Rashmi bookmarks “Pnin”

Vladimir Nabokov tells us the story of Timofey Pavlovich Pnin, a Russian-born professor living in the United States, and his experiences of living life in a very alien culture.

The great joy of reading this story was, for me, how small individual and isolated incidents came together to create this beautiful portrait of a man, humorous at times, nostalgic at others, but always so richly layered. From taking the wrong train to deliver a lecture, to organizing a party for friends and colleagues, hosted with sombre propriety, we see a man who struggled throughout to meet life with the greatest possible dignity. Pnin reminded me at times, of Tagore's protagonists - with that deep pride and honour that shines through the darkness of poverty or humiliation around them.

That picture of Pnin washing the dishes ... Somehow that image has seeped into my mind and refuses to let go.

It would be amiss of me not to mention Nabokov's richly poetic narrative, of course. "A copious spring shower kept lashing at the french windows, beyond which young greenery, all eyes, shivered and streamed."
Absolutely breathtaking.

Rashmi bookmarks “Confessions”

Kanae Minato presents a murder mystery in one of the most unique narratives I have ever read. (I read the translation by Stephen Snyder). There were so many things that made this book so amazing. First of all, this story is narrated in a very stark, even simplistic manner - yet, somehow the bare boned monologue is surprisingly intricate. The story starts with Yuko Moriguchi's final lecture to her class. The lecture starts with a comment on the new milk programme at school. Mundane enough. At some point it moves to an announcement of her upcoming retirement. Also ordinary. When the topic moves to details about a colleague's life after being afflicted with AIDS, it gets just a little uncomfortable. Weaving in and out of the tale with deep comments on life, the lecture suddenly crashes into the recent death of her four-year-old child, Manami. Before we know what happened, a revenge plot for the two murderers, Shuya and Naoki, is announced right there in the classroom.

That story told in that chapter becomes the framework of the rest of the book as each chapter becomes a confession by a different player in this gruesome drama. What made Shuya invent that electrically charged purse - and then want to try its effects on someone? Why did Naoki decide to support a murderous plan? How does something like this affect the people in their lives - the mother, the sister, the girlfriend? What is really fascinating about this narrative is that we see the exact same series of events from different points of view - and those dramatically different perspectives move the story forward.

I was also really moved by the different comments on life and society - comments that I would actually like to see someone address! Questions of troubled kids and juvenile laws, peer pressures and social stigmas intersperse an already dark tale.

One story. Different voices. Constant twists ... that led to a grand act of vengeance. This was not really horror or crime in the traditional sense of the genre - rather it was a layer by layer exposé of some very dark and disturbing sides of human nature.

Rashmi bookmarks “Aces High”

Edited by George R. R. Martin, “Aces High” is the second in the “Wild Cards” series. “Wild Cards”, the first book of this series, was all about the effects of a deadly alien virus on humans. From mysterious pennies from hell, to futuristic alien technology such as a reality shifter, to ancient Egyptian Masonic rituals, “Aces High” throws those superhuman Aces and badly mutated Jokers together as they face the two deadly threats of the Astronomer and the alien Mother Swarm.

An immortal "Astronomer" who gains energy through ritualistic killings. The undead "Demise" who can kill people by telepathically projecting the "memory" of his death experience into them. "Jube the Walrus", an undercover xenologist from the planet Glabber. "Modular Man", the sophisticated android, gifted with artificial intelligence as well as human emotions ... The new characters introduced in this book were fantastic. But because some of the old characters continued to be an important part of this word, I really felt like I was returning to a familiar place. The always interesting Croyd (Sleeper) Crenson, the Great and Powerful Turtle, Mark Meadows, who returns in very interesting ways, and of course Dr. Tachyon, Takisian prince / scientist / telepath  ... it was good to return to this alternate Earth.

What I also really liked about this book was that it delved a lot deeper into the characters this time. Aces aren't the perfect cape-wielding superheroes that we were led to believe. During the capture of a few Aces by a Takisian starship, we go behind the shell of the "Great and Powerful Turtle" and see the broken man behind the scenes; his fall and rise to greater heights was a high point in this story of Super Heroes.

The concept introduced in the first book was so unique, I was curious to see where the follow-up story would go - and I was not disappointed. This was a great read, with memorable characters coming together to build a very good story. What really impressed me - and this is kudos to the editor - is that even though this is a collection of short stories by different writers, at no point did the book feel anything less than one cohesive story.

Rashmi bookmarks “American Gods”

When settlers came to America, over the ages they brought their gods with them in their minds. They brought Odin and Loki and Thor and Kali ... but as generations died or people forgot, these gods passed into myth. Now, weakened, these gods are not just left to get by as best as they can, they are also faced with a battle with the new gods: gods of internet, neon and plastic. This is the story of “American Gods” by one of the greatest story tellers of our time, Neil Gaiman.

As I type this, I realize, it is immature and terribly limiting of me to try to present this epic drama in those few words. Yes, that is the basic framework of the story, but there is so, so much more to this journey than just that; one that goes from myth to reality, from humans to gods, from life to afterlife.

Recently released from prison, Shadow is enlisted by the mysterious Mr. Wednesday, presumably to assist in collecting gods who will stand together when the war begins. From that point on we visit so many places, we meet so many people and we are told so many tales of magic and mortality. We visit an old fair with out-of-tune mechanical instruments and spend time in an old European house filled with cooking smells of a different world. We meet Anansi at a fair, Ibis and Jacquel at a funeral home, Easter at San Fransisco and Salim who meets a jinn. We go back to 15,000 BC and see waves of immigration, including the heartbreaking Coming to America of black people. And we stay at the pretty town of Lakeside with its mysteriously disappearing children.

But these are all just elements of the story - not the story itself. The story is something that has to be experienced personally. I would highly recommend reading this book (and, in fact, everything by this author) ... Meanwhile, I am checking to see if Gaiman is planning on touring Toronto any time soon.

Rashmi bookmarks “Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said”

I often say (with utter conviction, no less) that all the ideas in the world have already been taken; now all that remains is the expression and execution. And then I read something by Philip K. Dick. And once again I am blown away by a story that is great not just for its storytelling, but for being built around an idea that is original and brilliant.

“Flow My Tears...” is the story of Jason Taverner, rich and famous TV personality, who suddenly finds himself in a seedy motel room one day. Where that initial shock turns into a terrifying nightmare is when he realizes that no one in the whole world recognizes him any more. Not his thirty thousand weekly viewers, not the doting press, not his manager, not his close friends ... no one has any memory of ever having heard his name.

Shooed by his closest friend as a stalker, and on the run from the Pols (US Police) and Nats (National Guard) out to catch an unregistered person, this is the weird and fantastic story that PKD spins around a character rising high on a wave of popularity one day, and miserably questioning the meaning of life the next. As Taverner explores every possible avenue to regain his lost identity, the tale weaves through dolls that tell the future and kids who make their living creating fake IDs. When at last it reaches the one person who holds the key to this entire inexplicable drama, the story reaches a whole new level of awesome!

A surreal world built on ever soaring heights of imagination ... with man’s isolation deep at its core; I think PKD should be mandatory reading on every book lover's list.

Rashmi bookmarks “The Serpent of Venice”

They're back! Pocket of Dog Snogging along with his sidekick Drool and pet monkey Jeff ... and of course a ghost (hey, "there's always a bloody ghost"). The works of William Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice and Othello) and Edgar Allan Poe (The Cask of Amontillado) get the Christopher Moore treatment in this continuation of Pocket's adventures from when we last met him in "Fool".

Out on a political mission at the behest of his wife, Queen Cordelia, Pocket walks right into a trap set by Antonio, Montressor Brabantio and Iago. From that torturous captivity unravels a story of great scheming and greater plotting amongst kings and princesses, soldiers and merchants.

There weren't too many laugh-out-loud moments - something I think I have come to associate Moore with. I do have to mention the Chorus: like Shakespearean plays, we see the chorus comment on scenes and characters ... unlike anything I have read ever before, the characters then comment back on what the Chorus says to them, sometimes even threatening them to change what was just said. That was really funny!

Overall however, I did not enjoy this book as much as all the other Moore stories I have read (even "Fool" was much funnier). I can't help feeling though, that Moore wasn't going for just funny this time. The Serpent of Venice is crafted out of tales that are polar opposites in genre, and brings together a vast repertoire of characters you could not imagine in the same world, much less the same room - and that is commendable.

Rashmi bookmarks “Wolf in White Van”

You may now make your first move.

Hospitalized for a lengthy period of time after an incident that left behind a permanent physical and emotional scar, Sean Phillips creates 'Trace Italian', the game of strategy and survival (interestingly, played solely via snail mail) wherein players send in their preferred move as they navigate their way around a world set in a ravaged, future America.

The beauty of this story by John Darnielle lies, not in that amazing twist where the imaginary and the real worlds merge, but rather in the narration of this story. As players Lance and Carrie take their turns into the real world with tragic results, and Sean is called in to testify, the story which had been moving forward starts to regress into Sean's history right back to where it all started. His letter to Carrie's parents which was read out during the trial, held so much sorrow and hope all at once, it gave a very poignant foundation to all the events that came after it.

From an imaginary to the real world, from excited replies to hate mail, this was the undulating, shifting story of a disfigured boy trying to create a 'safe place' in a horribly cruel world.

If there is one complaint I have about this book, it is that it did not go in as deeply as a subject this important warrants. It ended far too soon, and the tortured theme deserved a longer, harder look.