Icy Sparks

By Gwyn Hyman Rubio

 

I found this book by chance at a second-hand book shop. The shop had an interesting collection and I was looking for cooking and gardening books, which are always expensive in the main bookstores. But I fell for this book's cover, depicting a lone child in a white dress on a deserted road. The image is in black and white and somehow I could feel the loneliness of the child. To top it up, there was the interesting synopsis.

It tells the story of young Icy Sparks in a beautiful village on the Kentucky Mountains. It is a perfect setting for the young Icy, taken care by her beloved grandparents Mattani and Pattani. When Icy is expected to be innocent and childish, ticks and bouts of cursing begin. She hides it as long as she could until the villainous Mrs. Stilton decides otherwise.

Icy's only solace is Ms. Emily, an obese and warm lady owning a store in the town. Alienated from the town's people because of her obesity, she shares the same feelings as Icy. Icy's grandparents decide to send her to a special hospital for her then unknown but later identified Tourette's syndrome.

Icy finds herself alone in the hospital, unable to blend in with the mentally ill children. Then, there are typical characters from a mental hospital to make matters worse--bizarre kids, an evil caretaker, a poignant caretaker and the quintessentially dignified doctor. After a short episode at the hospital, Icy is sent home, where she decisively isolates herself from the town. But she never misses her shares of adventures in her own world.

A similarly outcast friend for his 'Frog Eyes' falls in love with Icy. When her illness takes over during one of their love encounters, Icy is back to square one. The situation worsens when Pattani dies, leaving Mattani depressed. Mattani and Ms. Emily take her to a local church for a religious ceremony, where she gets some sort of enlightenment. She identifies her gifted voice and becomes a successful adult she wants to be.

The author has done a great job in revealing the beauty of rural Kentucky. The mountain flowers, their cabin, Mattani's cooking, Pattani's warmth are some of the things that linger in my mind when I think of the book. The characters are warm although sometimes impractical. The mental hospital episode was boring and it did not add any spice to the story. Icy transition to optimism could have been gradual, instead of one shot at the church.

Read it once

Solo

By Rana Dasgupta

I got the hardcover edition of Solo with a beautiful cover and big, clear letters. It was fun to read on the bus and train without having to strain my eyes. This book is much acclaimed for the author, Rana Dasgupta received the prestigious Commonwealth Writers' Prize. This is his second novel after Tokyo Cancelled.

Solo tells the moving story of Ulrich, a Bulgarian, looking through his 100 years of life. The later part concentrates on his daydreams fueled by recurrent failures of his life. It starts with a story of exquisite parrots which can talk the native tongue of an extinct society. The parrots die traumatically in an attempt to transport them to linguists for recording the language. Ulrich, now 100 years old, recounts his life to find the wisdom that he could leave the world as his legacy.

Ulrich is a blind old man, living in a tiny apartment in Sophia and cared for by his kind-hearted neighbors. He starts an exhilarated journey through the past. A usual son denied of his budding interest in music, Ulrich travels to Germany to study Chemistry. Meeting Einstein serendipitously, he intends to make a mark as a chemist. When fate decides otherwise, Ulrich is forced to go back home due to the family's depleting wealth and his father's health.

Ulrich takes up a menial job to support his family in Sophia. He gets married and fathers a son in his short-lived marriage. His life gets traumatized by his divorce and by the execution of his socialist friend Boris. The world wars, the socialism, and the independent Bulgaria each contributes in worsening Ulrich's life. After losing his mother to a false accusation, Ulrich engrosses into his chemistry lab set up, where he accidentally spills acid and loses his sight.

The second part of the book happens in the hippy 21st century New York. There is the ambitious Khatuna, a gangster's mistress whose life topples as the gangster falls for the violence. Urich's imaginary self Boris, a gifted musician raised by his grandmother and found by a multinational musical company, struggles in the whirlwind of the corporate ways. Boris finds comfort in Irakli, Khatuna's brother, and an innocent poet.

Ulrich's story spreads through the failures and oddities of a simple man. It is through his euphoric daydreams that he learns life isn't perfect. This ordinary man's story is definitely worth reading. The strangeness of the characters adds a unique aura to it. It is touching, refreshing and everything a book could offer.

Solo is a must-read, albeit it might be demanding sometimes.

The Third Prince

By Phiroz H. Madon

I have not read many historical novels in English, although I am an ardent fan of Tamil historical novels. Deciding to route my historic knowledge from Southern India to the North, I bought this book. The novel is penned by Phiroz H Madon, a technocrat living in the US, originally from India.

Parvati, a young concubine tries to make a mark in Agra as a dancer. Her notable belongings include an important piece of paper and a jewel. The author walks us through her everyday struggle as a concubine and a dancer. Orphaned at an early age and let down by her only aunt, Parvati craves for constant attention. She even proves her dancing abilities by dancing with a snake.

There is a critical situation in Akbar's court. The court has the magnanimous task of finding an heir to the famous Akbar. With Jahangir notorious for his alcoholism and womanizing abilities and his son Khusrau, too young to make decisions on his own, the ministers have their hearts on the third prince. The third prince was believed to be fathered by Akbar in a secret marriage. The vicious Jahangir decides to eliminate the trace of the third prince.

Parvati's life suddenly takes a turn, when she loses her jewel and finds people following her to kill. Being a smart woman, she thinks out of the box to face the danger at every step. A romance with the snake charmer, an affair with the head of the robbing group or a housemaid's role in her best friend's home come in handy for her escape. The rest of the story reveals the fate of Paru and the third prince.

The book was interesting and a decent page-turner, but it was not exactly what I expected. I was trying to find the beauty and richness of the bygone era, which remained elusive throughout. Agra was portrayed as a place filled with just the Wine and Women, there is no glimpse of the Agra's well-known royalty.

Akbar was not what I have always imagined him to be. He was sick, weak and withered. While this portrayal is fine in his deathbed, it was sadly the same in the battlefield with Jahangir. There are some interesting characterizations like Nur Jahan though her transition from the timid Mehrunissa to the vehement Nur Jahan is impractical. The novel might satisfy the ones with no idea of the Mughal empire and its culture, but for anyone with the tiniest knowledge of the Indian history, this will be a letdown.

Read it at your own risk.

The Chapel at the Edge of the World

By Kirsten McKenzie

The book's look and synopsis were so romantic that I bought it the instant I laid my eyes on it. The book was not engrossing, but it was enjoyable in a slow and subtle way. This is a debut novel for the author Kirsten Mckenzie. The story is inspired by a chapel in LambHolm, Orkney, built by Italian prisoners of World War II. I felt that the plot had a deep melancholy and eeriness; that explains the longer time that took for me to finish the book.

The story happens in a flashback as narrated by Emilio, Bertoldo, and Rosa. Emilio and Rosa are childhood sweethearts who were engaged while Emilio leaves to the war front. They judiciously write letters throughout their separation which helped a little for the growing distance between each other. Emilio finds Bertoldo as his friend, but his weird behavior only increases Emilio's loneliness.

Rosa helps her mother Margherita, who runs an inn in a small Italian town. Rosa decides to work for a print shop in Milano to escape the monotony of her everyday life at the inn. Rosa's small adventures of political activism along with her special friend Pietro and her boss Antonio shapes her to a stronger and mature women.

Emilio is captured and after transferring between a couple of locations, the prisoners are finally moved to the Orkney Islands. The cold along with decreased rations, humidity, and Bertoldo's emotional outbreaks depress Emilio. A hope for survival flickers when they were offered a place for worship. The prisoners get along together for decorating the chapel. Emilio brings out his innate talent for painting, even Bertoldo with his far-fetched dream of America contributes for the same.

The characterizations were perfect: the confused Rosa; strong Margherita; matured Emilio; and emotional Bertoldo. Other interesting characters include Rosa's friend Rachel, Henrik, the German Officer and Anna Maria, Emilio's mother. Their stories and struggles are practical and realistic. Emilio's struggles as a prisoner and survival are heart warming.

The Chapel at the Edge of the World is a must-read for the lovely story and the characterizations. A word of caution - It might be depressing at times.

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

By Kim Edwards

This is a book (along with The Time Traveler’s Wife) I wanted to read for a long time but apparently kept forgetting during my every bookshop visit. Accidently I found this book on sale while billing for another book (Angels of Destruction). As one can imagine, I ignored the other book and started this book with a lot of expectation. Well, it didn’t quite live up to my expectation but it sure did justice.

The story opens with a heartwarming scene of a husband cajoling his pregnant wife, who end up rushing to a clinic on a stormy night for labor. The haphazard snow makes the husband David Henry to deliver the twins in his clinic with the help of nurse Caroline Gill. Paul, the perfect healthy kid could content his father only for a short while until his sister Phoebe drives her father to abandon her for Down’s Syndrome. Caroline, on David’s decision, takes Phoebe to a home meant for special kids. Caroline takes Phoebe with her seeing the appalling conditions of the home. She hopes that David might change his mind and come back for Phoebe one day.

Norah couldn’t cope up with the death of her daughter and soon finds refuge in drinking. David decided to give up Phoebe to spare Norah of the hurt that his mother went through while losing his sister June for the same illness. Distressed by Norah’s increasing remoteness and guilt for giving up Phoebe, David engrosses into Photography. Caroline now and then sends photos of Phoebe to David, who hides them in his Photo lab. Meanwhile, Paul grows into a stubborn child torn between his separating parents and Phoebe into a cheerful child. Caroline marries Al, a truck driver she met serendipitously and overcomes her secret love for David.

David and Norah get divorced while Caroline and Al spend a pleasant life together. The last days of David are spent with regret and guilt and the secret of Phoebe dies with him. The rest of the story goes on about the mishaps of the torn lives.

The story started well and went well until some point where it felt like being rushed and out of focus. Norah’s ‘out of the blue’ character is unbelievable and impractical. The story of June and David’s poor family was interesting but the later part where he finds Rosemary was uninspiring. The comfort that he is portrayed to achieve with rising Rosemary doesn’t quite compensate for his lost love for Phoebe and June. 

Though David seems rigid, I liked his character masked by richness over his humble and poor self. His miseries seem just because of miscalculation and not because of his bad character. Caroline’s character deserves mentioning for the straight forwardness and no-nonsense behavior. The story could have elaborated much more about Paul and Phoebe. It would make more sense if there is much to explain us about Down’s Syndrome.

For the familial turmoil and the heartbreaking emotions, TMKD can be read once.