Book Review: Into the Great Heart by Kamla K. Kapur

Book: Into the Great Heart

Author: Kamla K. Kapur

Publisher: Jaico Publishing House

Blurb:

Legends and Adventures of Guru Angad the second Sikh Guru.

From the bestselling author of Classic Tales from Mystic India, The Singing Guru and Rumi: Tales to Live By, comes the second book in the Sikh saga series about Bhai Lehna’s journey from being Guru Nanak’s constant disciple to becoming Guru Angad (1504 – 1552), his successor and the second Sikh Guru.

Into the Great Heart carries forward and concludes the stories of Guru Nanak and Bhai Mardana, his favourite minstrel, from the first volume of the Sikh saga, The Singing Guru. History, legend and fiction merge to populate this book with fascinating personalities from Sikh history. Pivotal to this narrative are forgotten female luminaries such as Guru Nanak’s wife, Mata Sulakhni, his sister, Bebe Nanaki, Bhai Lehna’s wife, Khivi and daughter Amro. Brought to the foreground, their wisdom and insights as they overcome obstacles to spiritual growth embody the basic tenets of Sikhism in everyday living. They enhance Guru Nanak and Bhai Lehna’s tale with their diverse approach to life.

Filled with captivating characters that enrich the tapestry of this compelling narrative, Into the Great Heart is a must-read for anyone who loves a rich story about human nature in its search for spiritual awareness.

Review:

It isn’t easy to write religion drawn books, they can create chaos and lack of clarity but this book succeeded in making the whole reading experience a beautiful one. The book not only tells about all the aspects of Sikh History, it also connects lots of dots in order to clear the bigger picture.

I thoroughly enjoyed the complete book. Being a little different from what we read generally the book take its time to get on your nerves, making you habitual of a different world, of a different reality.

The whole book had some points which being a Sikh child even I haven’t heard. I should give credit to the author for going deep in the subject and researching every nook and corner in order to present a book which can be really helpful to understand the culture and aura of that time.

The narration and language of the book helps a big time in getting to the core of the book.

This is a must read for all people who wants to go deep in the subject. I can’t wait to read the first book in the series now after reading this one.

The author has done a great job in doing what is not common and standing on top of the ladder.

About the author:

Kamla K Kapur’s previous books include Classic Tales from Mystic India and Pilgrimage to Paradise. She is also a poet (As a Fountain in a Garden, Radha Speaks), a short story writer and an award winning playwright. She and her husband, Payson R. Stevens, live half the year in the Kullu Valley in the Himalayas and the other half in Southern California, USA.

Buy the book here Amazon.in

Book Review : Rakshasas: The Shadow Warriors by Rajiv G. Menon

Book: Rakshasas: The Shadow Warriors

Author: Rajiv G. Menon

Publisher: Westland

Genre: FIction(Mythology)

Blurb:

Rise, o mighty Rakshasas! The time has come for us to give these warriors of Light a reason to fear the Dark.’

The world is in turmoil. Naraka and his formidable Asura war machine march unhindered across it bringing once great nations to their knees. They have now set their eyes on the ultimate prize — Bharata, the land of the seven rivers. Indra and his Devas struggle to contain this threat, even as they battle their own differences and the temptations of Swarga.

In Bharata, Jayanta, the son of Indra, is the new ruler. Even as he prepares for the Asura invasion, a potent threat is rising in the vast forests of Dandaka. Vidyutkesa — the only survivor of a genocide perpetrated by Jayanta — has journeyed into its heart and made contact with the Order of the Sarpa. An ancient and powerful secret society headed by Queen Manasa. With the blessings of Raksha, the Earth Spirit, the Sarpas transform Vidyutkesa and his companions into supernatural beings called Rakshasas. Their mission: to protect their land, forests, and way of life.

In this second installment of his Vedic Trilogy, Rajiv G. Menon weaves a rich and vibrant tapestry of the epic struggle between earth-worshipping feminine cultures that live in harmony with nature, and the patriarchal forces that seek to tame her.

Review:

Mythology interests me all the times, because it creates a deeper and more profound impact than any other cliché love story. This book held me captive for so long I couldn’t believe. Some books transport you into a different world in a mere few hundred pages.

I couldn’t click with the book easily to be honest because this is a second instalment of a series but I could connect with the words. The pace of the novel is fantastic and also the narration. The book seems to be both entertaining and giving you an edge on this journey.

I love novels where the anti-hero schema works, it gives you a break from all the usual things you hear or read about the particular time period or dynasty. A lot of different characters is always a treat.

The realistic approach and ground level topics that the author tried to touch really worked well in the bigger picture. There were no sugar coated things there was reality, there was violence, there was blood, there were schemes and everything came out beautifully.

There were many twists and turns some unexpected ones too that always keeps you on the edge of your seat and this made my reading experience even more ecstatic. There are also inside stories and explanations that work in between the whole fiasco. A lot is happening and it was not easy to grasp erverything at once.

This book is not easy to read, it needs time and patience because a lot is going on. It is not easy to digest all the battles and hidden aspects of things but at the end it seems totally worth it. It was definitely a one-time read for me.

I won’t recommend this book to people who reads to pass time, I won’t recommend this book to people who can’t handle wars and I also won’t recommend this book to those who can’t stand fantasy.

Buy the book here Amazon.in

Book Review: Mango People in Banana Republic by Vishak Shakti

Book: Mango people in Banana republic

Author: Vishak Shakti

Blurb:

Ravi Bhalerao is a top of the rung business strategy consultant struggling with two disquiets in life – a festering career disillusionment and a festering wound in his posterior. Stung by an unfair performance appraisal, he pulls off an outrageous stunt at his workplace, drops off the urban map and reaches his ancestral land, a village in drought-prone Vidarbha. There he encounters India in its elemental form. Convinced that his destiny is somehow entwined with that of his country, he sets off on a truth-seeking mission. On that mission, he finds love, revolution and most importantly, a redemption for the disquiet in his rear.

Anand is a former physicist on a spiritual quest through esoteric India. He realizes that the path to realization is beset on all sides by gurus, their cults and their boundless quirks. As he hops from one ashram to the other, he grows convinced that liberation does not come with a user manual in a neat little box.

Wrapped in light-hearted, almost tongue-in-cheek prose, 'Mango People In Banana Republic' is a tale of an Indian’s search for personal identity, against the backdrop of a country divided along fault lines of countless social identities. Teeming with a cast of characters and ideas that encapsulate modern India, the tale ascends from the gross to the sublime, much like the Kundalini powers some aspire to acquire. With a steady pace, and gentle mocking humour, this book is an absorbing read and a laugh.

Review:

There are not a lot of books which force you to think and think about what you just finished reading. This book was different. At first I thought this is going to be another suspense corporate book but it was much more and much beyond that.

I loved how different kind of genres came together in this book. There was madness, self-help, spiritualism and every other kind of transition a book can get in itself.

The main character was very nicely crafted, he can make many people see themselves in him. The frustration, the want to find the bigger meaning and the never ending fight from yourself. His viewpoint is really commendable. This made the book funny and sarcastic at various turns.

The rediscovering part in the book is my favourite. I got lost in it from time to time. The book is not an easy read. It needs your patience and time and that really pays off.

The writing was mediocre but the narration and execution of the book was good. The pace was easy going and flowy. It made the whole reading venture great.

I can recommend this book to anyone who love books which are genre-less.

About the author:

Vishak Shakti is a writer by compulsion. He writes to vent, to purge, to indulge, and sometimes just for the heck of it. He has written for publications such as MSN India, The Hindu, and Clean Bowled. He thinks that a good book has three essential ingredients – entertainment, artistry and relevance, in that order. 

Buy the book here

Book Review: The Bitter Pill Social Club by Rohan Dahiya

Book: The Bitter Pill Social Club

Author: Rohan Dahiya

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Pages: 314

Price: 399

Blurb:

Witness the private life of the world’s most beautiful animals.

You know exactly who they are. The ones who walk right past club lines, who get what they want before they ask for it. It’s a familiar cast: the centre of attention, the shameless flirt, the loudmouth, the narcissistic writer. You’ve seen them all. You’ve felt their Gucci-anointed aura. Laughing and dancing. Kissing the wrong people at the wrong time. Swaying to their own beat. Going out every night they’re sad. Finding solace in the crowd in a city paved with mildly good intentions and cocaine lines. A city of smooth talkers, armchair activists, and the rich brats of Instagram. A place to talk pop spirituality and purple prose in connoisseur-only jazz clubs.

The Bitter Pill Social Club takes a look at the lives of the Kochhar family, who find themselves drifting apart in the city of djinns, gins, and fake friends wrapped up in cigarette smoke. As one of their own gears up to tie the knot, three siblings come home to the neurotic parents who raised them. Meanwhile the parents face the family patriarch’s constant judgment. Divorce, disappointment, and disasters ensue as the entitled Kochhar brood dodges old lovers and marriage proposals.

Review:

This book can take you on a ride to a rich household where every life is tangled in the net so badly that it would need a lot of time and patience to solve the riddle. The book is centered around the life of Sana who goes through different phases of her life in the need to explore and find herself; while going through her life we enter the passageway to take a sneak peek into other people lives too, which are in no way less interesting.

I had a love-hate relationship with the book. I loved the transparency of the book but I didn’t like a lot of other things.

Talking about the transparency I think the author did a good job with it. I could taste every flavor of a rich lifestyle. Without taking the help of lot of brand names and expensive stuff, the author made it possible for the reader to dive in the right corners to experience the shimmery life of the characters. This was mainly a family saga where every life is on fire and every heart is in pain.

If I talk about other things then I found major drawbacks. As a reader I don’t want the book to put me in slump, this book did just that; why, well I think it was because of the execution of the story. There was no timeframe maintained or the sceneries differentiated. We shoot one basket in London and one in Tokyo. It was a mess at one point and it was crystal clear the other moment and in between these phases I lost the interest.

The story line was itself not very strong. I loved the idea of the book but the story was weak, it was bits and pieces of a puzzle but it never came together to achieve the grand result of completion.

Characters were good but not extraordinary. I couldn’t fall for anyone; maybe that was the motive of the author; maybe he needed to form such a chaos where you can’t focus on one person and their life. If that was his prime agenda then I think he was successful. I couldn’t love anyone but I liked everyone. Hassan, Asim, Kama, Geetu, Gayatri, I liked them the most. They had a lot to show us. I didn’t like Sana or Lakshman or Ankit or Surya or Dhiraj; they were annoying.

All in all, I enjoyed the book and I am sure I lay somewhere in the middle of liking and not liking this book. But I would recommend this book to those who needs some inside story of all the happens in the big mansions. It fits perfectly with the background of Delhi; something I could relate to.

Eye-Catchers:

·        “Do you want some uncle chips?” He beamed at her, “That’s the best thing anyone’s ever said to me in my life.”

·         “…memories echoing with the faded glamour of old photographs – some nights he’d open the heaviest photo albums.”

·         “She turned back to face the now cavernous foyer that in its silence had become the staying place of all her fears.”

You can buy the book here

Book Review: Pretty Vile Girl by Rickie Khosla

Book: Pretty Vile Girl

Author: Rickie Khosla

Pages: 448

Genre: Fiction

Publisher: Bloomsbury

Blurb:

Everything she touched turned to gold, everything she said turned to scandal, everyone she wanted out of the way...died.

Beautiful, talented and wildly sexy, Jazmeen is Bollywood's most in-demand starlet, and in a relationship with to one of the country's most powerful politicians. Even though she's known for her outrageous candour in interviews, no one could guess at the dark secret she's carried for years. And no one will escape her vengeance, not even the prime minster.

Following her journey from her loving family to an orphanage run by a sadistic matron, from the fringes of the Mumbai underworld to the casting couches of Bollywood and beyond, Rickie Khosla crafts a racy, pacey and explosive debut about a woman who'll do anything to settle scores and get what she wants

Review:

Pretty Vile Girl is a normal story of stardom, love and betrayal. But normalcy is not that normal. The book shocks you with every turn of page, with every new character and surrounding that how grand this tour is going to be.

The narration of the book juggles between past and present which is a very common narrative style but works well with every genre and story. I loved how things progressed, one at a time, slowly yet at a good pace which can make a reader fly through the book.

At some places I felt the book drooled over, there was no need for such length. The whole idea and aspect was very much evident from few incidents, within the sphere of few people but bigger character sketch is like a big party, you get more options to choose your favorite from.

From all the characters I liked Jazmeen a lot. It has been after a very long time that I have liked the main character so much. She was a true picture of softness, fragility and a badass attitude. Her glory was magnified with every phase she crossed in her life and the author was very open minded while penning this character of his.

Apart from her I liked Jazmeen’s brother and all the men who came in the life of Jazmeen. They all were great, vivid and colourful.

What could have gone wrong with so much running in the book was the portrayal of everything at the right time; the author has truly laid out his true potential to the maximum height.

With such a good plot some flaws were there too, I found it a bit dragged at times, the language was easy, way too easy. There was no literary high point in the book which I could bookmark or wait for a second to grasp in.

Summing up- The book was a great read, a very smooth and fast one. I can recommend it to anyone who love mystery and good intertwined plots. Also if you like high profile stories this book can be your next pick.

About the author:

Rickie Khosla is a marketing executive and film buff who has recently moved to New Delhi from New York. This is his first novel.

Buy the book:

Amazon.in