Possibly the most famous book on the environment and deservedly so. The reading experience was like listening to an amazingly researched academic lectPossibly the most famous book on the environment and deservedly so. The reading experience was like listening to an amazingly researched academic lecture. Reading about the bureaucratic negligence and opportunistic research happening in a first-world country is alarming. It's not difficult to imagine a world where DDT and such chemicals were still being rampantly used. Rachel Carson changed the world with her passion and a pen. ...more
A captivating story of a lioness Elsa, and her adoptive human parents. The interactions between the Adamsons and Elsa, and later her cubs are beautifuA captivating story of a lioness Elsa, and her adoptive human parents. The interactions between the Adamsons and Elsa, and later her cubs are beautiful and showed how intelligent lions can be. I never knew that a lioness can be affectionate to humans, but this book is a testament to it....more
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells 2 stories. One of the Lacks family and the other of the HeLa cells. HeLa is the first immortal cell line thThe Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells 2 stories. One of the Lacks family and the other of the HeLa cells. HeLa is the first immortal cell line that started from tumor samples taken from Henrietta Lacks when she was being treated for cervical cancer. HeLa was a game-changer in clinical and biological research and the good that it did to human society is enormous. Ideally, this should not be a topic of controversy, but back in the 1950s when Henrietta's cells were taken, although it did not harm her in any way, she was not aware of it. Neither was her whole family aware of the contribution that her cells have made to science and humanity. They were still struggling to make ends meet while her cells turned into a million-dollar industry. Henrietta herself remained unknown for years before her story was brought to light. The story of the Lacks family is one of the poor black family who never really made it in life, only their life shouldn't have been ordinary. Debra Lacks' story of grappling to hang on to any figment of her mother whom she lost as a newborn is bound to pull at readers' heartstrings. Rebecca Skloot did an amazing job of bringing the family to life. The way she has written it, it could very well be a novel, and I say it as a compliment.
The story of HeLa's journey has a more non-fiction vibe to it. It's incredible to read the history of such a scientific breakthrough. 'Informed Consent' is a term that anyone associated with medical research today is well acquainted with. Reading of the time when it was not in place and the debates around implementing it was very interesting to me. Working with patient samples for my own research, I know from experience that the process of taking informed consent can often slow down research progress terribly. I have been frustrated with the process and the lack of awareness among the general population who deny taking part in research even when it won't put them at any kind of risk, much like the case of Henrietta. But every time I questioned the necessity of it, I remembered what happened in the pre-informed consent era. How it ranged from just unethical to purely barbaric. And I tell myself that the delay is worth avoiding the risk of something inhuman from taking place. The right to someone's own body is a serious issue. Does the right stay the same after a body part has been removed during surgery to be discarded? Is everyone morally obligated to help in the advancement of human society when it doesn't cost them anything? How critical is the right to privacy? Finding a middle ground on such questions might be hard. In some cases, it's easy to distinguish between right and wrong, but in most cases, the distinction is blurred. Henrietta's story shows that difficulty. There are no villains in this story, at least not in my view. But there are victims, suffering at the hand of a system that ignored them. The beauty of this book is how beautifully it brings the moral and intellectual dilemma to life. It will make one ponder about these issues and it gives Henrietta Lacks the much-deserved recognition.
As a Bengali, Tagore's works have been an intimate part of my life and culture. I have always admired Tagore's sGora is the masterpiece of the master.
As a Bengali, Tagore's works have been an intimate part of my life and culture. I have always admired Tagore's short stories and poetry. On the contrary, I never enjoyed his novels that much. I often find them too descriptive and explanatory, leaving nothing for the reader to interpret on their own. Gora proved to be an exception to me. Although it is one of his longest works, it never falters in it's pace. There is so much in this story that even the prolonged explanations of different characters and their viewpoints seem perfectly fine.
It encompasses so much - romance, philosophy, religion, nationalism and even feminism. It is set in the late nineteenth century Bengal, a period when on one hand the educated Indians were getting more acquainted with the western culture and on the other hand the nationalism and freedom movement were starting to gain momentum. The main characters here belong to two religions - the traditionally conservative Hindus and the apparently liberal Brahmos. Tagore uses the interactions between them to explore how superficial religion can become shackles, while real faith can actually be liberating. The titular character Gora and his friend Binoy, debate over many things including the influence of society, religion and individual morality on life and country. The women in this novel are possibly one of the best ranges of female characters I've read, from shallow to wise, rebellious to devoted. I think I could write an entire essay about the women in this novel and still won't do it any justice. And the brilliance of the novel is that it hasn't lost relevance even after a century has passed....more
The premise was interesting but I found the writing to be dull and too lengthy. There's a lot of prolonged sections where nothing really happens, and The premise was interesting but I found the writing to be dull and too lengthy. There's a lot of prolonged sections where nothing really happens, and then spurts of violent actions in chapters. I struggled to finish it. It was not my kind of book at all....more
Watership Down is a classic beloved by many. I believe for most readers the first exposure was as a child, but I only now read (listened actually) it Watership Down is a classic beloved by many. I believe for most readers the first exposure was as a child, but I only now read (listened actually) it for the first time. It's an adventure about rabbits. In the preface, the author categorically says that it's not an allegory, it is a simple story featuring rabbits that he created for his two little girls. So I did not search for any deeper meaning in the story.
Goodreads is filled with 5-star reviews of this book. And I do understand the appeal. It's a classic adventure story, where a group of unlikely protagonists (read rabbits) take a long and epic journey, fight against insurmountable odds, and triumph over a powerful villain by using wits as much as force. I really enjoyed this part. All the planning and action, even when it was thoroughly unbelievable, it was fun. I particularly liked Kehaar, who in my audiobook had a Norwegian accent, and it was so entertaining to listen to his and Bigwig's interactions. Of course, the prose is beautiful and the weaved-in rabbit folktales were nice. I did not even mind the rather long length of the book either.
What I did mind a lot though is just how blatantly sexist this story is. Initially, when the entire group of rabbits making the journey were made of just bucks I ignored it because adventure stories have a tendency of featuring mainly male protagonists. But the more the book progressed, the more it became difficult to ignore. Not one character worth mentioning in the entire first half, may it be a rabbit or fox or bird, is a female. And then came the worst of the lot, when after reaching Watership Down, the group of good rabbits figured out they needed does for procreation. And the rest of the book is about getting (freeing?) a group of does from the oppressed warren under the evil rabbit so that the warren of good rabbits can sustain. In the entire story, the does are only given the function of breeding stock, no matter which warren they are in. And it's not written in a self-conscious way. So if the rabbits are imagined as humans then the does might remind you Atwood's famous dystopia. Now if you think that the animal kingdom hardly worries about gender equality, and the stronger sex there can easily be dominant, the fact is that among rabbits the does are generally more aggressive and dominant than the bucks. So this story doesn't represent rabbits correctly either. Worst of all, Adams made this story for his daughters. What are little girls supposed to take from this story beyond a typical patriarchally designated gender role!!
I enjoyed the adventure story and the camaraderie of the group. I am very often okay with the complete omission of female characters in such stories as well. But here the constant treatment of the does disturbed me to an extent that I felt guilty for liking the rest of the story. Maybe I'm too old for it! Or maybe some things were accepted without question once but hopefully not anymore!...more
I have conflicted feelings about Bewilderment. This is my first Richard Powers, so I am not f Shortlisted for Booker Prize 2021
3.5 stars, rounded up.
I have conflicted feelings about Bewilderment. This is my first Richard Powers, so I am not familiar with his writing. I liked the uncomplicated prose. It's easily approachable. Also with a scientist father and his little son as the protagonists, the straightforward delivery felt appropriate.
I loved the setting of the story. It's a near-future pre-apocalyptic world with the residents blissfully ignoring the impending doom posed by a ruined ecology. It's so very relevant and so very scary. It acts as a brilliant mirror to the way we are living and pushing the nature to its limits. The 9 years old Robin is befuddled by how careless people are about something that's so obvious, and the effect is strong. It will make you question your choices and lifestyle, and that alone can be considered a great success for any book. Most of us need to be shaken once in a while, because even with the best of intentions we often mess up too much.
The father-son relationship here is interesting. The vulnerability of a father uncertain about his responsibilities but fiercely caring about his son is beautiful. At the same time he keeps making parenting choices which I found difficult to be on board with. The way Theo completely ignores and berates psychoactive drugs and clinical diagnosis and chooses experimental treatment for his son is problematic. With Theo's character being a scientist, his apathy felt a little odd. Not to mention, for the most part Powers' writing seemed to be glorifying this view, which can send out a rather wrong message. Although at the end of the book I am not sure if that was truly his intention.
The other major element was the romance of the family unit. Environmental activist Aly, Robin's mother and Theo's wife, died before the start of the book, in a car crash trying to save an animal. She is their moral center and the biggest influence. The neuro feedback therapy uses her thoughts to treat Robin, which makes him act like her. This three-way relationship is the cornerstone of the book. But the omnipresence of her influence, to the extent that it feels almost like her ghost is present in the story, was a little disturbing to say the least.
Overall though, I will recommend this book for the setting, relevance and its treatment of a father-son relationship. ...more
This is the first time that I've finished the entire Booker shortlist before the prize announcement, albeit marginally so Winner of Booker Prize 2021
This is the first time that I've finished the entire Booker shortlist before the prize announcement, albeit marginally so. The Promise was a brilliant read for me to end this.
It chronicles a white family in South Africa, over four funerals, spread over decades. The titular promise is made before the book begins but doesn't get fulfilled till the last pages. In between, we see a family falling apart in a rapidly changing country and society. This book has a unique narrative and swiftly switches between very personal thoughts of the characters to an omnipresent narrator whose identity remains unknown. I found this style fascinating.
It is beautifully written and delves deep into the characters, which I always love to read. It's my second favorite among the shortlisted books and I will highly recommend it. ...more
Maggie Shipstead's 600 pages tome is ambitious and mostly delivers what it aims for. Often for Shortlisted for Booker Prize 2021
3.5 Stars rounded up
Maggie Shipstead's 600 pages tome is ambitious and mostly delivers what it aims for. Often for books this long, I find my attention drifting off the story. That never happened with Great Circle. The book is filled with events that will grab your interest the moment you find it flitting. That works very well for such a long book.
Great Circle runs in two timelines. In the first, we follow the lives of a fictional female pilot, Marian Graves, and her twin brother Jamie, from 1914 to 1950s. The second follows Hadley Baxter, a present-day Hollywood actress, trying to reclaim her reputation by making a biopic on Marian. In the first few pages, we know that Marian goes missing in Antarctica during her flight to circle the earth. Her story is the journey leading to that moment. It spans her life from before she and her brother are born, going through the struggle of a young girl with a difficult dream, her love affairs, and marriage, flying during WWII, and finally, in the last hundred pages, the great flight. We also get glimpses of Jamie's life along the way, which are nice, but I felt might not have been necessary to the story. In Hadley's timeline, she is an actress who got enormous fame for a YA franchise but then have fallen from grace due to a messed-up affair. I'm sure it will remind readers of a certain franchise and actress. These sections are often hilarious. Hadley is struggling with her career and love-life, is morally supported by an older actor, Hugo (who I kept imagining as Ian McKellen), and gets absorbed into Marian's life because of the many parallels between them. Hadley's portions are relatively short and also cover a much smaller timeframe.
The writing is great. Some might find the events to be too much, but I enjoyed it. In any field, generally, the first person to achieve something becomes famous. The first woman in any traditional man's field (which is to say most fields), gets her share of fame, though sometimes belatedly. But the ones who come next often get forgotten in the flow of time, although their passion, struggles, and achievements were no less than the ones who came first. Marian is an embodiment of those female pilots from the early days who were not Amelia Earhart.
The only two reasons that the book fell short of being amazing to me are first, the number of parallels drawn between Marian and Hadley. It was too much of a coincidence and seemed forced. I don't know what was the need to have that many similarities between their lives. Keeping it more subtle might have given a better impact. Secondly, I am disappointed with the ending. I can't give it away, but it was too dramatic for my taste.
Keeping these aside, it was an enjoyable read. It's certainly not the best on Booker shortlist this year in my opinion, but it makes a worthy contender....more
Frankenstein in Baghdad is hard to categorize. Is it horror or magical realism? Or is it a clever social satire? The only thing I can say for sure is Frankenstein in Baghdad is hard to categorize. Is it horror or magical realism? Or is it a clever social satire? The only thing I can say for sure is that it's brilliant.
The novel is set in US-occupied Iraq, in the middle of political chaos where suicide bombings are almost as frequent as car crashes in any other country. As the summary says, Hadi, a local junk dealer put together a corpse from various parts of bombing victims to give a proper burial to these people which needs a whole body. But things take a strange turn, and the corpse comes to life much like the classic inspiration of the book's title and goes on a killing spree to avenge the people whose body parts it's made of. The 'Whatsitsname' (as the corpse is called by Hadi)links the different people in this story together: Elishva, an old Jewish woman who lost her son to the war and belives 'Whatsitsname' to be her lost son brought back to life, Mahmoud, the journalist investigating this story, the army general trying to capture him. As the story moves forward, we get to see the philosophy of Whatistsname, and in his story the boundary of faith blurs with madness. In a country ravaged with terror attacks it puts perspective into the meaning of actions and what define guilt and innocence. At the end of the story, I am not even certain if Whatsitsname actually existed or he is figment of imagination created to justify unexplained actions in a collapsing society, or to create some hope of vigilante justice among suffering innocents.
The tone of the writing is darkly amusing, which makes a rather depressing situation more tolerable. The narrative keeps moving forward dn back, giving different perspectives on the same events. It's a very smart story and a fascinating storytelling....more
Every time I read a book or watch a movie about slavery, I think the horror of it can't possibly get any worse. But then I read something like BelovedEvery time I read a book or watch a movie about slavery, I think the horror of it can't possibly get any worse. But then I read something like Beloved, and I realize all over again that there are no limits to the amount of pain and suffering that humans are capable of inflicting on each other.
In one line, Beloved is a story of a woman's PTSD in the aftermath of slavery. As everyone knows, there's a paranormal element, which is seamlessly weaved into the story, but that's not the scary part. Beloved becomes stuff of nightmares with the flashbacks of the different characters and the story of the devastating effects it left on the protagonist. The narrative is different from what I am generally used to and it took me some time to get accustomed to it. The POVs change in quick succession, with a mix of flashbacks and different perspectives on the same incident. It did make it a bit difficult to follow in the beginning. But after the first 50 or so pages, I understood what's happening. With every changing perspective on the same incident, the reader gets to know something more, until we finally get the full picture. The lyrical prose mixed with the characters' trauma and guilt is haunting, beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. ...more
Being one of the last people to have read this, there is not much left to say about this book. I won't get into the plot summary, I'll just share my tBeing one of the last people to have read this, there is not much left to say about this book. I won't get into the plot summary, I'll just share my thoughts. This is a classic page-turner. It swept me into the old-Hollywood setup. The characterizations are brilliant. Some might find the titular character 'unlikable' but I love a woman who unapologetically makes her choices and takes what she wants from the world. This story is about the 'choices' one makes and the consequences that bring. Taylor Jenkins Reid knows how to make her characters multi-dimensional and intriguing and how to keep the reader glued to the pages....more
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is not a perfect book. It’s 3.5 stars for me, but I decided to round off to 4. Some things about this book are aSapiens: A Brief History of Humankind is not a perfect book. It’s 3.5 stars for me, but I decided to round off to 4. Some things about this book are absolutely brilliant, whereas some are not so much.
I am not a historian; I am a biologist. This is to say my knowledge of world history is quite limited, while I do have some concepts on human evolution. When I started Sapiens, I was skeptic of taking a historian’s presentation of scientific matters. But I was pleasantly surprised after reading the first chapter. Yuval Harari seemed to have found the perfect way to mix evolutionary biology with history, which resulted in a very smooth reading experience. These, in my view, are two of the strongest points about this book – it seamlessly blended science with history and sociology, and it reads like a novel which is not quite so commonplace with non-fiction books.
The book has 4 parts, the first of which deals with humans (not just Homo sapiens) until the agricultural revolution. The next three parts focus on Homo sapiens, evidently, by then, the rest of the human species have gone extinct. The first part is also the best part of the book. I have known the fact for quite a few years now that multiple human species existed on the earth simultaneously, but I understood the full implications of that fact while reading this book. The parts on the cognitive revolution, development of speech and society and early culture are brilliant. In part two, Harari deals with the agricultural revolution and calls it ‘History’s biggest fraud.’ He has his explanations, to which the reader may or may not agree, but he sure makes his case pretty strongly. The book starts to drag a bit from part three, which becomes more pronounced in the last part.
Sapiens does not cover the entire history of humankind, which will certainly take a whole lot of pages more than just 400. But as the book moves from the pre-historic era to the modern days, the extent of what is known to us readers increases exponentially, which attributes to noticing many things omitted or just glossed over from the recent past in the later parts of the book. Having said that, I don’t believe any book can truly do justice to every important event in human history, and some omissions are bound to happen. So I can’t call it a big drawback, just a tiny concern at some moments.
The best feature of Sapiens is its provocativeness. It puts forward ideas that will make you think and want to discuss it with others. Be it calling gossip the enabler of human society formation, agricultural revolution a cause of human misery, liberalism and feminism as another religion, human rights an imagined reality, and nuclear weapons being the cause of world peace. If a book can make us consider new ideas or re-think what we believe, it’s amazing.
The major problem with Sapiens might also hide in its provocativeness. While many arguments were backed by academic publications, towards the later chapters, Harari’s bias towards certain ideas was blatantly clear. That took away the objectivity from the book, making it less scholarly and more debatable.
Also, I did not like his extreme bleak projection of the human future. Although he does justify his projections, he puts minimal trust in the moral capabilities of humankind. My personal opinion is that he should have restricted this book to history, then the book would have ended on a more unbiased note....more
Loading...
