Hiral Modi

Four women from China and their struggle to get out of the country, to go to America, save their daughters, partly from the war, partly from the oppression they had to face in their native country. The rocky mother-daughter relationship was something I could resonate with and hence empathize. The book makes you appreciative of your privileges and prerogatives, while simultaneously being reverential and grateful to your parents’ sacrifices. A brutal scene where a mom had to leave her twin babies to get to a place, because she was so worn out, she couldn’t carry them. Imagine not knowing your entire life if your kid is alive or dead on the road, killed by the militia, or taken up by some kind person and thriving. Another instance where a woman could not voice her opinion as that would bring dishonor and disgrace to her family. The social stratification and hierarchical/economic dominance wherein the women were always looked down upon. Given the paradigm shift that these first generational - migratory women had to go through, it is very much understandable for them to be rouge or caustic at times. Over a period of time, they became so acclimatized to the pain, they turned indifferent to it. This beautiful part where one-woman metaphorizes herself as wind, one can’t see it, but when it blows hard, one can feel its power, sometimes its wrath too. These metaphorical parts were so deep. One of the protagonists starts the Joy luck Club as a way to maintain her Chinese culture in the new country, where all the protagonists play mah jong, and talk about their extended families back in china, reminisce the good and bad old days. The book is wholly about self-discovery and self-preservation, on the lines of Chinese culture. Another soul-stirring part where a daughter after the death of her mother is made aware of the meaning of her name which is ‘the essence’. The mother intended for her to be the essence of the twin babies she had to leave. *eye sweat*. The language barriers and things getting lost in translation combined with the inter- generational loss were truly tragic. Although the language was accessible, I found it difficult to keep up with the names of characters - four mothers their four daughters and sixteen stories. Nonetheless ‘The Joy Luck Club’ is *chef’s kiss*.

THE SONG OF ACHILLES BY MADELINE MILLER If you want to get into Greek Mythology, but The Iliad and The Odyssey seems Sisyphean (see what I did there?) then The Song of Achilles is your rescue book. This book has too many characters but not once does the it assumes that the reader might know about mighty Zeus or Apollo or any other Greek Gods and Goddesses which makes it 10x easier. The book is a retelling of the renowned 10 year long Trojan war, but from the point of view of Patroclus (who’s a sidekick in almost all the retellings). It begins with Patroclus being sent into exile by his wannabe famous father, where he meets Achilles. Things escalate and Achilles being a prince declares Patroclus his companion. For a villain we have Achilles’ mommy- Thetis, a sea-nymph aka Goddess, SHE is intimidating, but character development is remarkable. Thetis stays true to her character and tries very hard to separate ‘Patrochilles’ but our love birds clear all the obstacles. Fast forward some time and then they leave to go to Troy for the Trojan war. Things are extensively explained here, it’s was a 10-year long war after all. Midway through the war Achilles, due to some issues with Agamemnon, declares that he won’t fight anymore. Patroclus being his companion goes to war instead and um... well dies. Aggrieved and outraged Achilles resumes war and also gets killed. Even in death, there are hinderances but finally they are reunited in the underworld. Now, I know I did not do justice to this emotional stimulant of a book with a vapid review. But my heart was shattered into a million pieces to keep my head straight. Ou, fun fact, it took Madeline Miller 10 full years to write this book, I swear to God every second was worth it. If you wanna be emotionally wrecked but into beautiful way, definitely read this.

I have to add this book to my ‘firsts’ for the simple reason that this is the first time I’ve cried like a baby while reading. This book just came through. It basically revolves around the lives of 2 women, their living conditions (the Afghan- Taliban war) partners, their sacrifices and the pain they endure and how they get through it all with love, unconditional and limitless. A short summary: Mariam and Laila the two female protagonists, the former a dehati (belonging to a village) harami (illegitimate child) married off by her father to a much older man, Rasheed. Laila a kid in the neighborhood of Rasheed later also married to Rasheed after a malicious attempt by him to declare Laila’s lover dead, all for a male child. Initially there is animosity and cold blood between the 2 wives but when Rasheed becomes a common cause of pain you bet they have each other’s’ back. When one is the victim of Rasheed’s violence the other protects her. This goes on for years until one day they decide to leave but they’re caught and brought back by Rasheed to face his wrath. During one such act of violence Mariam kills Rasheed but apprehensive of people finding it out takes all the blame and sacrifices her life for Laila to start afresh. Although, Laila believes Mariam is not dead, she lives through her. The novel by Hosseini is a very easy read but which forces us to think about things we hadn’t given a thought before. It is set in a period of war (the soviet aggression in Afghanistan), the rights of people there much less of women, the living conditions, the militia and its oppressiveness but what gets the protagonists through all this is their love for each other., platonic, maternal, boundless, so strong it knows no pain, no fear , no punishment not even death. OVERALL : If you're into any kind of genre you should read this. I promise it won't disappoint.

I have always fancied reading Grisham, now that I did, withstanding the expedient timing as a law student, it was worth the wait. People always say Grisham writes 'Lawyer stuff', pompous legal terminology/jargons incoherent by people of non-legal background. NOT TRUE. It begins with Clay Cater, a public defender unwillingly accepting a case of 'random killing' by a man named Tequila Watson. Like every law graduate Clay planned to be a litigator in a big corporation but was stuck in the OPD (office of public defender) which yields little green. Then as Clay unfolds this mystery killing a fireman shows up which completely changes his life. If a company screws up and notices before the lawyers do, it hires a fireman to enter quietly, clean up the mess and leave, saving the company a bunch of money. For a brief amount of time, I seriously considered it as a career option. This fireman- Max, reveals that when Tequila killed a man, he was under the influence of Tarvan, a pill gone bad. Now, a lot of people took that pill and if it were to be proved dangerous the company could suffer infinite law suits, millions of dollars and loss of investors. To save all this the company hired Max, who in turn convinced Clay to settle the cases quietly, for this Clay gets a lot of money. He needs this money to match his rich girlfriend, Rebecca, hence he accepts. Clay gets a truckload of money, settles the cases, the victims’ family get a lot of money, no lawsuits, everyone is happy. Not for long, later there’s another bad drug and the fireman advices Clay to prepare a class action law suit and promises insider trade (illegal). Clay wins, earns millions of dollars. There’s another class action law suit against a drug for which clay shed a lot of his aforementioned money but the FBI enters the picture and things go south for clay. This is a first-person narrative, meaning, Clay’s side of the story, I was rooting for Clay all the way, but the ending is very beautiful, tragic but expected. I think the one thing we should take from this book is not to be avarice. Clay was the King of Torts for a brief period but his want to earn more, be more led to his dethronement. The one thing I learnt a lot about was class action law suits and how to never file them. Just kidding. Legal or no legal background give this book a try, it’s not very adrenaline inducing but would surely keep you hooked. Hope the review helped :)

1984 basically underscores the importance of freedom and captures how the absence of it would be like. George Orwell wrote this book sometime in the 40’s, meaning after the World Wars, he saw Hitler’s totalitarian regime, all the despotic Tsars of Russia, China, basically the guy knows it all. The fact that the book is relevant even today, and I dare say, even will be to the future generations, justifies the title. The protagonist Winston Smith lives in Oceania where everyone is under constant surveillance (the telescreens) and even the smallest twitch or ‘Bad Thought’ could alert the ‘Thought Police’ and you’d be evaporated (executed). Our guy Winston has a feeling rather a memory that things before the revolution were better, but since there is no hard evidence, he’s in a very precarious position. The ruling party is headed by ‘The Big Brother’ the irony here is that the party encourages people to be devoted to The party and not to one’s family, (turning children against their parents, husbands against wives, etc.) on the other hand the leader is called Big Brother signifying warm, familial ties. They have 4 ministries namely Ministry of Peace dealing with stuff related to war, Ministry of love vested with the work of inciting hatred, Ministry of Plenty (economics) when people are starving, wild irony. But one day Winston stumbles upon a piece of evidence that things WERE better, he sets out on a mission to overthrow the B-B. The turn of events at this point will make you sick, he is betrayed and he ends up in the torture room (Room 101). At one point when Winston succumbs to the agony and B-B, he is told that the Big brother doesn’t want his ‘Negative Obedience’ or abject agreement, they want him to ‘LOVE’ the B-B. He should be able to accept that 2+2=5 if B-B says so. I would suggest literally every person, beg even, to read this book, it’s so thought provoking, and frightening, a definite page turner, quite heavy but totally worth it.