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Review of Norwegian wood by 'Haruki Murakami'

Genre: Tragic Romance, Psychological Fiction Published: 1987 Pages: 351 Tags: Death, Trauma, Bildungsroman Okay, I gave it a second chance, but I’m still skeptical. Although I enjoy reading emotional stories rooted in real-life suffering, I often struggled to grasp Murakami’s point in several places. Set in 1960s Tokyo, the story is narrated by Toru Watanabe, a 37-year-old man who is suddenly pulled into memories of his youth when he hears the Beatles' song “Norwegian Wood.” Watanabe is the kind of character who seems to attract — or be drawn toward — deeply troubled, emotionally complex people. Norwegian Wood explores a tale of love, loss, and the unsettling feeling of things left unfinished. The traumatic bond between Watanabe and Naoko, a fragile woman grieving the loss of her boyfriend Kizuki (Watanabe’s best friend), seems to be born from shared pain. Later, we’re introduced to Midori — vibrant, bold, and unpredictable. Watanabe finds himself torn between the tragic pull of h...
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Review of Flowers of Algernon by 'Daniel Keyes'

Genre: Science Fiction, Published: 1966 Pages: 266 Tags: science fiction, epistolary novel Now, How do i explain to you guys that this book scratched a particular part of my brain that i didn't think was possible. Sorrow, anger, helplessness - what am i feeling? This is how you will feel while reading this book. The story is about charlie, a 32 year old man with intellectual disability, has an IQ of 68, works in a bakery , his uncle's friend runs. Charlie is insanely driven to get smart and miraculously he comes across an opportunity to be part of an experiment which could increase his IQ and make him the most intelligent person in the room. A little about the procedure, this has been already performed on a rat named 'Algernon' and results proven to be successful. Charlie was going to be the first human subject in this experiment. In the book, the story unfolds through a series of reports written by  Charlie while he was a part of this experiment. The progression of hi...
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Review of "The Mistress of Spices" by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni

  Genre: Fantasy, Romance Published: 1997 Pages: 317 Tags: Fiction, magic realism At some point in our lives, we all have wished to be a part of magic, an escape from the never ending troubles of our lives; I know i have. "The Mistress of spices" is one such story, a girl born with mystical powers in a small village. The powers she was so proud of, later turned out to be a curse losing everything she once took for granted.  when in search of vengeance, she who has been given several names discovered a path to help herself while serving the people. The stories she heard sailed her across the ocean to a distant island where she found the "Old one," as they call her. The old one trains the sisters to become mistresses who later go on helping people through the spices magic. Divakaruni carefully depicts the struggles faced by the immigrants in an unknown land far away from the warmth of their home country. Throughout the novel, the author expresses gratitude towards the...
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Review of The Hound of the Baskervilles - a novel by Arthur Conan Doyle

  Genre: Detective Fiction, Crime, Mystery Published: 1902 Pages: 224 Tags: Fiction When in doubt about choosing a murder mystery, I pick Sherlock Holmes. While, I felt the book was quite quick paced, it does not fail to keep you on your toes, when a murder mystery is intertwined with a gothic curse, how does a world-renowned detective, bring the light to the case. Dr. James Mortimer, troubled with the death of his friend sir Charles Baskerville and a huge responsibility to fulfil the will left behind, comes to London to seek aid from Sherlock Holmes. Being men of science, Holmes and Watson refuse to believe anything illogical and embark on their journey to the Devonshire to add another adventure in their extensive list of solving the mysteries.   Mortimer, anxious about the safety of the sole heir of Baskerville, Sir Henry, enlightens Holmes about the family manuscript which states an ancestral curse that follows the men of Baskervilles, being ...
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Review on Before the Coffee Gets Cold By Toshikazu Kawaguchi

  Genre: Time Travel Fiction Published: 2015 Pages: 232 Tags: Fiction Imagine yourself seated in a cozy cafe, with window view to your side and there's rain pouring outside, you are sipping your coffee, reading your book while listening to the soothing sounds of downpour. That is how I felt while reading "Before the Coffee Gets Cold". Funiculi Funicula is a small cafe placed in the back alley of Tokyo, run by Nagare along with his wife Kei and his cousin Kazu. while from the outside its a normal cafe serving freshly brewed coffee to its customers, it also possesses a unusual chair that can grant you a wish to travel across the divisions of time. Many have heard the urban legend, but only a handful of the customers have sat in that chair, thanks to the tedious list of rules. Naturally, the cost of bending the laws of nature comes with a heavy price: if one fails to consume the coffee before it cools, they will be stuck as a ghost forever barred from returning to either...
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Review on "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini

Genre: Historical Fiction, War Crime Published: 2007 Pages: 433 Tags: Fiction The story travels through 1960 to the early 2000s in Afghanistan, during which the country was under several wars, beginning with the Soviet invasion to Taliban rule. The narrative follows two women, Mariam and Laila, whose lives intertwine through a common mishap. Mariam is an illegitimate child born in Herat to a wealthy businessman, Jalil, and his maid Nana. By the time Mariam realized that her father's affection came with rules and limits, she had lost her mother. Mariam was just fifteen years old when she was married to Rasheed, a conservative and dominating widower who believed his ideal wife should be submissive and dutiful. All it took was a miscarriage, and the abuse against Mariam began.  Down the streets of Kabul, Laila grew up in a progressive household where her father believed education should be her top priority while everything else could wait. Her baba, Hakim, sowed the seed, encouragin...
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Review on "Anxious People" by Fredrik Backman

Genre : Humor, Suspense, Psychological Fiction Published: 2019 Pages: 338 Tags: Fiction Anxious People is a funny and captivating read. The book explores the complicated human emotions and how humans seek refuge in them. The story begins with a bank robber who failed to rob a cashless bank, runs into a random apartment viewing and holds 8 people hostage accidentally (yep!). While a young police officer, Jack and his colleague Jim need to get the hostages out of the apartment safely and take the robber into custody. The story starts with Jack and Jim investigating the hostages for clues, which doesn't quite go as planned thanks to the witty and slightly (maybe not) obnoxious characters. The hostages in the apartment are Zara, an arrogant banker who carries an unopened letter and the weight of a guilt-ridden past in her bag for the past decade.  Roger and Anna-Lena, the retired old couple who seem to have found comfort in doing projects together rather than fixing their marriage and ...
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