(G)rumblings and Ramblings

Title: The Profane Poet: Satyajit Sarna   The Profane: An Intriguing Hand Imagine that you are at a Taash scene(1) i.e., Teen-Patti (a type of 3-card-poker), and The Profane by Satyajit Sarna is the hand that can both tackle, and, if need be, assimilate the joker in the variation. It begins innocuously enough: the cards/poems are dealt. As you begin to go through them, one realizes that this hand can meet anything dealt across the table. The final outcome of course depends on the skill and the discretion of the player.           The Waterfall: a type of variation in taash known for its flipping jokers. This collection of poems appear to revolve around the perceptions of the millennial. Sarna's observations are, at points, soothingly savage and delightfully vicious.  The common theme cutting across each poem is that Sarna says the things that are considered taboo by many and are, well, usually artfully ignored for the “greater good” of “society”, ...

 Title: White Tiger Author: Aravind Adiga White Tiger: Adiga's Doom Star Rickshaw Ride I usually avoid writing largely negative reviews about books for primarily two reasons: First, I would rather write about that which I love or like immensely, and second, I tend to be a bit sharp with my criticism and I prefer to confine aforementioned sharpness to an exception rather than the rule.  But given how strongly I dislike this bit of work – a close second being the recent obnoxious and oft tautological swill that’s been pouring out of Rupi Kaur’s mouth in the guise of “poetry” – I’ve made an exception.     At best, this book was salaciously amusing to the point of fantastical hilarity. It reads as an aspiring-cinematic experience, into which it has – unsurprisingly - fructified . Adiga’s view of India is pretty bleak.   Adults are bad, children are bad, villages are considered the ‘darkness’, cities are rife with corrupt ambition... the street mithaiwalla’s l...

Title: Girl, Woman, Other Author: Bernadine Evaristo Girl Woman Other: A Long Awaited Intersectional Melody* This is a beautiful work of intersectional literature. At the outset, inter-sectionalism was a term first defined by Kimberlie Krenshaw. Briefly put, it believed that feminine experiences were not limited to a monolithic experience, such as, the life of a caucasian woman living in an upper-middle-class neighbourhood being a definitive indicator of feminist struggle that over shadows the experiences of women in different strata of society and from various backgrounds. The book pivots around the narratives of 12 women: black women and women of mixed heritage.  It vibrates with the energies of all the women who have suffered and have risen above their suffering(s). .Overall it is representative of the the experiences of women in a myriad of sexualities and forms that come together in London. The novel reverberates with a  cadence of restlessness owing to a de...

Title: Milkman Author: Anna Burns Milkman: Never Dare to Hope, Only Hope to Live Do not let the diminutive size of this novel mislead you because each page pulsates with vigour and intensity. Milkman pivots on the premise of a shady paratrooper/double agent's advances on the narrator who is pragmatically identified as "middle sister" (because she is the middle female sibling in her family).This novel is a caricatured reflection of society in times of duress where some social codes are tightened, others are loosened and almost everyone functions with the motto of "Dont-Ask-Wont-Tell-And-If-I-Tell-It-Will-Be-Exaggerated-Drivel". It exhibits the suspension of rational thinking, liberty and progressiveness as people seek sanctuary within the confines of prejudice and persecution.  Pretty bleak stuff. Remarkably, the author manages to maintain a wry tone in even some of the darkest moments. One such moment is when the boy who assaulted the narrator i...

Titles: Wolfhall, Bring Up the Bodies, The Mirror and The Light Author: Hilary Mantel                                             The Wolfhall Trilogy: As Girths Thicken and Sins Multiply* Outset: A version of this review was published by Think Publication : a book lovers collective. I left all stylistic freedom with the editor and her team and the review was published in a lovely verse-form reminiscent of Bernadine Evaristo's style in her novel Girl, Woman, Other. Interested readers may view it here This is a fine trilogy. In all three books Mantel describes events with an impeccable turn of phrase littered with a piquant wit that is, in the best -and the worst-of occasions, deliciously tongue-in-cheek. What held my interest throughout each book - in the respective year when it was published - was that the author managed to avoid excessive backgr...

Title: Anansi Boys Author: Neil Gaiman Note: All efforts have been made to keep this review short and spoiler-free. However, there are some spoilers because analysis does require some factual substantiation.  I shall try and avoid adding too many facts. This is not a gateway for potential bluffing by lazy potatoes who would rather not read those 415 pages. "Life is too important a thing ever to talk seriously about it "  -Vera or The Nihilists. I recently re-read Anansi Boys. It is definitely one of those books that will bring forth a fresh perspective with each successive read. The best part about the book is that it is written in a way that tackles the slightly dark developments in the book (eg. death per se , ripping someone's tongue out, murder...) with a touch of whimsicality and optimism. Therein, it does justice to the main character i.e., Anansi, a God who believes in perceiving his surroundings with a dash of frivolity and the opti...