The Vegetarian - Introspective , Unsettling

Reading Han Kang's "The Vegetarian" was like reading a book of poems. While this book won the Man Booker in 2016, I picked it up quite recently after Kang became the first Asian woman to be awarded the Nobel prize.

It is very different from the general books I read so it was refreshing and exciting at the same time.

The novel is not a long read and divided into three distinct sections told from three different perspectives. The central protagonist is Yeong-hye. She is introduced to be the most ordinary of women, almost plain - a typical fly on the wall. The most remarkable or outrageous thing she had ever done was to turn vegetarian. Her transformation is not just a dietary one - it is something larger - akin to spiritual, something to be doing with pushing boundaries of expectation, conformity and gender roles. As the novel progresses, there is a sense of fading away - of health, sanity (?), perhaps even her sense of being a person. 

The expectations from a woman and man are very different in this world. It is as if she has no agency over herself, her choices or even her body. There are several moments in the story that really stay with you and make you think, make you feel uneasy and unsettled. Even after I completed the book this feeling remained with me. A week after I completed reading it, suddenly something reminded me of a situation in the book and it made me stop. There is a definite lack of closure and it irked me. Perhaps it was intended by the author but it was truly unsettling.

There are recurring scenes and motifs of aggression, lack of consent and violence towards her - by her husband and brother-in-law, her brother and even her father. There is a particular scene where her father tries to force feed her some meat, in a bid to demonstrate his dominance over her. He is a soldier, a patriarch and most importantly her father - how dare she not listen to him, how dare she have a contrary point of view? Similarly, the husband, who never really tries to find out what happened to her. Or the brother-in-law, who obsesses over her birthmark and objectifies her shamelessly. It is only with her sister, that there is some semblance of personhood left. At a point in time, it seems like her sister is just an extension of herself. 

Overall, this book left me feeling uneasy. The light prose, with the short sentences drawing attention to the starkness of the protagonist’s life and at times the longer ones bringing the reader into a trance like state in which we almost always find the protagonist. Is she happiest when she is among trees? What’s the point of life itself? If you want a whirlwind list of existential questions, pick up that book. 

Putul Naacher Itikotha - Intense!

 Manik Bandopadhyay is not an easy read. Highly acclaimed as a great Bengali storyteller, his stories often throw light at the darkness of the human mind that we want to overlook. His most famous work being "Padma Nadir Majhi" - is legendary in its capability of depressing the reader. 

I am not sure why I picked this book, even after knowing fully well the effect his writing has historically had on people. Reading a Bengali book after a long time, it took a little bit of effort on my part to warm up to the writing and pick up the pace to read it. I am generally a fast reader and can finish a 200 pager over 2 days to a week depending upon my interest level. This book took me a little more than a month and it was around 200 pages. This is not a testimony of the book being boring or not engaging. In fact, it was more than engaging, a little too engaging if I may say so. It was 200 pages of pure pain. 

Of course it is an outstanding work of art and a beacon in modern Bengali novel writing. The stunning word play that is alternatively exquisite and rustic makes it quite charming. We have an ensemble of characters who have their own flaws and forthright qualities. The protagonist Shashi is a doctor in a village and though he begins as a do-gooder in the small community, he wants to rid the people of their petty superstitions, create a better society, provide facilities. This absolutely exemplary public figure is not as straight as an arrow as he appears to be. He is tempted by the urban life, wants on multiple occasions to ditch the people and move out and even gets romantically involved with a farmer's wife - a farmer who is his friend and greatest cheerleader. 

The story takes a close look at the lives of the ordinary people and the struggles that they have to go through. The pain of being poor and without resources, the ability to be happy in limited means and the realities of being born in a certain socio-economic class in India are core to the book. But it is more than just that - it is not just about building a hospital and getting a better life for the people - it is about the nuance of friendship and family, love and sense of duty. 

Generally, when I read a book, I am rooting for a particular character or feeling absolutely heartbroken for one. This story takes me through a roller coaster journey where I alternatively love and hate the same person. 

From the very first page to the last, there is a constant quest for the very purpose of life, the immense importance we attach to ourselves and obvious frivolity of it all. In that seemingly bleak prospect of our lives actually amounting to nothing at all, every now and then people find their true purpose and identity. 

If I have to describe the story in one word, i would say "intense". I kept thinking back about one isolated event and another, many weeks after I had read the book. there are moments that just stay with you and these moments would be different for different people. Bandopadhyay plays masterfully with the emotions of his readers -  what affects you, makes you really connect to the real person you are. I highly recommend. 

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - An Intriguing Premise

I received this as a gift on Christmas and it was the first book I finished in 2025. The premise was very interesting to me and the writing lyrical and light. 

The premise of this book initially captured my interest, promising a compelling narrative set against the backdrop of a charming bookshop. The first part of the story, which unfolds within the bookshop, held my attention and provided an enjoyable reading experience. However, as the focus shifted in the second part to the life of the protagonist Takako's uncle's wife, my interest began to wane.

Without giving spoilers, Takako is a young girl who has shifted to a big city. She has grown up in a small town and she occasionally feels overcome by loneliness. It is a story of finding love, of heartbreaks and eventually of finding oneself. While she is disengaged in the beginning often finding a second hand bookstore a massive waste of time, she slowly grows to love the place and the people. Through the shared experiences of regulars at the store and the people she gets to know through her avid reading while she is there, she is able to cope with her situation in life, and not just cope but overcome it. 

The simplicity with which her uncle who she did not care to keep in touch with opens his heart to her is quite touching. However, the development of the relationship is not really followed through. Takako makes many friends but they remain acquaintances - we do not really get a deeper understanding of what happened in those friendships. Perhaps this was intentional on the author's part - or perhaps we lose some depth in translation, who knows!

But I really enjoyed the easy breezy writing style.

If you are drawn to books set in quaint, literary environments, you might find some enjoyment in the first part of this novel. However, if you seek deeply developed characters and intricate relationships, this book might not fully satisfy those cravings.

The Write Project

 In the summer of 2024, I had started a project on writing. It was a creative writing workshop for kids. I had always enjoyed writing and I wish when I was a child I had someone to guide me. I did not want someone to tell me what to write, but a slight nudge towards what to read, just a polish here and fixing there would have gone a long way.  That’s how the creative writing workshop idea came into being and I started it in my home, right in my living room with three different age groups of curious minds. 

There were three age groups:

6-7 year olds

8-9 year olds

10-11 year olds

It was a two hour workshop where I spoke about the structure of a story, how to develop a story arc, we did a couple of activities involving writing prompts, some group activities and at the end of the session each child had a completed story that they would be taking home to call their own. Within a span of a couple of hours they had created something out of scratch!

For the 6-7 year olds, we did a partner activity involving art, colors and story writing. The colors and art work allowed them to freely think and the stories that they came up with were uninhibited and wonderful. 

For the 8-9 year olds, we discussed their favorite authors and genres. For this group, we discussed the building blocks of creating a memorable character. Just like Lego bricks can build anything from a dragon to a truck, our imagination can give our characters wings to fly or fatal flaws. As a group we decided to create a superhero character and our little creators gave their very own superheroes amazing names and awesome super powers including but limited to “the ability to score a sixer in every ball”, “being able to live without sleeping”, “having an unlimited supply of ice cream” and “kindness”.

The last group of children were in the age group of children were 10-11 year olds and here we turned it up a notch. Children had to write a complete story following the story arc that we learnt about from few prompts given and the results were very impressive! The friends even took inspiration from each other to build out different parts of a story.

The experience of teaching and learning with young minds was something absolutely beautiful. The level of distractions that children have these days is something we could not even have imagined. We hear so much negative narrative about children having lost their ability to concentrate, really focus etc. etc - but I would strongly disagree with all of those because these kids were completely into in for two straight hours. they really applied themselves and came up with something. I guess crafting something you can call your own is a special feeling nothing else can replace. I hope I can come up with a more robust plan this summer. But the first batch will always be special. 

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss

 2 March

What is the first Dr. Seuss you read? The Cat in the Hat, How the Grinch Stole Christmas or The Lorax, each one bringing in some new flavor. There's never a dull moment with these books, is there?

Well today is the birthday of the renowned Dr. Seuss. Of course it is a pen name - the real person behind it was Theodor Seuss Geisel. There is more to Geisel than just the children's illustrated books for which he is most famous. He was also a political cartoonist with very strong anti-Fascist views. Some of his works were also quite racist, like one depicting the Japanese. 

That aside, I have always drawn great comfort in the way he has depicted bullies and hypocrites in his cartoons. His satire and wordplay a re an absolute delight. Horton hears a Who is an absolute favorite of mine. If you have not read any of his books, I'd suggest you give it a try. 

10 Beautiful Names from Literature

What's in a name? Why of course everything - that's what evoked the image of the person and what he or she would act like. 

Have you ever read a book and fallen in love with a character? Sure, so many times, right?

But falling in love with a name? I have. Here are my favourite names, tell me yours. 

1. Florentino Ariza - From Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez). What's not to like about a man who dedicates his life to his love? But there's something so romantic and enigatic about the name, isn't it?

2. Shekure - From My Name is Red (Orhan Pamuk). Derived from sugar, this has to be one of the most beautiful names I have ever come across. 

3. Desdemona - From Othello (Shakespeare). Though I am not abig fan of the character, I honestly found her very whiny and too submissive, you have to agree the name is beautiful.

4. Atticus Finch - From To Kill A Mockingbord (Harper Lee). You hear the name and immediately imagine the person who comes alive through Harper Lee’s amazing book. 

5. Matilda  - From Matilda (Roald Dahl). How can you not love this precocious little child. Along with Dahl’s magical writing we are introduced to the world of Matilda who loves to read and learn, her family who are drowning in TV shows and Miss Honey who finally becomes her companion.

6. Hermione Granger - From Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling). I think we will all agree that Harry Potter books are a treasure trove of brilliant names. Take Hagrid for example, or Sirius Black, or Dumbledore, or even Bellatrix Lestrange. Each one is better than the next, but there is something about Hermione Granger

7. Cosette - From Les Miserables (Victor Hugo). Cosette is a moment of peace and pause in this whirlwind of a novel. if you have not read, you should. I must have learnt more of the French Revolution from this book than in my history books for sure. 

8. Leopold Bloom - From Ulysses (James Joyce). This novel was so audacious - like reflecting the universe in a drop, and the protagonist whose meandering walks around Dublin really strung together this delicate story has such a pretty name.

9. Clarissa Dalloway - From Mrs. Dalloway (Virginia Woolf). By far one of my favorite books and characters, and a lovely name only helps the cause. So fragile, so frivolous and so shallow, that's her,  you feel sympathy and anger towards her at the same time.

10. Miss Havisham - From Great Expectations (Charles Dickens). The picture of quiet fortitude and never ending despair rolled into one. Miss Havisham will leave you with that lump in your throat, any number of times you read the book, and such a lyrical name.

What are yours?

My Most Ambitious TBR for 2022

I read Crime And Punishment a long time ago and had made up my mind that I will be returning to Dostoevsky and read his two other greats The Idiot and Brothers Karamazov some time in my life. 

However both of these are pretty heavy and dense reads and I never thought I will get through either - much like War and Peace. Last year I read The Idiot in one and half months. Honestly, it was difficult in the beginning and the challenge was to keep attentively reading for a long time as my life does not allow me to have long stretches of undisturbed time when I can concentrate on a serious subject, but I did get through it and it was a really good experience. 

I am guilty of having kept a reading plan - how many chapters I will finish over how many days. I am not proud of it. This year my goal is to get to Brothers Karamazov and I have begun but have not gone through much of it, honestly. 

I have decided to read some classics this year and this one is the first of many (fingers crossed) to come. Dosteovsky’s style is such that you cannot skim through pages, you really need to immerse yourself in the characters and their situations in life. The very poignant sense of doom from the very beginning, his very Christian sense of crime and subsequent burden on the conscience is not easy to navigate through. Some might say that men like Myshkin (The Idiot) and Alyosha (Brothers Karamazov) are from a different age and are not relevant any more, but somehow I feel that while their view of society and the way people should conduct themselves have changed, the very basic human emotions and moral conflicts are still the same. 

The translation by Constance Gardner doesn’t make the job easier. Should I read a different translation? Am I just procrastinating? Only time will tell.