Dazed, Amazed, Awed.

“The laws that lay down who should be loved, and how. / And how much" (The God Of Small Things, 311).

And that one quote summarizes the whole book.

First published in 1997, I think it was just the right time for me read this. Not too old to over-understand and then to judge and not too young to confuse completely. Since it’s more than a decade old, there’s no point in me telling you the story. Moreover, it’s very difficult to narrate the story. The book is written in non-linear form, which is confusing yet so brilliant. It follows a narrative style like that of Shadow Lines (by Amitav Ghosh. Another masterpiece, I must say) but the plot, I think, is much more complex. There are even lesser closures and the end couldn't have been more abrupt. Yet, I love it for its themes, the undaunted portrayal of love and the true portrayal of manipulation and power relations. I am still dazed and I think I’ll have to read once again to completely absorb it.

There is a lot of dramatic characterization in the book but that too is quite subtle and punched with bits of direct characterization in between. So it’s quite hard to say which one was my favorite character. But I think it was Velutha. He was absent for most part of the book and it took me some time to understand why he loved the two-egg twins so much. But when I did and when he died, even before I read the final chapter, I’ve never felt such remorse for any fictional character as for him. He was betrayed – first by his own father, then by his Comrade Pillai and then, unknowingly, by the child he loved so much-Estha.

He knew what his caste meant, he knew what repercussions his action would have, he knew there might not be a ‘tomorrow’ and so it happened and yet the only truth in his life and in Ammu’s life was their love.

Maybe it’s only because I’m smitten by the idea of love, but the way Arundhati Roy has explored it is fantastic. The love between Ammu and Velutha broke all barriers, literally. Different castes and what a place to love each other. Baby Kochamma’s love for Father Mulligan – attained truly in his death. Chacko’s unconditional and almost blind love for Margaret Kochamma and their daughter.

The twins’ love for each other triumphs over all of them. Truly, it was never you and me for them. They were always ‘we’.

One character that truly saddens me is Estha. He turned into a recluse, I think, because he realized what he did to Velutha, because he said “But that will be never” to Ammu, because the “orangelemondrink man” violated him and he never opened up to anyone. Estha, “the Practical One” was manipulated throughout the book. Rahel was rebel. She resisted the manipulation, fought it when she could and learned to live on her own. But Estha is one of the saddest literary characters ever (in my knowledge).

I’m awed by her language. Her sentences. Her words. The lack of proper closures, some missing bits which I wanted to know, specially Estha’s life in detail in his father’s house make me restless but I’ll live. :)

It deserves another read. And you can’t understand it one go. There are so many things that I'm missing out on but I can't possible explain each of them. Beautiful quotes in between which you should probably mark out. Great work, inspires me.

Not Just Love, Ambition, Corruption. Sacrifice too.

I liked Revolution 2020. And all those creepy critics/non-critics-just-messing-around, trying to analyze the terrific book – write one yourself and sell at least 500 copies. Then talk about it.

In one word, yes, it was TERRIFIC. It made me cry. Call me an emotional fool but I think if a book can induce highs of senstivity in even one person, that author is awesome. I admit the initial pages bored me a little. They kind of dragged too. But as it progressed, it didn’t fail to stun me (except the corruption part - happens everywhere, doesn’t it?).

The story revolves around three friends Gopal, Aarti and Raghav. It is mostly Gopal in the picture and the story has been written from his point of view. Aarti makes considerable appearences while Raghav – and this even disappointed me – in spite of his being Gopal’s best friend, is known only through Aarti and makes few appearances. The story is indeed about love, corruption and ambition. But one more thing – sacrifice. The power to give up what you wanted the most. Gopal is a twice-failed engineering aspirant and has love yet doesn’t have it because the girl he loves calls it ‘best friendship’, the most dreadful word ever used by a girl. So, this failed student decides to start an engineering college without a degree and with corruption – lots of it. What follows is his ambition to get the girl he loves, money and power – so that he can rise above the tag of ‘loser’ that was automatically attached to him after his best friend Raghav got an IIT rank in the 1100s.

My friend said it was a filmy end. Well, sacrifice, as long as it is not you who’s doing it, sounds filmy. And yeah, it might be taken as very dramatic but it managed to break my heart. Don’t we have enough writers to write about sad endings and sacrifices? I recently read The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, both by Khaleid Hosseini. I was expecting lighter work from Chetan Bhagat; that’s what the best part is: the climax totally flips you over. One moment you’re smiling for their future and the next, you’re almost devastated.

Each book by Chetan Bhagat has a different story to tell. Even though Five Point Someone remains a favorite, this one hasn't failed to amaze me either. It’s Chetan Bhagat as usual – peppy, cheesy at places and fun. His writing style is casual. He writes as though one would speak. It’s almost the language the young people of today use and I’m sure a lot of us also relate to his use of words a lot. And no, I’m not talking about the swear words here. Stop comparing him to classics and you will get the feel of emotions. To each his own, right?

Read it for fun and read it with your heart.