The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘At a Lahore café, a bearded man converses with an American stranger. He recounts his unusual tale: of how he once embraced the Western dream – and a Western woman – and how both betrayed him. And as dusk deepens to dark, the significance of this seemingly chance meeting becomes abundantly clear…’

Lately, I’ve wanted to read some good Pakistani writing (the previous being The Death of Sheherzad) since most of modern Indian writing seems to be of the same genre (editing ancient works and presenting the same in a different way). So, I stumbled upon this book while randomly browsing in a bookstore and I found the synopsis to be quite interesting and also, till I saw the cover of this book, I had no idea that there was a film based on this. Anyway, this is the background as to how I picked up this book and I’d come to the review without any further digression.

The story features Changez, a young Pakistani graduate from Princeton, who is narrating his experiences in US to an American stranger at a café in Lahore. The protagonist is from a well off family in Pakistan and gets into a well-paying job in a Wall Street firm. He falls in love with one of his college mates, Erica, and is also considered a high performer in his job. It looked like nothing could go wrong in his American dream and looked well set to assimilate into the American society, but just then, 9/11 happens, his lover goes mentally unstable over her dead ex-boyfriend and Changez is in full dilemma – he is part of the same society that is likely to invade his home any time.

The best part about this book, in my opinion was the narration; it felt as though Changez was talking to me, the reader. It is literally narrated in the perspective that someone is actively talking to you and not like how they show in movies, where somebody starts an old story and it comes back to reality only when the story is over. Moreover, the protagonist’s dilemma was brought out very well, by the author where at one end, he is fully defending the American actions as to how the flaw of an innocent being persecuted can happen in any country and at the other end, he is unable to let go off the fact that people at home are worried that they could be invaded anytime. Moreover, I felt the balance was really good, between his professional life, personal life and also how the events unfolded after 9/11 and the 2001 Indian Parliament attack leading to the eventual stand-off between the two countries. Also, if you’re imaginative enough and you have an eye for finding imagery, you can find a lot in this like how the relationship between Erica and Changez could be seen like the shaky relationship between US and Pakistan, where, US does love Pakistan, for various reasons, but has its own expectations and won’t budge till it is satisfied (similar to how she expected him to be like her ex). There are several others apart from these in this novel and I don’t wish to spoil them in my review.

However, my problem with this book is, there were two things that attracted me into buying this book, the first being the title and the second being the synopsis. Yes, I agree that he was reluctant and was caught in a dilemma but he was anything but a fundamentalist. In fact, he was highly secular and had actually fit into the American society perfectly and nobody would’ve noticed the difference if not for the colour of his skin and his name. When I first read 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist', I expected someone with the personality of Maajid Nawaz but then, as aforementioned, Changez was altogether different. Moreover, the number of times the word ‘Muslim’ or ‘Islam’ is mentioned in the book I believe is countable with your ten fingers and thereby, the cover page with the crescent, yet again is very highly misleading. The second part is, that it talked about the betrayal by both, the West and the Western Woman whereas, if at all there was anything, he betrayed himself, owing to his dilemma and he already knew what he was getting into, when he got into the relationship, that despite the death of her boyfriend, she still loves him and eventually plunges into depression because of that – she never left him owing to some selfish pursuits. I agree that the latter is something the author could hardly be blamed for, giving the benefit of doubt that it is from the publisher, but the title, the author certainly is responsible.

I liked the way the author ended the novel leaving it open ended and the reader can imagine it in anyway it suits them and yeah, Changez was a really lovable character so, I naturally assumed an ending suiting how I saw the characters in the novel but you, as a reader, can end it in any way you want to. Moreover, for someone from the larger side of the Radcliffe line, it would be interesting to notice how there is little difference between the two sides, how someone who goes abroad from either sides behave the same way, how both sides feel threatened at home by the other side and of course, the fact that the only difference between the two sides is in fact, just the Radcliffe line.

While I would have really liked to give this book a better rating, I would have to say that the title deceived me too much and I’d stop with saying that it was a good story and give a standard rating of six.

Rating – 6/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

The Death of Sheherzad by Intizar Husain – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘A man scours the town he left fifty years ago for some little evidence of past joys. Javed, who’s returned to Lahore from East Pakistan, won’t speak of what he witnessed ‘there’. An old woman boards a train full of dead ancestors in her dreams. A sage who cannot control his anger must seek out a butcher for redemption. Mahaban, home of the monkeys once, is now a city full of human beings. Sheherzad, who once told Emperor Shaharyar a thousand-and-one stories, is now an old woman who has forgotten her yarns of fantasy.’

The book, titled as The Death of Sheherzad is a collection of fifteen short stories (with the title being one such short story in the book) written in Urdu by Intizar Husain, translated by Rakshanda Jalil. We’re always told never to judge a book by its cover, but that is exactly what I did in this case, I wanted to explore the literature of the neighbouring Pakistan, the write-up of the publisher seemed interesting and of course, the cover of the book looked pretty and I couldn’t resist buying the book after coming to know that this nominated for the Man Booker International Prize, 2013. But the question would always arise; did my risk of merely judging a book by its cover pay off?

Without a second thought, I’d answer yes, although, the very fact that I’m answering yes to this question only indicates that I’ve changed a lot, as a reader for one, the stories in the book are very, very abstract and at the same time, were on some very deep topics, like the partition, the idea of destiny and one of the stories really had a very interesting take on the India-Pakistan ‘nuclear powered state’ race. However, I really enjoyed the space provided by the author to the author to the reader to arrive at conclusions on the stories and the message he tries to convey, because, as much as they’re abstract, the endings are also at times, abrupt. The imagery, the subtlety in his writing, allowed me to create interesting visuals in my mind especially in some of the stories like Reserved Seat, Dream and Reality and of course, The Death of Sheherzad. The collection of stories also displayed the diverse interests of Intizar Husain, writing on topics such as the partition, the Bangladesh Liberation War, then moving on to philosophical topics such as destiny, certain stories based on Koranic anecdotes, such as The Wall (tongue of Yajooj and Majooj) and Dream and Reality(Ubayd’s governorship of Kufa and Basra) and also one from the Jataka Tales even though I’d score that down on originality as I had the exact same story in my 9^th class Sanskrit book during school.

The only drawback I felt was that every story had the same macabre setting, despite the diversity of topics and eventually, it became very predictable as to how the story was going to end and what the author was coming to. Moreover, this book certainly is not meant for readers across all genres, including my own self two years back who loved to read only fast paced mysteries or thrillers.

However, I’d say in the end that this is an excellent book with a very nice collection of short stories; this has made me even more interested in a lot of other, longer works of Husain. If you are someone who enjoys drawing your own conclusions out of stories, this book is meant for you.

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Animal Farm by George Orwell - Book Review

George Orwell, for me was quite a household name considering how, I've always taken a very active interest in politics from a very young age, especially the politics during cold war and had particular interest in Soviet Union and the politics former Soviet States and hence, this was a name that I kept coming across, especially the two books, 1984 and Animal Farm. So, I was going on a short trip and I thought I could take a nice book for a journey and a 'light political satire' seemed very appealing and hence, I packed Animal Farm into my bag without any second thoughts.

It starts with an old pig in the farm of an English farmer named Jones, called Major, inspiring the other animals to start a revolution to come out his clutches and establish a kingdom where all animals are equal, all resources are shared equally, etc. Akin to the Bolshevik revolution, they could overthrow Jones very easily, however, the problems started after driving out Jones. Major had passed away and the same was led by two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon, both of whom had significant ideological differences, however, came together to draft the seven commandments of the newly founded Animal Farm. However, Napoleon eventually taking control driving Snowball out of the farm (similar to the murder of Leon Trotsky and the eventual rise of Stalin). 

Napoleon, in my opinion, fit into the role of Stalin very well and the eventual changes in the Animal Farm was brought out very well, similar to the gradual decay of Soviet Union in the real world. However, I felt Snowball could hardly fit into Trotsky's role nor could Mrs. Jones fit into the role of Alexandra. Moreover, I felt that the writing was too flat and when you're alluding to a historic / political incident through a supposed fairy tale, I believe the writing should be filled sarcasm or at least, some blunt humour. A serious, political novel with a fairy tale involved along with animals as characters seems to be a wrong combination in every way. 

I guess, my fault was that I expected too much out of this book, considering how, this had been a book that I had heard of, a lot, as a classic and was in my shelf for quite a long time. The author was alluding to the Russian revolution and the eventual running of the Soviet Union along with the oppression by Stalin but then, while I could understand that, the author gave no hints towards the same in time, without this sense of immortality, this, in my opinion could well become a very sad fairy tale. However, I'd say one thing that it served my purpose of being a light read during travel, and I'd certainly try out 1984, his more popular work (well, it is on my shelf, so duty bound to read it some day). 

As for the rating, I would not say that the story individually was unreadable as I make it sound, but it certainly wasn't the political satire that you'd normally expect. I'd sit on the fence regarding rating this and give it a five on ten. 

Rating - 5/10

Have a nice day,
Andy

Luxor: Book of Past Lives by Julie Bettendorf – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up: 

‘Set against the rich tapestry of ancient Egypt, Luxor: Book of Past Lives is the story of Nebamun and Iramen, two brothers who are embalmers in Egypt during the era of the boy king, Tutankhamun. It is their duty to prepare the many bodies of the dead who land on their embalming table a journey into the afterlife. Paralleling this ancient tale is the story of two different brothers, Abdul and Karim, who make their living by robbing the ancient tombs of Egypt in the late 1800’s, when the theft and sale of artifacts was at its peak. Woven throughout the novel are the mysterious intersections of the brothers’ lives, though separated by thousands of years.’

Luxor: Book of Past Lives is a story that moves across two timelines – one covering a group of priests embalming dead bodies in ancient Egypt and the other being two brothers, Karim and Abdul robbing the tombs in the 19^th century embalmed by these priests centuries ago.

The story constantly fluctuates between the two timelines, in one chapter; it’d start with the high priest Nebamun carrying out an embalming with his renegade brother Iramen and junior priest, Padi. The highlight of this timeline is that, it is the only book that I’ve read till date on ancient Egypt which covers the life of an Egyptian commoner rather than the royalty. Moreover, we all knew about the fact that the ancient Egyptians used the process of ‘mummification’ to preserve their dead but this book brought out the process very well and also brought out the life in the Egyptian society way back in their glory days, be it the domination of the royals or the authority of the bureaucracy in the rural areas.

The next chapter would immediately move to the 19^th century, where the brothers are busy robbing tombs, Karim being the aggressive one whereas Abdul is scared of authority and is always worried about curses that’d affect them owing to their trade. They sell their loot to an enterprising antique seller named Rahmad who has reasonable knowledge on ancient Egypt and makes a lot of money by overcharging British tourists. Yet again, akin to the earlier timeline, here also, the lives of the poor in the Egyptian society of the 19^th century and how over time, nobody in the society is really bothered about their history except for making monetary gains out of it.

On the whole, this was quite an enjoyable read, for a history enthusiast such as myself; with the process of embalming and the politics of ancient Egypt covered in such depth. The 19^th century Egypt was equally enjoyable, bringing out the interests of foreign tourists in Egypt and the life that grave robbers led during those times (not as luxurious as what has been perceived, for sure). The writing was also quite simple, making it easy for anybody to read and not just linguistic enthusiasts. However, the only thing I’d say I was a little disappointed with, was that it being termed as ‘fiction’, the story during both the timelines didn’t have much role and it was in fact, a non-fiction book narrated through a story but then, I guess this is an effective way to reach out to all sorts of readers and I’m in no way suggesting that the story was boring.

To conclude, I’d say that I learnt a lot from this book and it was a good reading experience and I’m looking forward to more from the author on the subject, maybe on Hittites or the Sumerians or Babylonians. I’d give the book a rating of seven based on whatever I’ve stated so far. 

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Chanakya’s Chant – A plunge into a Legend

In a twisted tale of history and modern fiction, Ashwin Sanghi meshes the intricacies of a past event with the deranged effect it may hold in a future happenstance. Starting with the life of a legend many of us have read about or at least heard about, the author manages to engage the reader with a situation, resultant from the past exploits of the legend, leading to a milestone in the fabric of Indian Politics. As disclaimed by the author, if you are looking for historical accuracy with the life of Chanakya, the fabled genius who gave birth to the rebellion against ancient invaders, the likes of Alexander III of Macedonia, you are not in luck here. The story mixes fiction with facts to create something that a writer can be proud of.

The story begins in a world not many can imagine with such picturesque accuracy. The world in description is Ancient India. A divided world, India is described as a war ground where disunity strays rampant, leaving the doors of the ancient world open to invasion. Amongst this chaos, a little child is shown to possess intelligence that is not to be taken lightly by any means. This child is none but the fabled Chankya. Stories have been told of the unison of Chanakya’s brains with the brawn of another figure in history, the first emperor of a kingdom which spans much of today’s India. The kingdom, Magadha, is known as one of the first kingdoms to have united the subcontinent. With the might to rival the armies of divinity, this kingdom boasts of one of the best remembered reigns belonging to the times in question. This is where the author stakes his claim on the history. The famed king of the Maurya Dynasty, Chandragupta Maurya, is depicted as the son of the commander-in-chief of Magadha’s army and not the child of the wandering Maurya Clan. History is used by the author to describe the point of story till which Chanakya loosens his tuft of hair, and vows not to tie it back till the Nanda Empire falls and from its ashes, raises the platform for a united Bharat. Then on, it’s a play on words to enrapture the already enraptured minds.

As the point in chronology shifts, the sights are set upon a modern India. A adolescent boy is shown, discovering  an ancient plate, etched upon it, the chant of Chanakya. At this point of the story, it is not shown where the chant originates from. The sad story of the incantation’s roots in a curse is revealed much later. This boy, Gangasagar Mishra, is then shown to become a political kingmaker, akin to Chanakya’s ability in the past .Though note realising that his actions are resultant from the events of the past, the man goes on to weave his destiny in the modern day politics. Where political leverage is key to success, the man decides at the beginning of his life, the course of his life. He selects a girl, one who has a humble beginning, and moves her life in his desired direction. Though the girl believes that her life is her own, little does she realise that it is one that is plotted by Gangasagar till such a point that he succumbs to death, and beyond. Her simple upbringing is chastised into a sophisticated outlook, still maintaining her core values. He gives her dreams of power and position, and ensures he fulfills them.

The society’s greed and unquenched thirst for power is shown as the problems of ancient India. The same is counteracted by the desire of position, religious divides and corruption of modern India. In the fashion that Chanakya manipulates vanity and greed of the mighty, yet fallible kings of the past, Gangasagar exploits the disunity of a modern India to create political unity to serve his needs.

However, the darker sides of the characters are also in play here. Chanakya’s alter ego is shown to be the benefactor for assailants and mercenaries and also poison maidens. With elaborate plans, and a future insight, Chanakya utilises the personality of men and the predictability in their behavior, to scheme his plots and execute them to perfection. He and his aides carry out the various courses of decided actions with textbook perfection. Chanakya anticipates every possible outcome with precision. Had he played a game of chess, it would have been checkmate with the minimum possible moves. Or rather, in this case, it would be moves after moves to deplete the opponent’s pieces with nothing put pawns and a one higher piece, rendering the opponent useless at every stage of the match. On the modern side, Gangasagar schemes things with nothing lesser. He carries out killings, decides what course a person’s life takes, how it moves, what debt a person should owe to whom, and at what time, moves pieces of his chessboard to and against his designated king at his will, and what not. Both times end with the desired results of the gentlemen behind the scenes. Chandragupta reaches his pinnacle and the girl reaches the top of the upper echelons of the nation. Both the conspirators end up losing their personalities and values all in the name of the greater good. Their lose their loved ones, one resulting in the curse/chant that incites the other into the raising of the girl to supreme power, losing his life and the end of the road.

The writing is profound and keeps a reader in an anticipatory and a receptive state till the author concludes his diction. Individually, the plots are known to the readers beforehand as both the stories are repeated in the history of politics. Where this book creates a difference is the connection between the two stories. How one story is connected to the other by a plate and a chant inscribed on the plate, is truly intriguing and infatuating to read. The obvious reference to the highly regarded political drama, “Yes Minister”, is welcome and tingles those fantastic memories one has of the series. The author pays proper and an untainted homage to the series. If there is a snag in the execution, it is the use of the quotes in the series as intermittent fillers. When one disregards the lines copied from the erstwhile “Yes Minister”, one can still enjoy this good read.

Final Rating – 3.7/5

Gorgeous Georgians by Terry Deary – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Want to know:

v    If you would make a good bodysnatcher?

v  What the Georgians did with squashed fish eyes?

v  Who wore false eyebrows made from mouse skin?

Discover all the foul facts about the Gorgeous Georgians – all the gore and more!’

Well, I picked up this book solely because I wanted to know something about an interesting race from the Caucasus Ranges but then, little did I expect that this book was going to be about Britain during the era of Hanover monarchs (before William IV and Victoria). However, with that said, I wasn’t disappointed with this book.

The uniqueness about horrible histories always is that, the author runs the reader through the selected era in a way in which that the reader is never bored, does not have to remember the dates and still gets a picture of how the society was, during the time.  The Georgian addiction towards make-up, the high demand for corpses for the purpose of research, the Luddite wars, and their love for gory sports was all portrayed well, through the usual witty caricatures which are used across all the books of this series. Although, this era didn’t have many interesting battles to cover, following the fall of Napoleon, the author still managed to keep the book interesting, in my opinion.

Like any other Horrible Histories book, this too, I believe, has maintained the standard and would be good for light reading while travelling or even when you’re looking for a break after having done some real heavy reading.

Rating – 7/10

Have a nice day,

Andy

Sultana’s Dream by Begum Rokheya Sakhawat Hossain – Book Review

Publisher’s write-up:

‘Sultana’s Dream first appeared in 1905, ten years before the American feminist and novelist, Charlotte P. Gilman, published her feminist utopia Herland. Sultana’s Dream is an appealing story of reversed purdah – the secularism of women – in Ladyland, where peace-loving women overpower aggressive men through the power of their brains.’

Sultana’s Dream is a sci-fi pro feminism novella written during the early years of the previous century by the Bengali feminist writer Begum Rokheya. This review is solely based on the edition with illustrations from Durga Bai; and I don’t even know whether this edition is the full story or it has been abridged.

The story is straightforward, a woman by the name Sultana is led by another woman whom she presumes to be her friend Sara, takes her to a faraway land, which is far more advanced than what she has seen in India – with solar powered kitchens, devices up in the air which stops rainfall and in turn provides endless supply of water, irrigation fully carried out using electricity, etc. This is a land completely ruled by women and where men are confined inside the houses, the converse of what used to happen in early 20^th century India.

I really loved the imagination of the author in this book; to think of solar powered kitchens back in 1905, flying machines three decades before it was invented and for putting forth feminist thoughts at a time when subjugation was considered normal and that too, hailing from one of the most conservative regions of the country (which it till date is); is something commendable. I also liked the illustrations of Durga Bai in traditional Bengali art, especially, that of the solar powered kitchen (as shown above) and I guess that makes the book adorable across all age groups. Also, the book didn’t drag on pointlessly and ended when it had to, making it the perfect novella.

However, what I totally loathed was that the author is such a militant feminist, she is not a feminist who is fighting for the equality of women in the society, but represents that extreme brand of feminism (I don’t even consider that as feminism, would prefer using the term that is circulated in the internet – feminazism) which merely promotes hatred towards more than anything else. All that this book tries to portray is that men are absolutely good for nothing, in their seven hours of working life; they work for an hour and spend the rest of the time smoking, and several other absolutely preposterous remarks. Had a man written a novel, merely portraying the society as it was in those days, would’ve been condemned as a chauvinist but it is rather unfortunate that media houses and several other feminazis support these kind of women. Personally, I consider myself a feminist who supports equality and stops at equality. 

Leaving my personal opinions apart, purely seeing it as a story, I feel it is a decent work and could be a really good read to keep yourself occupied during a short travel. While I might have given this book a rating of seven, I can’t ignore her rather radical opinions and hence, I award this book a rating of six.

Rating – 6/10

Have a nice day,

Andy