Room --Emma Donoghue

Verdict: Amazing read overall..one of the best books I have ever read till now.
Jan-2011
Had bought this book from Landmark(Forum mall, Bangalore) back in Sep-2010. As part of my reading-shift from the normal paperback fiction to buying award-winning and ManBooker long/short listed books, saw that this book had been longlisted for the ManBooker prize for 2010.

The premise seemed very interesting, herez the summary on the back of the book which caught my eye:
"Jack is five, and excited about his birthday. He lives with his Ma in Room, which has a locked door and a skylight, and measures eleven feet by eleven feet. He loves watching TV and the cartoon characters he calls friends, but he knows that nothing he sees on screen is truly real-only him,Ma and the things in Room. Until the day Ma admits that there is a world outside.
Told in Jack's voice, Room is the story of a mother and son whose love lets them survive the impossible. Unsentimental and sometimes funny, devastating yet uplifting, Room is a novel like no other...."


Started reading this sometime in October, but the initial language and the writeup flummoxed and was a bit confused. Parallely at that time, I started off reading Mallu literature, so this went onto the back foot.
Finally after reading 2-3 Mallu books, I wanted to get back to English books and picked it up again.


To summarize, this is one of the best books I have ever read...amazingly well written taking such a plot and weaving a whole story around it.
One of the reviews written on the front cover of the book neatly describes the exact feeling I had:
"Room is a book to read in one sitting. When it's over, you look up; the world looks the same but you are somehow different and that feeling lingers for days" --Audrey Niffenegger(author of Time Traveller's wife)


I had read reviews about this book on the net earlier and came to know that its loosely based on the Josef Fritzl case which emerged in April 2008 and shocked the world.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritzl_case
(don't want to be a spoiler...you can read the wiki after finishing the book)


The book talks about a similar plotline where Ma and Jack and the Room are the central characters in the plot and to create a story and told from Jack's perspective, you get sucked into a world where everything is within a 11 x 11 room, day n night, week after week, and 7 years !!

Emma Donoghue

The first half is amazingly fast paced and you crave for more (dont want to be a spoiler) but the second half kind of slows down but still you feel like turning onto the next page and see how it goes and it ends fine.
Even in the first part, some of the portions seem repetitive and boring, but didnt dampen the overall spirit thought.


Finished off the book within a week, was unputdownable.... A word of caution though..if you plannin to teach someone English, its not the best of books as it has a lot of grammatically incorrect wordings and usages :-)...
But a dazzling use of language and incredible imagination to describe how a mother entertains and brings up her kid for 5 years in solitary confinement in a Room which is the only world the child has seen...so the different techniques to keep him occupied throughout the day and creating  a fairy-tale world...awesome, to say the least...

Chidambara Smarana -- Balachandran Chullikaad

JAN-2011 ചിദംബര സ്മരണ (Balachandran Chullikaad)

Had started off on another book(Oru Theruvinde Katha by S K Pottekkatt) around a week ago; thats when Roopesh gave me this one saying "chetaai...read this..its a small one, won't take long and it has a few nice stories"
So started reading this in the first week of Jan-11. 
As folks told me, Balachandran Chullikaad is more famous as a poet rather than a writer. This book is a kind of autobiography wherein he has illustrated snippets of his life through short stories/incidents(spanning 5-10 pages each)


The stories are pretty hard-hitting, the kind of "no-holds barred" writing style, few of which talks about lust,women,liquor...
Not many would appeal to the kind of "direct"(and outrageous, if few might term it) writing, but overall, I liked reading it
All of them are short stories spanning 4-5 pages(max), all snippets of his life. 
We can paint a picture of him, about his being a 'rebel'(naxalite) during the 70's, being thrown out of the house, having a love marriage, struggling in life and also a regular drinker as he goes about writing his poetry and attending various poet seminars around the world.
But all the stories(not sure if all of them are true because some of them seem very dramatic) make up for a interesting read.
The title story 'chidambara smarana' is about his rememberance of his parents as he observes an old-aged couple going about their daily chores in life in a temple complex


Overall, a nice read...!!

Ayalkaar - P Keshavadev

Dec-2010-Jan 2011 അയല്കാര്‍ (Neighbours) പി കേശവദേവ്‌ (P Keshavadev)

This book, the 1964 Kendra Sahitya Academy award winning novel,was suggested by Abhaya when we had gone to DC Books, Kottayam during our Oct 2010 visit.

 This novel is acclaimed as the chronicle of the evolution of the three leading communities of the State of Kerala - the Nairs, Christians and Ezhavas from the days of feudalism to the post independent era. (between 1920s to 1950s).

This book basically talks about 3 basic premises:

• 1.       The downfall of the feudal system
• 2.       The uprising(awakening) of the Ezhavas
• 3.       The rise of the Christian community 

Writing about the tragedy of the disintegration of the two major tharavaads– Mangalassery and Pachazhi - Kesavadev recreates their glorious past and also narrates the trials and tribulations paving the way for their total destruction.

My Review

Initially, I was off to a slow start and when Keshavadev introducted a host of characters in the joint family, I was kind of losing track of all the family members in the 2 major Nair families. But slowly things settled in, many folks died off during the story-telling and was able to grasp the stories and lives of the remaining characters

Overall, I liked the writing style and managed to complete reading it without any hiccups !!

About Keshavadev(Portrait of a Rebel)

* P.Kesava Dev was born in the year 1904 and he died in 1983. He lived approximately eighty years of which almost half was pre-independent and the latter half was post-independent period. This period in the history of Kerala was one of great significance as far as the socio-economic life of the state was concerned, for reasons well known.

* It was a time when the caste system was practiced rigorously. The Namboodiri's emerged as a dominant caste and the ownership of land largely vested with them. The social system proved decadent with the Namboodiri's leading a life of ease and comfort and their womenfolk relegated to remain a frustrated lot. A number of retrograde customs and taboos were prevalent.

*The matrilineal system of inheritance known as Marumakkathayam was in practice. This system ensured that the family property remained in tact and the 'Karanavar' enjoyed the benefits as the ruler or manager of the family. All the members of the matriarchal family had the right of maintenance from the property but were not entitled to ownership. The joint family system was the order of the day and as a rule there was no peace or harmony among the members who lived under the same roof. Polyandry was practiced extensively leading to a decline of moral standards.

*The feudal system was the order of the day with Janmis holding the title to landed properties. The condition of the toiling section of the community was precarious.

The caste system with the 'Savarna' and 'Avarna' classification among the Hindus remained an impediment in the way of the advancement of the backward classes. The Avarna's were denied the right to enter temples, study in schools and even to walk along public roads. Strange as it may seem today; during those days Nair's prevented Ezhava's entering their temples and Ezhava's in turn prevented the Harijan's from entering the temples owned by them.

*Kesava Pillai was born at a time of transition. He was exposed to all the maladies that were prevalent in the society in general and in the institution of joint family in particular. He was also a witness to the wind of change that swept across the length and breadth of the country. His childhood and youth were punctuated by the changes that occurred around him and during the rest of his life he was part and parcel of a new era. Kesava Pillai was influenced by the men and society around him. His speeches and writings expressed his anguish against social injustice and a relentless attempt to rebel against the establishment. Hence the life and work of Kesava Dev should be examined and assessed bearing in mind the social scenario that prevailed during his lifetime.

More details: http://www.kesavadev.net/en/l_and_t_kdv.htm

Marykyundoru Kunjaadu (Mary has a little lamb)

Date: 8th Jan 2011 @ Innovative Multiplex, Bangalore (7:30 PM)
മേരിക്യുണ്ടൊരു കുഞ്ഞാട്


Starring: Dileep, Bhavana, Biju Menon, Innocent, Vijayaraghavan, Salim Kumar
Director: Shafi

Storyline:Dileep as Solomon(an aspiring television/movie director),pretends to be creatively inclined and has directed a few episodes of a spiritual serial for a television channel to raise money for buying a golden cross for his church, but hasnt managed to get the funding.
*He is in love with Mary (Bhavana), the daughter of a rich man (Innocent) and she has three brothers who are prone to violence and who don't agree with their relationship.
* The protagonist Solomon (Dileep) detests violence and does not react to people who are physically stronger than him, even if it means bearing insults. This timidity is justified by his protected upbringing and thats how he gets the name Mary's little lamb(the title of the film)
* One more twist in the tale is that Solomon's mother and Mary's father were in love when young. But his mother married the sexton (Vijayaraghavan) out of rage, because Mary's father impregnated his maid in a drunken state and was forced to marry her.
* Solomon's life changes for better when Jose (Biju Menon) -- believed to be his elder brother who had gone missing as a child after a fight with his father -- enters the scene. Solomon now confidently walks around the village with the backing of a demented Jose.
The movie has its share of mystery and suspense which is revealed at the end.


Verdict:(3.5 out of 5)
Overall its a nice TP movie with lots of funny moments beautifully blended in and I ended up laughing many-a-times during the first half.
* Dileep plays his part nicely without any heroics, but with his vulnerable,innocent nature and with his share of jokes, he makes the movie enjoyable.
* Biju Menon's(Jose) character has a rough "tough-look" and with minimum dialogues ,he essays his role nicely with his looks and acting.
* Bhavana doesnt have much of a role to essay, but manages to glide through it with ease.
* Salim Kumar's story as the coffin maker is intertwined nicely within the main plot.


The songs are shot at some nice locations(probably in Kerala) and though not blockbuster songs, they seem decent enough because of the locale n picturization.


Kudos to the director and the script-writer(Benny Nayarambalam) for the racy and tight direction and scripting with the right bit of humor infused.
*Got a call from Sreejoppol around 4:30 PM on Saturday asking if we would like to join them for the movie.(at that time, Proneelettan and family had come down for a few hours and we were hosting them).
Finally, me, mom and Abhaya decided to go alongwith them for the show; went around 7 PM and returned back by 10:30 PM.