A Thousand Splendid Suns - A Soul-Stirring Novel

Indeed, your heart-strings will be pulled by Khaled Hosseini's first novel, 'The Kite Runner'. And, 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' is equally good. Some might even find the latter far better. Yes, indeed the book is Soul-stirring and Heart-wrenching, to the core. High on emotions and melodrama, the book brilliantly chronicles the sorrowful saga of the Afghanis, crippled by constant wars waged by the insiders and the outsiders.

The book is a poignant tale of two women, Mariam and Laila, though not blood-related; nevertheless related by circumstances. Mariam, born a harami- illegitimate child-is married off to a short tempered, bitter Rasheed, 30 years her senior, a man of disagreeable temperament. Two decades later, Laila, born in a highly influential family, is forced to join Rasheed's unhappy household to be his second wife.

Mariam is living a troubled life with Rasheed, and Laila's presence is troubling her a lot more, akin to a salt rubbed on an open, raw wound. However, Laila tries her best to win over Mariam with her friendly gestures, and finally manages to win over her confidence. The bond between them grows so deep that both wives conspire to flee Afghanistan together, and thereby free themselves from the clutches of their abusive husband, Rasheed.

However, their escape attempt flops and conspicuously both wives have to bear Rasheed's wrath. As time passes on, there are other innumerable events, both ugly and lovely, dotting the women's life. Laila and her children become Mariam's only solace when her own womb ditches her time and again. The bond between them the two women grow so deep that on one fateful day, when Rasheed under his fury was suffocating Laila to death; Mariam pulled a shovel from nowhere and hit it right on her husband's head.

Rasheed lay on the floor dead, and Mariam was persecuted for the crime. On Mariam's insistence, Laila fled to Pakistan with her children and lover, but with a heavy heart, constantly reminding herself of the sacrifice Mariam made for her.

The flow of the narrative is mesmerizing; moreover pregnant with metaphors, the book keeps you hooked and goads you to continue reading till the end. Humans' self-sacrificing nature is brought out well in the book.

Quotable Quotes

Like a compass needle that points north, a man's accusing finger always finds a woman. Always.

In Laila's head, Mammy's voice rang out. "Like a myriad bird in your hands. Slacken your grip and away it flies". (pg. 153)

Life Lessons From JK Rowling

She writes, therefore she is. J.K Rowling was very much convinced, rather early in life than she can do only one thing in life: write novels. And possibly her over active imagination apparently amplified her confidence level. However, she had an Achilles heels in the form of her parents who believed that her unusual personal quirk would land her in troubled waters. Explaining things to them for Rowling was like casting pearls before swine's for neither of them had gone to school.

However, she states there is an expiry date when it comes to blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction, because the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you. Eventually it is for us to decide what constitutes failure, for the world would happily go the extra mile to give you a set of yardsticks if you let in. In her case it is said that she failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage, was jobless and a lone parent, once upon a time.

One may think, why speak about Rowling's failure in details, when this woman has gone on to capture the imagination of the young and the old alike, through her mind-boggling books? Simply, because failure is the stepping stone to success, failure gave Rowling all the energy to finish the only work that mattered to her the most, i.e. living her imagination through her Harry Porter series.

She once remarked 'You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all- in which case, you fail by default".

In fact she says, failure filled her with a sense of inner security which she could have never attained by passing any examinations. Through failure she discovered her strong will and determination power. Failures help us emerge wiser and stronger. Moreover, the best time to judge yourself and can even judge the strength of your relationship is when you are struck by a hardship.

To sum it up, life is not all about your CV, your qualifications, though there are many people who give too much of importance to all these. Indeed, life is complicated and beyond anyone's control and the realization of it will help endure its vicissitudes.

Why Midnight Children is Called the Booker of the Bookers

For those looking for a racy, rousing read, kindly keep your hands off 'Midnight's Children'.

Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children - Winner of Best of the Booker, needless to say is a masterpiece in magical realism, brilliantly unfolded at a snail's pace. However, the novel's beauty lies in its style and not action. Nonetheless, a little familiarity with Indian history will make the novel a tad more interesting, given the allegorical references to India's social-political events strewn all across the story.

Hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure, the story revolves are two children (in fact midnight's 1001 children) who were born at the precise instant of India's arrival at independence. Their destinies inextricably intertwined forever, thanks to the time of their births.

Saleem Sinai, the protagonist, when tumbled forth into the earth on Aug 15, 1947, was greeted by none other than Mr. Prime Minister's Letter. Yes Saleem was destiny's child. Born as an illegitimate son, he got all the good things that life had to offer, thanks to the nurse who without forethought swapped children just after their birth. Baby Saleem, naturally benefited in the process as he was entitled to all the care and riches of Shiva's household, Shiva, one of the 1001 children born at the same time, on the other end was relegated to the darkness of slums.

Noses and Knees, Nose and Knees. Saleem with his powerful nose could smell out every damn thing on this earth, be it the smell of anger or jealousy. Interestingly, he could read other minds and was endowed with the power of telepathy. Shiva on the other end had preternaturally powerful knees, knees that were exclusively used for pushing, shoving and crushing others. Though royal blood ran in his veins, his actions spoke otherwise. He turned out to be a brutish killer. Saleem, however, is portrayed as a nice fellow. His aberrations are shown in lighter vein, while Shiva's aberrations make you feel sick.

The use of the term 'optimism' is anesthetizing. The analogues employed are breathtaking. Numb as ice, clean as a slate, main fresh-water pipes which were city's lifelines began to blow fountains into the air like giant steel whales, tiny grain of grit in the sea of old age and so on. Philosophy dealt in the form of Snakes and Ladders. For every ladder you climb,a snake is just waiting around the corner; and for every snake a ladder will compensate. Very descriptive, simply explains the painstaking efforts put in by Rushdie. The story some time may seem long-winding, the language used may seem incomprehensible, but carry-on is the catchword here.

The political scenario post- Indian independence is nicely interwoven into the story. That's makes you wonder about Rushdie's brilliance. Rushdie dishes out everything history, politics, myth, food, magic, wit and dung all in one book, the partition of India and Pakistan, the power of "The Widow" Indira Gandhi, war and, finally the enforcement of martial law in the country.