Indian Readers discussion

I am ready...
To tell the truth I am very tired from yesterday evening and all the celebrations. Waked up only a couple of hours ago (now it's 2 pm).
So, dely should be ready from tomorrow but my topic is ready from now.

Good luck, dely. I had a very quiet celebration at home with my family

1) Cloud Atlas 2/5

It was a delusion. The book starts good, the reader wants to know what will happen, why and how the stories end. There are six stories in the book that should be connected to each other but the details that connect them are meaningless and, above all, there is no "why". All the six stories end in a banal way and it was really a pity.
Give it two stars only because I finished it.

are u kidding me?? I loved this book. specially the way it ended. The book started as 1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1. I loved the way David Mitchell tied it all up. Hahaha I gave it a friggin 5 stars lol. I loved it that much!!!

Freelancer wrote: "are u kidding me?? I loved this book. specially the way it ended. The book started as 1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1. I loved the way David Mitchell tied it all up. Hahaha I gave it a friggin 5 stars lol. I..."

I know, it has a lot of 5 stars reviews and I also know that I have strange tastes :/ I really wanted to love this book but I couldn't. Perhaps I expected too much and was disappointed. It could have been much better, above all if there were more connections between the characters and if there would be a "why" to all the story. It seems to me that Mitchell has written 6 stories which could have been printed by their own, there isn't a real common thread to all the six stories.

hahaha yes. Its a saga through the ages. I realised it later. even i was looking for something to drop. And then I realised, it won't. However I'm still confused and shocked about the scar thingy that robert, luisa, somni and meronym have at the same place. that's chilling.

Freelancer wrote: "hahaha yes. Its a saga through the ages. I realised it later. even i was looking for something to drop. And then I realised, it won't. However I'm still confused and shocked about the scar thingy t..."

This was the only thing they had in common! :D

3,5/5

English edition: From Heaven Lake: Travels Through Sinkiang and Tibet by Vikram Seth

I really enjoyed this book, it was an interesting read.
Vikram Seth tells us his trip from China to India, across Tibet and Nepal. Seen that he hadn't enough money for a plane ticket he decides to make a hitchhiking trip.
It was interesting to read about other countries' culture, it was interesting to read about the Chinese burocracy for strangers but also to see their hospitality. I liked also the political and economical thoughts and the comparisons Seth makes with India.
I liked also the descriptions of the landscape and in general to read about such an adventurous trip.

3) 5/5

English edition: Marriage and Morals by Bertrand Russell

If you think that this book was written in 1929, Russell was forward in his time!
It is a non fiction and Russell talks about the marriage, the relationship between wife and husband, the relationship with their children, the negative influence of religion in a marriage or when people grew up their children or also the strong and bad influcence religion has in the sexual life of people. Russell talks also about society, feminism, a matriarchal or patriarchal society, psychological problems for wrong education, divorce, abortion and all these topics are written in an easy way so also readers which don't like philosophical books will find this one surely interesting and still relevant also in our time!

wow, a rare phenomenon. a FIVE STAR from dely. :D

Smitha wrote: "wow, a rare phenomenon. a FIVE STAR from dely. :D"

:D
If I must tell the truth, I was undecided between 4 and 5 but at the end I gave 5 stars because it was a brilliant read and, above all, forward for his time so I was amazed by Russell's open mind.

Will add that to my list!

Aravind wrote: "Will add that to my list!"

I am sure you will like it. I liked also the anti-religion parts ;D

Smitha wrote: "wow, a rare phenomenon. a FIVE STAR from dely. :D"

Yeah! :)

4) 5/5

English edition: Five Past Midnight in Bhopal: The Epic Story of the World's Deadliest Industrial Disaster by Dominique Lapierre

Dominique Lapierre has written a wonderful book about the disaster in Bhopal in 1984, written in a journalistic style but I could feel also that the author was emotionally involved. It seemed to me to be there, to feel the smell of that toxic gas who has killed too many people. It was hard to put down this book, it was so real and also all the details about the chemical compounds were interesting. The book alternates the story of the Carbide Union in America with the personal stories of a lot of characters who lived near the factory or worked in the factory, with the building of the Carbide factory in Bhopal. It was both interesting but also sad to read about this event and to see that justice is still not done.

I have read somewhere that this book was banned in India. Is this true? Why?

don;t know about the ban, but Bhopal tragedy victims have not got their full justice. I have read a novel based on this "a breath of fresh air" by Amulya Malladi (its not fully about the tragedy, only how it affected the main character's life)

Smitha wrote: "don;t know about the ban, but Bhopal tragedy victims have not got their full justice. I have read a novel based on this "a breath of fresh air" by Amulya Malladi (its not fully about the tragedy, o..."

Thanks, will add it to my neverending tbr list ;D

dely its India justice is never done and corruption is rampant even to get a phone connection form the government you have to pay them.

Rags wrote: "dely its India justice is never done and corruption is rampant even to get a phone connection form the government you have to pay them."

Reading the book it is clear that it is fault of the Americans: they have made a too big factory (they produced more of what they would have sold) and so there was always less money and to save money they have disconnected all the safety equipments and they stopped to fix broken parts of such a dangerous factory. The chairman of the Carbide Union "disappeared" and never came to India for the trial. I don't know if the Carbide Union gave money to the families of the victims but I don't think that this is the most important point: the point is that they have build a dangerous factory and they didn't care about it from the moment that they were not gaining money; if everything would have worked there could have been less victims.
It seems that still now all the environment of Bhopal is contaminated and it is not India's fault.

Americans?? What were Americans doing here during the British Raj? Or did u mean a Brit factory?

Freelancer wrote: "Americans?? What were Americans doing here during the British Raj? Or did u mean a Brit factory?"

It is a USA company Freelancer..

Dely, the fault was at both the sides. The blame should be on both the government and the company.. The sad thing was the victims, the only innocent party of this inident, suffered for the others' mistakes..

dely wrote: "Rags wrote: "dely its India justice is never done and corruption is rampant even to get a phone connection form the government you have to pay them."

Reading the book it is clear that it is fault ..."

Though true some of the facts are warren Anderson was let off to go to US because of the government's influence (read took bribe ) the lack of safety was reported by the plant manager. The government didn't take any action ( again read took bribe and hushed it up) . Indian politicians are messed up many of them have criminal charges . And the judiciary well let me not even go there. Sad but for all the growth the ground reality has never really changed

Anbu wrote: "Freelancer wrote: "Americans?? What were Americans doing here during the British Raj? Or did u mean a Brit factory?"

It is a USA company Freelancer..

Dely, the fault was at both the sides. The bl..."

Rags wrote: "dely wrote: "Rags wrote: "dely its India justice is never done and corruption is rampant even to get a phone connection form the government you have to pay them."

Reading the book it is clear that..."

Now I understand better what you ment with "corruption" but in my opinion the main fault is by the Carbide Union who didn't care as they should for the security of such a factory.

The fact is that I can't stand the megalomania of multinational corporations and I can't stand people for whom money is more important that human life. It was also sad to read that a lot of American lawyers came to India to "help" the victims' relatives. They wanted only to earn more money on the suffering of people deceiving people which were poor and never went to school. These things make me crazy.

:| :|

5) 3/5

English edition: Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra

It was an average read, nothing special but it could however hold my attention for 1100 pages!

that's a feat, indeed

Smitha wrote: "that's a feat, indeed"

Yes, but the story was interesting and I was curious to know what would happen so I continued reading. But it was hard and long!

dely wrote: "5) 3/5

English edition: Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra

It was an average read, nothing special but it could however hold my attention for 1100 pages!"

I'd enjoyed it when I read it... the best part was the depiction of the Indian police force - this book seemed the more realistic one seen so far. :)

6) 5/5

English edition: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Such a good book! It's one of those books that you can't put down because you want to know how the story will go on and what will happen next. It is really involving!
I have chosen to buy this book because I had found it among the list of books that talk about the "desaparecidos" and the Chilean dictatorship and revolution. It isn't a real historical fiction but we read about three generations of the Truebo family, the years before the revolution and then the military coup by Pinochet though the names are never written in the story (we understand for ex. that the Poet is Neruda but his name is never mentioned).
It was really an interesting read, the most important part of the book is the story of this family and some parts are also funny because everybody in that family was a little bit strange and it has wonderful depicted characters.

I have this book with me, dely. It is lying unread in my bookshelf for the past few years. Will start on it soon.

Smitha wrote: "I have this book with me, dely. It is lying unread in my bookshelf for the past few years. Will start on it soon."

I hope you will like it!

7) 2/5

English edition: The Castle by Franz Kafka

I've read it in German because I already don't like a lot Kafka so I didn't want to like him less because of a terrible translation.
It talks about a man who goes in a village to work but there are a lot of bureaucratic issues due to the castle which controls everything. The character, K., isn't well accepted by the other inhabitants of the village and because of the many issues he never gets his job. There is no end, the story is incomplete (and I hate this!).
I understand what Kafka wants to say: life is oppressive, there is no escape, whatever we do we are lost; but I don't like it how he says these things. At least was The Trial more distressing, claustrophobic and anxious and I had some emotions reading it but this one, The Castle, didn't impressed me much.

Good, I wont have any qualms now that I haven;t read Kafka yet.

Smitha wrote: "Good, I wont have any qualms now that I haven;t read Kafka yet."

If you are curious to see how he writes and his themes you can try the short stories, they were good.

dely wrote: "6) 5/5

English edition: The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

Such a good book! It's one of those books that you can't put down because you want to..."

good to know. I own a copy :)

8) 4,5/5

English edition: The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr by E.T.A. Hoffmann

I have read this book in the original language, German, because I didn't like very much the Italian edition I have read last year. In fact, the "smart" Italian publisher has cut half of the book :/ I could find it out only reading the book in his original language.

It is a confusing book, like a lot of Hoffmann's stories, but this makes them so worthy.
There is the autobiography of the cat Murr, because he is cultured and he can read and write, but he has written his autobiography on the biography of the Kapellmeister Kreisler. In this way, while the biography of the cat is complete, there are only pieces of the biography of Kreisler. So it is confusing because the reader goes from one story to the other, one of these has only pieces of the happenings (but the reader understands however the plot) and in the story of Kreisler there is some mistery, a murder, some magic...

I liked it like I do with every story by Hoffmann.

9) 2/5

English edition: Asylum by Patrick McGrath

It talks about Stella, the wife of a psychiatrist, that falls in love, a morbid love, with a patience (a paranoid) of his husband's colleague. The narrator of the whole story is Peter, the colleague of Stella's husband, because he had to intern Stella because of the consequences of this sick love.
It wasn't an engaging read. It should have been a phsyco-thriller but it isn't, there was no suspense, no thriller, nothing and the characters aren't described in a deep way and also the metal diseases aren't in my opinion well depicted, they could have been better.

I just love books dealing with psychology, but then your rating puts me off.

Smitha wrote: "I just love books dealing with psychology, but then your rating puts me off."

In this book it isn't deep psycholgy; it could have been much better but the characters and above all the diseases were only superficial (at least in my opinion, there are a lot of good reviews about this book).

10) 4/5

English edition: The Clown by Heinrich Böll

It has a slow start but it is really a good book. It is also very melancholic also because the main character, Hans, a clown, is melancholic.
The whole story unfolds in three hours when Hans turns back at home and starts thinking about his life: his love for Maria who married another man and he knows that nobody will be able to love her like he did; his career that was interruped by an injury at the knee; his rich parents though he and his brother have never seen this richness; his dead sister; his younger brother who decided to convert to catholicism; all the persons he has met, old friends, and he thinks about all their hypocrisies.
It is a condemnation to postwar Germany who wants to hide what was happened; they want to forget and behave as nothing had happened or become very Christians; they try to forget also pursuing capitalism.
This book isn't only a book about a love story that ends but also an accusation to Catholicism, capitalism and hypocrisies. These are the opinions of a clown that wears less masks than other people though he must make-up himself because of his work.
This book is worth a re-read.

11) 3/5

English edition: Herzog by Saul Bellow

It was a strange and (for me) difficult read.
The main character is Herzog, a 47 years old man, after his second divorce. He writes letters he will never send, to parents, to friends, to dead philosophers, to other people he has met in his life; and through this letters we start to know his story, his fears, his opinions. He is confused, he doesn't know in what to believe and there is a lot of philosophy in this book and these parts were difficult to understand deeply. It is however an interesting book but it was a slow read, I had to read some parts twice in order to understand.

12) 2/5

There is no English edition; the translated title is "Sad love tales for the insane".
It is a very short book with some funny poems. It was just ok, nothing special.

Nice Going .. :-)

Sudhamay wrote: "Nice Going .. :-)"

Thanks ;)

13) 3,5/5

English edition: Tales of Belkin and The Queen of Spades.

In The Tales of Belkin there are 5 stories who have nothing in common except that they are narrated by the same author, Belkin; he writes about real stories that have been told to him during his life. They are all very short and very nice to read: we have tales of love, of mystery, of romanticism...they are very nice.
Also The Queen of Spades is very short and an easy read and talks about a young man that wants to receive from an old lady the secret in order to win always playing with the cards.

14) 4/5

Read in English, there is no Italian translation but there is really not a lot to read because it is above all a book full of photos. It is interesting only for those that know the Hells Angels because it is the first time that HA from the UK allow a photographer to take pics of the members and of their clubhouses from the inside. There are also photos of their parties and of their airbrushed motorbikes, tattoos and a lot more.

15) 4,5/5

English edition: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcí­a Márquez

What a wonderful book! There is everything in this book: birth, death, love, passion, disillusion, magic, history, faith, superstition. It is amazing how Marquez was able to put in a magic realism some important historical events of Colombia but also human emotions and the tragedy/comedy of life. Macondo, the little town where the story of the Buendia family happens, is a microcosm where people think to live happy but happiness will end; the deads live with the livings; everything will have and end, whatever we do to improve is useless; the loss of memory (above all about historical facts); the repeating of history and above all the loneliness which always rules over everything. This little town doesn't represent only Colombia but the whole world.
I would give it also 5 stars but some parts were a little bit dragging (perhaps because of a bad translation).

LOL, dely. Our tastes in books are quite dissimilar. I had to struggle to complete it. Wish you had joined us in the discussion a couple of years ago, when we read it as a group read.

Smitha wrote: "LOL, dely. Our tastes in books are quite dissimilar. I had to struggle to complete it. Wish you had joined us in the discussion a couple of years ago, when we read it as a group read."

Yes, so true :D

I didn't remember it was a group read; I will look for it.

http://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/5...