IN BRIEF A Purple Sea by Ambai Translated by Lakshmi Holmstrom
Stories of Women
Saint of the Sewers
This anthology of 17 short stories was written over a period of 20 years and published in different Tamil literary journals. Ambai tells her stories in a calm, understated manner punctuated by mild innuendos. There is a feminist angst that is palpable in her writing but kept under control.
Set in Karachi, this is a story of feisty Alice Bhatti, who works as a junior nurse. It’s a story of love. Of Alice and Teddy Butt, a police informer; of Noor who waits for his mother to die and harbours a secret desire for Alice. Above all, this is a story of people whose life is a daily struggle, told with empathy and humour.
Dr Rajeshwari Ghose
Across Many Mountains by Yangzom Brauen Translated by Katy Derbyshire
Reshmi Chakraborty
Chasing the Monsoon By Alexander Frater
Stories across Generations
India in the Rains
This book is a recollection of the lives of three Tibetan women along with insights into the socio-political history of Tibet. The author is introduced to Tibet through the stories of her maternal grandmother and mother. After a few visits, she gets involved in campaigns against the Chinese occupation. A great read for anyone who enjoys modern south Asian history, Buddhism and Tibet.
Starting from Thiruvananthapuram, Frater witnesses the onset of the monsoon and tracks it to Kochi, Goa, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Shillong over a period of a month. While he witnesses various celebrations accompanying the monsoon, the misery that the rains bring for a section of the population does not escape him. Combination of India and Frater is a joy to read.
Pushpa Achanta
The Power Of Intuition: How to use your gut feelings to make better decisions at work by Gary Klein
Aradhana Janga
The Stuff of Thought by Steven Pinker
The Art of decision making
Was There a Word?
Does relying on data alone help corporate executives make the right decisions? What do we do when we have fewer chances to try options? This book shows leaders how they can learn to use their experiences to become better decision makers. This is a useful guide for corporate bosses who carry the burden of getting it right when stakes are high.
The ‘verbivore’ author uses language to peep into human nature and thought processes. Is there an abstract ‘language of thought’ below the layer of our manifest languages? If the plural of house was houses, why say mice and not ‘mouses’? When should we use past perfect and not past tense? Pinker avoids such dead-ends to take us on a thoroughly enjoyable journey.
Manjula Sundharam
18
Our Lady of Alice Bhatti by Mohammed Hanif
Dr Rajagopalan
BOOKS & MORE \ August-September 2012
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On Book Reviewing By Jaya Bhattacharji Rose
Jaya Bhattacharji Rose
I
n December 2011, journalist Mihir Sharma published a 6000-word review on about well-known PR executive Suhel Seth’s new book GetTo The Top — The Ten Rules For Social Success. It was intensely written, strong and provocative and caused a storm in literary circles. The opening section was the review, but the remaining two-thirds of the essay was a deprecating profile of Suhel Seth. The link to the article went viral. It resulted in some unpleasant mudslinging between the reviewer and author on Twitter, with the magazine’s editor fiercely defending the reviewer. The author, after a few tweets, deleted the conversation string from his Twitter stream and locked it from public access. By then, the tweets exchanged had been preserved and shared across social media platforms and via e-mail. But, let’s focus on the review — did it achieve what it was meant to: sell the book? It probably did. Sure, the focus of the article was Suhel Seth and his book, but it was the quality of writing of a professional critic that created the extraordinary buzz. Book reviewing is not as easy as it looks. The internet and social media platforms make it possible for anyone to upload their opinion or comment on a book. A detailed response, like 58
Mihir Sharma’s, to a book takes time, effort, knowledge, the confidence to go public with what you actually believe in and, later, to stand by your words. But most of the time, book reviewing is a regurgitation of the plot. It is more often than not opinionated and tough to read. This is not a new phenomenon. In his essay, Confessions of a Book Reviewer (1946), George Orwell says, “The great majority of reviews give an inadequate or misleading account of the book that is dealt with.” More than sixty years later, this statement still holds true. Book reviews that are worth reading are the New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement, Granta, The New Yorker and The New York Times books pages. In India, special mention can be made of The Hindu literary supplement, the Businessworld online books portal and bloggers like Jai Arjun (Jabberwock), Chandrahas Choudhary (The Middle Stage), and Nilanjana Roy (Akhond of Swat). Professional critics act as a quality filter for the readers. They help in refining reading tastes. They also perform a valuable task for editors, publishers and even booksellers with their constructive criticism. Let me explain through a personal anecdote. Last year, I reviewed a well-written narrative nonfiction, which was caught between classifying itself as a biography or a memoir; or to use David Lodge’s phrase — bio-fic. In my opinion (after much research and indepth analysis), I felt that despite the excellent effort at garnering
The internet and social media platforms make it possible for anyone to comment on a book. empirical evidence about the woman whose life she was documenting, the author found it difficult to acknowledge that what she had written was a bio-fic. This was even more distressing since the author admitted in her afterword that she had tinkered with the data and story elements, including fudging the letters instead of reproducing or quoting from them as is. I suspect the review did not go down too well with the author since she ‘delinked’ from me on a social networking website. But I did get a tremendous response from readers appreciating the honest and frank assessment of the book. Whatever the response a reviewer may have to a book it is best to be accurate, honest and not vituperative, for the sake of being so. If there is nothing worth talking about in the book, say so. Trashing a book without any valid and just reason isn’t professional reviewing. Jaya Bhattacharji Rose is an international publishing and literary consultant. She may be contacted at jayabhattacharjirose@gmail. com Her twitter handle is @ JBhattacharji. BOOKS & MORE \ April-May 2012