eggs the reader on.Yet the tale, seems too predictable to some extent if not fully.
It introduces hypnotic age regression which is regarded as unreliable by some.One excellent thing about the book is the postivity about adoption.if many adopted ,there would be less orphans ...perhaps, no one will be an orphan any more .And that is saying a lot...the world would be a much better place!
this book review has been done for the e magazine Storizen.
It is published by Moment Publishers based in Ahmedabad,Gujarat.On the reverse of the cover page ( the cover page at the end of the book ),is a list of the numerous partners in Media,Magazine Online Social Media,Community,Technology etal.
The cover of the book shows a woman whose eye is blue or reflecting a blue light from something at which she is staring.Her lips are slightly open.Strands of her hair are covering her upper cheek & parts of her face.Behind her, is another image of a woman with down cast eyes & a hand, which seems to be hanging as if helpless.The title of the novel is printed on the cover with mirror image of N in the title.The author's name is also printed.At the upper part of the cover, on the left hand side is the logo of the publishers M in red & a bit of yellowish orange below a ziz zag blue line.
The story is about a doctor,Dr Neha Dixit, who is an anaesthesist at a Mumbai hospital.A patient ,named Susan, is brought in one day, for treatment & she seems familiar.Yet Dr. Neha, cannot recall, why she seems so familiar. And then, Susan disappears from the hospital.Now Dr Neha cannot contain her curiosity & she starts searching for Susan.Dr .Neha learns that Susan was haunted by something.What is that,Dr Neha wonders.Dr Neha seems to spot Susan at some places .Is it real or just a figment of Dr Neha's imagination ? Will Dr Neha be able to locate Susan ? And who is Susan ? Dr. Neha's husband is perturbed that his wife is taking more than a professional interest in her patient. He feels that his wife desperately needs to see a psychiatrist. Does he give in & support his wife ?Does Dr Neha seek the help of a psyschiatrist ? What happens to Susan ? Is she finally cured ? What was that which was disturbing Susan ?
This book opens with a few lines penned by Mother Teresa.Next, is the Acknowledgement wherein Dr Ketaki thanks all who have helped her in penning this novel & getting it published.She thanks the publishers,her family ,her colleagues etal.This is followed by Prologue& then the novel begins....with date & time.The book goes back & forth in time as there are some past diary entries.This is like flashback & present scenes.Admirable.The chapters are short & eggs the reader on.Yet the tale, seems too predictable to some extent if not fully.
It introduces hypnotic age regression which is regarded as unreliable by some.One excellent thing about the book is the postivity about adoption.if many adopted ,there would be less orphans ...perhaps, no one will be an orphan any more .And that is saying a lot...the world would be a much better place!
this book review has been done for the e magazine Storizen.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Reading attitude.
I took part in an online novel writing contest after Deepavali last year. The target was to write more than 50,000 words in one month from the 1st of the month till the last day of the month.
Though, I took this up mainly to test as to whether I can indeed write so many words,I did manage to finish it before the final day.When I took up writing the novel,I had no idea how it was all going to shape up.I just wrote on a day to day basis having calculated that I will have to write at least 1500 words on a daily basis.I just poured out all my feelings,anguish,loneliness,-in fact everything I felt.I knew that I was a novice & not creative & hence, I had to somehow pen in so many words if I wanted to succeed.In the midst of all this,I also began to doubt as to how would the novel end.I told my parents & friends the story in brief & asked them to suggest an ending.As the days passed,I realised that I wanted to give my novel an end full of hope- it had to be positive. I did end the novel on a very positive note.In this, I was helped by the fact, that the site wherein this contest was held,used to send us pep talks to keep our spirits awake if not high.
I was relieved, that I had completed the task at hand.I felt thrilled- I was a novelist -so what, if it was my debut novel.Now what ?I thought of approaching publishers with my debut novel but then I had to first get it all in print.My middle class upbringing forbid me to spend an uneconomic amount on such a pursuit as I had my doubts about the novel ever being even glanced at by a publisher.
I then, came across a site that publishes any book for free but online.So,I uploaded my novel on to the site & then emailed the link to all my friends,ex-colleagues-in fact everybody who was on my mailing list.I requested them to click on the link,sign up & comment as also rate the novel.Few did take the trouble of reading my novel & did as requested .I shall indeed remain indebted to them all my life.But by & large, my novel was ignored by the very people, I thought were my near & dear ones.
The reasons given by many was that as soon as they read the book,they would surely comment but they omitted to state that they neither had the inclination nor the time to heed to my repeated pleas.When I argued, that they can comment in short even in a word or two,they replied, that unless they read,they wouldn't be able to do that.I was elated that by their brutal honesty in these deceitful times ! I was of the opinion that honesty was a relic of a bygone era.
Their frank comments are still awaited. The result, is that my book remains online only.My hubby has very diplomatically steered clear of investing in his wife's venture by saying ,"It is better that some publisher takes it up-they are experts -they will market it as well."
I have realized now, that I erred, by asking people to comment & rate the novel by reading it ! Actually,I am glad in a way, that the book is published online only.Marketing a printed book will be a daunting task given the attitudes,I have come across so far.I am certain, that I will end up paying people who take efforts to read it.
So it is going to be grossly uneconomical, so,I better leave it at that !
Though, I took this up mainly to test as to whether I can indeed write so many words,I did manage to finish it before the final day.When I took up writing the novel,I had no idea how it was all going to shape up.I just wrote on a day to day basis having calculated that I will have to write at least 1500 words on a daily basis.I just poured out all my feelings,anguish,loneliness,-in fact everything I felt.I knew that I was a novice & not creative & hence, I had to somehow pen in so many words if I wanted to succeed.In the midst of all this,I also began to doubt as to how would the novel end.I told my parents & friends the story in brief & asked them to suggest an ending.As the days passed,I realised that I wanted to give my novel an end full of hope- it had to be positive. I did end the novel on a very positive note.In this, I was helped by the fact, that the site wherein this contest was held,used to send us pep talks to keep our spirits awake if not high.
I was relieved, that I had completed the task at hand.I felt thrilled- I was a novelist -so what, if it was my debut novel.Now what ?I thought of approaching publishers with my debut novel but then I had to first get it all in print.My middle class upbringing forbid me to spend an uneconomic amount on such a pursuit as I had my doubts about the novel ever being even glanced at by a publisher.
I then, came across a site that publishes any book for free but online.So,I uploaded my novel on to the site & then emailed the link to all my friends,ex-colleagues-in fact everybody who was on my mailing list.I requested them to click on the link,sign up & comment as also rate the novel.Few did take the trouble of reading my novel & did as requested .I shall indeed remain indebted to them all my life.But by & large, my novel was ignored by the very people, I thought were my near & dear ones.
The reasons given by many was that as soon as they read the book,they would surely comment but they omitted to state that they neither had the inclination nor the time to heed to my repeated pleas.When I argued, that they can comment in short even in a word or two,they replied, that unless they read,they wouldn't be able to do that.I was elated that by their brutal honesty in these deceitful times ! I was of the opinion that honesty was a relic of a bygone era.
Their frank comments are still awaited. The result, is that my book remains online only.My hubby has very diplomatically steered clear of investing in his wife's venture by saying ,"It is better that some publisher takes it up-they are experts -they will market it as well."
I have realized now, that I erred, by asking people to comment & rate the novel by reading it ! Actually,I am glad in a way, that the book is published online only.Marketing a printed book will be a daunting task given the attitudes,I have come across so far.I am certain, that I will end up paying people who take efforts to read it.
So it is going to be grossly uneconomical, so,I better leave it at that !
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