List: India Portrayed the Best

As you might know, the first sunday of each month is list day, and now its time to do my list day for May. On list day,  I list a few great books on a particular topic if you want something to add to your reading list. I hope you enjoy this! :)  


Today my list is on books that portrayed India the best. It has been said about India that, "But nothing in India is identifiable, the mere asking of a question causes it to disappear or to merge in something else." (E. M. Forster). Thus, it is really hard for any author to portray the essence of India in a few hundred or even a few thousand pages. The books ahead are books that I feel do justice to an almost impossible task. They are on different topics - love, politics, corruption, the Indian underworld - and from the books in my list, one is written by an author raised mostly in India, another by a non-Indian, and a third by someone who no longer even lives in India - and yet, each of these books manages to capture most admirably the soul of India, which is why I have loved all of them. 

India Portrayed the Best

(Note: The books are in no particular order.) 

1. A Suitable Boy (Vikram Seth) 

Plot: Set in post-independence India in the 1950s, A Suitable Boy is the story of one girl - Lata - and her quest to find a husband, among four inter-connected families of India. Through the story of her search and her family, Seth manages to convey various aspects of Indian life - politics, corruption, love, rural life, friendship, music, art and family. A Suitable Boy might be set in the 1950s, but the best part about it is that even today, one can identify with all the conditions and characters - even as we learn a little about the problems faced by post-independence India in its struggle for identity. 

Read my full review here. 

Why should you read it? Excellent writing, beautifully etched characters, and one of the best portrayals of India I have ever read - it is a book to warm your heart and change your life. 

Don't believe me? You don't have to. Read this, or this or this or this. 

Why you may not like it? Well, it gets really, really long. Its hard for most people to get through (though it really pays off) - and having such a large scale, everyone develops their own favorite characters, which means others get neglected a bit (by you, not the author).

2. Shantaram (Gregory David Roberts)  

Plot: In Shantaram, Lin, an escaped convict from an Australian prison, lands up in India, and finds himself at home. Here he will find love, live in the slums, work as a slum doctor, go live in a village, join the mafia, fight in Afghanistan, do a number of illegal things, get caught by Indian police and abused in Indian police, be betrayed and hurt - and even work in a bollywood film. Along the way, he gives us a beautiful glimpse into India, and makes you fall in love with the same. 

Read my full review here. 

Why should you read it? Written like poetry, with a great cast, a fascinating plot, and the a portrayal of India that can make you fall in love with the country even as you see the darkest parts of it. 

Don't believe me? Maybe this, this or this will be able to convince you. 

Why you may not like it? It gets way too poetic at parts, and once again, it is big enough to put off most readers.   

 

3. White Tiger (Aravind Adiga) 

Plot: White Tiger is the story of one Balram Halwai - a boy from a small village in the 'darkness' who somehow makes his way into the big city, and works there as a driver. Only, Balram is an entrepreneur, and he longs to break free from this life of servitude. And through his letters to the Chinese Premier, we learn exactly how he does this - and what it takes to be a White Tiger (or a unique person) in the corruption-ridden  reality of India. 

Read my full review here. 

Why you should read it? The book is depressing, but its also about courage in the face of unbelievable odds, about taking difficult decisions and living through them, and about being a white tiger - someone who comes along just once in a generation. It is a book about change, and progress at its core - in a very uplifting way - and a book that I think all Indians should read. 

Don't believe me? Read this, this or this. 

Why you may not like it? Well, people have told me that the book is absolutely disgusting, written by a person who doesnt understand India, and has a thoroughly unlikeable protagonist. 

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Well, that's it for this round! If you feel another book shouldve made the cut, share it with me and my readers...happy reading! 

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

The White Tiger is an important book.

I've heard a lot about this book, good and bad, but the most important things were as follows - that Balram Halwai (aka "The White Tiger") is a thoroughly unlikeable protagonist, that the story mostly works on selling India's poverty (like, according to me, Slumdog Millionaire did) and that is very badly written. From the other side of the table were people who said that it was one of the best books ever written in India, that it was thought-provoking, it was enlightening, and most of all that it was a book that I should read. It was with all of this in mind (along with a lot of heavy expectations) that I read this book, and one must assume that my reading of the book as well as my review is colored by the same.

My verdict? A lot of of this is true.

It is a thought-provoking and intelligent book - a statement on India and why we are the way we are. Even extremely patriotic Indians cannot be so ostrich-like that they ignore all that is wrong with India, and it requires a certain amount of hard-heartedness to ignore the plight of the poor people of India - the rickshaw pullers, the servants, the farmers. One cannot pretend that everything is alright with India, but with that in mind I don't think this book went out and targeted that group of Indians and foreigners who like to read about how India is a dirty country with nothing good about it (quite on the contrary). Also, it was different from Slumdog Millionaire in the sense that it actually had a story, and one that was not based completely on that elusive thing called luck but rather by extreme hard work and courage on the part of the hero.

According to me, Balram Halwai is not an unlikeable main character. Sure there were times when I really hated him and when I was disgusted by his thoughts, but there was no time when the writing became so slack that I did not want to know what happened further in his life. You see Balram from his childhood - you see him make some horrible choices and do some horrible things - but you also see the things that shaped him and made him the way he ended up to be and in the end I don't blame him. The secondary characters are also genius, sometimes slightly two-dimensional and not really multi-faceted, but some of them like Ashok come out from the page as real human beings - leaving you unsure on whether you like them or hate them or really on what is right and wrong.

The book is well-written. It is written in the form of letters to a visiting Chinese delegate, with frequent intervals and interludes from Balram Halwai. The writing is clear and crisp and the descriptions (like the chicken coop) are quite brilliant. Technically, I'm sure that no one can refute that Adiga is a very good writer, who has the talent of drawing interesting characters, a reasonable plot, well-described settings, and a good use of language.

Final thoughts: In the end, I found the book very interesting. I'm not old (or really, experienced) enough to know if all of what is written in there is true. I certainly do know that some of it is. The book is depressing, but its also about courage in the face of unbelievable odds, about taking difficult decisions and living through them, and about being a white tiger - someone who comes along just once in a generation. It is a book about change, and progress at its core - in a very uplifting way - and a book that I think all Indians should read.

Other thoughts: Expect a lot of reviews this week and next, because I've been reading a lot (currently reading The Life of Pi by Yann Martel) and have loads of plans for reviews, as well as some time.

A glimpse into my bookshelves...

So, what with tests and everything, I haven't really gotten a chance to update my blog. However, here's a little quick glimpse showing you what I've read in the interval, what I'm reading right now, and what I plan to read in the future.

Reading:

Of Human Bondage
- W. S. Maugham

I picked it up from my school library mostly because I'd been meaning to read it since last year, when I read and really enjoyed William Somerset Maugham's 'The Luncheon.' So far its a fascinating read. You can expect a review sometime after the 11th of July. Earlier if I read it faster, but I doubt I can.

Update 8th July: I finished the review here.

The House of Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter
- Nathaniel Hawthorne

Another author I picked up because I enjoyed his short story (David Swan) when I learned it last year. I really enjoy his writing, his ideas give me shivers, but the books are slow and this one has been taking me a phenomenally long time to read. I think I'll finish it just as soon as I have nothing else to read. You can expect a review sometime in the next month, at least for the House of Seven Gables, if not for the other one.

Just finished:

Arranged Marriage
- Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is one of my favorite Indian English writers. (My other favorite is Jhumpa Lahiri.) I really enjoyed this collection of hers. Its sad, touching, beautiful. She writes with a rhythm and a certain style that I've never seen replicated, and her stories take you far away and seem fantastical even as they expose you to the dirty underbelly of human nature. You can expect a review of this story sometime in the next week.

Updated July 5th: My review of Arranged Marriage.

Ink Exchange
- Melissa Marr

I read this book with two misconceptions - that it was the first book in the series and that it was good. Unfortunately, I found that it was neither. While the first did not hamper my reading of the book, the second definitely did, and I was pretty much put off. My review of the book can be expected sometime in the next week, provided I can find the words to describe just why I was so repelled by this book.

Updated 9th July: I wrote this post here.



Pygmalion
- George Bernard Shaw

We have this play this year in school, and I read finished it yesterday. I really enjoyed it. It is quite a beautiful story, even if it seems both a little disjointed and the ending is a little abrupt. I look forward to studying it in more detail in class (and seeing 'My Fair Lady') before I review this book, so I believe this review cannot be expected before the end of this year (at the very least.)

I want to read:

Two States
- Chetan Bhagat

When Five Point Someone, One Night at a Call Center and Three Mistakes of My Life came out, I confess I was as smitten as everyone else in the country. However, since then my appreciation of Bhagat's writings has worn off a little bit, and having received less-than-stellar reviews of this book I've been avoiding it. However, mom recently bought it and she says its absolutely hilarious, so I'm going to read. When? Now that's another story.

White Tiger
- Aravind Adiga

I've got mixed opinions about this one. Some people have told me that this a horrible book, written for that particular group of people who like to read about India's poverty. However, someone else tells me that this book is very beautiful and very moving. I must confess that I'm quite eager to form my own opinions about this book. So far, I'm unable to predict a date for the review of this book.

Well, that's about it from my bookshelves for now. I'll see you next week when I have time to read more than school books. Until then, keep reading! :) (Oh, and if you want to recommend a book to me to add to my bookshelves, please leave me a comment).

Theodore Boone by John Grisham

Theodore Boone, by John Grisham, was a thoroughly enjoyable book.

A little background. My parents, when they got back from their trip, brought back two books: Theodore Boone by John Grisham and the White Tiger, by Aravind Adiga. I have wanted to read the latter for a long time, but since my father is currently reading it, and my mother recommended the former to me, I decided to pick up Theodore Boone. I started reading it at eight in the morning, before I had to go school. By eight-thirty, when I had to catch the bus, I had finished around a hundred pages. By about three, I had finished the entire book.

And I wasn't bored for a single moment.

Theodore Boone is a story set in small-town America, where one of the largest trials ever witnessed in the small-town is about a happen - a trial to convict a man who seems to have murdered his wife. The entire town is abuzz about it. Cue in Theo Boone, a thirteen year old kid, who knows more lawyers, judges, and other officials in the judiciary than any one else in the town, who wants nothing more than to become a lawyer, and who somehow ends up getting deeply involved in the murder case when a mysterious eye-witness contacts him about it. This book is about Theo's struggles between his promise to the witness to his desire for justice - while at the same time facing normal thirteen-year-old problems like girls, and school and teachers.

I think the best part about the book is the characters. The main character, Theo, is immensely fun to read about. He's intelligent, thoughtful, honorable, and knows "more law than most lawyers". He's friends with the judge who is going to conduct the murder trial. He has hacked into the website of the court recorder in order to stay abreast with the developments in the trial. He helps friends and teachers alike by giving them legal advice: whether it is on foreclosure, or a divorce settlement, or a case of drug possession. In short: he's rather cool. Despite all of this, however, he doesn't come across as a wonder-kid. He comes across as a normal, human boy who needs help, who messes up sometimes, and who loves law. And if you need one reason to read this book - its for Theo.

But Theo is not the only interesting character in this book. His father, Woody Boone, is a real estate lawyer. His mother, Marcella Boone, is a divorce lawyer. His uncle, Ike, is an ex-lawyer who can now only file tax statements. Even in a reasonably short book, Grisham is able to tell you about all of these people in a way that makes you feel like you know them intimately. He uses great descriptive skills to tells you a few things about all of them that make them interesting, and loveable, and make you want to read more and more about them. And yet these people are not super-human, either. They're simple, and make mistakes, and hypocritical at times. It doesn't matter. You still like them. Even other, smaller characters, are fun to read about - from Judge Granty to Theo's Government teacher, to the various other small characters who make up the judicial system are very interesting to read about, especially when you see them from the eyes of Theo.

The book is very well-written. Fast-paced and full of suspense, it is hard to put down this book for even a moment. The writing is clean and simple and very easy to read. The book is of a reasonable length. The plot is very interesting, and well-thought out. I like the motivations of all the characters. The setting is well thought-out. All in all, this book is a treat to read. I guess it was especially enjoyable for me as an aspiring law student, but I'm sure anyone who likes to read will love to read this book.

Final words: Prepare yourself for a few hours of fun as you see Grisham doing what he does best. Theodore Boone is truly the work of a master.