Anyone read any great books recently?
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Location: British Columbia
Posted on: 25-05-06 14:16:18
Quote:
Originally posted by Mishej India
I thought we could use this same thread to discuss the books we have read\are reading..
I'm currently reading J lahiri's "interpreter of maladies" ... For some reason i dont find the short stories so great. I fail to get the picture...perhaps? for example the one on Mrs sen......so she was missing india...she is struggling in US, takes up babysitting....and driving lessons,...and then one day she has an accident...and she stops driving and even babysitting...clearly she was very homesick.........and the story ends..Thats it...? i didnt think it was a great story
.and there is this other short story by the same title in the book,interpreter of maladies...I couldnt understand the reason for relating that story?and i just feel bad for the boori ma in the 'real durwan'
Most of the stories in this book arent really anything great...and yet the book won a pulitzer award !!
hmm...is it just me??maybe short stories arent for me.Morning _rain, ur take?
I also finished reading "queen of dreams" by chitra divakaruni... liked this one a lot...its about a dream interpreter and her life,is really intriguing....Pink Panther i am waitng for your take on it...it was one good read.
To be honest I found Interpreter of Maladies quite depressing. Many of the books I read on Immigrant experiences are very sad. I just finished reading J. Lahiri's "The namesake". I thought it was a good read - interesting but also sad. IT makes the reader feel as if the characters and all of us are just puppets on a string - we make choices but the outcomes are inevitable. I felt depressed after reading it.
A book that was also written by a south asian author - Sharmila's choice by Bharti Kichner was really good! It was written from the point of view of an american born who goes to India. It was funny, upbeat and I was sad to see it end.
I have yet to read "queen of dreams'.
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~ Morning rain
Yes u hit the nail...it is depressing. And to think the book has won a pulitzer award... Maybe its like going to an Art gallery.....u see all abstract paintings...nothing makes sense yet people are ready to shell out an exorbitant amount for it...
U should read the 'queen of dreams' . In a sense it is slightly depressing aswell, but very interesting. i would like to know if such people exist....or is it just pure fiction.....Pink Panther...hurry up.
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There is no key to happiness.... the door is always open.
Location: Private location
Posted on: 25-05-06 14:35:48
Quote:
Originally posted by Mishej India
I thought we could use this same thread to discuss the books we have read\are reading..
I'm currently reading J lahiri's "interpreter of maladies" ... For some reason i dont find the short stories so great. I fail to get the picture...perhaps? for example the one on Mrs sen......so she was missing india...she is struggling in US, takes up babysitting....and driving lessons,...and then one day she has an accident...and she stops driving and even babysitting...clearly she was very homesick.........and the story ends..Thats it...? i didnt think it was a great story
.and there is this other short story by the same title in the book,interpreter of maladies...I couldnt understand the reason for relating that story?and i just feel bad for the boori ma in the 'real durwan'
Most of the stories in this book arent really anything great...and yet the book won a pulitzer award !!
hmm...is it just me??maybe short stories arent for me.Morning _rain, ur take?
I also finished reading "queen of dreams" by chitra divakaruni... liked this one a lot...its about a dream interpreter and her life,is really intriguing....Pink Panther i am waitng for your take on it...it was one good read.
Hi MI and MR,
I recently finished Queen of Dreams and I thought it was a good read, entertaining...thought provoking. It was the first book I ever read that incorporated the events of 9-11 and for the first time I understood what it must have felt like to be an indian-american living in America just after the disaster. Makes you realise that humans really are their own worst enemy.
With regards to the actual storyline of the main character and her relationship with her mother, I thought it was a good twist on the normal kinds of books you read about young western-born indians (hope that term makes sense!) struggling with their identity to be less indian/more western....this book explores the main characters' hang-ups about not being indian enough.
I found the growth of her relationship with her father after her mother's death heartwarming and it reminded me of my own relationship with my own dad, who is a great cook and artist himself!!
I've always found dreams fascinating and do believe that dreams can often give us answers to the problems in our conscious world... so the whole idea of the mother solving peoples problems through her dreams really appealed to me.
Overall a great read. I've not read Interpreter of Maladies, yet.
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Bijou Bazaar
http://bijoubazaar22.googlepages.com
PP, i couldnt have written a better review myself...
I am curious to know whether such people exist? I felt sorry for all the mother had to go through.. and what sort of a family life she had. and i was happy that it had a good end.The relationship she shared with her dad aswell as the success of the international kurma house was nice to read.
The writer has explained the meaning of some dreams and their significance and how dreaming one thing can mean the opposite depending on the gender of the person who dreams it. Dont know how much of it is true but it was all very intriguing. Thanks for recomending the book.
These days i am reading 'arranged marraige' by the same author.lets see how this one is.
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There is no key to happiness.... the door is always open.
Location: Private location
Posted on: 25-05-06 15:55:30
Quote:
Originally posted by Mishej India
PP, i couldnt have written a better review myself...
I am curious to know whether such people exist?
The writer has explained the meaning of some dreams and their significance and how dreaming one thing can mean the opposite depending on the gender of the person who dreams it. Dont know how much of it is true but it was all very intriguing. Thanks for recomending the book.
I believe there are many dream tellers out there...but just like palm reading, tarot, etc...it is viewed by many as hogwash.
I don't dream very often these days, but when I do, I remember them vividly and I know it may sound a bit "fluffy" (I've been reading that other thread
) but I know that my subconscious is trying to tell me something and I just have to learn to listen and try to decipher the meaning.I'd love to go to someone who does this sort of thing.
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Bijou Bazaar
http://bijoubazaar22.googlepages.com
Location: British Columbia
Posted on: 29-05-06 13:12:26
I've read quite a few books written by south asian authors.
I have found that they are generally depressing and paint a rather bleak picture of the life of a South Asian Immigrant (whether the location is Canada, US or England etc). To generalize, its as if Immigrants remain outside observers passive in their experiences in their new countries.
Why is this so? Why is the immigrant experience portrayed as one of loss? Why is vibrancy only found when the author describes 'back home' and then a sense of dulling.. of perpetual cloudy days and loneliness?
Do people who read South Indian lit. find that it resonates with the reality of their lives?
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~ Morning rain
Location: Private location
Posted on: 29-05-06 13:34:54
Quote:
Originally posted by morning_rain
I've read quite a few books written by south asian authors.
I have found that they are generally depressing and paint a rather bleak picture of the life of a South Asian Immigrant (whether the location is Canada, US or England etc). To generalize, its as if Immigrants remain outside observers passive in their experiences in their new countries.
Why is this so? Why is the immigrant experience portrayed as one of loss? Why is vibrancy only found when the author describes 'back home' and then a sense of dulling.. of perpetual cloudy days and loneliness?
Do people who read South Indian lit. find that it resonates with the reality of their lives?
Yes I definately think that the stories of South Asian authors resonates with reality for alot of people. It is exactly that sense of loss of family/friends/social life and the feeling of not belonging that hits a chord with many readers. I know that you do not really "lose" family and friends, but alot of immigrants find themselves in a new country where they know no one except their spouse. So, you feel like you know what the character of the book is going through and this gives you a sense of reassurance that what you are feeling is OK and normal.
I guess for the majority of SA authors living in another country from the one they were born in, the whole process of immigrating and moving from their homeland to someplace else was probably the single most important event in their lives (I know it was for me) and it is probably why it is the most popular storyline you see written about in their books.
In my own experience, although I know that these feelings will never fully disappear, they have somewhat decreased after having had a few years to adjust (and yes, it can take years to become adjusted) to Canadian life.
Imagine living your whole life in a country where you grew up, have a lifetime of friends, a circle of family around you, places you can point out to others and say, "oh that's where I went to school, and thats where I fell and scraped my knee when I was 7, etc, etc" and then one day you find yourself with none of that around you. It is as if your sense of self is no longer with you. Everything you have ever known and loved no longer around you anymore...it is quite a daunting and sometimes depressing thing to go through.
I think no one can truly understand that "sense of loss" unless one has gone through it themselves.
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Bijou Bazaar
http://bijoubazaar22.googlepages.com
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