The Double and The Gambler - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

In search of more of Dostoyevsky's works, I came across this book at flipkart. None of the books I had read till now publicised any other work of Dostoyevsky other than a couple mentions of "Poor Folk". So these stories seemed to be as good a choice as any other to continue on my Dostoyevsky collection. Plus, the combination of these two in one book seemed to be appealing for some reason. Hence I ordered the book.

The two stories are quite remarkable in their own sense. The Double is a hallucinatory ramble by a "titular councillor". It was written in the early years of Dostoyevsky and not received with the appreciation that it deserved. But it served as the basis of Dostoyevsky's character building style and later resurfaced in traces in many of his more prominent works. Dostoyevsky tries to explore the consciousness of a clerk who is trying desperately to hold on his own. What Dostoyevsky actually intends to convey by the "split" of characters is vague and confusing. Whether the split is psychological or physical is left to the reader's discretion. But the book is enjoyed more for its character build than its story's flow. In contrast, The Gambler is much more refined and understandable. The characters are well defined and well expressed in the typical Dostoyevskian way. And the store is far less incredulous than The Double. In The Gambler, Dostoyevsky tries to put his own experiences around gambling into a compendium that he wrote in haste. This story was produced side by side with his most famous work - Crime and Punishment and was done with a dead-line strangling him. Never the less, none of these reflect upon the story itself.

Mr. Goliadkin is the protagonist of The Double and he is a titular councillor in the service of his excellency (whoever that is). But Goliadkin is not good with words. He is not slick and lacks even the most basic of etiquette. The artless protagonist humiliates himself in a ball in front of the one he loves and while he returns to his quarters in anguish and daze, he encounters his double. The story meanders there on. This double replaces him in his office as well as in society. People do not seem to notice the horrid circumstance that has befallen the unfortunate Goliadkin while he tries to maintain his originality and hold himself as his own in the presence of a demeaning and cunning double.

The Gambler is the notes of Alexi Ivanovich, an outchitel or tutor in the household of a general who is indebted to a frenchman and in love with a french seductress. The hero is in love with the general's stepdaughter who in turn is mysteriously tied to the frenchman. They are all counting on a certain inheritance to deliver them from the dark fate that they behold. But the grandma who is supposed to mete the inheritance suddenly turns up in the foreign town they are vacationing in and blows away all her fortune on roulette. Alexi Ivanovich, a compulsive gambler, waits for his time and when his love, Polina comes to him to bare her heart, he goes out to the tables to win for her. And he never manages to recover from his lust for the tables.

I particularly favour The Gambler over The Double. The reason in part is the uncertain flow of the story which gives a very uneasy feeling of being lost while reading the story. Even so, the character of Goliadkin is probably much better expressed than any other of Dostoyevsk's characters, despite it's ill form. The Gambler was a much more engrossing and satisfying piece of work. Needless to say, my journey through the Dostoyevskian lands is far from over.

My Name Is Red - Orhan Pamuk

Posted on 28 July 2012

After quite a few instances of recommendations, a friend finally handed me over this book. I vaguely recalled having heard the name of the author somewhere. Perhaps I had seen the cover of another of his book on someone's table. But I had no idea of what his writing was like. The complicated name somehow led me to associate him with Coelho. Hence I was not too enthusiastic on picking up this book.

Two chapters into the book I realised I had been terribly mistaken about this book. Pamuk's writing was not spiritual. It was thrilling. It was full of suspense and his way of writing was quite unique. The story keeps shifting vantage points but maintains its continuity. Pamuk has ingeniously mixed the ease of storytelling by plot with the vivacity of a first-person narration. That in itself was quite gripping but even the story goes a long way in interesting the reader.

The story revolves around the art of miniatures in the Ottoman Empire. The art is going through a phase of change and the change is not well accepted as the art in its entirety is held sacred. There has been a murder of one of the master miniaturists who was working on a "progressive" book. And the lives of all others associated with it is also considered at risk. Our "hero", Black enters Istanbul after a twelve year exile to find his childhood love widowed with kids. Her father and his teacher want Black to find the murderer who endangers the completion of the book that he has sanctioned in the name of the Sultan. And of course, the way to thus win his beloved is not a walk in the park.

Pamuk grips the reader with his constant change of vantage point. The story too is quite gripping but at times Pamuk goes into dragging details that the reader knows as irrelevant. The story is slow to progress which kills a certain part of it. But the ardent fanaticism of artists for their art has been well portrayed. One can feel the exulting passion in his words. Over all, it was a good read. I will not hesitate to pick a Pamuk if I ever come across one next.

Between the Assassinations - Aravind Adiga

Posted on 3 July 2012

Another book that I picked up with Emma Donoghue's "Room". I had been thinking of reading "The White Tiger" for some time since it had been recommended to me numerous times. But since it was not in the "3 for 2" offer, I picked this one instead.

The book is set in the times between the assassinations of India's prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. It seems to try to capture the sentiments of the common Indians in a small town of Kittur in Karnataka (the location of Kittur is a little questionable though, it is described as coastal in the book where as it lies far within the landmass on the Indian map). The book is a collection of short stories that talk of various type of people from various sections of the society and of varied professions. It seems that the stories could be a reflection of an Indian town at any time. The assassinations hardly seem to be a part of the story, except for that the stories are built around news clippings from the 7 years, 1984 to 1991. The stories are diverse and touch on various social issues like caste, corruption, journalism, communist parties, deforestation, etc. It seems more like a compendium of scattered writings than a collection of connected stories with an underlying theme. Probably there is no theme to them at all.

The book is pretty interesting albeit crudely written. And Adiga's writing is quite engrossing. He creates and portrays his characters quite well. But there is nothing much to this particular story of his. Probably not the best story of Adiga's to have started with, the result of which is that I am not very keen on reading more of him. Probably I will pick another of his works during another bout of mindless wandering through the shelves of a bookstore.

Room - Emma Donoghue

Posted on 17 June 2012

I found myself in a bookshop after a really long time. Albeit a corporate book shop, still, being in a mall with time on my hands to kill, I strolled into the book shop with nothing specific in mind. I ended up browsing the books on offer and 'Room' seemed to have an interesting teaser at the back leaf. I got it back home and started it a few days later.

The teaser ran thus : "Room is the story of Ma and Jack. They live in a single, locked room. Five-year-old Jack loves watching TV, but he knows that nothing he sees on the screen is truly real - only him, Ma and the things in Room. Until the day Ma admits there's a world outside ... " It was with a curious interest that I picked up this book. It had won a few awards and was adorned with accolades from various sources. The book lived up to all the expectations it set, which in itself is a rare feat.

The story is about a child born and brought up in captivity. Jack's world is limited to the Room that he lives in. The beyond is unknown and the captor who kidnapped his mother for sexual motives is an unknown figure. Ma tries to shield Jack as much as she can, but eventually she starts 'unlying' about the Room and TV and the world beyond. They then plan their great escape into the Outside. The narration is through Jack's innocence and puerility and tries to depict the impact of the series of events on a malleable brain of a five year old.

Emma Donoghue has done an impressive job to the topic that she picked up. The amount of research that she might have had to put into exploring a topic that she had no inkling of empathy with can be easily appreciated. And putting it in the words of a five year old with his limited sense of perception and understanding is yet more creditable. However, I will not put her on my list as yet. If I chance across another work of her, however, I might just put it in my shopping cart.

Bacchae and Other Plays - Euripides

Posted on 14 June 2012

Euripides happened to me first in a bookshop in Kamla Nagar. I had just resumed reading then. I found his plays extremely poetic and interesting. My fascination for mythology was an ever-present factor of course. I had picked "Bacche" in the Delhi Book Fair long back. I picked it up recently, after I had become better acquainted with the Greek mythology.

The book consists of four plays : Iphigenia among the Taurians (IT), Bacchae, Iphigenia at Aulis (IA) and Rhesus. IA and IT talk about the house of Agamemnon, about his eldest daughter Iphigenia. Rhesus talks about the Tharcian ally king of Troy and Bacchae is about the bacchanalian rites and Bacchus as a God.

Euripides wrote with the contemporary Greek audience in mind and there are many nuances in his plays that do not strike us with as much blatancy as it would have struck his intended audience. Still, the realisms that he unravels and the psychologies that he delves in are easily relatable to the contemporary reader. It is there that Euripides makes his mark. The mocking of human behaviour and mind, the pointing out of hypocrisies, the ridiculing of human dilemmas. I would like to read more Euripides, but I have a long lists of Greek playwrights that I would like to explore first.

The Grand Design - Stephen Hawking

Posted on 11 May 2012

The last time I read Hawking was in college. 'A Brief History of Time'. It was a thought provoking piece of work and written with all the simplicity that could have possibly been offered on a subject so complex. On the way back from Thailand a friend had bought this book to kill time. I borrowed it after he was done.

The book talks about the theory of everything, or rather, the improbability of one. Hawking very smoothly takes us from the Newtonian world to the quantum. Throws in experiments here and there that have changed the way the scientific community thinks. Traced the path of the evolution of physics as it strove to achieve its holy grail - the theory of everything. And he gives his opinion on why there can not be a single all-encompassing theory.

As always, Hawking guides the reader into understanding the theory that he is explaining rather than forcing him to swallow axioms that baffle common sense. This is probably the most striking thing about Hawking's writing. I have read another book that discussed various candidates of such a theory of everything (Theories Of Everything - John Barrow). That book left me confused and I felt lost in the jargon. None of that feeling of being a misfit happens with Hawking. He does not portray Physics as an alien subject fit only for the masterminds of the world. He speaks and explains to the layman.

I can read more of Hawking for sure. And I will probably look him up whenever I feel that deep set urge of reading Physics that resurfaces from time to time. But frankly, I think Hawking thinks he is funnier than he actually is.

1984 - George Orwell

Posted on 26 February 2012

I had first heard of Orwell when I had seen the movie based on "1984". I did not find the movie much but I was told that the book is better than the movie. Did not think of it back then but after reading Orwell's "Animal Farm", I had "1984" in my list for long. One fine day, I ordered it.

The anti-imperialist feelings of Orwell is something that I have not yet seen. But he certainly is anti-communist. Possibly not against the theory but at least the way this theory manifests itself in reality. He frowns upon the gullibility of man and highlights the psychological effect of various things that we do or have done to ourselves. Orwell gives a brief description of what the existing social systems try to do and creates an unrealistic dystopia in which the systems reach an equilibrium which in fact benefits no one.

Winston Smith is the protagonist of the story. He lives at a time of totalitarian rule throughout the world, when personal opinions of "Party members" are discounted and undesired, when thinking and questioning is a threat for the system, when everyone is watched and anyone who seems a threat is removed from the preset as well the past, when the past is controlled, when the mind is controlled, when the emotions are controlled. In such a time, Winston tries to think, write and rebel. He is approached by Julia, a young girl, with whom he starts a secret affair. In a time where desires and emotions are considered the biggest crimes, he feels like a rebel against the system. They is eventually caught and Winston at long last see's how two and two make five.

George Orwell writes in a manner that makes you think of the possibilities. He makes you question accepted systems. There were many parts of the novel where I felt unconvinced by Orwell's logic and arguments, some I found plain unrealistic, but clearly, reality is not something that Orwell was aiming at. He strove to distort reality to such an unrealistic gruesome extent that the reader can appreciate the questions he has put up. And he succeeded magnificently. I am sure I will read more of him.

The Motorcycle Diaries - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara

Posted on 13 February 2012

A fleeting reading of a friend's profile somewhere (do not remember where) brought to my notice that 'The Motorcycle Diaries' was a book. In fact, it was her favourite. I had seen the movie and I thought the movie had done a pretty impressive job of showing the adventurous nature of Che Guevara's pan-american trip. But since I was having similar fascinations of recent, I decided to give the book a read.

The story provides a more vivid description of the hardships that the two travellers faced. But the movie provided a more graphic description of the journey and the American landscape. Both together complete the effect that Guevara might have wanted to create. The initial travel on the bike and the various accidents and mishaps that they are subjected to, and later on the completion of the journey on foot and hitching rides in a state of utter impecuniousness and ingenuity; all of these strike a chord somewhere in the heart of anyone who harboured dreams of adventure at some time in his life. The journey ends in a very inspired Guevara, something that the reader understands when he reads about the things Guevara sees.

Alberto Granado and Ernesto Guevara start off on their journey to the North America on La Poderosa II from Argentina. They plan an unrealistic itinerary and find themselves far away from either their target or their loved ones. The idea of completing their adventure drives them on. The bike eventually breaks down in Cuba and they continue thenceforth hitching rides on trucks and living off the meals offered to them in hospitality. They travel through Cuba and Peru, in the valleys of the Incas. Guevara observes the state that the natives live in. The kind of labour that the miners are forced to do for foreign firms and how it was eroding the spirit of a united Latin America. The two travellers develop a strong fascination for the natives and the poorer class of the society. They also meet a lot of leprosy experts and develop a liking for research in the domain. Granado and Guevara finally part in Venezuela and go their separate ways.

Guevara has made a pretty good travelogue but his limited skills as a writer make this travelogue a little incomplete for the reader. Fortunately, Walter Salles's rendition of the book makes up for Che's lacking skills. The complete effect is a very inspiring one. Atleast for the adventurous of the soul. Guevara, however, is not on my reading list. I might get around to reading his other works on guerilla warfare and communism sometime but it is not on the top of my list.

Three Men On The Bummel – Jerome K. Jerome

Posted on 26 December 2011

After Dostoyevsky's "House Of The Dead" I could definitely do with something lighter. I picked up this book that had been gifted to me on my last visit home. The book contains two of Jerome K. Jerome's work : "Three Men On A Boat" and "Three Men On The Bummel". I has read the former earlier and had postponed the latter for a later date. Jerome's writing was witty and humorous. So I picked up "Three Men On The Bummel" with similar expectations.

I was not really far off. Jerome was as witty as I remembered from the first story. His style of writing is unique and focuses on the seeing the humourous aspects of the triviality of daily trites and human personalities. He laughs at everything possible. The hypocrisy of man, the characteristics of various nationalities, the absurdity of planning, travelling, gardening, and so on. And it is a dry and amusing laugh that he laughs. His way of making fun is a subtle one. One in which I suppose even the butt of the joke would not mind joining in! Jerome K. Jerome and his friends (George and Harris) take the reader on a bummel to the Black Forest in Germany. Jerome lets no occasion go by to comment on the punctilious nature of the Germans and the stark contrast between the two cultures : English and German. This being a story published in 1900 also makes the work slightly prophetic in nature.

The story starts with the familiar three men deciding upon their needing a change and, after much discussion, agreeing upon the change to be a cycling trip in the Black Forest. They leave after much arrangements ("persuading" the wives, not overhauling the cycles, etc) and reached London where they experimented with the language used in a popular travel book to much amusement of all involved. Then they advanced to Germany and travelled across the country to reach the Black Forest. The travelling involved some amusing accidents as well as some hilarious observations about the Germans and their sense of beauty, duty and pride. Then follows a brief account of their (mis)adventures in the Black Forest and how they managed to plan frivolously and ride slowly. The story ends after an account of the author's view on Germans as a people.

Jerome K. Jerome definitely has a sense of humour. His stories are little more than a humourous account of something but at times he digresses into topics that he does not do well in. This creates bits in the story when the author is not so interesting in his account and you know he could do better. Anyway, on a whole it is a good read and since the boring parts are not too long, they can easily be ignored to say that Jerome's work is a witty and crisply funny one. I actually remember laughing out loud at times, something that I do not usually do. I think I would not mind reading another of his stories if I come across one but I doubt I will go hunting for one.