Category: Book reviews

Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami

Rating: 5 out of 5.

The Norwegian wood is the story of a much older Toru Watanabe reminiscing about his youth and his experience with love, death and depression. Surrounded by flawed people trying their best to come in term with their own flaws or giving up along the way and lives they left behind in their wake. Be it his best and only friend Kizuki, first first love Naoko or Midori the girl he falls in love along the way. Ultimately this is a distasteful book talking about distasteful things with a kind of distasteful honesty, the very worst kind indeed.

It was deep beyond measuring, and crammed full of darkness, as if all the world’s darknesses had been boiled down to their ultimate density.

Haruki Murakami

Toru moves to Tokyo, shortly after his friend’s suicide; coming to tokyo to study was his way of dealing with the death of his friend. Here he meets Naoko his dead friends girlfriend, they take about many things often avoiding mentioning his dead friend. Seeking company among themselves, people who faced the same pains. A seething insight into the lives of people affected deeply by a death and their descend into depression is what follows. Murakami takes his time slowly describing this descend and its devastating consequences. Stories that repeat itself over and over.

The second act introduces Midori, someone who had to endure similar tragedies, with the death of her mother and a father who takes it too hard. They slowly form a stoic friendship, slowly developing into the only thing that keeps our protagonist from falling into the abyss all around him. Yet the very thing that unites them threaten their friendships just as much. Toru often find himself torn between all this. Murakami’s mastery of words are what makes the lows of Toru’s life heart wrenching and his highs elating.

The dead will always be dead, but we have to go on living.

Haruki Murakami

What makes this book truly great for me was the very last paragraph, The kind of open ended ending that leaves you fuming, yet in this case its hardly ambiguous, Whether a certain someone came to help Toru or not can be left to the imagination, nevertheless we know 20 years later Toru is not an emotional wreck of a man but someone who occasionally thinks of his past when Norwegian Woods by Beatles are played.

A Higher Loyalty – James Comey

A Higher Loyalty – James Comey

“The higher loyalty is to lasting values, most important the truth.” – James Comey

                                    These words by James Comey, which comes half way through the book are what the essence of the book is supposed to be. The tell-all expose of the controversial, former Director of the FBI, is the detailed narration of various ethical dilemmas; he addressed during his life-time and his process of resolving them. The content of the book can be quite simple be summarized as a footnote to the absolutely crazy election of Donald trump and the antics of his administration there-after. Lets be honest there is no need for an exposé on the current administration, they do that aplenty themselves.

                                    James Comey has done irreparable damage to the institution he headed, being called a hack to a tool to being absolutely clueless at times, intervening inadvertently in the 2016 Presidential Election (if the book is to be believed) and leaving the reputation of the FBI in tatters. His one saving grace turned out to be the president himself; who managed to make mismanagement so commonplace that Comey’s charades were but on in a parade of many exuberant ones. His handling of some of the most critical investigations were questionable at the most generous, including Clinton’s emails, Wiener’s wiener and of-course the beloved pee-pee tapes and dossiers.

                                    Keeping this in mind, it is quiet easy to spot the real purpose of this book, rather than an overwhelming urge to expose the truths behind the curtains of power, the book’s purpose is the redemption of its authors reputation and credibility. The contents are a series of apologies and explanations mashed together incoherently to form a semblance of integrity. There is no higher loyalty here, the book is no leadership manual, there is hardly any situation put forward were the founding principles laid forth in the initial pages are deliberated, nor of labored nuanced decisions made. May be its the bits lost due to series of edits and cut courtesy of the intelligence agencies or it is the authors own constraints that leaves this book devoid of content and render it as mere hogwash.

                                    In conclusion; If you have been exposed to the torrent of news, you are already well informed of everything that Comey talks about, all you are missing is him trying an angle on it. I give A Higher Loyalty by James Comey a 2 out of 5.

sign(1)

 

 

The Future of Humanity: Michio Kaku

The Future of Humanity: Michio Kaku

This book by the renowned physicist and science aficionado Dr Michio Kaku is a anthology of all that is latest and greatest in science right now. He explores the future of humanity in the decades and centuries to come,  He explains how the current technology will evolve and how that evolution will transform our species from a single planetary civilization to a multi planetary one and then onto being a true galactic civilization; living and thriving among the stars.

His book starts with the revival of space race in modern times, The race to colonize mars and how far humanity is from achieving that objective. He proceeds to explain in scientific terms where humanity is as a civilization and what it should become to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs; an insurance policy of sorts. From there on he moves deeper into the physics of inter planetary travel; slowly increasing the complexity of topics being tackled. He proceeds to the  colonization of our solar system and later to the star systems nearby; going over the progression of humanity in great detail.

Eventually reaching the realm of the abstract and science fiction. He starts speaking about the Unified field theory aka the The theory of everything, Time travel, wormholes, structure and existence of multiverses and so on.

To a nerd, this books offers little; at-most it is a reminder of that is great and wonderful in the world. Who the book really serves is the uninitiated, the many sophomore dork who can gain insight and be inspired by the world carefully laid out by Michio Kaku. This book like its author is a great advert for the future of humanity.

sign(1)

Bernie Sanders : Our Revolution

31741420._UY2560_SS2560_

It is not often that a book review becomes more a review of the author than the book itself; albeit they overlap nonetheless to a certain extend. Bernie is a man who needs no introductions any more; little over an year ago that was hardly the case. Over an year and a half ago when he was just the obscure senator from Vermont this was hardly true. This book chronicles the remarkable journey of Bernie Sanders and the astonishing rise of democratic socialism in a capitalistic United States.

In this book, Bernie in his own unmistakable words takes the reader through the 2016 Presidential primary and its numerous turning points. He explains how he broke out o f his own obscurity in the wider public space and into the icon that he is today. It covers everything, his intends, his motivations, his rallies, town-halls, the battles lost the victories won and above all else his convictions. Our revolution offers less to the sanders fan than the general public; to the uninitiated the book is very much a great window into the world of democratic socialism.

As an external observer, some one not from the States, Bernie and what he stands for is not as revolutionary as it appears to the Americans, universal health care and free education are hallmark of most progressive regimes. This doesn’t undermine his effort to redeem his nation and bring it to the forefront of human development.

In short this is a book that is not necessarily a must read for all but is nevertheless a good book that offers a brief glimpse into the rot in the United States political system.

sign(1).png

Rated : 3 of 5.

Book Review : Ten Shades of Life – A Nethra

Fablery is a short story writing contest and it aims to provide aspiring writers an opportunity to come out of their shells and get published. The ‘Ten Shades of Life’ edited by Nethra A is a mosaic of stories that topped each genre in the contest. The diverse categories under which the contest was conducted and the relentless editing done my miss Nethra has ensured that the diversity has not been lost as the stories moved from entries in a story writing contest to the ones that appear in a collection of short stories. The individual authors Miss Cheyenne Mitchell, Monika Pant, Dr. Roshan Radhakrishnan, Shankar Raman A, Bruce Memblatt, Karthik L, Reshmy Pillai, Deepa Duraisamy, Vinaya Swapnil Bhagat and Rahul Biswas has each produced an interesting original containing their unique signature fro the book.
The stories are bound to take the readers on a roller-coaster ride but the title of the book can be a little misleading. Most of the stories though are a stunning piece of fiction has not much to do with life or the virtues of life. Each story revolves around its own theme and there is no real continuity between them. This has to be expected considering that each has been crafted by individuals who where never in contact and who possess not much in common expect an unrelenting passion for writing fiction.
A better way to look at the book is to see it as a collection of individual stories that has its own unique flavor than as a collection of stories. The book contains ten different stories each from a different genre, and each the best in its own genre.
The Ten Shades of Life is an official Rupertt Aryeen Wind Recommendation

INCARDINES by Miss Cheyenne Mitchell

A rather intriguing story of a girl, her parents and the mystery surrounding their lives. The girl finds the answers to the question of her family that is slowly drifting apart in a book so coincidentally mentioned by her friend. The narration is rather porous and at times you do wonder how it all came to be so, many a questions are left unanswered and mostly most of it makes no sense whats so ever.

RED AND GOLD by Monika Pant

A romantic and touching story of love and belonging, The story touches you at someplace in your heart as the narration goes on. The story is intriguing and with a slight tinge of history in it, it just is a good read.

HARRY’S BLUFF by Dr. Roshan Radhakrishnan

A fast action packed thriller and so full of twists and turns and twists with in twists that you just keep on reading till you reach the logical end. A true nail bitter and it sure is one of the best stories the book has to offer.

SOMETHING LIKE THAT  by Shankar Raman A 

A light hearted and delightful comedy with its own interesting and well though out twists. its just another good read in this anthology.

WEEKEND IN THE COUNTRY by Bruce Memblatt

A appreciable attempt at horror, does it scare you no it does not, it does not even give you a shiver down you spine but its still a good story and the narration is very well done but its just isn’t the horror story it is meant to be that’s it. A story that many will find interesting.


A NOOTROPIC EGRESS by Karthik L

This story is quite frankly a rather strange mix of one of the most wildly used elements in stories featuring extra terrestrial intelligence that it borders on fictional cliche and the unconventional boy goes to Europe version. This is a strange story for all that matters and the story line is again porous and narration battles hard to hold water but fails. In my opinion this happened to be the most disappointing story that I found in this book.


THE SECRET OF AHIRAAH by Reshmy Pillai

This is a very interesting and engaging story with its own shades of history and life beautifully weaved in to it. This is easily one of the better stories you will find in the book if not the best one. The only problem I have had with the story is that it finished way too fast, if only it did last a bit longer.

WHERE DID YOU GO by Deepa Duraisamy

This is a beautiful thriller that would quench the thirst of any thriller lover, a beautifully crafted story set in the real with with no larger than life characters and a very powerful message carefully disguised in the lines of a thriller.


BARREN HARVEST by Vinaya Swapnil Bhagat

A bold take on the world of tomorrow , bruised and destroyed by the carelessness and ignorance of man today along the lines of George Orwell’s 1984 and the Hollywood film equilibrium The authors attempts bravely to answer the question sod mechanized emotions and the mechanicallity of life in the future where humans become prisoners of their own inventions and discoveries. 



A GOOD DAY TO DIE by Rahul Biswas

A real life drama that envelopes the life of three firefighters and their friends and families, the complicated realities of life and the many things that they do in the name of self preservation. A beautifully crafted drama that is what this story is.

About the Editor


Based in Bangalore, Nethra is pursuing her Masters in Business Administration and is a graduate in Computer Science & Engineering. She is a voracious reader and a fiction writer, who puts quality writing over everything else. Her interest in good stories and writing made her start a platform, Fablery, which provides aspiring authors a gateway into the publishing world. She is also working on her novel that she hopes to complete in the near future.
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”
― Mae West