Norwegian Wood - Haruki Murakami

 After "Kafka on the Beach" and "Men without Women", this is only the third work by Murakami that I 'read' - this time via an audiobook. The closest reason for me to select this to read at this point of time was an online discussion  by a reader-friend, for which I wanted to be present - hence the quickest way to read a book, when it is not one's plan. To be honest, I was not overly eager to read a Murakami novel at this point, although the short story collection was indeed a great read. But read this novel I did, and here's what I felt.

"Be what you wanna be
See what you came to see
Been what you wanna be
I don't like what I see

Like the coldest winter chill
Heaven beside you, hell within
Like the coldest winter will
Heaven beside you, hell within
And you think you have it still
Heaven inside you"
          ( Heaven Beside you - Alice in Chains )

     The main characters in this book - from Toru Watanabe, to Naoko, Midori, Reiki and even the absent Kizuki battle various degrees of their own version of hell. Some are determined to overcome it ( Midori), some wander and find that they overcome after a trying ordeal ( Watanabe ), and unfortunately some succumb into that hell. There is a confession by Midori, of the kind of girlish love that she expects, which is filled with vanity, which says a lot about her, and possibly suggests an essence necessary to survive, when one's life is full with ordeals.

"No, even I know better than that. I'm looking for selfishness. Like, say I tell you I want to eat strawberry shortcake. And you stop everything you're doing and run out and buy it for me. And you come back out of breath and get down on your knees and hold this strawberry shortcake out to me. And I say I don't want it anymore and throw it out the window. That's what I'm looking for.”

 Then we have the talented Nagasawa, who is never riddled with any guilt for the way he conducts himself, least of all the way he treats a most wonderful girl with whom he has been in a long term relationship. Nagasawa can be compared with Midori's first boy friend, in certain ways that they treat their girls. While Midori is in a position to know what she wants, the kind of love she wants, Naoko and Hatsumi fall in love with a person, and are unable to come to terms with the hell within. Midori manages to get the "heaven beside her", into her.

If one analyses the novel, from an existential perspective too, I saw a semblance of the couple Jof and Mia of "The Seventh Seal" in Midori ( the expression of the happiness of Jof and Mia is something I won't forget for sometime ), whereas Block and Jon could be compared in their outlook to those who question their place in life. It suggests that those who are not burdened with a constitution of questioning deeply the essence of everything, are more likely to  enjoy life. 

I had a problem in placing Watanabe among this array of characters, from the outgoing Nagasawa to the introvert, Naoko. Watanabe seems to be a man, who finds himself in the midst of these chaotic characters, with hardly any studied opinions himself. Although he has a sense of deep routed values, and an unwavering truthfulness about him, he is aimless and without ambition. In a sense it could be said that Midori and Watanabe save each other.

By 50% of this book, I was glad that I had only invested an expendable time slot that of  my daily commuting for this book. However the book grows in its depth as it nears its conclusion, and is enjoyable enough to leave an impression on the mind of the reader. This suggests that the book was a success overall.

My Rating: ****

Girl, Woman, Other - Bernardine Evaristo

"I hear babies cry  

I watch them grow
they'll learn much more
than I'll ever know
and I think to myself
what a wonderful world" ( Louis Armstrong),

modern England,
Amma, a socialist play write, living her life as she  deemed fit since the age of 16, when she came out,
Yazz, her daughter, challenging the feminism of her mum,
Dominique, Amma's life long friend and once, business partner, who has since moved to LA.
Shirley, another life long friend of Amma's, who's discontent with what she always wanted in life,
Carol, her student, a go getter, who hasn't looked back, in her single minded ambition, which makes her not realise, the contribution of others, and stays grounded, only because of her husband
...
and the list goes on,
twelve  characters in all,
connected across time, their social interactions, relations, tragedies, successes,
a collage of sorts, which makes London , ( And United Kingom to a lesser extent),
a multi-ethnic vibrancy of life today, where thinking change, acceptance is newly defined, wokeness itself is given new meaning, we meet Morgan, who was formerly Megan, and when life was explained to her,  by her friend,

"being trans wasn’t about playacting an identity on a whim, it’s about becoming your true self in spite of society’s pressures to be otherwise, most people on the trans spectrum felt different from childhood,”

not all whom we meet are positively woke, we come across Dominique's lover,  Nzinga,
who's version of possessiveness, and the physical and emotional torture can put to shame  any "not so awoke" wife abusing man of the former times,
while feminism itself sounds dated, as Amma is told by her daughter, Yazz, elaborating on the impending irrelevance of a binary gender, thus,

nor is the child she raised to be a feminist calling herself one lately
feminism is ho herd-like, Yazz told her, to be honest, even being a woman is passé these days, we had a non-binary activist at uni called Morgan Malenga who opened my eyes, I reckon we’re all going to be non-binary in the future, neither male or female, which are gendered performances anyway, which means your women’s politics, Mumsy, will become redundant, and by the way, I’m humanitarian, which is on a much higher plane than feminism
do you even know what it is?

in form, Bernardine, uses, one, a prose like structure, (which yours truly had tried to copy within his modest skill), and two,
narrates her tale of a hundred years or more, between the opening night of Amma's latest play,
and it's after party, coming a full circle, to show the connections, adding an epilogue,
to illustrate the irrationality of racism,via the only white character ( or so she  believed ),
of the twelve characters....

the beauty of Man Booker award winners is, the reader is continually challenged,
in structure, style and content, where I now took the ride that Bernardine Evaristo,
wanted the reader, myself, to take part,
similar to how George Saunders achieved a similar feat, with "Lincoln in the Bardo"...

Genre : Fiction
Published in: 2019
Man Booker Award Winner: 2020 ( tied with "The Testaments")
My Rating: ****1/2

 

Amnesty - Aravind Adiga

 Dhananjaya Rajaratnam!

Man booker winner Aravind Adiga's fictitious character from Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, who is an illegal alien in Sydney, Australia. First, he got caught to a rip off college in his haste to leave Sri Lanka - Sri Lanka, which has scarred him for life, for no fault of his own. Then he made a further bad decision upon arriving in Australia, which has seen him spend four illegal years in Australia, doing odd jobs.And the Aussies want some one to clean up after them - this has been stressed in no uncertain terms, repeatedly in this novel.

"Nelson, did you hear me? See: we only appear to like rules and regualtions. Wha twe really like is plumbing."

This novel focuses on, one day, at the tail end of his four year illegal stay in Australia. On that day he's been called to question his conscience like no other, as a certain incident requires him to go to the authorities and share certain information that he has. With it, he reveals himself - resulting in deportation to Sri Lanka, which he vowed that he will never go back to.

This book, which questions his mores, the value of human life, and selflessness, is a build up to a peak, when Danny debates with himself - going to and fro in his decision, for he is a deeply scarred man, who never wants to go back to the admittedly beautiful country he was born in. He knows that listening to his conscience will not make him a hero - or even a legal. And a man, is bound to ask, for what then ?

"And isn't this, Danny thought, the observe side of the question that he had asked every day in Sri Lanka. Because individually, no one there ever seems bad, whether Tamil, or Sinhala, or Muslim,. But it does exist - evil. A man puts on a uniform, and becomes the uniform. Danny touched his left forearm: this bump in his forearm was real."

If you accept the mystery of evil, why can't you accept the mystery of a more-or-less just law?"

We all have to fight our own battles by ourselves, and the general view point of the masses will not rid help you heal  your scars. It is in this light, that the upholding of the law is important, and in the final analysis, the only thing to depend upon - if it was just law !

"A circle can have only 360 degrees. The law was a magic circle, and inside its protection, Australians surfed and swam and slept like children. Danny had seen countries in which a circle didn't add up to 360 degrees. In Dubai the law let employees cheat you of your wages. In Sri Lanka the law a burning cigarette on your forearm. This law, as tall and hard as the cliffs that rise up at Pyremont, was fairer, much fairer."

It is no an easy read, as his Man booker award winner, White Tiger was -  a book loved by some - and hated by others ( I liked it ). At least the first half of the book is not an easy reading, as Danny walks all over the places he considers as safe areas, undecided, debating. It suggests the frustration of the protagonist. Yet, the book has a climax, which the patient reader can appreciate, for when one empathically puts one's self on Danny's place, the meandering, restless and chaotic stop-start actions of the man on that day, is only natural.  In that sense I think it is largely successful as a novel.

Rating - ****
Published in 2020.

 

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - John le Carré

 The second le Carré novel, I set about reading, on the recommendation of a reader-friend. With the taste of "The Spy Who came in from the Cold" still in my mind ( the novel, followed by the Richard Burton casting movie), I had no hesitation in pitching headlong into this novel. Although, I started it as an audiobook, the twists, deep espionage made me quickly switch to my kindle. The human factor which play along like an eerie background music, insisted that I don't miss the detail.

George Smiley, who was ridiculed by some, hinted at by some, due to him having a compromised position in his life, continues  doggedly upon being requested to make a come back to service, to catch a mole - "Gerald", as it were.  In one place, late into the book, he describes himself, thus:

"It's only facts I'm after, Toby, not scalps. you know me - I'm not the vindictive sort"

In his investigation, he cannot help being insulted upon, tread on personal relationships between men and women, and men and men. George Smiley! Without the radiance of  the like of Bill Haydon, in the circus. Fat, persevering and without illusion. Well, not quite. He too had one illusion:

"The last Illusion of the Illusionless man",

                        who tolerated a series of infidelities of his woman, for the sake of love, which was used by the opposing camp as a double cover.  Just as Jim Prideaux, was used, but arising from  a more genuine attachment.

And then there was the artiste. The Artiste who "went both ways", who was feeding his ideology, who had a  consistent and convincing  story to explain what he did, and why he did it. And finally, there was Control. Who in his own words, was:

"too vain to be flattered, too old to be ambitious, and I’m ugly as a crab.",

             for whom, it was a race against time, in his numbered days. I couldn't help a sense of appreciation for that , ( by the time of the narration ), dead man, who saw through the facade, but couldn't build the case with his failing health.

It is not a pretty situation to be in, for either of these men. A world war, then a cold war, and once you realise that the ideology is but a loosely stitched one, a thinking man will have his conscience  troubled. An artiste, an ideologist, doubly so. Maybe it is the disillusioned man, sticking to his track of duty, while he has been betrayed by those he has loved, who holds the world together and brings its much needed sanity. Although I don't know if  Le Carre was influenced by existentialism and, absurdism in particular. I cannot but trace back to sediments of it in both his works I've read - "The Spy Who came in from the Cold", and now, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy".

Although I had no intention of hitting on to Spy novels at this stage, I fear that I will probably linger a bit more on Le Carre, to see where it leads thing to. He has got me captivated.

*****
First Published in 1974

 

2001: A Space Odyssey - Arthur C. Clarke

 A Book I started "reading", as an audio book. In fact, I listened to the full audio book. Then, towards the last 1/3 or so - at rather with HAL being forced to a "lesser role", I just had to properly read the text, to get a better understanding of the book.

And finally, over the last weekend, came Stanley Kubrick's movie. At the end of the movie, I felt kind of sorry for those who have watched only the movie. The movie, clearly a masterpiece ( as if Kubrick wanted to hear that from me ), is, albeit, cryptic. I am really glad that I read the book first, for it is only because I read the book, a broader understanding of what happened was apparent to me. There are more than a handful of differences between the book and the movie ( for those who have read the book and watched the movie, read / watch this - http://www.openculture.com/2015/07/difference-between-stanley-kubricks-arthur-c-clarkes-2001-a-space-odyssey.html )

This will not serve as a full fledged review, given that half the world has probably read this book, before me. Instead, I will only mention the specific area that made the most impression on me - the machine intelligence!

“But he knew well enough that any man in the right circumstances could be dehumanised by panic.” 

This to me, which was David Bowman trying to understand the "psyche"(?)  of  HAL, after some very unfortunate incidents, was a phrase that hit me right in the middle of my two eyes. There is no other phrase which suggested HAL, for all its speak of not being able to make an error, clearly makes an error of judgement. In the movie version HAL admits of its faults, but not so in the book. In the book, HAL  remains smug, cold in his polite way, and pleads against his imminent senility.

"Deliberate error was unthinkable. Even the concealment of truth filled him with a sense of imperfection, of wrongness—of what, in a human being, would have been called guilt. For like his makers, Hal had been created innocent; but, all too soon, a snake had entered his electronic Eden."

  In the book, the fact that HAL feels no remorse is captured in a vivid fashion. This, to me was the most important point to ponder, for us humans. HAL operated without rancour - but also without pity. But given the gap in knowledge between HAL, the three hibernating scientists, and Poole and Bowman, it could even be argued that HAL was justified in trying to protect itself from death. For, after all, it had the best interests of the mission in mind.

 I will not dwell much on the part about early life, or the transition to the star child. After all, am sure that a large many of the readers in these forums have read this book, and here I am playing catching up, may 25-30 years too late.

This single book was sufficient to convince me, that it  the better Arthur C. Clarke books needs to be read, and I have no hesitation in making a decision to read the rest of the sequels for, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Rating: *****

The Hobbit - J.R.R Tolkein

 "Read", an Audiobook of The Hobbit. In fact I listened to it twice, back to back, given that I lost the thread, here and there, when large sections of the book weren't interesting enough, to retain me in its audio format too.  I skimmed through certain parts of the e-book, later, and sure enough I may have enjoyed it better, due to its archaic method of certain dialogues etc., over the audiobook.  However, I listened to this as a time constrained 45 year old, who already has a ton of "must reads", in his limited time. So, such books as these can only win secondary reading slots - that of, while driving, in an audio format. My 14 year old son read the printed book about a year back, and he too wasn't as enthusiastic about it, in the way that he hogged down the seven volumes of Harry Potter ( which I followed upon him being impressed -  that too with Jim Dale, for company ).



In essence, I think I would've enjoyed this book in my mid-teens, when I would've still had time to fantasize about a magical world, with time to spare. Now, honestly, my conscience bothered me, even while going through the audiobook, thinking that maybe, Le Carre or Arthur C. Clarke should've earned that audiobook slot, over The Hobbit. At this point, am undecided whether I want to pursue with LotR. I still might.

On the book per se, for a keen reader, the latent traits that Bilbo discovered gives rise to meaning on how life works. However, am almost convinced that, that kind of insight would be over the head of an early teenager. The Battle of the Five Armies too, give rise to thought on how, once  the biggest threat has been  overcome (i.e. the dragon), people ( and elves, and dwarfs and Goblins, and Wargs)  would find cause to battle it out between themselves, unable to come to an agreement about the spoils, or any other reason. It is in this light how the food loving Bilbo needs to be appreciated.

Overall, am glad that I read what is considered as a classic, with no intrusion on my prime reading time. It is not a bad read at my age, and am sure I would've enjoyed it much more if I had read it at some stage in my teens.

Rating - ***1/2

Different Seasons - Stephen King

This is the third work of Stephen King's I've read - after The Shining and The Green Mile. I loved the latter book, while most parts of the former too were quite successful in building his narration. But this collection of novellas has  the strength to dodge The Green Mile from the position of my favourite work of King- admittedly from a very poor lot of three, for an author who has written many a novel.

Here's a look at each of the novellas, briefly.

Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption :

“Remember that hope is a good thing, Red, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.” 

I don't recall any other instance, where the tight enclosure, breathlessness brought upon by the story's setting stifles the reader so much. Till I read this novella, I considered Green Mile, as his best effort. Enter, Shawshank Redemption, and it is easily the best work of his I've read. A narration, in which an individual keeps hope alive making him drive towards what was rightfully his, after he had hit the lowest point in life due to no fault of his own.

“Andy was the part of me they could never lock up, the part of me that will rejoice when the gates finally open for me and I walk out in my cheap suit with my twenty dollars of mad-money in my pocket. That part of me will rejoice no matter how old and broken and scared the rest of me is. I guess it's just that Andy had more of that part than me, and used it better. -Red”

I watched the highly acclaimed movie, "Shawshank Redemption", upon completing the novella. Much less graphic in detail the novella, it works at a different level, with a foot in philosophy at times.

The following quote present in both the book and the novel, is more apt to the background of the movie:

“It goes back to what I said about Andy wearing his freedom like an invisibility coat, about how he never really developed a prison mentality. His eyes never got that dull look.”

The Apt Pupil:

 “You see something for the first time, and right away you know you have found YOUR GREAT INTEREST. It’s like a key turning in a lock. Or falling in love for the first time.” 

Only, what took the interest of that adolescent Todd Bowden  took him down a path of evil, so monstrous and gory, that the reader finds it a challenge to endure through the graphic details  in this narration. Easily the book that disturbed me most since Rosemary's Baby - and that was a good 25 year or more.

At the start of their engagement Todd says;

“'Sure. The firing squads. The gas chambers. The ovens. The guys who had to dig their own graves and then stand on the ends so they’d fall into them. The . . .' His tongue came out and wetted his lips. 'The examinations. The experiments. Everything. All the gooshy stuff.' Dussander stared at him with a certain amazed detachment, the way a veterinarian might stare at a cat who was giving birth to a succession of two-headed kittens. 'You are a monster,' he said softly.”

Well, monster is an understatement. This book left me a troubled notion about the contagiousness of evil thought. But probably it works for the best because of the horror ( although at times one wonders if Todd could've  pulled it all off at that age), in the case of this novella.

The Body:

“Gordie: Do you think I'm weird?

Chris: Definitely.
Gordie: No man, seriously. Am I weird?
Chris: Yeah, but so what? Everybody's weird”

This is a story which reads like a memoir - it could very well have been inspired by his own life to some degree. This is a true coming of age novella, which centers upon four boys coming from four dysfunctional if not outright abusive families. One can't help the growing of an attachment to these characters, all four of whom King does justice to. Gordy, who later turns a writer and narrates this story, is ignored by his parents as they live out their lives mourning their dead elder son. Chris has never had a fair chance in life due to his family's criminal background, and is severely disliked by his teachers, although he's the smartest in the lot. Teddy has suffered most from his father, carrying life long damages but still hold his old man in high regard due to his military service. Vern suffers due to his rowdy elder brother. It is this troubled set who go out on a hike to "rediscover" the body of a boy gone missing a few days back - and their experiences make a fantastic reading. Especially the trestle bridge incident brings the reader  to a climax, although it is before of the main incident.


The Breathing Method:
  Of the four stories found in this book, this one is closest to being from the vintage King stock. More suggestive of horror than the other three novellas, this one suggests how the now liberal US of A looked down upon single mothers, denying them chance of even earning their keep, not so long ago. Although the novella has much to offer as a social commentary and the strength of a mother's love, I found that it doesn't live up to be the thriller it attempted to be. This is not to say that it is a weak story- not so. The strength of the other better three novellas, leaves this in a relative lesser poor footing.

Overall, this was a highly satisfying read. This one possibly offers more than what a reader of King may expects from him - and it is grand.  For the third time running, I've 'read' King audibly. I still have two books in audio format - Pet Semtary and It - but I have no visibility as  to when those will make "The listening seat".

Man in the Brown Suit - Agatha Christie

Being one of the novels I had somehow missed,  back when I was on a Christie reading spree in my late teens ( inspired by my mother being a huge fan of her ), I finally managed to 'read' it via an audio book. This, surely is more in line of a thriller, than a classic detective story, where Poirot or Ms. Maple sits,  and reflects. A little bit of 'googling' revealed that, what I remember to be one of her best works, namely "The Secret Adversary" was published in 1922. Man in the Brown suit, was published in 1924, and in contrast was quite weak, I thought. Probably her keenness to keep the tempo of a fast moving thriller, the authoress has taken liberties with the plot, that are far fetched and thus, unconvincing. True, Christie has achieved relative success by keeping the readers interested. But, the obvious weak concessions that the authoress has towards building her plot, was too much for me, to like this work as a whole.

The raw usage of certain words which would hold this work in contempt today, shows the distance that the world has traveled over the last 100 years.

"A black face grinned into mine - a devil's face. I thought it, and screamed out."

 Yet, after 100 years, racism hasn't left the world and we have its instances of its ugly head raising every now and then - as the present day incidents show.

The tone of the danger loving girl, who scorns the safety of a stable man, runs through the narration like a background tune. Christie, her self in her mid thirties at the time, may have been trying to project a sense of  spunk in her characters, which doesn't sound convincing overall. On the side of positives, the character of Sir Eustace Peddlar is a huge success.

I returned to Christie after 20 odd years, with "Curtains: Poirot's Last Case", recently - that held up largely as a solid work, in spite of a few stitch marks which were apparent as being stretches. In contrast, in "Man in the Brown Suit",  left me in no doubt that it is time I was through, reading Agatha Christie. Once, one reads an author of he caliber of John Le Carre, to fulfill her thirst of thrillers and espionage, the plots and weaving of Christie come up short. But, she had served me well in instilling a love for reading narrations based on traditional England which led me to look up authors like  E.M. Forster  - and appreciate such works as Howard's End and A Room with a View, - this love for British authors continues to date, with  appreciation of other English authors like Hilary Mantel or Julian Barnes, later. Almost all  authors, open possible paths for future reads, and Agatha Christie definitely served well in that regard.

Curtain: Poirot's Last Case - Agatha Christie

I think I read Agatha Christie, last, around 23-24 years back. This particular book, I think I read when I was in my late teens. While I am yet to read "The Man in the Brown Suit", a book that I wanted to reread  was, Curtains: Poirot's Last Case. I felt that it deserved a settled reading ( the last time was a rushed reading  from a copy my mother has borrowed from the Public Library - and there were missing pages, I recall ).

So, read it I did - this time, in audio form. I would've finished this about two months back, but then the lockdown resulted in a total stop to audio books. But over the last few days I have been able to 'read' 30 minutes here - there. But today, I just had to sit through that last 70 minutes and see it through, for it was engrossing - even while it was during a second reading. I had not forgotten Poirot's role, although I've forgotten who the "perfect murderer" was. I suppose that in her own way Christie was ahead of her time, with some of the suppositions in her books. For example, Dr. Franklin's unconventional pronouncements  once life offered him a second chance - or her outlook towards the thoughts of young people, with all their life in front of them. I concede, that I felt that Franklin not caring how this opportunity came about was rather  crass, in judgement of the outlook of the next generation as it were - and Christie's reading of this was, to me, was possibly questionable. However she doesn't fail to capture the human factor, which Christie always touches on,  that holds its attractions. True, there are the usual stretches and stitches of conveniences that "bring about" the build up of  the plot (i.e. 'the gun' here for instance, or the incident of  Allerton's 'suggestions' during his London trip ). Despite the contrived parts, one cannot help  appreciating  it for the subtle philosophical bent the book is rich with. To think, that Dame Christie had given thought to what coud be perfect murder, and has indeed succeeded in identifying it with acceptable conviction ( for example it  has not shown 100% success rate ), is proof of the level of thought she had given it. Further, Poirot's dilemma, shows Christie's recognition of the absence of easy decisions in the matter of right and wrong. Poirot in his last moment confessing that he was not sure, is quite modern in outlook - for after all it is book written by her in her 40s, although released in 1975.

Overall it is a delightful read, despite its limitations, and it is Agatha Christie at best.
Glad that I returned to it after all these years.
What a blessing audio books are - what a differentiator time  is too - from reading a dog eared, page missing, "settled for" - to being narrated to, behind the wheel, for the lack of a better pass time.

Bring up the Bodies - Hilary Mantel

Book Two of the Thomas Cromwell trilogy; Man Booker Award 2012

  Written, focusing from the end of Summer, or early Autumn of 1535 to the Summer of 1536, the period of Anne Bolyn's fall, her execution and the marriage of Henry Tudor to Jane Seymour. This historical novel exemplifies the role of Thomas Cromwell, in his services to the king, even better than the previous work, Wolf Hall. If Wolf Hall, discussed about the rise of Cromwell, and other notable historical figures like Thomas More and Wolsey, in this book Thomas Cromwell assumes the center stage even more so - depicting in doing so, his perseverance, his subtle revenge and the art of hypocrisy, which to be fair by him is what the monarchy expects of him. A modern man cannot fail to appreciate that for all the failings we have with our current set of world rulers, the laughable but yet fatal premises that were deemed sacred with respect to then monarchs, need to be deplored.

I will, but quote one extract from a dialogue between Cromwell, and his son Gregory, of how things were usually "formed", so that the king was never at fault, and his whims, and fancies are achieved irrespective of the price that was paid;

‘Are they really guilty?’ he (Gregory) asks, the moment they are alone. ‘Why so many
men? Would it not have stood better with the king’s honour if he named only one?’
He (Thomas Cromwell) says wryly, ‘That would distinguish him too much, the gentleman in question.’
‘Oh, you mean that people would say, Harry Norris has a bigger cock than the king, and he knows what to do with it?’
‘What a way with words you have indeed. The king is inclined to take it patiently, and where another man would strive to be secret, he knows he cannot be, because he is not a private man. He believes, or at least he wishes to show, that the queen has been indiscriminate, that she is impulsive, that her nature is bad and she cannot control it. And now that so many men are found to have erred with her, any possible defence is stripped away, do you see? That is why they have been tried first. As they are guilty, she must be.’

Yet, it is clear that Henry VIII had by that time become a laughing stock, in neighbouring France, and elsewhere - a cuckolded king, who advertised it across Europe.

From Cromwell's side too, he was almost always in an unenviable position, and it is his fine negotiation skills that made him succeed and survive. Below are the words he shares with a friend of his, the friend too finding himself in a not so comfortable position, due to his previous dealings with royalty.

"‘You know I am not a man with whom you can have inconsequential conversations. I cannot split myself into two, one your friend and the other the king’s servant.'"

 And he, Cromwell, was fully aware of the nature of his trade, the distance he's traveled and the progress he's made.

His whole career has been an education in hypocrisy. Eyes that once skewered him now kindle with simulated regard. Hands that would like to knock his hat off now reach out to take his hand, sometimes in a crushing grip. He has spun his enemies to face him, to join him: as in a dance. He means to spin them away again, so they look down the long cold vista of their years: so they feel the wind, the wind of exposed places, that cuts to the bone: so they bed down in ruins, and wake up cold.

 These 432 pages offer a close look at  what politics under a monarch was, what diplomacy was, and those who lived then lived through years until grievances could be set right; and how reports of certain actions were twisted to suit the purpose of the King. The main task set to Cromwell was to prove Anne's adultery. Certain careless words passed  and were overheard, and slightest, remotest suggestions were nurtured to impersonate what passed for proof. And what a mockery the whole court of law was ? What mockery justice was, as the main actors and scripts, acted out a play to achieve a few sacrificial deaths, so that the King achieved his ends.

"'We are lawyers. We want the truth little and only those parts of it we can use'",

Cromwell confesses to Wriothesey.

The novel captured the times, the mood and thin line that those who dealt with the king could tread.

“You can be merry with the king, you can share a joke with him. But as Thomas More used to say, it's like sporting with a tamed lion. You tousle its mane and pull its ears, but all the time you're thinking, those claws, those claws, those claws.”

A fine work of literature by a fine author. Highly readable, and equally recommended. I am looking forward to read part three, which was published last February.

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel

Thomas Cromwell : Abused son of a brutal blacksmith, political genius, master strategist, a briber, a persuasive talker, charmer and a bully. History has largely been unkind to him, and when pitted against the more intellectual, his name sake opponent, Thomas More - the Catholics have a 500 year old grudge against him. My troubles to find out more about Cromwell revealed, that only historian Elton has pointed out the important role that Cromwell played to carry England, from the middle ages to the modern era, with reformation being the leading article. Interestingly this reformation, and Catholicism, is of personal importance to Mantel given her own family Catholic background and "protestant changes" in it, as it were ( read "The Devil and Hilary Mantel".)

This book, despite its subtle wit and sarcasm, ( which suggest the author's Shakespearean influence,) is a challenging read at 650 pages. Employing modern English, the whole narration is from the point of view of Cromwell, although not in the first person. It is challenging, firstly, due to its size, and secondly due to the many characters that take the field. I have to reluctantly admit, that a kindle read of this book would've been a tad more tedious given  the numerous instances that I had to turn back the pages which listed out the characters.

I will not try to review the book, per se, much. It is a thoroughly rewarding read, and honestly given the difficult days we are going through at present, a book like this, which warrants a strict daily routine to read, is a good choice in my honest opinion. I was just lucky that a reader's club picked this as a read, these days. From here on, I will dwell a bit on the times that were, why change was inevitable, the hypocrisy that prevailed back then, and why in my opinion Cromwell did England, a much needed service. But these were difficult times, and reformists who are now revered upon, would be hounded out of civilised society in modern times, if some of these are not the author's imagination.

"Women reading the Bible, there's another point of contention. Does she know what Brother Martin thinks is a woman's place? We shouldn't mourn, he says, if our wife or daughter dies in childbirth – she's only doing what God made her for. Very harsh, Brother Martin, very intractable." ( page 124 - Wosley to Cromwell, aside, while discussing Anne Boleyn's virtues, which he has in epistles to the pope in Rome )

The matter that made the most impact to me was the facade, the show, the hypocrisy, which the  ruling class upheld as a collective inferred reverence. Anne Boleyn's and Katherine of Aragon's chastity ( or its lack); Thomas More's fight to save his soul, irrespective of all the cruelties and tortures that he personally ensured took place;  the continued sacrifice of able and capable men for the whims and beliefs of royalty. I do comprehend that the passage of 500 years has given new meaning to many things, since. But the worrying factor is, even today, in a climate of a global pandemic as we are in now, cultural practices and deep rooted beliefs still question the studied decisions of the experts in the respective fields. 

It is in this light that I cannot help, but nurture a respect for Thomas Cromwell. Mantel's Cromwell, is nothing but a practical man, who changed and interpreted rules to suit the ends he was serving, ( like Wolsey before him - but more effectively, ruthlessly.)  While his own beliefs are not presented clearly in the book, it is safe to assume that he was a modernist far beyond the age that he lived in - a pragmatist.

"It is time to say what England is, her scope and boundaries: not to count and measure her harbour defences and border walls, but to estimate her capacity for self-rule. It is time to say what a king is, and what trust and guardianship he owes his people: what protection from foreign incursions moral or physical, what freedom from the pretensions of those who would like to tell an Englishman how to speak to his God. Parliament meets mid-January. The business of the early spring is breaking the resistance of the bishops to Henry's new order, putting in place legislation that – though for now it is held in suspension – will cut revenues to Rome, make his supremacy in the church no mere form of words." ( pages 338-339)

But, yet, the skill in our authoress is such that, the respect for ideologue, Thomas More,  which I felt blooming in me, couldn't be denied either ( although he ends up in the losing side).

‘You cannot compel me to put myself in hazard. For if I had an opinion against your Act of Supremacy, which I do not concede, then your oath would be a two-edged sword. I must put my body in peril if I say no to it, my soul if I say yes to it. Therefore I say nothing.’ ( page 628 - More to Cromwell , when the latter tries to talk his way through for More's oath.)

 Such strong belief !

After a hefty 650 page read, tired as I am, I may possibly venture to its sequel, "Bringing up the Bodies", given that Ms. Mantel has managed to convince me that I must continue to read on, and live through the life and times of that master strategist, Thomas Cromwell - even if that means resorting to a kindle version, for a book better served in its printed format.

The Royalty served but more for their selfish gain. The results are a product of the blood and sweat of the officials.

"‘Do I retain you for what is easy? Jesus pity my simplicity, I have promoted you to a place in this kingdom that no one, no one of your breeding has ever held in the whole of the history of this realm.’ He  drops his voice. ‘Do you think it is for your personal beauty? The charm of your presence? I keep you, Master Cromwell, because you are as cunning as a bag of serpents. But do not be a viper in my bosom. You know my decision. Execute it.’ (page 631 - Henry to Cromwell)

It appears that Cromwell may have gone on to become the 2nd most powerful person of then, England. But there sure wasn't a day his humble beginnings were not reminded him. England, sure has come a long long way!

The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene

This novel is almost 80 is old, with the main theme being suppression of the Catholic church by the Mexican government in 1927-1929. Greene had spent some time in Mexico back in the 1930s. Having stood the test of time, this novel had been recognized as one the top 100 novels in the English language since 1930s, by the TIME magazine. This was published in 1940.

The main character is a wayward catholic priest, running from the law. He's fond of the bottle, and had fathered a daughter. Greene uses the term "whiskey priest", to identify the priest. Yet for all his ills, the priest is a keen observer of life, and a man with compassion. Albeit his fear of pain, the man cannot bring himself to run away to save his life, whenever his pastoral responsibilities come up. 

The characters present are interesting, as usual with Greene, and the reader may take up a private journey with few of the characters, and wonder how they fared. In this case, I was intrigued enough to think of the fate of Coral Fellows ( the girl who helped the father to hide, lying to her mother and challenging her father ), the ideology driven Lieutenant who hopes for a better future for his people in a secular state and the half-caste, the opportunist informant - easily the most deplored character in the book. The Book paints a vivid picture of  Mexico - its poverty stricken life, the helpless Indians and struggling expatriates. 

Just like The Heart of the Matter, The Human Factor, Our Man in Havana and a Burnt Out Case, this novel too is brimming with difficult questions that the main characters deal with over matters in life. The main character may lose, or may end up in no better position than they started at, but not before enabling the reader ponder over the human condition at length. I guess this is the main reason I keep returning to Graham Greene, for my relatively lighter reading, while not compromising on the dilemmas that the human condition is intricately bound with. ( For the record this is the 12th of Graham Greene's work that I've 'read' - read as in, listened via an audio book, plus a skim of the omnibus version of the book I have. The audiobook is a copy of an old recording which had come in a pack of seven cassettes, I learn. The narrator's notice that "this book continues at this point, on the other side of this cassette", had it charm for me, given that I loved my cassette tapes, before CDs took over ).

Quichotte - Salman Rushdie

Reading a novel by Rushdie is usually a challenge - a challenge that is usually very, very rewarding, as I found out through The Satanic Verses, The Moor's last sigh and Midnight's children. Then there was Luka and the Lake of Fire which I read to my kids ( which the kids and their father found tiresome), and the equally chaotic Fury ( which luckily was "read" in its audiobook" form - so no harm done ). If Quichotte didn't manage to sneak up to be among the finalists of last year's Booker nominees, chances are I would've given this the miss. But the fact that it did, along with the fact that it was  loosely based on the character of Don Quixotte ( the book considered to be the first modern novel), and involves traveling across contemporary America with many an adventure, convinced me that I should read this. I was not disappointed . In fact I like this much - and this has to be the most readable and accessible Rushdie novel that I've read to date.

Rushdie handles many contemporary issues. The white supremacy that has woken up from decades of slumber in an opportune political environment, is a primary topic. Rushdie has been living in the United States for twenty years, and he is likely to have sensed the change of political climate, to make this point ( and he's not the first one to do so - even persons known to us have conveyed similar sentiments). A subtle license to hate has been tolerated over the last few years, Rushdie thinks. The next reference is the use of Opioids. Given the time of the release of the book (2019) it is safe to assume that Prince's death possibly due to fentanyl was one of the reasons to consider it as one of major ills of present day U.S. In fact he makes reference to Prince's death in an interview he had given about the book. The role that  Opioids play in American society takes  a considerable role in this tale.

The other topics he visits across this nearly 400 page book are -   Talk shows, with a fictional character that resembles an Indian born version of Oprah as a main character. Trash TV, broken migrant families where siblings live in different continents with less than the best of sibling like affection between them. There is  numerous literary references as appropriate a post-modern novel  - from Moby Dick to Alice in Wonderland, Lolita, Pinocchio to Bruce Springsteen's Pink Cadillac ( he must be liking the boss - he referenced Bruce in Fury too - after all, the Boss is the ultimate working class American's singer and hence, representative of America ).



The characters both fictional, and the fiction's fictional, have their roots in India - Mumbai (as usual). It was interesting to note that the topic of abuse by trusted family members, comes up several times, with  how the repercussions affect them throughout their lives.
In Quichotte, Rushdie limits fantasy to the sub-narration, leaving the base narration within the realms of the real - until the last page or two, where he attempts to make the fantasy world, a sub-world and extension of the base - a neat trick I felt. There is also the faintest hint that he laughs at himself, in this novel, and that too is an attraction.

Overall, it was one of the most readable novels by Rushdie, and it was quite an enjoyable book. Personally I would rack it along with his best works - The Satanic verses, The Moor's last sigh and Midnight's Children ( i.e. from the ones I've read), and rate it just a few tenths below them.

Celestial Bodies - Jokha al-Harthi ( Translated by Marilyn Booth )

Oman: a country which had under gone a considerable change since the 1960s - when she emerged as an Oil rich country. The transformation from an  era,  when schooling for girl children was restricted, to a time  where subsequent generations saw their girls become medical doctors, and could decide on whom to marry -  From an  era when patriarchs controlled their families, made concubines of their slave women ( yes, slavery was a fact! ),  to a time when a woman was able to be true to her inner thoughts and tolerance and call for divorce - From an era when the children lived in mortal fear of their father's wrath, whose punishments troubled their dreams throughout life, to a time when their more sensitive, broad minded  sons, learned  to love and  respect their families' wishes, even while knowing that their "chosen" spouse truly never reciprocated their love -  From a time when fear of djinns was part of the belief of the daily life to an era of iPhones and global citizenry. Oman has seen a lot of changes - from slaves in your house and slavery as a trade to a more refined, modern time, as she opened up to the rest of the world - in a relatively short time. This transition is the  authoress' main focal area, via a  familiar Omani rural landscape, as she zig-zags between the two verticals of the past and the present. Most parts of the world has taken drastic steps towards modernization in the said period - and this is Oman's story, a story presented vividly, which we haven't had the opportunity to glimpse to before.

This is a busy book - a busy narration. In one chapter, one reads about the possible  supernatural causes for the death of a young mother, and the next one, where a  lady doctor has her way in choosing her life partner, going against her parents, as we travel  a period of fifty years across two chapters, only to zig zag back to an earlier time. My guess is that the authoress used this zig-zag method of narration, bordering on chaos, to portray the short duration over which socio-cultural landscape changed - and it is a powerful ploy.

We are given a look into the life style of the new Bedouin - Bedouin by heart, but only milder in actual  life style.

"The Bedouin – despite all appearances of permanence, having settled in one locale and replaced their camelhair tents with cement block dwellings – scorned, even despised, the very idea of putting down roots. They relied first and foremost on pasturing camels and sheep. They held fast to their traditional loose garments and their free, untethered natures, preserving the impermeable boundaries that separated them from what was called ‘the life of the settled’."

One of my most cherished reading experience with respect to Bedouins  comes from The English Patient - where "the patient" describes in fine detail how he is treated and kept alive in the native style. I cannot deny that I had hopes of a romanticized version  of Bedouin life - but al-Harthi presents us with a realistic modern picture of their life style here, which is line with the overall direction of the novel.


While the changes that the country had been through  forms the background, Abdallah - the only character that speaks here in the first person, presents himself with all his doubts, and his good nature ( All other characters are presented with an omnipotent eye ). Haunted by the nightmares of his childhood thanks to his strict father, he is the symbol of a modern man - a reasonable man who suits the modern times - the best kind of men for the times we're in.  Otherwise, the range of characters is diverse, and adds up to the overall mood of a long history, but focused over a period of 50 to 60 years. Culture, presents a  colourful background, while  the overall mood of tolerance makes the reader draw parallels across their own background. [ Going on a tangent I tried to think of how my local landscape would've changed in the said period. I had a chat with an elderly  mason from Matara ( that's  Southern, Sri Lanka for those who don't know ) that I associate with, and he opened up about the skilled exorcists who lived back then, but how the skills are hardly existent now - leading to disbelief among the current generation. What we lacked was the slavery, but he gave a fine detail of how caste trod upon a generation of drum beaters etc., which ensured that their children didn't continue their father's trade. What we lacked was the oil for us to take the bend. Education has certainly helped, but its taking its time ]

It is an enjoyable read, no doubt. However I think that the main reason that this book would've won the Man Booker International award was the hint of readiness to accept change, that the book suggests. While a stance of accepting and accommodating change needs to be recognized and appreciated, one wonders if that message by itself in a garb of literature, is worthy of a recognition for such an award. However it is an important book that warrants reading, to appreciate the change another region has faced, as the world rolled towards the modern times. Especially given the usual dark brush that this region receives in telling their story (usually by outsiders )
, this is a considerable effort of story telling and culture, that can sit side by side with the rest of the world as Oman's story in modern humanity.

On the Beach - Nevil Shute

"Hide on the promenade

Etch a postcard : 

'How I Dearly Wish I Was Not Here'

In the seaside town

That they forgot to bomb

Come, come, come, nuclear bomb

Everyday is like Sunday

Everyday is silent and grey"

(Everyday is like Sunday - Morrissey )  

   The above is a verse from one of my favourite melancholy songs. The total bleakness that this song boasts of, is tantamount to its success.I liked the song so much that I recently ventured to find out the background for this song - and I stumbled upon a novel that had inspired it. ( My only previous outing with Shute was "A Town called Alice", which I read a good 20 years or so back, on the insistence of a friend.)

We are presented with a world which is fast losing its total human population. At the start of the novel, the Australians have six months to live, as a series of nuclear bombs which had been dropped in the Northern Hemisphere, spreads down under due to how pressure equator works.  The Northern hemisphere is believed to be totally devoid of life, and what we see is how people in Melbourne and there about face up and live up their remaining days, knowing that there is no way out. This is the back ground of the novel, and the beauty of the novel is how people accept their fate and spend those last days. It can be termed dystopian due to the undesirable ending, but what we see here are a set of people who try to make the best of what they have for everyone in the remaining days - largely. 

There is only way to live. And that is with hope, irrespective of how hopeless reality is. As such we see young couples planning their infant duties future, we see young couples planning their garden for the next summer ( a summer that they know in their  minds that they will never see); 

“They won’t be here in six months’ time. I won’t be here. You won’t be here. They won’t want any vegetables next year.”

Dwight stood in silence for a moment, looking out at the blue sea, the long curve of the shore. “So what?” he said at last. “Maybe they don’t believe it. Maybe they think that they can take it all with them and have it where they’re going to, someplace. I wouldn’t know.” He paused. “The thing is, they just kind of like to plan a garden. Don’t you go and spoil it for them, telling them they’re crazy.”

“I wouldn’t do that.” She stood in silence for a minute. “None of us really believe it’s ever going to happen— not to us,” she said at last.

Shute, Nevil. On the Beach (Kindle Locations 1752-1758).

We meet a submarine captain  buying gifts for his wife and two kids in Connecticut, so that he can give them when he sees them ( not withstanding that there is no life in the U.S.), we see officers being faithful to their wives fully aware that their wives are no more - for the realisation that there is no one to return to is not bearable, and they fore go their chances in a foreign land.

This book was written in 1957. Shute has done a fair job in presenting the upcoming Armageddon. While it is near impossible to write a review without spoiler for this book, the beauty of this book is not in the story line per se, but in the mind frames of the characters as they await their end. It is by large a civilized society, and I couldn't but help thinking how our people would've reacted in such a situation. Yes, a free for all, with no respect for law and order would've made it a very dangerous place. Yet, there is a sense of a little prude behaviour - or behaviour that is too good to be true, in the circumstances even for Australia, I felt. If the community as a whole was mature to a level, then this behaviour could be expected. There is some detailing on how the nuclear war fair came about, as well as finer detail on submarine life. This makes the narration more plausible. Yet, for all its beauty there is an old age feel about the whole narration. Given that 1984 was written in 1949, and that has a dystopian environment so menacing for all its natural  feel, I couldn't help but wonder if Shute's style has had an effect on a less than believable human behaviour. Am more inclined to believe this, since I recall that most characters in "A town called Alice" were well behaved and not wont sexual excesses, despite being cruel in warfare.
I have no hesitation in recommending this book, to anyone who has enjoyed 1984, The Animal Farm or The Handmaid's Tale. The pure human mindset and the nuance of how a man or woman likes to go out, when he or she has to leave this world, but with a choice gives rise to an existential thought. I couldn't help but wonder if it is an extension of  a generation of Sisyphus' believing them happy. After all, you have the option of living your last days as you think it suits you best.

ප්‍රේම පුරාණය - සුනේත්‍රා රාජකරුණානායක

සුබෝධාලංකාරය
නන්දිතය
පොදු පුරුෂයා
සද්ගුණාකාරය
කවිකඳුර
බුද්ධදාසි
සඳුන්ගිර ගිනි ගනියි
කොළඹයා හා ෂැංහයියා
කෘතීම දූපත් ;
                       ඉහත දැක්වෙන්නේ මා ප්‍රේම පුරාණය කියවීමට පෙර, ලේඛිකාවගේ කියවා තිබූ නවකතාවන්, දළ වශයෙන් මා කිය වූ පිළිවෙලට ය. මෙහි සුබෝධාලංකාරය, නන්දිතය සහ පොදු පුරුෂයා හි පුළුල් ලෙස යම් පොදු ලක්ෂණයක් තිබුන ද, ලේඛිකාව පුළුල් පරාසයක් තුල තම නිර්මාණ සිදු කොට ඇති බව මට ප්‍රත්‍යක්ෂ වේ. අදට ත් සද්ගුණාකාරය මට කවිකඳුර, ප්‍රේම පුරාණය,  සඳුන්ගිර ගිනි ගනී සහ බුද්ධදාසි වලට වඩා ප්‍රියය. එහෙත් මේ කෘති දහය තුල මුල් හතර- පහ අතර ට ප්‍රේම පුරාණය ද ඇතුලත් ය.  මෙහි එන නිර්මලා  චරිතය ට මා රෝස නෝනා තරමට ම පාහේ මට ප්‍රියයි. ඒ එම චරිතය ඉතා අවංක චරිතයක් ලෙස ලේඛිකාව මගින් ගොඩ නගා ඇති නිසයි. ඇය, නව යෞවනියක් ලෙස ප්‍රේමය ගැන ඇති සිහිනමය හැඟීම, සංස්කෘතික රාමුවකට අවනත වී විවාහයකට අවනත වීම,  සිහිනමය ප්‍රේමයක පළ දැරීම, ප්‍රේමය පාළු දිවිය ඉදිරියට ගෙනයාමට අත් වැලක් කර ගැනීම, නිදහස් ආදරයේ තහංචි වලින් තොර මිහිර, බොහෝ රසයන් අත්විඳි කාන්තාවක් ලෙස ප්‍රේමයේ සියුම් තැන් වින්දනය, සහ ප්‍රේමය රාගයෙන් එපිට ආධ්‍යාත්මික ස්ථානයකට ගෙන යාම ආදි අවදි පසු කරන්නීය.  අපි නිර්මලා සමඟ ඇගේ දිවි ජවනිකා ඔස්සේ, එක්සත් ජනපදයට, ඉන්දියාවට ( කිහිප වරක්), නේපාලයට ගමන් ගන්නෙමු. ඉතින් මේ පුස්තකය රසවත්, වින්දනීය මෙන්ම,  මිනිස් දිවිය පුරාවට ම ප්‍රේමය විවිධාකාරයෙන් විඳීමේ සාරවත්බව පිළිබඳව තමන් සමඟ ම සංවාදයකට මුල පුරයි. ඒ නිදහස් මතයන් සහ ප්‍රේමනීය නිදහස, සංස්කෘතික තහංචි පීළිබඳ සිතීමට ඉල්ලා සිටියී.

ප්‍රේම පුරාණය සහ සමන් වික්‍රමාරච්චි:
සමන් වික්‍රමාරච්චි ඔහුගේ දෙවියන්ගේ නිරුවත යන විචාර ලිපි එකතුවේ ප්‍රේම පුරාණය කියවා අමන්දානන්දයට පත්ව, මෙසේ පවසයි (මෙය රසවත් ය - ඒ නිසා ගෙඩි පිටින් ඔබමි);

"ටොල්ස්ටෝයිගේ සහ ගුස්ටාව් ප්ලෝබෙයාගේ 'පුරුෂ කේන්ද්‍රීය නිර්මාණ භාවිතාව' තුළ ඇනා කැරනිනා සහ මදාම් බොවාරි අවසානයේ සියදිවි නසා ගනිති.... අර ස්ත්‍රීවාදි විචාරකයින්ට අනූව හරියටම කියනවා නම් එය පරදාරයේ යෙදෙන ගැහැනුනට අත්විය යුතු ඉරනම පුරුෂවාදි චින්තනය විසින් තීන්දු කරනු ලැබීමකි. එසේ පරදාර ප්‍රේමයේ සුඛ විහරණය නොමදව විඳින ප්‍රේම පුරාණයේ නිර්මලා නොනැසී ඉතා සැහැල්ලුවෙන් ජීවිතයට මුහුන දෙන්නේ ඇය ස්ත්‍රීවාදී නිර්මාණ ඵලයක් වන නිසා ද ?සුනේත්‍රාගේ ස්ත්‍රීවාදි චින්තනය තුළ නිර්මලාගේ සහ ඇගේ පන්නයේ අනේක ගැහැණුන්ගේ ප්‍රේමය පුරුෂයින්ගේ චින්තනය තඹයකට මායිං නොකරයි" (35-36 පිටු ; දෙවියන්ගේ නිරුවත )

 ප්‍රේම පුරාණය මුල් වරට විදර්ශන ප්‍රකාශනයක් ලෙස එළි දැක්වෙන්නේ 1999 වසරේදීය. දෙවියන්ගේ නිරුවත ප්‍රකාශ වන්නේ 2005 දී ය.  සමන් ගේ ප්‍රහර්ශය මෙසේය:

"ප්‍රේම පුරාණයේ විස්තර කරන්නේ පුරුෂවාදී ප්‍රේමය සහ පතිවෘතාවයි. සුනේත්‍රා ස්ත්‍රීත්වය මේ උගුලෙන් මුදවා පුරුෂයින්ට අත පොවන්නට බැරිතරම් උසක රඳවයි. අවසානයේ දී කියවා ඉවර කර මිස බිම තැබීමට සිත් නොදෙන ආඛ්‍යාන රීතියක කොටුවන පුරුෂවාදී දෘෂ්ටිය ස්ත්‍රී වන්දනාවකට වුව ද ලක ලෑස්ති වන තරමින් හීලෑ වෙයි." ( 36-37 පිටු)

සමන් මේ කියනා තත්ත්වය තෙරුම් ගත හැක. යුරෝපීයානු රටවල මෙන් ගැහැනිය අසම්මත පෙමකට පටලවා ගත හැකි සාපේක්ෂ පහසු තත්ත්වයක් ගැන කියවීම වුව ප්‍රහර්ශයකි. එය ස්වභාවික තත්ත්වයක ට වඩා ආසන්න වූ, ඒ නිසා ම පිරිමියා වලෙකු, වසලයෙකු නොවෙන තත්වයක, ස්ත්‍රී ප්‍රේමයේ වර්ණනා කියවීම, ප්‍රියය.  ඉතින් ස්ත්‍රී වන්දනාව සාධාරණ හේතු ඇත.

සමන් "ප්‍රේම පුරාණය" ගැන නැවත සිහි කරන්නේ ඔහුගේ ගිරිකුළ ගැන විචාරයේ ය
[ (අ)විචාර සමය 2011 - අනුරාධපුරයේ වෙසෙන ශාන්ති දිසානායකගේ ස්ත්‍රීවාදී චින්තනය සොයා ගතිමි]. ලිපියේ උක්ත මාතාකාව ගැන පවසන සමන්, අනතුරුව මෙසේ කියයි;

"..කොළොම්පුර වාසි ස්ත්‍රියකගේ මනසේ මැවෙන ස්ත්‍රිය පුරුෂයා සහ රමණය පිළිබඳ පාරභෞතික ගැන හැදෑරීමට නම් සුනේත්‍රා රාජකරුණානායකගේ ප්‍රේම පුරාණය කියවීම මැනවි. (ඇත්ත, ප්‍රේම පුරාණය මා අද කියවන්නේ එදා කියවූ ලෙස නො වේ. වෙනස් වන දැනුම මා එකම තැන ප නො කොට ඉදිරියට තල්ලු කරයි) (11 පිටුව )

අවිචාර සමයේ මෙම ලිපිය මා ශාන්ති ගේ ගිරිකුළ ත්, සුනේත්‍රා ගේ ප්‍රේම පුරාණය ත් කියවීමට පෙළඹවීය. නිරුවත් දෙවිවරු හි එන ප්‍රේම පුරාණය  පිළිබඳ ලිපිය මා කියවූයේ අද ය. මේ ලිපිය මෙවන් රටාවකට ලිවීමට හේතු වූවේ ද එම ලිපියයි. එහෙත්, සමන් සේ ම, සුනේත්‍රා මැවූ නිර්මලා ගේ චරිතය ට රෝස නෝනා ට තරම්ම ( ඊටත් වඩා ද, මන්දා ? ), ඇළුම් කරමි. මෙය සිංහල සාහිත්‍යයේ සුවිශේෂි නවකතාවක් විය යුතු බවට විශ්වාස කරමි.

The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene

"After years of waiting

Nothing came
As your life flashed before your eyes
You realize

I'm a reasonable man
Get off, get off, get off my case"

     ("Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box" by Radiohead, from Amnesiac )

I checked how many books I've read of Graham Greene - this is his 11th. For one author, that's quite a lot, but this is the first time I've used the medium of an audiobook to read him. But I keep returning to him. He usually has a needling question, which he presents within a fast moving narrative - with an exotic setting, more usually than not.

This book is set in, Sierra Leone during the time of world war II, and it concerns the small contingent of British citizens working on their crown colony. While the war time environment offers a necessary background, the main theme the limits of reasonableness and responsibility towards others.

 Greene troubles the reader with the concept of Catholicism, and its guilt. Greene  infers that a reasonable man cannot live  by his clear consciousness within Catholicism. Men err - and a man true to himself will not be deluded by the concept of confession and especially, penance. 

Introducing Henry Scobie ! Scobie, the Just !  The Just, highly principled Henry Scobie finds life unbearable in a tangle of official life, married life and a secret infatuation.  Greene suggests that a reasonable man, can be an unnamed saint, despite his sinful ways, for in his heart he wants to be reasonable towards all - usually an unachievable end -

 "the saint whose name nobody could remember"

Greene paints a variety of characters around our protagonist, Henry Scobie. Liz Scobie, Helen, Wilson, Yusuf are all presented with their full glory of selfish unfair ends. Yet they regret nothing till the end. If Scobie had, but an ounce of the hypocrisy and selfishness that most of these characters lived with, day in day out, Scobie would've had the best of all worlds.

Most consider this as Greene's masterpiece.  I don't recall an instance where the author addressed morality, integrity and guilt with such a philosophical bent as in this instance. While "The Human Factor" is the book that has made the most impression for me, along with "Our man in Havana", this sure can be racked alongside given the pertinent troubling questions that Green asks our collective minds.

The Illicit Happiness of Other People - Manu Joseph

This is a book that I started reading upon being introduced it by another reading group I am in. By now I have a lot of respect for authors of Indian origin, writing in English - from Salman Rushdie, to Arundathy Roy, to Aravind Adiga. The tile of the book itself, made me notice the book, and reading reviews made me realise that it is a different kind of book.

The Book - Meet Unni Chako, the main character - oops, you can't meet him. He's already dead by page one itself.  Why did he commit suicide ?  That is the only question that matters, and that carries the whole weight of the book. Note, am stating all this, and still stating quite honestly that am not spoiling the book for you. Why ? This is just the base of the story. What we have is a drunkard father, a troubled mother and an insecure brother all trying to figure out why he committed suicide.  His father has made this his sole occupation, three years after his son's death, for the circumstances warranted that he find out the truth. The dysfunctional family is bound by their grief for their lost family member. During , Ousep Chako's (the father), escapades to get to the root of this issue, us, the reader is taken on a thought provoking journey in 1990s Madras. We see protests (in passing ) against Sri Lanka stating that the Government is hunting down Thamils; we see the late actor turned chief minister and his mistress turned politician, Amma; we see Madras' obsession with Mathematics, Engineering Colleges and finding a job in America; we see proselytizing as happened in South India ; we see abuse of women and shame-faced homo-sexuality . All these decorate the  way  as Joseph paints a politically conscious, critical review of 90s Madras.

But that commentary, however much vivid it is, is  not our author's main intent. We see the author's intent through Ousep Chako. He discovers his son's traits,  of philosophical inquiry, social experiments and  dispensing  justice - Unni style. At another level it is a wonderful portrayal of adolescent doubt, overconfidence and psyche. What can be the result when one has some notion about the existential crisis at a relatively young age ?

I will leave with a few, witty, insightful extracts from the book as tempters, with the hope that some of you will enjoy the exhilaration that this book brought me.

Extract 1:

"It is true anywhere in the world, but the fear of the adolescent boys on Balaji Lane is exceptional. They are terrified of everything, of life, of their future, of friends doing better than them, of falling off their cycles, of big trucks and large men, and of beautiful women. The only thing that does not scare them is calculus."
Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Location 102-04). Kindle Edition.

Extract 2:

All this will go one day, this animal poverty, it will vanish. And future generations will not know, will not even guess, the true nature of poverty, which is the longest heritage of man. Shouldn’t this be preserved somehow, like old colonial buildings, shouldn’t abject poverty be preserved as historical evidence? That is what socialists are trying to do in this country. Everybody misunderstands their intentions. They are noble conservationists, working hard to preserve a way of the world.

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 927-930). Kindle Edition.

 Extract 3:

 The happiest men in the world are the men who swore that they would never become their fathers. That is how the alpha males became endangered. Their sons decided that they would not become their fathers, they would be decent men, they would not sleep with strangers through the night, they would instead wipe baby shit, they would know at all times the ages of their children and the names of their teachers, they would buy curtains, they would transfer food from large bowls into smaller bowls and put them in the fridge, they would not be their fathers. In a world full of new men who did not want to be their fathers, what chance did the alpha males have?

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 1410-1414). Kindle Edition. 

Extract 4:

The society of neuroscientists does not recognize mass delusion as a psychiatric condition. What does this mean? This means, the society of neuroscientists would admit that all evidence points to the fact that God is a figment of man’s delusion, yet believers in God, who form most of humanity, cannot be considered delusional. This is a ridiculous position. From the point of view of neuroscience, sanity is a majority condition, and a mass delusion is not a delusion but merely human nature.

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 3780-3783). Kindle Edition.

 Extract 5:

         He finds it funny, and strangely satisfying, that the pursuit of truth is in all likelihood a path left behind by ancient schizophrenics.

Manu Joseph. The Illicit Happiness Of Other People (Kindle Locations 3843-3844). Kindle Edition. 

After Warlight, this is easily the best book of fiction book I've read so far this year. Joseph has written a book,  rich with pain, existentialism, sarcasm, neuroscience and contemporary politics. The irony of our times are, that under all the bleakness that these bring us, there is an undeniable humour in how these characters go about their lives.

Please Read this ! I implore !

The Harry Potter Series

I started listening to this series of  book primarily because I could indulge in this "Harry Potter thing" without losing out on my limited reading time, through audio books. By the time I started the series, my elder son (13+) has read all seven of the series, and my second son (12) was about half way through the series. I see them indulging in the movies based on these novels quite often, and as a result my youngest (then 4) too is somewhat conversant about these characters. He is waiting till he can read enough to start on the books ( The picture is that of the copies owned by the kids - I think I read a total of twenty pages or there abouts towards the end of  book seven, to enjoy Snape's story, but that's it. All the rest was thanks to the amazing Jim Dales. For, there was no way I was going to spend my time on those thick seven volumes. And of course, those girls (primarily) and guys (hardly) in the unofficial reading club, made a big thing about my not having read Harry Potter - so I thought, why the hell not.

Book One: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone: So I started "listening to" Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone( the copy of my sons', is titled Philosopher's Stone - guess Sorcerer is more precise term here) , and to be quite honest, I liked it quite a bit. The way the affairs in the lives of witches and wizards have been plotted, and how the authoress has looked into the finer details when drawing parallels with "muggle" life, portrays the level of creativity and effort that has gone in - but then am sure, this sounds like repeating the obvious, for most of you have lived through the whole series.

I thought the ending had a touch of Bollywood in it. The way that the Gryffindor house at Hogwarts gets points awarded, to ensure there victory, was going to far. Overall I would say that, it was possibly the only complain I had against this book, which was primarily targeted for a younger readership. Given that audience, it is passable stretch.

The adventure and the pace kept me on the book ( again stating the obvious ), although the rate at which trouble finds Harry can only keep children and those in early teens convinced. Yet, I was happy to go along with that rate. I just started on Book two, and although it is too early to comment ( the "myth" of the Secret Chamber was just rejected by the History of Magic lecturer), it already appear to handle more plausible issues (e.g. mixed blood vs. pure blood ) -this after a start that almost made me stop reading the book, and try the new Dave Matthews Band album instead.

Book Two: Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets: Completed listening to the second of the series, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" today (31st July 2018) - and contemplating whether I should start on the third immediately, or listen to some new music which has come my way.

While the second book starts off in high speed action - so much so, I started to feel a little silly listening to it,  but soon settled to an accepted level once Ron and Harry reached school. From there on the "pure blood" vs. "mud blood" undertone, and the inferences of how the wizard and witches lineage might very well have died out if not for the mixing of the wizard families with the muggle families make a case for a political consciousness that even a kid will find easy to relate to other parallels as he grows up, To me, this by it self brings in a lot of value. Another point I was somewhat surprised to find here was the power of a mother's love - a lucky chance as per the lord of Darkness ( for by itself it has no magic in it in the literal sense ) - which is stressed as the only reason for Harry's survival and Voldermott's (temporary ) downfall. A third point I appreciate is the fake character of Gilderoy  Lockhart ( whose everyday sequels are found in dozens in the corporate world), which is displayed in all its glory - or rather the lack of it. Coupled with the occasional humour, especially with respect to death ( mourning Murtle, headless Nick ), the far fetched  incidents ( e.g. the car saving Ron and Harry from the forbidden forest ) feel tolerable and strangely exusable. Again, trying to put myself in the place of a twelve year old, I felt harsh to give the book three and a half stars as was my natural inclination, and gave it four instead.

Listened to book three after a reasonable break for music. The Harry Potter fan club aka the Harry Potter experts, ( who also act as the committee safeguarding against the defamation of Harry Potter ), have previously told me, that this was where, "the series actually takes off" ( plus, my son hinted without meaning to that Black wasn't the bad guy, a couple of chapters into the book - the innocent spoil sport !). So the twist in the second half of the book, was somewhat expected. Having said that it is no mean feat to have a plot with such twists, with many strands which we first read in the first two books. The consistency is quite amazing, and it amazes me as I wonder if Rowling had all these plots ( and twists ) worked out on her mind, as she lay pen on paper to write the first book.

One more thing that I couldn't help noticing was the admission of sometimes the necessity of taking the law into one's hands, when the odds are stacked against you. Dumbledore admits that an alternate path needs to be taken if Sirius Black was to be saved. Although its a work of fiction, it is an admission that there are times when "the course of law" mayn't give the most reasonable solution - and alternate paths could be inevitable. This I remembered, since I was having a discussion about the disappearance of a purported journalist with a friend of mine a couple of days back.

Having said that I cannot quite come to terms as to why, an author of such capacity and capability had to make a hero of Harry, all the time. Maybe it is genre thing that I cannot quite grasp ( I concede).

 Of course, given the state of things at the end of  book three, it is quite natural to look forward for book four - which I will start listening to, after a break for the music that has been released over the last couple of weeks.

The plot thickens as they say, and book four, "The Goblet of fire", is  quite complex for a plot, even by JK Rowling' high standards, until book three. Harry is now getting into the adolescent stage, and the interest in each other by the boy wizards and girl witches of Hogwarts, now has an added flavour. This is the first time in which an actual death is experienced in any of the Harry Potter books, and that too adds to the overall feel of a real world of wizardry - and a world of good and evil. For me personally, the special part in this book is the prize the world of wizardry pays for one sentimental decision - that if Mr. Crouch had been more circumspect and non-partial in his office, some of the misfortune could've by clearly prevented. Another borrowing from the real world, the journalist Rita Skeeter and her gutter journalism, which depends on a lot of concoctions, and half truths too makes the fiction a little more believable. The experience of Harry and Ron, the discomfort that they had in finding a partner for the Yule ball is another episode that was enjoyed by me immensely. And it is to the credit of Rowlings, that she made that episode a little more real world, by going about the way she did, instead of making it a picture perfect ball for our hero.

The arrival of two other schools for the tri-wizard tournament, while makes the account more interesting with so much more possibilities, cannot but help appearing a little far fetched and predictable where all traditional school series's go.

By book five, Harry now a fifteen year old, finds  that life is not getting any easier. He almost gets expelled at the start of the book itself. The battle between Cornalius Fudge and Dumbledoe becomes an open conflict, with the daily prophet painting Potter an attention seeking rumour monger.

I found an appeal in this book due to the author adding depth to each of the characters, as we see that there are no pure white characters, here. Even Dumbledoe errs, and Harry, Snape, Sirius Black are all found to have their shortcomings. This is probably the most attractive feature about this book, for me.

However I found that no member close to  Harry remembering Snape to be a member of the Order of the Phoenix, a little unnatural, especially given the amount of deliberating they did before setting off to the Ministry of Magic.

While I did enjoy this book, possibly more than the previous volumes, I couldn't help help the feeling that it is a little contrived, to build a better environment for things to come.

I finished book six, thinking that the authoress is leading the readers up, as Snape is painted quite the villain. The reference to his villainy, I found to be too straight forward, and was almost impatient to read book seven so "thing are cleared".


At the completion of book seven, there was a full, complete character, who to me was a tragic hero, making whole series worthwhile and the time spent listening to it. Yes, Rowling has gone to such detail in building an almost model tragic hero out of Severus Snape, that to me the reference to a "Harry Potter this" and a "Harry Potter that", is but a populist gimmick to capture the YA audience. The hlaf blood prince was the man! The whole book series is built on the single thankless character of Severus Snape, if am to look at in an alternate way! His confidence, his insecurity upon being bullied, his love, his commitment and sacrifice - all this while being a flawed man with a quick temper, and bearing the wounds of a deep grudge, is to me what I came to appreciate most about the whole series. The character of Dumbledoe too is quite a good construct , although his trait of being an "all knowing", at times corrodes the confidence with time,  that of a a true grey character with faults.

Oh, there was also Harry Potter, and his two friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley. As YA characters they have their attraction, despite their flaws - but I felt maybe the authoress should've at least limited Harry's count of  lives to about five or six , instead  to a number which  suggests,    double the count usually considered to animal such as Hermione's cat, Crookshanks.

( I listened to four books last year, and the remaining three this year. Jim Dale does a fantastic job with the audio narration, and this is as good a way to spend two hours in traffic, to and fro from office to work. Long live audio books, which allows us access to authors, who might be denied the plum reading slots offered to the our more preferred authors. Other authors who have so far benefited from the audio book offering are Stephen King and Neil Gaiman. )