Category: Book Review

This category contains all the book reviews

Book Review, Japanese Lit

Men Without Women: Cats, Music and Murakami

It is a collection of seven short stories with a similar sense of eerie, alienation, vulnerability, and loneliness of the male characters dealing with either grief, unrequited love, betrayal, or something completely peculiar. This book is translated from original Japanese by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen. Cats, Jazz, and Murakami with the usual surrealism are the elements that one can expect from this book. You … Continue reading Men Without Women: Cats, Music and Murakami

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Book Review, Japanese Lit

Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata: ★★★.5

A convenience store is a retail store generally opened for long hours containing grocery and household supplies. Keiko Furukura is a 36-year-old working in Hiromachi Station Smile Mart. She is indifferent and sometimes behaves oddly in the presence of humans. She likes being a convenience store woman. She has been working at this dead-end job since she was 18 years old. Neither does she have … Continue reading Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata: ★★★.5

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Book Review, Contemporary

Normal People by Sally Rooney: An unusual love theme ★★★

The entire narrative is about its characters and their progression over the years. It is an unlikely love story which can tear you apart but can fill your heart with warmth. The novel is gripping in the beginning but plummets down in the middle. It talks about issues like depression and people transcending it. A twisted tale of two people falling in love over and … Continue reading Normal People by Sally Rooney: An unusual love theme ★★★

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Book Review, Japanese Lit

South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami ★★★

You know you are reading a Murakami when you feel you are lost in the world of a pensive mood nostalgic enough to make you emotional, melancholic and composed. Being a regular Murakami reader I have noticed that he has a distinct style when it comes to writing. Even though the elements are very much traceable from his previous narratives yet while reading one might … Continue reading South of the Border, West of the Sun by Haruki Murakami ★★★

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Book Review

Wheels of Wish | An amalgamation of mystery and mythology

Title: Wheels of Wish Author: Bhibhu Datta Rout Genre: Mystery Rating: 3/5 ★★★☆☆ A combination of variegated knowledge systems including history, biology and mythological, ‘Wheels of Wishes” turns out to be one of the most enriching and engaging reads. The novel focus on three parallel stories following three separate timelines. While Shashank Chaudhary is charged with the heinous crime of sexual assault of Roohani, this … Continue reading Wheels of Wish | An amalgamation of mystery and mythology

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Book Review, Classics

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte ★★★.5

The book started with a letter by Gilbert Markham describing a mysterious widow with a young boy named Arthur, of no known acquaintance or lineage who moved to a nearby dilapidated mansion, Wildfell Hall. The lady is called Mrs. Graham who liked to stay aloof and didn’t savor the company of her neighbors. Her son remained indoors mostly in her vicinity. Who was this woman? … Continue reading The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte ★★★.5

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Book Review, Indian lit, Short stories

Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri: Review ★★★

This book is divided into two parts; the first comprises of 5 separate stories containing the eponymous story Unaccustomed Earth. The second part contains three interrelated stories of Hema and Kaushik who gets separated when they are young only to cross paths later in life. All the stories revolve around the individuals dealing with a sense of displacement from their native land and at the … Continue reading Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri: Review ★★★

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Book Review, Indian lit, Short stories

Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee

Rating: 3/5 ★★★☆☆ One of the towering female writers of India, Divakaruni’s texts have always proved their merit in determining the ultimate question of female emancipation from the regulating forces of patriarchy by providing a narrative space for the feminist voices to flourish. This book is a collection of eleven short stories where the female protagonists coming from diverse strata of the society embarks on … Continue reading Arranged Marriage by Chitra Banerjee

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5 Star Reads, Book Review, Japanese Lit

Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami ★★★★★

Kafka Tamura, a fifteen-year-old abandons his home to embark upon a journey in the quest of something, something which makes him feel free, something which gives him a profound comprehension of himself, something which absolves him of the devastating prophecy and something which gives meaning to his otherwise meaningless life. Nakata is an old man who has lost the ability to read or write but … Continue reading Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami ★★★★★

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Book Review, Mystery & Crime

Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie ★★★★

This is going to be a short and spoiler-free review aiming to tempt those who haven’t been able to catch up on this book. This was a book which was not initially on my TBR list for November but was carefully bounced up because of the movie adaptation being released this month. And, I am happy to announce that it has become my second favorite … Continue reading Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie ★★★★

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