Sarah Manguso’s Liars is a haunting novel that dissects a marriage doomed by its own foundations. The novel begins with Jane, an aspiring writer, meeting John, a charismatic filmmaker. Both share lofty dreams of love and artistic success and they waste no time in getting married. Yet, cracks in their shared vision quickly appear. John’s...
Years ago, my colleagues and I were taking a short walk during our lunch hour along the quiet lanes of Rest House Road in Bangalore. Suddenly, we were accosted from behind by 3 or 4 transgenders. They didn’t do anything to us. They were simply asking for money. But their actions, appearance, behaviour were all...
I first came upon the story of Muziris and its disappearance in Sethu’s novel ‘The Saga of Muziris’. Since then, this once-magnificent port town that sank without a trace has captivated me. So when I noticed Hamish Morjaria’s ‘The Curse of Muziris’ I wasted no time in reading it. Spread a little over 400 pages,...
I hadn’t heard of Lover until today evening. I have a habit of reading The Hindu’s movie review section every Friday. Today, it featured an article called “Breakout talents of Tamil cinema in 2024.” I was intrigued. I hadn’t heard of any of the actors’ names, except one, but I had watched many of the...
“We arrive in the blizzard of 1993, coming from rice paddies, mango trees, and the sun to February in the Empire State.” That’s how Ly Tran’s transportative and heartbreaking memoir “House of Sticks” starts off. Tran traces her childhood from the age of 3 when she comes to the US as part of a resettlement...
Have you heard of ‘lavender marriages’? It’s a marriage of convenience to hide the true sexual orientation of the two people involved for society’s sake. In S.J. Sindhu’s Marriage of a Thousand Lies it’s Lucky (short for Lakshmi) and Krishna who enter a lavender marriage. The story begins with Lucky temporarily moving to her mother’s...
Castles, princesses, magical creatures. These are what fairy tales are made of. And then there’s Castle Waiting by Linda Medley, which has bearded nuns, a BoJack Horseman-like character, a talking crow, pregnant lady on the lam, and so many other equally quirky characters. The book begins with a take on Sleeping Beauty. An entire town...
Being a fan of John Boyne’s books, I was thrilled to receive a copy of his latest “A Traveller at the Gates of Wisdom” from Penguin Random House for a review. Without giving any spoilers, here is a bare outline of the plot: An unknown man leads the reader through 2000 years. His story unfolds,...
In her much-celebrated novel, Breasts and Eggs, the principal character, Natsuko, asks some rudimentary questions. “Does blood coming out of your body make you a woman? A potential mother? What makes that so great anyway?” “What’s the secret to long life?” “What’s it mean to hurt, anyway?” Natsuko is single and in her late 30’s...
I relish books that take me to different geographies, show me how a land breathes and lives. Latitudes of Longing, in that sense, is rich in its sprawl. Beginning with the story of Girija Prasad and Chanda Devi in the Andamans the story took me across continents through an intricately woven tapestry of people and...
A couple of years ago, when I turned the last page of Tonke Dragt’s The Letter for the King, I felt like I had travelled back in time. I felt I had mingled with knights on horses, visited medieval forts, and met quirky characters that made my head spin, along the way. I felt rejuvenated...
If there’s anything I love better than chocolate it’s a deliciously atmospheric crime/mystery novel. So, it is with great anticipation that I began reading The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo. To add to my excitement the locked room mystery came with a heritage. Originally published in 1946, it is the first book in the renowned...
