Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish by David Rakoff

After finishing this slim but oh so huge novel,
of stories told in verse; I was struck, "How colossal!"
I immediately mourned the author's death to my core;
I had not read David Rakoff before.

I wish he were still here, to create another,
to write more prose in poetry, to fill one with wonder.
I found myself lost in his words from time to time,

his stories of life, all set out in couplets that rhyme.

This novel is brief, barely over a hundred pages,
yet the strange title makes sense, with all its life images.

Stories of persons, seemingly unconnected,

Come together with sorrow and humour injected.

I savoured every phrase, every clever word trick,

brought the tale to life, in a manner so slick.

Always witty and smart but never highbrow,

A magnum opus for Rakoff's final bow.

The verse form is different but it's the real McCoy.

Read the novel and I guarantee it, you will enjoy.

* written with the help of an online rhyming dictionary. 

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

There are very few movies that improve upon being adapted from a book. And in cases where they do, usually the book wasn't that great to begin with. So I don't know why I was so disappointed watching the movie "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" last night. I guess expectations had a lot to do with it.

The post-9/11 novel was written as a first person monologue by Changez with a mysterious stranger met in a tea house in Lahore. I had loved the abstract & allegorical (& at times, playful) writing. Symbolism abound in the narrative, the more obvious of which was "Erica", a clear reference to America, both of which were obsessed with events in their history to the extent that Changez (pronounced "Chan-gez", but again, an obvious allegory) is unable to truly come to terms with or overcome. Both are ultimately denied to Changez for the same reason. The movie completely missed this point.

Clearly, it is difficult to adapt a abstract novel into a very literal visual medium such as film. For this, I make allowances. But what I detested was the liberties taken to change whole chunks of the novel & providing an ending, which wasn't even hinted upon in the book.

In the novel, issues Changez grapples with are core, such as whether he has sacrificed his identity in his pursuit of success - the American Dream, so to speak. We never learn the American man’s identity, even as Changez regularly interrupts the story to address him. We get a sense that he had been pursuing Changez, who may be a leader of anti-American protests. Apparently, the man is “on a mission” — and he may be carrying a weapon. There a a lot of questions unanswered in the novel but Changez's interruptions lend his monologue an Arabian Nights-style.

There is also an irony in the title that is lost in the movie. In his job on New York's Wall Street, Changez analyses the fundamentals of corporations to come up with financial valuations. Consequently, we ponder whether every critic of America in a Muslim country should be labeled a fundamentalist, or whether the term more accurately describes the American capitalists. 

And at the end, we wonder whether we have a fundamentalist & a potential assassin sitting at the table, where the end of Changez's story may mean the death of one or the other. A more capable director would have done a better job. Having said all that, the movie, on its own, is good. It's just not as good as the novel!

I Prefer the Kindle to Books!

The wolf's annual visit has ended, leaving me with the problem of trying to find space for the embarrassing number of books he tempted me with. Temptation to which I succumbed with nary a struggle. But hey, double layering the books on the shelves has worked so far. 

Books now haphazardly shelved, what do I do? Which shall I start with first? I pick up a couple & then it dawns on me & I am horrified. I prefer reading on the kindle than actual physical books! And here's why....

• I love the portability of the kindle. It weighs less than a book & I have hundreds in there. And in a pinch, there's always the kindle app on the iPhone or iPad, all of which sync to the page I was reading.
• I love the built in dictionary, so I can check the meaning with just a touch.
• I love that I never ever lose a book in the kindle. Can't say the same with books themselves, which seem constantly on a walkabout.
• I love that content can be shared between all the kindles under my account & there are quite a few under this roof. 
• I love how what I'm reading is private, away from prying & nosy eyes.
• I love that the largest bookshop in the world is available at my fingertips & books can be downloaded immediately , with delivery within seconds. True instant gratification.
• And if that wasn't enough, there's also the discounts & free books that Amazon has on offer constantly. These change all the time, but there are helpful sites that keep us all informed (e.g. Freebooksy, PixelofInk, EreaderNewsToday & readandsharebookreviews).

But the kindle is not for everybody. It's not for kids, for instance. Kids need to develop the love of reading first & physical books is a far better medium for this, with interactive pop-ups, colourful illustrations & the like. I hear though that it's good for those with cataracts, who read better print on black.

Neither is the kindle good for all genres. Lovely 'coffee table' type books, cookery & recipe books are best as books.

So, dare I say it - I won't be visiting the wolf next year? Nah, I know I'm not that strong. 

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

"What if we had a chance to do it again and again, until we finally did get it right? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?"

That is the question posed in Kate Atkinson's Life After Life & our protagonist, Ursula Todd, does so in this ingenious narrative where the author time & again kills the protagonist & brings her back to the beginning, but each time the narrative takes a different path (as Ursula retains a somewhat subconscious memory of past mistakes), demonstrating how the smallest of decisions affect our lives.  

At times, it is like experiencing the different drafts of a novel or the creative process of the author. I imagine this is what writers do - create characters, hit a brick wall, then go back to the beginning & start again.

But this is quality, vivid writing. Though we backtrack to the beginning numerous times, the repetition is not dull. Instead it almost brings about a interactive aspect for the reader, in trying to spot the differences & figure the impact of the change. At times, you'll find yourself willing Ursula to steer clear of previous bad choices.

It is a series of "What ifs" & set against the backdrop of 20th century history, it forces the reader to consider "what if" certain things had happened, the biggest question of which is "what if Hitler had been assassinated before he had come into power in Germany?" The impact of this would have been tremendous, as if the holocaust had not happened, Europe, America & indeed the Middle East would be vastly different today.

Does it sound heavy? Or philosophical? Only to the extent that we allow it too. It is a beautiful exploration of the human spirit against adversity & it's capacity to endure, wrapped up in a Matryoshka doll.

It is an engrossing tale. And the premise is wonderful - having many takes in life, until you get it right & someone shouts "Cut! It's a wrap."

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

I must have read this about 20 years ago, thereabouts. I don't remember being impressed then.

And now having re-read it, I still don't know what the hoopla is all about. The chapters seem to follow a set pattern:

• Colonel Graff (& later, Mazer Rackham) worry about how hard they are pushing Ender. 
• Ender confronts challenges, both on a personal front as well as in battle school. 
• Back on Earth, Ender's siblings, Peter and Valentine, are influencing world opinion through the internet forums. 
• Ender overcomes both the personal & the battle school challenge. 
• Ender plays a videogame to destress. 
• Colonel Graff/Mazer Rackham feels that Ender is being pushed too hard but convinces themselves that it is for the greater good. 

Without fail, practically every chapter is the same. The only part where I started getting interested was towards the end, when Ender became the Speaker for the Dead. Based on this, I will move on to the next book in the series.

Perhaps it is dated. But then again, Arthur C. Clarke & Isaac Asimov are even older books & I still have fond memories of them.

Having said that, I still hope to catch the movie.