Title: The Accidental Apprentice
Author: Vikas Swarup
Paperback: 448 pages
Publisher: Simon & Schuster (January 31st 2013)
Genre: Mystery
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
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Summary: (Goodreads)
Life pivots on a few key moments. This is one of them.

Sapna Sinha works in an electronics store in downtown Delhi. She hates her job, but she is ambitious and determined to succeed, and she knows without the money she brings in, her family won’t be able to survive. Little does she know it but her life is about to change forever.

As she leaves the shop on her lunch break one day, she is approached by a man who claims to be CEO of one of India’s biggest companies. He tells her he is looking for an heir for his business empire. And that he has decided it should be her.

There are just seven tests she must pass. And then the biggest lottery ticket of all time will be hers.

My Review:

Note: Thanks to the guys at MySmartPrice for offering me this book to review 🙂

Cover: Decent…

Paper and font: Smell-Worthy! And font is easy on the eyes.

Readability, language: : The font size and print is great with just the right tint of ivory to make it an easy, fun read.

Why did I choose this book: Missed the first, couldn’t miss this one ;P

Like a lot of other people I have seen Slumdog Millionaire the movie but have not read Q&A, the book it was based on. Somehow after the movie I never got down to reading the book even though Che recommended it and said it was way better than the movie. So, when I came across Vikas Swarup’s new book The Accidental Apprentice I figured I better read it before it becomes a movie.

Sinha is a middle class salesgirl working hard to make ends meet. Being the bread winner of the family she tries hard to fulfill her mothers needs and sisters demands without losing her sanity. Then one day she meets Mr. Vinay Mohan Acharya who wants to make her his company’s CEO, the only condition is that she pass 7 life tests. Initially Sapna shrugs him off, after all who approaches a random stranger and makes this kind of offer. But life’s cruelly dealt hand has Sapna go back to him within days to give his tests a try and the rest is the story. 😀

The Accidental Apprentice has a host of characters that are recognisable from our daily lives. The hard working elder sister, the pretty petty younger sister, the next door sweetheart, the quaint quirky neighbour Aunt, and last but not the least the business brothers who remind me of the Ambanis. I found myself smiling, egging on, rejoicing and sympathising with most characters through the book.

Set in Delhi, it’s only fitting that there is a hunger strike with flavours of Anna Hazare that goes viral on social media, among other situations Sapna finds herself in, as Swarup talks about some of the current issues and news in India as the life tests promised unravel.

I enjoyed the pace and speed of the book. It reads easy and fast with being difficult to put down. I was constantly wondering what would come next and was regularly surprised through the book.

Suitable for YA and upwards, it’s a must read. An adventure and thriller combined, it’s a fun one time read that surprises at many a moment.

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Title: A Degree In Death
Author: Ruby Gupta
Paperback: 280 pages
Publisher: Alchemy Publishers (2012)
Genre: Mystery
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
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Summary: (Goodreads)
The midnight murder of a student in the sleepy town of Dehradun rouses everyone with suspicion and alarm. Violence is incomprehensible in this institute located at the foothills of the Himalayas. With no clues or suspects, the police are unable to catch the killer.

Professor Shantanu Bose, an eminent nano-expert and Dean of Research and Development is deeply troubled at this havoc caused to his institute. Determined to bring back the peaceful academic environment of the campus, he begins his own investigation.

Fear increases as another dead body turns up. Soon the professor finds himself in grave danger. Yet, he persists with his inquiry; and discovers that the truth is more startling than what anyone could have imagined…

My Review:

Note: Thanks to the guys at MySmartPrice for offering me this book to review 🙂

Cover: So so!

Paper and font: The font was eye-friendly but the paper is ordinary. Nothing great.

Readability, language: : The language is easy in the mind and the book reads fast.

Why did I choose this book: I had found the blurb interesting and since I’ve been to Dehradun the location had me interested too.

MIST is an engineering college in Dehradun where life is rolling along as normal with the usual skirmishes of students and teachers. That is until there is a sucide in the boys hostel. On investigation it is revealed that the boy hadn’t committed suicide, he had been murdered. While the management is scrambling to maintain order among students and reduce bad publicity, Professor Shantanu Bose who considers himself a bit of a detective starts to investigate the murder. Soon more deaths follow and it becomes imperative to find the culprit soon.

Professor Shantanu reminded me of Bomkesh Bakshi, a detective I grew up watching on TV. A simple man who has an objective and logical mind-set, Professor Shantanu follows each lead in the case trying to fill in the blanks and complete the big picture. He is helped by students and faculty who also believe they have the answer to the case.

There is the usual mix of people who are scared and don’t want to have anything to do with the murders and there are also those who believe they will be the ones to solve the case and catch the murderer. But as they get closer to the answer they get eliminated and the answer continues to elude the Professor.

Set in Dehradun, a quite retirement town, the furor caused by the murder is understandable. The city is shocked and shaken as the murders continue. Gupta captures the essence of the city and its landscapes well and I could see it all in my minds-eye as the story unfolded.

A lot of research has gone into the book as Gupta talks about Tibet, the Dalai Lama and Tibetans taking refuge in Dehradun. I got a better understanding of the political and world situation in regard to Tibet as I read the book.

The layout of the book could have been better though, the paragraphs flowed into each other and the breaks between situations and locations was not distinct. I had a lot of confusing moments in the book as I tried to figure where one act ended and the next started.

If you are into mysteries and thrillers this is definitely a good book to read.

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Title: Black Hills
Author: Nora Roberts
Paperback: 472 pages
Publisher: Putnam (July 7th 2009)
Genre: Romance
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
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Summary: (Goodreads)
A summer at his grandparents’ South Dakota ranch is not eleven-year-old Cooper Sullivan’s idea of a good time. But things are a bit more bearable now that he’s discovered the neighbor girl, Lil Chance, and her homemade batting cage. Even horseback riding isn’t as awful as Coop thought it would be. Each year, with Coop’s annual summer visit, their friendship deepens from innocent games to stolen kisses, but there is one shared experience that will forever haunt them: the terrifying discovery of a hiker’s body.

As the seasons change and the years roll, Lil stays steadfast to her aspiration of becoming a wildlife biologist and protecting her family land, while Coop struggles with his father’s demand that he attend law school and join the family firm. Twelve years after they last walked together hand in hand, fate has brought them back to the Black Hills when the people and things they hold most dear need them most.

Lil and Coop both know the natural dangers that lurk in the wild landscape of the Black Hills. Now they must work together to unearth a killer of twisted and unnatural instincts who has singled them out as prey.

My Review:

I’ve been reading a lot of Indian authors lately hence thought I’d take a break and read a Nora Roberts. Looking around at the library I came across one of her recent books – Black Hills. The premise sounded interesting, and it was about the big cats so I picked it up. The story is about Lillian and Cooper who become friends as children and grow up together over the years. Teenage love blossoms but slides away as they both follow their dreams and part ways. Years later, Cooper finds his way back to his grandparents farm and his life in South Dakota while Lillian has fulfilled her dream of setting up a refuge for wild animals where she cares and rehabilitates them. The plot thickens as animals get killed and people go missing in the hills. Pretty soon it becomes clear that Lillian is the target and all of this is being done to threaten her.

The characters were believable enough but nothing really stood out for me about them. There is of course the hero and heroine – Cooper and Lillian. But aside from them there are a lot of other characters – Joe and Jenna (Lillian’s parents), Sam and Lucy (Coopers Grandparents), Farley, Tansy, Brad, Matt, Eric and a few others who are friends of Coop and Lil or work with them. Not to forget the villian – Ethan Howe. There are moments when you can immediately associate with the characters but its off and on through the book.

It was the setting of the book that drew me to it and that has been done well. Roberts describes the hills, it’s trails, the farms and the land well and I could see it all in my minds eye as the book progressed. I’ve never been to South Dakota but if the book is true it must be beautiful. Roberts has done a good job of describing forests and the trails through it.

Lillian is in love with the cougar who she sees as her spirit guide and the book has lots of anecdotes and information about the various big cats. I did learn a few things about them and the differences between them too. From the cat perspective the book does seem well researched. The book also raises questions about how natural a refuge can be, after-all an enclosure is a cage even though it is a large natural enclosure. But then again nothing can replace the wild and in a refuge you can only do so much. Roberts talks about all that the animals need to keep them safe and healthy and why sometimes enclosures are needed to be able to do that.

The best bit of the book for me (if you haven’t realised it already) were the animals. But that was also its drawback, as everything else seemed lost in it. The story plays out well almost until the last 50-100 pages. The villian is depicted well and you keep wondering about the showdown at the end. Towards the latter half of the book you can almost guess the end but when it does come it’s quick and short.

If I had to change one thing in the book, I’d make the showdown longer and more dramatic. As it is, it’s almost as if the witer after 400 pages got tired and just tied it all up to finish the book. The end was disappointing!

Considering the language I’d say this is a book for young adults and above but worth only one read. Definitely not worth a re-read.

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Over the years I’ve come across a lot of books that have been made into movies, and since I read a fair bit I usually land up reading the book before the movie. Asked off my head I can’t think of even one movie that out-shine’s the book (Life of Pi might be the exception when I see it, since I gave up on the book after 3 pages); though maybe if I give it some thought some book might just pop up.

With the thought of comparison on my head last week I came across ‘The Help‘, a book I read in 2011 and then watched as a movie last year. It’s a movie I liked so I’d watched it a few times and now I couldn’t remember what were the differences between the movie and the book. There’s no better way to sort this out then to read the book and watch the movie, again. That got me started on reading the book again last week.

Growing up when I got to the age of idolizing romance, there was no better ideal than Rhett Butler in Gone With the Wind. I read the book repeatedly until in my dreams I was Scarlett and there stood Rhett before me. But as I grew up the book became more than a romance and one of my favourite characters became Mammy. She was loving, caring, the perfect mother alternate. She loved Scarlett truly knowing all along just who Scarlett really was. At that age of course I didn’t have any understanding of colour and being brown myself helped. 🙂

In college I took up a 100 hours course on American Literature and there discovered Afro-American writers, musicians, speakers and more. (I wish I could have just said Black Writers, I know its politically incorrect and all that but I love my colour and am all patches and colours of brown; however that’s a topic for another day). I read about life as a slave, the fight for freedom, for equality, apartheid and more and I saw Mammy in a very different light suddenly.

Kathryn Stockett’s book ‘The Help‘ is just that, the voice of Mammy telling what life was on the other side of the fence. I love the book and at some places I tear-up every time reading about how inhumane we can be to people who are also human. The book’s a wonderful read just the way it is, I just wish it had really been written by an Afro-American. If you haven’t read the book yet, this book is a must read!

The Help isn’t a small or thin book and considering this time I wanted to compare the book to the movie I was reading quite slowly and mentally making notes. I finally finished the book a few days back, after a whole week (the migraines did not help). It was time to watch the movie and with Che being away, it was the perfect day to concentrate and watch a movie. I switched on the the computer, opened up notepad to make notes through the movie and settled-in to watch.

But I didn’t land up using the notepad at all and not because there were no differences. There were tons of differences. Shortening a long story like the Help into two and a half hours isn’t easy, and to still keep the core of the story I guess things have to change a bit or rather quite a bit. But I must say none of the changes take away from the story. The core and crux remains and the changes only add to the telling. The movie is also a must watch! It makes you sit up and realise that life isn’t all Gone With the Wind.

But I have to stick with what I set out to do. I have to chose between the movie and the book. Well my choice is…, the award goes too… 😀 Yeah, alright, ok, I’m cutting it out. I would still choose the book over the movie. The book has so much more in terms of the story and drama but if you aren’t a reader, watch the movie you’ll definitely appreciate it.

Have you read the book and watched the movie? Which did you prefer?

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Title: Bitch Goddess for Dummies
Author: Maya Sharma Sriram
Paperback: 260 pages
Publisher: Rupa Publications (2012)
Genre: Chick-Lit
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
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Summary: (Amazon)
Edgy and wickedly funny, this is exciting debut novel that will have readers engaged and entertained throughout.
Bitch Goddess Rule # 52: Dont Mess with a Bitch Goddess. Ever. She Gives as Good as She Gets.
Tired of being a pushover and a wimp, Mira Iyer decides to change her life forever. Thus begins Project Bitch Goddess. She junks her Miss-Goody-Two-Shoes image and brings out the killer stilettos. She demands her bosss attention, and the next pro- motion, and matches her crafty colleague, the impossibly beautiful Sanya, move for move. But when Mira starts playing mind games with the suave Rohan whom Sanya is also desperately trying to woo things threaten to go too far. Then, Miras half-sister lands at her doorstep, and compels her to confront her estranged father and her long-closeted inner demons. Will the snappy Bitch Goddess Rules come to Miras rescue, or leave her scarred?
Set in Singapore and India, Bitch Goddess for Dummies is replete with dark humour and is a powerful antidote for those who must suffer because they are too nice.

My Review:

Note: Thanks to the guys at MySmartPrice for offering me this book to review 🙂

Cover: Eye-Candy! The cover is true to the book!

Paper and font: The paper’s ok, though I would have liked a slightly bigger and spacier font. It’s a tad bit small and tight.

Readability, language: The book reads well, with mostly simple language (there are words like solecism) and a subject every working girl knows about.

Why did I choose this book: Something about the name said ‘You must read this!’.

A racy chick-lit, I couldn’t keep the book down once I started. Mira the heroine is a simple Tam-Bram girl who has been brought up to do things properly. She doesn’t know the twisted ways of the world today and ends up being walked over constantly by Sanya in office. Sanya is the epitome of the girl we all called the ‘Bitch’ in office, the one who with her coy ways always gets her way. Mira tired of being a wimp and a pushover decides to take a leaf from Sanya’s book and become the bitch goddess. What results is an account of Mira’s conflicts between being her and a bitch goddress, the confusion for her close friend Vinay who can’t seem to understand what’s got into her and the upheavel caused by the entry of the hero Rohan in the midst of things as Mira finds the right balance of things in her life.

Mira is that girl each one of us was when we first stepped into the corporate world of today, stumbling along and learning the rules of the game. Sanya like I said before is the epitome of the ‘Bitch’, the one each one of us hated but secretly wanted to be. Vinay is a loveable charater and so remined my of my close buddies at work and how they were my family away from home. All Sriram’s characters are well sketched out and easily recogniseable with someone in our lives.

The book is set in Singapore and India and true to Indians working abroad Sriram brings out the Indian’isms’ displayed by them. Mira’s mother is the typical Tamil Brahmin parent back home trying hard to get her daughter married.

The book is a fast-paced read and I couldn’t keep it down once I started, I wanted to know all that happened to Mira. Sriram has mostly used simple language but there are some big words like ‘Solecism’ thrown in that made me reach out for the dictitionary. Not that am complaining 🙂

I loved the Bitch Goddess Rules that popped up in-between as I was reading the book. Also Mira’s new avatar made me smile big and wide everytime she whooped Sanya. I don’t have any complaints as such of the book. As a to-read-once-chick-lit it’s great.

I’d recommend this book to all those in the corporate world. Most women will associate with it and men like Vinay (who have ‘proper’ women friends) will have a good laugh. Definitely worth a read!

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Title: Wrong Means Right End
Author: Varsha Dixit
Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Rupa Publications (2012)
Genre: Chick-Lit
Read: Paperback
Stars: ***/5
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Summary: (FlipKart)
After a failed marriage, Sneha, a single working mom, has no time, or inclination, for love. She resists every matchmaking attempt made by the overzealous Nandini, married to industrialist Aditya. But then the past intrudes in the form of the gorgeous and rich, Nikhil, who brings along Gayatri to break-up her ex-fianc, Adityas marriage. Sneha enlists Nikhils help to salvage the situation. But how does she even talk to a man who clearly loathes her? As Nikhil and Sneha try to grapple with their egos and combustible chemistry, love blossoms.

My Review:

Note: Thanks to Varsha Dixit for offering me her book to review 🙂

Cover: Eye-ok! The cover has colours that are pleasing to the eye and there is even some texture in the print. I liked the cover however there was something in it that made me feel it could have been better.

Paper and font: Smell-Worthy! This book had good paper quality and font size.

Readability, language: Light, simple and quick to read, with language that is quite the modern India Metro.

This book is an out and out chick-lit. A modern Mills and Boons set in Mumbai. Nandini who has found true love with Aditya now wants the same for her best friend Sneha. While trying to evade Nandini’s constant setups Sneha meets Nikhil – a man from her past and gets to know that Gayathri, Aditya’s ex-fiancé is back in town with the intention of getting Aditya back. Sneha is forced into working along with Nikhil to stop Gayathri, where both of them can’t help but notice the chemistry. The story is about how Sneha and Nikhil find each other.

Sneha and Nandini’s friendship reminded of the closeness I share with my besties. They way they talked, understood, misunderstood and stood by each other was so real. Aditya, Nandini’s husband is the typical sweet best friends husband who becomes your friend too. And Nikhil is that man most of us women dream of – the chiseled face, killer looks and suave manner, and not to mention ‘rich’. 😀 Varsha Dixit has done a great job with relationships in ‘Wrong Means Right End’ and I could identify with almost all of them as I read the story.

I haven’t read a Mills and Boons in a while now but I do enjoy an occasional one. When I accepted ‘Wrong Means Right End’ I wasn’t expecting an M&B and the book surprised me; pleasantly. While reading I associated with so much in the book – the playful name calling, the closeness of friends, the protective instinct, the marital insecurities, the romance – Dixit describes the emotions and feelings of the characters well and you feel for them. The characters and relationships are believable and situations possible. I enjoyed most parts of this book.

I wish though that there had been more to the Gayathri plot as it felt too short and without punch. I would have like more action and drama there. I had picked up the book expecting an all out third woman drama but the book was more about Nikhil and Sneha’s romance. Not that I’m complaining but I would have liked the third woman plot to have lasted longer than halfway through the book.

All in all I enjoyed the book and would definitely recommend it, I hope to read more of Varsha Dixit’s work in future.

Any one who likes chick-lit and M&B romances will enjoy this book. Its a quick and fun read that leaves you feeling all good and glowy inside. Almost every womans book but maybe not every mans 😉

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Title: Roll of Honour
Author: Amandeep Sandhu
Paperback: 252 pages
Publisher: Rupa Publications (October 16, 2012)
Genre: Historic Novel
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
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Summary: (Amazon)
An honest and moving story about life in a military school, in the days of the Khalistan movement.
1984. Operation Blue Star has just ended and the Indian Army is arresting and killing innocent Sikhs. Appu is back at military school in Jassabad, Punjab, for his final year. He looks forward to three things: being class in-charge, passing out, and securing a place in the National Defence Academy.
Then ex-student Balraj, now a Khalistani militant on the run, takes refuge on campus and the violence outside comes to school. Some of the seniors decide to help Balraj, the decision splits the school along sectarian lines, and students are forced to take sides. There is rampant bullying sodomy being the preferred tool of domination and long-time friends find themselves on opposing sides. As the situation spirals out of control, Appu, who wants nothing more than to live his dreams, is forced to make the impossible choice between community and nation.

My Review:

Note: Thanks to Amandeep Sandhu for offering me his book to review 🙂

Cover: Eye-Treat! I loved the cover. The colours are a treat to the eyes just like the texture is to the fingers.

Paper and font: Smell-Worthy! I don’t like most Indian prints these days. But this book had good paper quality and font size.

Readability, language: Easy on the eye and mind. Has strong language but fits the story.

My parents say as a toddler I called Indira Gandhi my mother. I ran around the house shouting ‘mummy is on TV’. As I grew up I got to know more about her; I admired the woman who stood out in a man’s world. She took on men and won. Then I got to know about Operation Blue Star and how it killed her. I read about it but reading can only tell you so much.

Then a few years ago I travelled to Amritsar and went to the Golden Temple. The marks of the destruction caused by Blue Star in 1984 are still there. I spoke to people who had lived through Operation Blue Star and its aftermath. I don’t say that I stopped admiring Indira Gandhi but I did start to think this was a mistake and a big one.

A couple of weeks ago when A. Sandhu got on touch with me about his book, I saw an opportunity to understand 1984 better and the book was just that. An insight into what the youth went through after 1984.

This is a story about life in the residential military schools of Punjab. Appu tells the story of how life changed after Blue Star. The clear sudden divide between Sikhs and Hindus. The animosity,  patriotism and religious zeal driving the people and friends apart.

Appu is a boy in the 12th standard aspiring to join the NDA. He is a teenager questioning authority, his sexuality, religion, relationships, patriotism, the army, humanity and everything else in his life. Then in 1984 new questions arise and answers change as Appu finds his way through school and life in the shadow of Operation Blue Star.

The story is narrated by Appu as he goes down memory lane and writes his story. In between the past we get glimpses of Appu’s current life as he writes the book. The to and fro isn’t tedious and fits together well to portray the whole picture. There is quite a lot of strong language and sexual material in the book but it adds to the story though I’m not sure if this book is a good read for young age groups. 🙂

Reading Roll of Honour gave me an insight into the lives of Sikhs after 1984. After partition this was the next big religious event that I was too young and too far geographically to remember, this book helped me understand the people of Punjab better. I’d definitely recommend this book if these kind of stories are your thing. 🙂

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Title: Asura – Tale of the Vanquished
Author: Anand Neelakantan
Paperback: 504 pages
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd (May 14, 2012)
Genre: Mythology
Read: Paperback
Stars: ****/5
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Summary: (Amazon)
The epic tale of victory and defeat… The story of the Ramayana had been told innumerable times. The enthralling story of Rama, the incarnation of God, who slew Ravana, the evil demon of darkness, is known to every Indian. And in the pages of history, as always, it is the version told by the victors, that lives on. The voice of the vanquished remains lost in silence. But what if Ravana and his people had a different story to tell? The story of the Ravanayana had never been told. Asura is the epic tale of the vanquished Asura people, a story that has been cherished by the oppressed outcastes of India for 3000 years. Until now, no Asura has dared to tell the tale. But perhaps the time has come for the dead and the defeated to speak.

My Review:

I was born a Muslim, that meant that my Grandmothers bedtime stories weren’t the traditional stories of Indian Kings and Queens. Hence my first taste of the Ramayana was Ramanand Sagar’s version on TV every Sunday morning. In our house Sunday was a big day. I have always loved stories and the Ramayana was beautiful especially after Mr. Sagar got his say in it. It was a rule at home that the TV was switched on only after bath and breakfast. So Sunday was the one day we woke up early without being constantly told to wake up, we got ready in record time and literally gulped our breakfast down.

I enjoyed the epic and didn’t miss it but even at that young age it left me feeling indignant about how women of all classes were treated. Even Sita the Queen didn’t escape the male dominated chauvinistic society. I had questions, so many questions that no one had answers to. Ravana and Lanka were depicted as evil yet Lanka was the city of gold, prosperous and the people were happy. How then was Ravana a bad King and evil?

As I grew up I learned about the different versions of the Ramayan. Versions where Rama was not the hero, he wasn’t a god but a man – that made sense considering the mistakes he made. Then while visiting a friend in Pune I came across Asura which was Ravana’s side of the story and I picked it up.

Asura was a good read, at some places I did wish it would move faster but I still enjoyed reading it. I finally had answers to some of my questions. The story is told by Ravana and Badra who is a common man playing various roles in Ravana life – he is a part of the army, Ravana’s servant and a lower class commoner.

The Ramayana from Ravana’s view point is refreshing. No man is good or evil, it is the situation that makes him so. This becomes clear through the book. Ravana considers himself a man, he doesn’t want to be god. That means that he has plus points to his character but he has the minuses too. He makes mistakes just like any man.

Neelakntan’s Asura finally answers and fills in the gaps in the Ramayana. This is a book to read to get a different perspective to the grand epic we all grew up with.

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Title: Tendrils of Life
Author: Owen Choi
Paperback: 426 pages
Publisher: Princeton Falcon Press (July 26, 2012)
Genre: Historic Novel
Read: eBook
Stars: ****/5
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Summary: (Amazon)
Acute food shortages and lawlessness plague communist occupied Seoul at the start of the Korean War in 1950, and Jimin, a 16-year-old boy, seeks a way to return to a remote island in the South Sea of Korea which he had left five years earlier. But only his father, who is absent from home, knows the way.
Meanwhile, tragedy strikes, brought on by his adversary Sinman, who belongs to a powerful clan hostile toward Jimin’s family. On his way south with his little sister to find his father, Jimin meets Sora and their relationship blooms. But Jimin is compelled to continue his journey, and the two separate.
The war sweeps across the country many times, first with a North Korean invasion, then with a counterattack by UN forces, then with Chinese interference. Through the turmoil, Jimin and Sora venture into war-ravaged and guerrilla-infested areas.
It is a story of love and hope, greed and revenge, strife between families, and the quest for survival in the turmoil of war. A depiction of resilience of the human spirit.
Tendrils of Life is a rich and intriguing novel, interwoven with personal narratives that are real and alive against the backdrop of the Korean War.

My Review:

Note: Thanks to Owen Choi for offering me his book to review 🙂

This is the story Jimin, a boy who is trying to survive the war in Korea. Jimin’s family used to live on a little island where they were content but his father brings them back to the mainland before going away to join the war. After he leaves, Jimin and his sister Misern lose their mother. As she is dying she tells them she will meet them again on the island and there starts their search for their father who is the only one who knows the way back to the island.

Tendrils of Life is about all those lives that touch ours and change it. Every person whether just passing or staying for a while in our lives makes an impact and it’s repercussions are felt forever.

The book has a lot of characters, each adding to the Jimin’s journey. His sister Misern who Jimin loves but sometimes finds a burden. Sora the girl he has loved for a long time from a distance. Sinman his half-brother and rival. His father with whom he has a love-hate relationship. And many others who become a part of his life as he travels across Korea growing up from a boy to a man. Their lives intertwine with his as he tries to make his way to Iodo, the utopian island.

I have always liked history after all I love stories and history is just that. But textbooks and the news are not great sources of stories so I don’t know much of recent history. I knew there was a war in Korea but nothing beyond that. This was was an insight into the war and what common people went though during it.

I enjoyed the book but considering the pain and trauma the war brings to Jimin and Misern I not sure if ‘enjoyed’ is the right word. I cheered the siblings along their journey, felt anxiety in their separation, pain when they got hurt, anger at those who brought so much trauma to a country of peaceful people. I felt for Korea, I felt for all those people who get stuck in wars they didn’t start or ever wanted.

This book is a must read if you want to experience the war in Korea and understand it’s people – how they think and feel, what they have experienced and been through. Choi explores ideas, questions beliefs, and brings out the strength of the human spirit in Tendrils of Life.

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