The Masque of Africa - V.S. Naipaul

The Masque of Africa: Glimpses of African Belief by V.S. Naipaul
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was in Manali, on my way back from an exhausting road trip. I had taken a break for a couple of days and, quite strangely, found myself without a book. So I went to the friendly neighbourhood bookstore near my hotel and started browsing the shelves. I had thought of picking up a book on Mahayana Buddhism but I failed to find any that offered an interesting back page teaser. The next best thing was a Murakami book which picked up with the intention to buy. But I had not yet scanned all the shelves. Driven by compulsion, I went through the ones that remain and found a beautiful hard bound book with the name of Naipaul on it. It said : "The Masque of Africa - Glimpses of African Belief". Going by the storekeeper's recommendation, I ended up ditching Murakami for Naipaul.

I had never read Naipaul before, but I had heard his name in passing quite a few times. The bookshop's owner, Piyush, had recommended the book strongly. In his opinion, Naipaul had a power of observation that gave him his edge over the other writers. This sense of observation gave his writing a very personal touch and made it opinionated. Piyush was appalled at how people had started criticizing Naipaul for his opinions. According to him Naipaul was entitled to them like anyone else, the reader had a choice to agree or disagree. This discussion had got me curious about Naipaul and his writing. I immediately went to a cafe and read a few pages. What Piyush had said became quite evident. Naipaul gives a very personal touch to his writing. It is his perspective and some research added on to it, but it is more of the former than the latter.

In "The Masque of Africa" Naipaul has tried to explore the beliefs and religious systems of Africa. He travels in six countries across the continent : Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Gabon and South Africa, and tries to dig into the local culture and traditions of these countries. All the African countries had faced colonization and as a result had had Christianity and Islam forced upon them. But the cultural undercurrents were still strong. There is magic and spirituality, mixed with the vastness of forest and its bounties, ancestors and witchdoctors. Some condemn the old African beliefs and some crawl back to it despite generations of disconnect. The book provides (true to it's title) mere glimpses of what was the traditional African system of beliefs, with each tribe still holding on to the ghosts of its roots.

What I liked most about this book was Naipaul's writing. It was easy to see why Piyush was so fascinated by him. However, as I had read in another review about this book, Naipaul's research left a lot to be desired. He travelled as a VIP and received such treatment. His hotels were lavish and his company political and powerful. Though it is easily understandable given his age, it is difficult to see how he could have gotten close to the real deal in such a simulated environment. Perhaps the project would have been done more justice in the hands of a younger and more daring researcher. But Naipaul wins me over with his writing. His "A House for Mr. Biswas" goes on my list.

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The Book of Imaginary Beings - Jorge Luis Borges

The Book of Imaginary Beings by Jorge Luis Borges
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I was smitten by Borges after our first encounter. So much so that even his name could make me jump around and ramble in excitement. More so because of the rarity of coming across his name. It was thus with a mild surprise that I pulled out the book bearing his name in a small and endearing cafe in McLeodganj. It bore the title of "The Book Of Imaginary Beings" and I immediately started fantasizing about what the pages might be like. Unfortunately I did not have the time to read the book then so I made a mental note about it and ordered it when I got back to Pune.

The book is something of a modern bestiary indulging in the imaginary creatures from across the world and over aeons of time. Borges has curated a list of the most remarkable imaginary creatures that titillate the readers imagination. He presents these beings with his bit of research on their origin and mentions. His commentary not only serves to educate, but also incites one to think and imagine. The small book is crowded with wonderful creatures. Some are often read in popular and classic fiction, like the Centaur, the Minotaur, the Dragon, the Phoenix or the Gnomes. Some are rarely found mentioned or come from folklore, like the Tin Pig, A Bao A Qu, Hochigan, Kujata and more.

I read the book as it prescribed : in small morsels. To bite off a few creatures at a time and chew on them, savour and swallow them before biting off the next lot. It was not just the collection that was brilliant but also the research and commentary associated with each creature. Borges still remains somewhere on the top of my list. He has the power to preempt any book when he comes along.

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The Devotion of Suspect X - Keigo Higashino

The Devotion of Suspect X by Keigo Higashino
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I chanced upon this book when I was talking to a friend about a recent Bollywood movie, "Drishyam" and he told me that he had already read the book. The movie being an adaptation of a book was not much talked about so, curious, I decided to check it out. Since I recently bought a Kindle as well, this also served as my first Kindle book. I am now a tech savvy reader. Yay!

Turned out that the movie was very vaguely similar to the book. The premise was shared but the movie could not match the book's level of suspense. Higashino had done a brilliant job in creating the plot and since this was a detective story, that is what counted the most. The writing style, unfortunately, was a bit too unadorned for my liking. The uniqueness of the story lay in the fact that the culprit was already known. It was the cover up that was a mystery. Higashino revealed the mystery bit by bit through his characters and as a result, I, the humble reader, was hooked till the very last page. Higashino kept the entire plot extremely rational and believable while twisting it around in unpredictable ways. As I found out later, this book is part of a detective series which is quite popular in Japan.

The story revolves around a high school maths teacher - Tetsuya Ishigami. He is in love with his neighbour - Yasuko Hanaoka, a single mother with a daughter. Yasuko has a turbulent past which she is trying to shake off but the ghost from that past, her ex husband, keeps reappearing and troubling her time and again. On this particular occasion circumstances lead her and the daughter, Misato, to accidentally kill the evil ex. Ishigami then steps in to offer his help in getting rid of the dead body. When the murder is reported to the authorities, the body is a John Doe with fingerprints burnt off and face smashed in. Kusanagi leads the investigation and Manbu Yukawa - Detective Galileo - finds himself being sucked into the case. The deeper he digs, the more formidable the challenge appears. Until he realises that he is up against an old friend, the genius Ishigami.

Although the plot was brilliantly made, I found many a parts entirely far fetched. Plus the weak character building and simple language did not help much. The only reason I got through the book was the suspense, which, as I have already mentioned, was brilliant. I might have been much more impressed in another age but now, it came across as a brilliant story, nothing more.

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The Dilbert Principle - Scott Adams

The Dilbert Principle : A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions by Scott Adams

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I had found "The Dilbert Principle" two years ago in a previous flat in Bangalore, stowed away in a shelf with other scrap paper. After inquiring as to whether any of the flatmates owned it, I pulled it out, dusted it, smelt the yellowing pages and kept it in my shelf. But for the gain in status, the book achieved little else. It travelled to Delhi when I moved and sat in a shelf there for a really long time. I found it sitting in silent anticipation while rummaging through the shelf to find something to read with an unexpected free week in front of me.

My Dilbert experience had, quite strangely, started with another borrowed book : "The Dilbert Future". I was still in college back then and could not really appreciate office humour to the fullest. But I could certainly appreciate humour. And Scott Adams's was the king that I preferred. It was insane and dry, just the kind that I liked. But in the many years since that first Adams book, I have read more of Dilbert and started appreciating it for the office humour as well. I picked up this book with quite an expectation which mellowed as I turned the first few yellow pages. The book was more than twenty years old! Surely office humour from the nineties would be irrelevant in the current world. I couldn't have been more wrong. The only thing out of date about the book was the way the characters were drawn. Everything else, including the humour was strangely fresh and relevant.

"The Dilbert Principle" like all other Dilbert topics, deals with the stupidity of people. In particular, it focusses on the stupidity of people in the corporate environment, right from the upper management down to the lowly engineers. Scott tries to explain to the baffled audience what the corporate world is all about. He picks out various concepts like 'Business Plans', 'Budgeting', 'Meetings, 'Team Work', etc. and explains the difference between their apparent and perceived meanings. He explains how and why the real motive of 'Business Communication' is to hide information and confuse your co-workers rather than conveying clear information, as many naive corporate employees mistake it to be. Adams illustrates his points with the help of short strips and pickings from the fan mails that he receives.

Adams is a riot. I always have liked his work, and his writing is no different. What was most surprising was the relevancy of his humour after all these years, though that is not something that Scott can take credit for. It is amazing to see how the corporates have managed to stay so stale in the fast paced business environment of today. As for Scott, I do continue to read his work on his blog and will readily pick up another of his book if and when I come across one.

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Persepolis - Marjane Satrapi

'Persepolis' was, if I remember correctly, a recommendation on goodreads. I don't quite remember what about the book had caught my fancy. Perhaps it was the cover image, or maybe the plot seemed interesting. Anyhow, the book was there when I was looking for something fresh to read.

Slowly, yet steadily, I have come to appreciate the graphic medium of story telling. It is perhaps less intense in it's plots than it's purely literary cousin but it too has it's own charms. It tends to bring together multiple forms of arts together and the beauty lies in how seamlessly they integrate rather the intensity of one. 'Persepolis' is Satrapi's autobiography between the ages of ten and twenty four (1980 - 1994). Unfortunately, 'Persepolis' is also a one woman show with Marjane Satrapi playing the author, the subject and the illustrator, the three main components of a graphic novel (colours are important to but 'Persepolis' does away with it). Satrapi talks of a childhood in the war infested Iran, a child's naive reaction to political upheaval, her brief separation from her family and life of a third world person in Europe. Thence she talks about her return to Iran and life in times of "peace". There are glimpses of Iranian life, of the horror of war and sorrow of life without family but all is in context of our protagonist. Satrapi has made no special effort to portray a life or section of the society that she did not come directly in contact with. Every third person who could have had a story of his own is touched only briefly. Her only forte is her ability to add humour to almost every situation.

'Persepolis' starts in 1980, at the end of the Iranian revolution and the introduction of the veil in the country. Satrapi recounts the revolution and her understanding of it. Her family was quite progressive and educated her about the history of the revolution. And by the end of the Shah's regime, the government landed in the hands of religious fanatics. Iraq invaded soon after and Iran suffered a catastrophic hit to it's population. Dissenters of the religious government were prosecuted and taken prisoners within the country. Young boys were promised heaven and sent to the battlefields to be blown up. Women lost their rights. Marjane's family sent her to Austria to continue her study away from the oppressive air of Iran. She suffered as a third-worlder amidst her European friends. But she managed to get good grades. Teenage heartache and cannabis led to her eventual wrecking. She eventually returned home to Iran admitting herself as a failure. After a period of depression she got hold of her life again and eventually left Iran promising her mother that she would not return this time.

I really liked the first part of 'Persepolis', where Satrapi talks more about the Iranian revolution and the population's oppression under the new regime. In the second book she gets more self centered. The life of a third world child in Europe and her pains might interest readers in the "first world" but it was a mighty drag to me. Anyhow, I am glad that I read this book, if even for just the first part. As for the author, I did not find any special attraction to her style.

Yuganta - Irawati Karve

A friend posted on facebook that she was giving off her books. Of the list only this one caught my fancy enough to make me look it up. 'Yuganta' was a treatise on Mahabharata, an epic that had captured my imagination to the hilt in my childhood. So I rode half way across the city to her "small" going away party, realised that it was a too big a gathering of unknowns for me to feel in place, wished her luck and got the book with a warning that I was not to expect much of it. Since then it was stowed away in my shelf and came up at last when I was running out of options.

I had picked up the book idly to flip through the introductory pages of the book. It was interesting enough to make me keep it on the desk as the primary read. Karve had compiled together a bunch of essays on Mahabharata in this book, so the structure of short independent pieces was appealing to my current taste in books. As I read on, I gradually came to like the way the author had approached the entire subject. Karve warns the reader in the very beginning that what follows is her interpretation of the Mahabharata and its characters; an interpretation that she is wholly entitled to and which she does not presume the reader to agree with. Karve then picks up a few of the main characters of the story and scans them in an analytical light, trying to identify their wisdom and follies. In her belief that the Mahabharata (or the original form of it : Jaya) is a recording of actual history, she tries to pry out the most realistic meaning and interpretation of events.

The book starts with a short piece on Gandhari, one of the lost characters of the epic poem. Karve tries to put life into the character and tries to tell her story; her pains and sufferings. Then she goes on to pick out other characters from the story, Kunti, Bhishma, Karna, Draupadi, etc. and tries to tell the story from their point of view. She tries to draw connections and relations between the characters that are rather lost in the grandeur of the current Mahabharata. She also treats various events and themes from the epic in a similar manner. The book ends with a tone of regret of how the 'bhakti' movement had led to the loss of the objectivity and self confidence that was shown in our great civilization at the time of Mahabharata war; the end of which marked the end of an age.

I have mixed feelings about Karve's writing. While I was wholly in awe of her attitude and the way she had treated the epic, I found the writing style too heavily lined with feminist themes. The entire book also had a didactic undertone that puts one off. And then there was the raving about "our grand ancestors" towards the end. I liked the content, I did not like the presentation. But the one thing that Karve left me with was 'Jaya'. I think Devdutt Pattanaik has a book by that name. It definitely goes on my list.

Batman : The Long Halloween - Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale

It had been a while since I had read a graphic novel. I was more or less craving for a light and easy read; something that would not be too much of a burden to finish along with my recent hectic professional schedule. I was looking at Moore's 'Promethea' series but then I have something against series or probably it was cost that worked in favour of Loeb's 'The Long Halloween'. This one had been on my list of Batman essentials since I had read Nolan's review of it. So, swearing to myself that it will be the last of my Batman graphic novels (at least for now), I ordered the book.

There is a conversation with Nolan and Goyer right in the introductory pages of the book. They talk about how 'The Long Halloween' had been a major influence in the scripting of 'The Dark Knight Trilogy'. One thing that they mention in particular is how in this book Loeb brings to life the several characters around Batman who inhabit and shape Gotham but are remarkably characterless in most other works. In 'The Long Halloween' Batman is more human, more attached and more helpless in the face of the numerous adversaries he has to face. He needs his friends in the department, he needs an ally in the Catwoman. He seeks help from the lunatics in the Arkham Asylum. He is a lost man in an abyssal world trying to hold on the the bleak light of hope in any form, man or phantasm.

'The Long Halloween' is the story of Batman, Gordon and Dent trying to bring down Carmine "The Roman" Falcone and his empire of crime. They decide that they will do so without breaking the laws that separate him from them. But starting that Halloween night, a serial killer starts murdering the ballasts of Falcone's system. He ruins Falcone's business, kills his son, kills his muscle. All on public holidays, hence gaining the name "Holiday" killer. Roman and Batman both look to Arkham to gain clues to this killer's identity. But the Halloween drags on, long and cold, for almost a year.

I liked the book. So much so that I finished it the same night that I started it. The way Loeb had brought out the human in Batman and Sale's dark artwork are astounding to say the least. All the auxiliary characters are made more complete and real, specially Selina Kyle, the Catwoman. It is to this touch of realism (I know it is a superhero story) that I credit this novel's wonderful enchantment. But for now, I have had my fill of Batman and Gotham.