Silver Linings

I recently started listening to NPR and also follow the articles on their website. While browsing through their site I came across a recommendation for this book. Due to previous disappointments I decided to read the book only after seeing good reviews on Amazon.

Was I glad I picked this book!! The story follows the life of Pat Peoples, a guy who is brought home from the mental institution by his mother.

Pat Peoples:

• is a firm believer of silver linings.
• has lost a major portion of time in which a lot of changes have taken place around him - his brother is married, Vets stadium has been torn down and been replaces by Lincoln Field.
  
• is waiting for "apart time" to get over to be reunited with his wife.
• uses the "apart time" to become a better man whom his wife will like more.
• hates Kenny G and hums each time anyone mentions G.
• gets an Indian therapist - Cliff Patel - who is an ardent fan of Eagles, just like Pat.
• befriends Tiffany (another person who is having emotional problems and is undergoing therapy) who promises to unite him with his wife if he participates in Dance Away Depression and helps her win.
  

Why does he hate Kenny G? Will he get back with his wife? Will he remember the forgotten parts of his life? What is the silver lining in his life? This forms the story.

The book is almost like a parallel version of Little Miss Sunshine. If you liked that movie you will love this book. It is a little predictable and of course it has to have a silver lining as that is what the book is about. Yet it is a page turner. I finished the book in 3 nights. Usually I don't draw parallels between actors and the characters portrayed in books but as I read the book I couldn't stop myself from casting Steve Carell as Pat Peoples and Edie Falco (Tony Soprano's wife in Sopranos) as Tiffany. When the book is made into a movie I would love to see these two play these roles.

This book has brought back my appetite for books so lets start the marathon.

Book 3

I first heard of Jhumpa Lahiri when her book "The Namesake" was released as a movie. Though her first book "Interpreter of Maladies" was an award winning book, I had not heard much about her. I got Interpreter at a bookstore and read 2 stories and gave up. Later when I tried to read Namesake I was hooked. Namesake was written very well and I'm sure Indian living away from their homeland could relate to it.

As soon as "Unaccustomed Earth" was published I rushed and got a copy. I was not aware that it was a collection of short stories. When I flipped through the book I realized this and gave up since I am not a big fan of short stories. I feel that by the time I get to know the characters the story ends. Soon I forgot about this book. Two weeks back we went to a friend's place and I saw that she was reading this book. It piqued my interest so I decided to give it a try again.

I was surprised that I actually found the book a little interesting and soon I finished the entire book. This book splits the experiences of the characters in Namesake into different stories. Essentially the book is again about Bengali immigrants and their second generation kids. What we got as a whole in Namesake we get in parts in this book. Most of the stories are engrossing and this time she has even taken us to Rome in the third part of Hema-Kaushik trilogy. The book is a good read. Since I live in New England I am able to recognize most of the places that are mentioned in the stories. Maybe that's why I enjoyed the book a little more.

A short description of each story is given below.

The book has 6 individual stories. The last story is written in 3 parts. The title story "Unaccustomed Earth" deals with a father - daughter relationship. I don't know about most people but I get along very well with my dad. So I could really not relate to this story where the daughter is estranged from her dad and they hardly have anything in common to talk about. The story is about the daughter debating about asking her father to stay with them since he is lonely now. She finally decides to ask him to stay and his reply forms the rest of the story.

The second story "Hell - Heaven" is the narrated by the daughter of an immigrant Bengali family who is befriend by a homesick Bengali student. Her mother forms a bond with this new person and has a tough time letting him go when he decides to marry an American girl. She feels that he will ultimately end up heartbroken as the American girl will eventually dump him. Does he get dumped? Is anybody left with a broken heart? Read the story to find out.

"A Choice of Accomodations" is a story of a Bengali guy and his non Bengali wife who head to his school to attend the wedding of his old friend. They decide to make it a vacation, leaving their kids behind with his in-laws. While attending the wedding some unpredictable events happen and leave the couple pondering about their relationship.

Brother - sister sentiment is the focus of "Only Goodness". Sudha, the elder sister of Rahul, introduces him to alcohol, unaware that this will be the beginning of his ruin. He soon becomes an alcoholic and the family has a downward spiral from there. What is tough to digest is that though Sudha was a doting sister when Rahul was young, she stays aloof of his drinking problem and no one in the family tries to acknowledge the fact and take a positive action. What happens to Rahul and his family? That is the story.

"Nobody's Business" is about a Bengali girl Sang (short for Sangeeta) who lives with 2 housemates - Paul and Heather. Sang has an Egyptian boyfriend. Though things seem rosy and pretty, soon there is a lot of confusion and pain. Paul unknowingly gets to know a secret about Farouq that can change Sang's relationship with him. Will he share it with her even though he knows her life will never remain the same again?

"Hema and Kaushik" - This story is written in 3 parts. The first part is a first person narrative by teenage Hema about the time when she is forced to share her house with Kaushik and his parents when they decide to come back to US after a few years in Bombay. Hema narrates her memories of the stay. The second part takes us a few years into the future and is first person narrative by Kaushik about his current life. The third part advances even further into time when both Hema and Kaushik have totally different lives and meet unexpectedly in Rome. Their experiences in Rome completes the trilogy.

On the whole a good read, though initially I felt skeptic about reading over and over about the lives of Bengali immigrants in US.

Book 1.75

If you had read my previous posts you will recognize this book. After all this is the book that motivated me to start this quest to finish 52 books in 52 weeks. Try as I might to be partial to this one book, I am unable to be so.

The book is basically the result of a blog. It follows the monotonous life of a secretary who wants something exciting in her life and so sets our to master french cooking by trying out all the recipes in Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" within a year. She also starts a blog detailing her trials and tribulations druing this culinary journey.

Though the book starts off on a very positive and energetic note, midway the Julie seems to lose the readers (or rather me). She tries to portray many events in a humorous manner to keep the reader entertained but personally I felt it was getting too repititious. We are constantly reminded, throughout the book, that she is the only solidly married person among all her friends. You seriously don't know whether she considers it a boon or a bane.

The imaginary world of Julia portrayed by the author is an utter waste of pages. I didn't find it remotely interesting. She could have taken a few lessons from other fiction writers to portray the imaginary world of Julia in a much better way.

Try as I might to finish this book, I had to give up 3/4th into the book. I just didn't find it funny any more. Though this book motivated me to try something new I will have to sadly give up on this book. I look forward to reading a better book by Julie.

p.s. This book is being made into a movie starring Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. So if any of you want to read this book, wait for a few days and watch the movie instead :)

Book 1

Real Time with Bill Maher is one of our favorite shows. We watch it whenever we find it while surfing channels. A few days ago Carol Leifer was one of his guests. She was promoting her book - When You Lie About Your Age The Terrorists Win. The title was really intriguing and the discussion motivated me to search for this book and place a hold on it. I was a few pages into Oil on the Brain when the library mailed me saying the book had arrived.

Let me tell you I had no idea about Carol before I read this book. I gathered from the note on the dust jacket that she is a stand up comedian and has written a number of scripts for SNL and Seinfeld. I checked out the book and started reading the first few pages in the library. The book is definitely a page turner. It's like taking a peek into some stranger's diary and by the end of the book you feel you have become aquainted with the person.

The book starts off on a funny note. It's a random collection of events that the author has gone through. We can read the book in any order and not miss anything as each chapter covers an event and each event is not really related. Some chapters such as "40 Things I Know at 50" and "Shhh! I'm Driving" are really hilarious. A few like "Sticking with Gravity", "Five Lessons of Animal Adoption" convey a message served with humor. "Creating a Jew", "Soul to Sole" and "76 Trombones" are more serious chapters which cover some somber memories of the author.

I read the book with the image of Carol standing on a stage doing a stand up act where she narrates the book. The book is written in such a way that it is much better to read when we think of it like a stand up act. On the whole it was a good read (I did finish it within 3 days). It's more like one of the Chicken Soup series books but with much more humor. I will not buy a copy of the book but I would definitely recommend my friends to read the book once.

A Thousand Splendid Suns

I just finished reading the book "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini. He has portrayed how innocent people (especially women) suffer during wars. I have read a few fiction books about covert operations and war (mainly Alistair Maclean and Robert Ludlum). These books always portrayed the war through the eyes of soldiers and governments but never through the eyes of innocent civilians.

This book opened my eyes to the cruelty faced by people when war ravages through their homes and takes everything they love and cherish away from them - brothers, sisters, parents, friends, list goes on.... We see footages of homeless people and refugee camps in news. Somehow it won't affect many of us because we have never known these people personally and a 30 sec footage is not going to make a great impact.

Khaled on the othe hand is brought out the ill effects in such a painful way. The book actually moved me to tears. I say this because I am not the kind of person who cries easily. We feel really sorry for the main characters and are left wondering how many actually suffered like this and how many are still suffering.

It's not just Afghanistan which has these problems. Homes are destroyed in thousands of places everyday. Kashmir, an extension of heaven on earth, has become hell. The beauty of the place is lost in all the attacks and fear. Same can be said about Srilanka.

Time and again we have all seen the damages caused by war. Everyday new pacts are signed and new alliances are formed but still we do not have any solution. Just when one problem is solved the next one shows it's ugly head. History has shown time and again that we do not achieve anything except bloodshed by all the war but man never learns.

A world without war would be so nice. But it's just a daydream. Thousands are oppressed everyday and this leads to the birth of new factions. Where and when all this will stop - no one knows. If only we could forgive and forget and have a fresh start, we could make this place heaven again.