Nimbus Equations: Yarn Spinner- A creative writing workshop

Nimbus Equations: Yarn Spinner- A creative writing workshop

Yarn Spinner- A creative writing workshop

Yarn Spinner- A creative writing workshop: "Imaginario launches Yarn Spinner-a creative writing workshop. Yarn Spinner uses a wide range of mediums to explore and experiment with the facet of creating ..."

SOLO by Rana Dasgupta

Solo by Rana Dasgupta

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Solo



Painting the surreal landscape of love, relationshsips, society, bonds, politics comes naturally to Rana. His imagination creeps slowly and steadily binding the reader's thoughts and taking them on this experience that leaves them at the end of the ride either drained or mesmerised or floating.

Rana is an artist at work, his language flows, "On hot days, the smells become overpowering, and rain comes as a relief, washing everything away. The blind man sits by the window when the rain is heavy and he can hear the different patters of near and far: the silky spray in the trees, the heavy drumming on plastic water tanks, the hard scatter of roads and pavements, the different metallic pitches of car roofs and drain covers, the baritone trilling of tarpaulin, the sticky overflow of mud, the concentrated gushing of drainpipes ?and, for a moment, the landscape springs forth, and he is reminded of how it is to see."

"He raised his violin and played the things of sixty minutes. The colours, the thought. The uncippled nails, the oval pool of vision. the time, the need, and the sounds that break through from beyond. The book on the fence post. The other person drawing close. The normal emotions, the thing-at-hand, the body's suck and pump.

He did it in a couple of moments, which was another part of the feat"

His language dances with a range of ideas, like a butterfly flirting one moment and suddenly sucking at the flower the next moment drawing out a unique flavour and spilling the atmoshpere with a strange perfume.

where the real ends and where the surreal begins happens so easily that one keeps asking, how will this story end? where will this story take me? I used to feel that with fairy tales. They had overpowering and overwhelming strenghts and great imagination and Rana is most times a fairytale writer.

Solo is like that too. Its a journey that starts with the rich telling of the story of science, Bulgarian history, its society and politics through the dreams and memories of Ulrich -the failed musician turned chemist who somehow could never find his place in the world order.

I loved the first half of the book. the second half made me jerk out of comfort and sit up to keep a watch out for the surreal taking over the real and then it ends in a strange wisdom as mystical as life and its mysteries perhaps?

I think the dream that Ulrich sees in the second half is pivotal to the story's narrative. I would love to discuss this with Rana and figure out more.

An amazing book but only for those who are willing to shift from the mundane to the strangeness of dreams and the deja vu they bring each time they recur.


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SOLO by Rana Dasgupta

Solo by Rana Dasgupta

My review

I had read Tokyo Cancelled long back and was waiting for his second book. I have just started reading it. The first chapter is well written and I am already willing to devote this weekend over it.


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TWILIGHT series by Stephenie Meyer

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
The first book in the series is an engaging introduction to the plot of the story. I can see why it has become so popular with teenagers. The story is set in a school where a young new entrant meets up with the future love of her life. the attraction is palpable and the syrupy texture of the love angle apart the setting is intriguing as the person she is in love with turns out to be a vampire. There are no complextities in the romantic plot, it is a pretty straight forward romance; just the characters and settigns are different from that of an MB and this has been turned later into an adventurous saga of their love and journey to come together and become equals.

From the second book onwards in the series you may find a love triangle emerging out of the storyline to keep the plot interesting. The vamprire disappears leaving the heroine behind while the friend transforms into a werewolf...mind you none of the story's main characters are normal or from the real world.

The plot thickens when Bella is struck between Edward the vampire and Jack the werewolf and cannot interpret her feelings for thw two. The vampire is stoic, guilty, and engagingly a perfect counterpart to the rather wilful, adventurous and wild Jack.

Readers are invited to place their own bets as the flip-flop affair continues until another set of disaster awaits them and so on it goes....on and on one disaster in each book finally leads Bella to her destination.



The book's heroine is at times as narrcistic as any teenage girl would be while the vampire is interestingly cold and she adores his cold touch...ugh!!! too sweet!!!


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The reluctant fundamentalist

The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Hamid has moved a step further. Now he is composed and settled with his identity crisis(i feel its that space, the lull before the storm that is very calm and soothing to the mind). Wonder what his next book wil reveal-the storm?



He's found a place and a role in the scheme of Pakistan's evolution and is ready to report. He's involved and not yet involved-the reluctant fundamentalist is exactly that- a person guided by the moods and situations of time rather than a person's personal vision and intervention.



His character is caught in the trauma of post 9/11 then released to test the murky waters of a society at the onset of a civil revolution. In this story he works on the east west relationshsip and unearths the reasons for the urban man's fundamentalism in the indian sub-continent and displays the delicate and extremely thin layer of trust that exists all around.






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the bok thief

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
How many of us may have thought of Death as a story teller?? So when Death begins a narrative, its difficult to not pay attention, or to miss observing the curve of a child's bent neck hanging low and breathing softly into a stolen copy of "The Gravedigger's handbook" To know more about what made Death stop and watch, read the book!!! For those of you who have layed your hands on every story from the Nazi period, here's one that will come as a complete surprise.


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Moth Smoke

Moth Smoke: A Novel by Mohsin Hamid

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mohsin Hamid writes with credibility and a certain conviction that tears characters off the fabric of pakistan's social tapestry and paints instead a vivid etching in grey scales. The narrative forebodes the breakdown of the society's very weak fundamental values as would be the case in any upwardly mobile urban story.



Hamid is a subtle craftsman at work.His characters reveal the story of Daru the social outcast. Most significantly Mumtaz holds up the mirror to bring the two paralles in her life ozi and Daru who seemingly meet at a point and then move away displaying the stark contrast and the deep chasm that separtes them as a person and as a part of the society's frameowrk.



Moth Smoke balances itself on a thin and delicate question that the subcontinent is facing right now. What is the identity of the urban youth-both men and women: What are their choices and where are they heading?



Has it reached a tipping point? change will it be an evoltonary one or a dramatic fallout leading to a very tragic destiny for the sub-continent?






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