Genre : Management (People Behavior)
Time Taken : 3 days
Recommended : To anyone who wants to look at the world in a different light


This book is a reverse NOSTRADAMUS effect ....
Rather than predicting earth-quakes, 9/11 attacks centuries earlier; Gladwell dissects each esoteric historical changes such as the dramatic hype of Hush Puppies or the drastic reduction of new-york's crime rate (oh yes... remember Freakonomics) and then analyses how/why exactly these Social Epidemics (as he calls them) occurs.

Similar to the narrative followed by Stephen Levitt in Freakonomics; Gladwell's essays mix theories and fact with anecdotes and racy pace. But there are definitely a few moments where Gladwell scores above Stephen and those would be his narration of Paul Revere's historical midnight ride and the newyork crime rate stories.

Textbooks can definitely learn a lot from the style of such books on how to exactly put across the right facts and yet not be boring ;)

Overall it would figure in the Top 10 books i have read; and really encourages me to get ahead with gladwell's other offerings; namely Blink and Outliers.

Read ON !!

Genre : Soap opera about life within a dysfunctional family.

Time Taken : 5 days

Recommend : to anyone who is looking for some light and pleasant reading

 

            This book has been shortlisted for the Man booker prize 2005, and the review comments all glow in the glory of the book, some of them go to the extent of stating "An outstanding novelist with a powerful understanding both of what the brain knows and what love knows". Now just as a disclaimer to everyone who like me, was impressed by the distinct cover design and the title, "On beauty" and wanted to read something different, this book offers only half of what it proclaims

 

WHY DO WE FALL IN LOVE WITH THE PEOPLE WE DO ?

WHY DO WE VISIT OUT MISTAKES ON OUR CHILDREN?

WHAT MAKES LIFE TRULY BEAUTIFUL?

 

Naturally, a hearty kudos to the publisher who have exalted a seemingly decent novel to demi-god status.

 

To be fair to the author, what she has achieved is an eloquent intermixing of Charles dickens with Mills & Boons, which is brilliant on it's own… but definitely not original, and more so when this novel has in itself come upon a time wherein stories of dysfunctional families have been hashed and re-hashed to the core(American beauty), just as Dragons and Wands are today.

 

The Novel has a quite racy and rather distinct start on it's own, it starts with a series of email correspondence between father and son Belseys. The son Jerome who has rebelled against the father(due to factors unknown to the author herself) is currently living under the shed of his literary rival Monty kipps, falls in love with their daughter and things go steadily, until his dad arrives to kick some sense into his son leading to un-requisite scenes. The start of this novel is truly brilliant in some places (note: some) esp. when the dad arrives without with only half-truth and starts to explain things to Monty kipps elder son… kinda reminds you of any classic Wodehouse.

 

But it is only after this minor episode that the novel takes a turn for the worse…. If only the author had tried to make the entire book as lively as the initial Quarter (If only)

 

Surprisingly the book even-though seems to revolve around Rembrandt(since both Kipps and Belsey are opposites in their views about the renowned painter and both of their primary profession revolve around dissecting the art works of the master) we do not get anything concrete about his paintings… which represents the woe of any reader !! We may not ask for a Da Vinci Code, but at least something to talk or research about after reading the book??

 

I would not reveal the story here, as there is not much to actually talk about… there are no intricate weaving of multiple story-lines even though the book had tremendous opportunity, and unfortunately no place does the book stand strong on any systems or values… be it during the underlying fight between the views of Christian idealogies by the various protagonists, or any strong stand-offs between father-son, and there has been a thorough wastage of characters such as Carl(a street poet) and things seem very bleak after kiki (belsey's wife) continues living with belsey despite his extra-marital spurrings.

 

Zadie is definitely evolving her own style of writing… but this one is definitely not her best, what you can feel after reading the book is lot of potential but not many accomplishments. Overall, this book is good enough a read.. but not exactly ostentatious as the books claims itself to be.

Things to look out for :

poem(pg-153) is something to read and comprehend.

The beginning chapter (Belsey goof-up)

Chapter : Of Beauty and being wrong(399-433) .. maybe the author should have stopped with that as the last page.

Time Taken : 4 days (I re-read almost the entire book, esp those sections wherein she goes into a lenghty essay about each of the human emotion plaguing the protagonist)
Rating : 9/10
Comments : Do not read when your are mentally low, and though the narration might be a bit verbose I would suggest reading them untill u absord the beauty behind her wordings. And please wait till the ending.

REVIEW :Another Indian wins the "Man booker Prize" yet another literary pundit from the "Land of Tagore". With Salman Rushdie himself decorating his approval upon this feisty sophomore book(her initial being "Hullaboo in the Guava Orchard).. I was definitely on the look-out for this book to besiege the pavements "comfort for the mind, body and wallet":).
Despite the brochure of critical acclaim, my apprehensions were definitely screaming right in the face... esp. after being
tortured by the previous Indian Diva to get similar acclaim, Arundathi Roy's "The GOD of Small Things" I was definitely those, once bitten twice shy. Indeed, it must suffice to mention that i had recurring nightmares after finishing the above mentioned Metaphor Overdose with a perverted ending.
It was with these diatribe mixture of awe and apprehension that I approached the first page....
Strange that this book starts with a truly mesmerizing poem (wordings still resonate within my neurons) by Jorge Luis Borges. But then just as soon as you turn the page you start dreading about the Roy effect, a super-imposition of GOD's Ayemnon with Inheritance's Cho Oyu(Kanchenjunga) awakens your third eye as you ravage upon Desai's described paradise.
Thankfully, as soon as you shift the pages fear turns into admiration and you really get engrossed within these same details, which explores the monotony  of the mountains with myraid colors of the rainbow; and the most romantic description of human emotions as she spills out metaphors as if it were the hermit crab spewing out its eggs(almost 12,000).
I really adored her grasp of human emotions and their reactions, if not only for the dehati(village bred) cook or even for the dysfunctional Judge(whose love-hate pendulam spins faster than a gyrospcope placed upon the North pole) and the puppy-love between 16 yr old Sai with her 20 yr old Tutor Gyan in direct contrast with the male chauvinistic travesty between the Judge and his wife; gives only enough grass for us to chew and ruminate and build the rest of the intricacies of the relationships ourselves. I must profess, I had to re-read almost half of the book twice to fully grasp the intricate description and she sure made it involving for me to read them twice.

What is really apparent is the amount of research involved with this project, may be not by the amount of facts and figures, but the vital descriptions of every place involved making you feel like traveler amidst these places, making crisp accurate descriptions of otherwise poetic flowery places.
Research :- (1) The GNLF (Gorkha National liberation foundation (2) Immigration rules across both India and U.S and also the various associated happenings (3) the Landscape of Darjelling, kanchenjunga, various monastries (4) Indian Style Gossip (especially, the Sisters (noni and loly) are really marvellous story-tellers and their narrations really remind everyone of indian mentality; not to leave behind the characterisation of the Cook, uncle Potty, and other side-characters; having a story to revolve around each of them.

As they say, for jeffrey archer it is his plot which raises the book, for Paulo Coehlo it is his thoughts, for "God Father's author"it was intensity, for kiran desai it is her depth of description & brilliant editing.

Seriously, somehow the entire pace of the book is so beautifully evolved... like any bollywood blockbuster, we have flash-backs, parallel stories and mood-swings between the renegade revolution going outside and the fiery self-critisicm among those locked within their own houses all of these elements placed so prefect to the hilt. The Editors have to be seriously hailed as extra-ordinary.

STORY :The book as such is one of those classic intermingling of 3-4 storylines weaven across by a single thread(in the case of the book, blood relations); it is about Sai(an orphan) relegated from her convent to her grandfather Jemubhai (a retired Judge, who had shunned his entire family and living his pension years at Cho Oyu with his much adored Mutt) and their cook who's son Biju is doing odd-jobs in the US of the A, having his entire dreams of living a green-colored job(referring to the Green-card) dissipates slowly but definitely. Sai who begins her romance with Gyan her tutor; who has didactic thoughts between getting involved with GNLF(the renegade revolutionaries) who are holding the entire landscape to their ransom or munching mushy dialouges to Sai. Apart from these primary characters Kiran really breathes life into the remaining motley bunch of Uncle Potty, Father Booty, Sisters Noni and Lola, the I-am-better-than-you Mrs.Sen, and every other person whose mention would definitely have their own page within the book. Now, these characters are once again thrown into a GNLF renegade, wherein the whole town under oppression and curfew and you can watch as the inner demons get unleashed far more worse than the situation outside.

The Best part of the book is definitely the ending.... Damn Brilliant... You have to read this book to feel what I felt ;) So Go On... and Make yourself feel nice.

Additional Links :-
REVIEW
WIKI

Time taken : 6 Hours (would take around 2 lazy week-ends)
Genre : Typical Duped Vs Con, racy thriller.
Pub List : July 1974
Trivia : Jeffrey Archer's First Novel (Based on his real-life disaster and luckily the book averted his bankruptcy)
Referred by : Uttara (My online pal)
Verdict : A puzzle you would like to solve from the beginning till the end ;-)
Links : Wikipedia,  Mostly-Fiction, Barnes&Nobles

 

The godfather of all deception novels, brilliantly crafted masterpiece enmeshed with an intelligent proceedings and witty repartees thrown into this quagmire of the con Vs the duped.

Though it must be said that Archer was never known for his eloquent English, more of crisp and plain simple language is what you can aspire for. Never for more than a single sentence does he embark for describing the rich contours or the tapestry of those old Macedonian architecture; but there is plenty of action and mind games which take the entire novel to higher depths. What this means, is that if you are a pure fantasy bred connoisseur you would definitely not find this book worthy of my description.

Story in short :-

The conned: an Oxford don(Stephan), a revered society physician(Robin), a chic French art dealer(Jeanne-peirre), and a charming English lord(James). They have one thing in common. Overnight, each novice investor lost his life's fortune to one man. The con: Harvey Metcalfe. A brilliant, self-made guru of deceit; of course the usual rags-to-riches, street-smart guys.

With nothing left to lose four strangers are about to come together-each expert in their own field. Their plan: find Harvey, shadow him, trap him, and penny-for-penny, destroy him. From the luxurious casinos of Monte Carlo to the high-stakes windows at Ascot to the bustling streets of Wall Street to fashionable London galleries, their own ingenious game has begun. As Stephen's dad would have told him,"Don't get mean, get even".

Of course, there is a charming and brilliant twist which really adds the extra Zang at the end of the novel… as they say, the Novel "starts with a whimper and ends with a bang"

 

History about this book :-

Archer entered politics in April 1967, at the age of 29 became Britain's fourth youngest member of the House of Commons. However, Archer invested his life savings in a Canadian cleaning firm that collapsed due to management fraud and embezzlement. After losing all of his money, he resigned from Parliament. Rather than go bankrupt and stiff his creditors, Archer decided to write a novel based on his unfortunate experiences. Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less became an instant bestseller in the U.S. and helped him get out of debt. This early achievement marked the beginning of his highly successful writing career.

As you would have noticed, how a brilliant master-mind that archer is utilized this moment of utter desperation to get-back even. You might wonder if this calm and focused attitude was what trickled down into the characters of Stephen and his gang as they "pull the plug" on Metcalfe.

 

Detailed review :-

In the beginning of the book, describes the con-man himself, Harvey Metcalfe in greater depth… The first account you hear is about Harvey instructing Zorg (his banker)  to distribute around $7 million in gold and assets. And as the tempo progresses you realize that this huge chunk of money would be just another days earnings, if your life was that of Harvey Metcalfe.

To Quote Archer, "Making a million legally has always been difficult, making a million illegally has always been a little easier. Keeping a million when you have made it is perhaps the most difficult of them all. Henryk Metelski(his first name) was one of those rare men who has managed all three"

You do find lot of traces of Abel Rosnovski (of Kane and Abel) in Metcalfe; but the resemblance ends with the way they treat money (it's either their own or just on the way of becoming theirs). Metcalfe, begins his life as a messenger boy and ends up with insider information and luckily gets around $50,000 in hand which he repays after his gain of around $7,490. The rest of his ill-gotten money is just taken for granted as we would have expected the lil-swine to have grown up into a nasty but street-smart millionaire.

Then, we are lead to the maze which makes a Harvard fresher David Kesler fall for Metcalfe by acting as a tele-marketeer for many people to chip in their money to Metcalfe's namesake-company "Prospecta Oil". The day Metcalfe feels that his investment has been realized he shuts down the company and immediately everyone feels the pinch (more so like the Chit-funds companies which are in vogue these days).

If he had thought, that the duped were also dumb well he was mistaken, for there were the big 4; persons who lost their entire savings in the share melee of Prospecta.. Namely Stephen(Oxford Mathematician), Robin(a suave harley street surgeon), James(An Egnlish Lord who would rather be on Stage acting than attached to his title) and Jean-Pierre(An art gallery proprietor).

Stephen with his logical and disciplined thoughts of getting even with Metcalfe leads this gang, and proposes to get back with Metcalfe, "Not a penny more, Not a penny less". Just initially reluctant the entire gang formulate a fascinating pieces of puzzle to put together and swindle their money back; without even Metcalfe's knowledge.

What's so brilliant about this book is that it is not about a Hit-and-run case, wherein they just go ahead steal an entire bank and scoot off with the earnings.. but it is the maturity and brilliance that these persons use their individual skill to scrape of Metcalfe of his swindlings; and the entire book is structured into the 4(or should I say only 3) masterpieces of plan executed with split-second precision and dedication to pull it all off.

Amidst all these swindlings, we do have a bit of romance and witty dialogues strewn across, which actually adds spice and naturally the ending climax twist.

Of course, even the get-backers start to feel respect and affinity towards Metcalfe during this cat-and-mouse game.

 

Of course, the Final twist is definitely to be savored for those who have read, and no mention of it shall be made.

 

Just as a foot-note; after reading this book I have become a thorough-breed Archer fan..of course, not to mention that his "Last Impression" really disappointed me; but nevertheless "Not a penny more, Not a penny less" shall revive your diet of reading..