The casebook of Victor Frankenstein

Peter Ackroyd is known for his plot described against a Victorian backdrop. This one too has a Victorian backdrop, but the plot is based on the famous classic Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The story starts with the introduction of Victor Frankenstein and his friend      Percy Bysshe Shelley. Frankenstein is interested in human life and its evolution. His beliefs are ridiculed by most people living at that time, except the men of science of course. He then witnesses an experiment by Michael Faraday in galvanism and is highly motivated to experiment with it as a means of creating life. He starts experimenting with animals and when he succeeds to a fair level, he then continues his experiments on dead human bodies. On reaching a stage where he is sufficiently satisfied with his results he purchases a body of a youngster who has just died. His experiment works, but not quite as he had imagined and the ghost to haunt his for his life is thus born.

The story that follows thus is quite close to the original.  A part that was added, was the trial at reversing the effect of electricity. The end was twisted smartly and thus the name of the book.  In general, I didn’t quite like the fiction as part of Frankenstein. I agree it is a classic and one of the best in the fiction categories, but it failed to impress me!

The Mine

This a book by Arnab Ray. I had heard a lot about this book (good reviews) and hence decided to give it a read. While the plot is not original, the writing is.

The story is a copy of the movie SAW . The novel felt like reading the script of the movie itself.

For those who haven’t watched or heard about the movie, the plot is as follows. A few people who may know each other or maybe not be connected at all are locked up together in some chamber or some other structure. The players have to move on and their only aim is to survive, that is escape alive. Each player that is chosen has committed some crime or is guilty for not having done his duties right. As such their guilt and their thirst for survival is tested.

So, the writer cannot be praised for the plot. But I will definitely praise the writer for the character sketches. The language was simple and lucid but very effective. The characters were etched out so perfectly that you could maybe anticipate their next move if you did understand human psychology.

But I do have one complaint about the characters. Why do most of the people have sex scandals? Is that the only thing that is a sin? Isn’t corruption one of the biggest problems in India? Why didn’t one characters have that issue? Isn’t there robbery, murder or any other crime other than sex and passion?

The twist towards the end was like a jolt and deserves some mention. The last few minutes throw at you some philosophy about life and how everyone has some evil hidden inside oneself and how one who is successful in burying the evil within is in true words a successful human being.

The book is a nice read (but will feel repetitive if you’ve watched SAW), but beware it also includes all the gore as in the original SAW series.

The Sleepyhead’s Bedside Companion

This is a book by Sean Coughlan. Its a book of facts and theories and experiments and beliefs about something very close to our heart. We either love indulging in it, or we hate it for being such a time-killer. Sleep. Yes, its a book about sleep and everything connected with sleep.

It contains interesting facts and theories and beliefs about sleep, beds, pillows, dreams, fantasies and fairy tales. It also mentions some experiments carried out based on scientific means to ascertain the meaning of dreams, sleep, etc. Though it is a book of facts, it is nicely woven together in question/answer form where every chapter is a question. Every chapter answers (or atleast tries to) answer the question while posing many more. The book starts out with the invention of a bed, how it evolved over the years, how the need for a pillow arose. It then moves on to sleep, the phases of sleep, and how you move on from one phase to the other. The book finally ends with the comparison between sleep and death.

There are a lot of studies being conducted in this area to find out how much sleep a person needs at a given time in his life. Though it is not predictable, there are some observations that can help one tune his/her sleeping hours to remain fresh by sleeping for the number of hours required by his/her body. Some observations reveal that those who need more sleep are mostly creative, reticent people. Einstein’s sleeping habit is peculiarly interesting. He required a lot of sleep in short spans. He usually slept with a pencil in his hand. When the pencil dropped, he used to wake up from his sleep, feeling fresh and refreshed to continue working.

There are some pretty amazing facts you would find in this book. I’m listing a few of them

- Did you know that there is a bed tester? Yes, like we have a software testing team that basically checks the quality of the code, there was a job previously that of a bed tester!

- Did you know that there was a movie called “Sleep” that just showed a person sleeping for the entire movie. Yes a person sleeping! Why? Because the director felt that sleeping will become obsolete at a later time and this movie would capture that phenomena (Yes, given our busy lifestyle, we hardly sleep eh?)

- How do dolphin’s sleep? The question arises because the dolphin needs to come to the surface to breathe. If the creature falls asleep, how will the brain control this activity? The answer is that for a dolphin, the brain takes turns in sleeping (resting). The left brain will sleep first while the right one controls movement to the surface to breathe. This is a natural system, its not man-made!

- There are many beliefs about dreams. It was believed earlier that dreams are some supernatural means of communicating with a person. Freud and Jung later proposed theories stating that dreams were mrely dependent on the fears, traumas of the person and that they were linked to the subconscious. Painters in those ages than also tried to depict dreams in their paintings. How would you depict a dream in a painting? Interesting question right!

- Towards the end, Sean also states the beliefs that sleep and death are twin brothers and how both are linked with each other.

All in all, its a wonderful read which will leave you with loads of questions about the human body. I for sure am going to delve deeper into dreams and their studies!

Making Money

This is a Terry Pratchett novel, you should expect the unexpected and more so with this novel.

The main theme of this book is the banking model, which is built with the sole purpose of making money. Making money for the city, town, and for individuals as well.

It starts off with the introduction of Mr. Lipwig (who has been introduced in another novel, Going Postal). He is tired of the post office and is looking for some new adventures and as always, Vetinari the king of Ankhmorpork has a new baby for Mosit Lipwig. This time it is the bank. If the bank coulkd reach out to people and prove its worth, there could be more money that can be spent on the development of the town. Thus starts the journey of Mosit Lipwig (and ofcourse ours) into the weird world of banking with all its weird creatures and magic tricks.

Pratchett’s usual character descriptions work this time round as well. But this plot feels a little too weird because it changes the system we know so well, that of banking. It starts with the time when coins were predominant and gold coins at those. Anything other than gold was not considered as money. Mosit Lipwig sets out to change this mindset and introduce paper notes, so that the gold can remain in the bank and be accessible to him (The thief that he is). On the way he also meets Mr.Bent who is the chief accountant and never ever makes a mistake. The story is a ride, that gets more and more entertaining as you go on. Though it does take a slight dip in between when everything gets too repetitive. It picks up towards the end and moves towards a successful finale.

The conjured up theories I loved the most.

1. There are people who adore Vetinari’s personality and will go to any extent to mimic him. There is a mental asylum, where people who believe they are Vetinari are treated. The staff and nurses and doctors tell them that they are Vetinari and thus keep them happy!

2. There is an association or a guild of clowns. Mr.Bent was a clown by birth, but he ventured outside his domain and became an accountant. Seems like a bollywood masala plot.

I’d say give this book a try, if you have read a Pratchett novel before. For starters, this might throw you off.

Purple Hibiscus

This book by Chimanda Ngozi Adichie is her debut. You wouldn’t feel that  while reading the book. The variety of emotions that this book brings across is worth adulating.  The emotions that you can feel when the daughter (Kambili) is being tortured, her silence, her craving for freedom, her pain, her anguish, her fastened heartbeat when she has a crush, her respect for her father, her fear of stammering.

The story is based in Nigeria, where the people are struggling to progress and fight against failed leaders. The story is of a family, who is catholic. The father is a staunch believer in religion and disregards everyone who is against cathecism and treats them as out-castes. He treats his own father as an untouchable since he does not believe in being a catholic and still believes in pagan rituals and is an idol worshipper. He is very strict and has outlined schedules or his kids which does not include any recreation time. The only free time they have has to be spent praying.

The children follow the schedule and their father’s commands blindly until they realise what they’re missing out on. Their aunt comes home for Christmas and convinces her brother to let the children spend some time with their cousins at her place in a town some distance from their home. This takes the children away from home for the first time. here, there is no schedule (though their father did make one for them, but there was no one to check if they followed it), no fear of breaking rules, no fear of being disciplined and perfect always, no fear of studying and standing first in class.

The other difference was that their Aunt gave her children freedom but at the same time maintained basic discipline like giving elders respect, listening to elders, helping with household chores, respecting education and being satisfied with the minimal comforts you have. Kambili and Jaja all of a sudden realise that it is not respect, but fear of their father that makes them do things their father wants them to.

The emotional ride and the intensity of the undulations this book takes you through is unbelievable. There is also a certain mystery that unfolds towards the end, which is very well written. The character sketches are unbelievably simple yet detailed. The way the story moves amongst the social unrest and the families life is well described. The pace of the book is a little slow at the beginning but it picks up speed after the first few chapters and then keeps getting faster. The end, the feeling of freedom and the power to one-self is well described.

For a debut, this book is way above one’s expectations. I’ll definitely recommend this book!

 

 

The suspicions of Mr. Whicher

This is a detective novel about a crime committed in the mid-Victorian era;  an age when detectives were looked at as an evil spy; someone who penetrates your personal private life and leaves it open for public entertainment and interference.

The story is based on true events and has been written by collecting facts from newspapers, court cases back then. Even details about the travel fare that was paid back then, the salary, the pension of the officer-have been mentioned in this book

What I liked about this book was the truth in the narration. All the detective novels I have read before this were “murder-intro to family-enter detective who is a mind-reading hero-investigate-case solved”. This book is real. Everything is not as easy as it seems. It takes a few weeks to discover who the killer was but it may take years to find some evidence to support your theories.  Sometimes you fail to fins evidence and the killer lives free.

This story spans a 40 year period. It starts out with the introduction to the family tree of the Kents. The murder is committed, police summonned but no one found guilty. After a few weeks a Scotland yard detective is summonned, Simon Whicher who is supposed to restart his investigations afresh on a crime scene that has been washed clean! Thus start the difficulties of Whicher. The case proceeds with Whicher having his suspicions about the killer but is unable to sustain the claim with evidence. The public interfere and blame Whicher for being incompetent. The media plays their role and spreads news about Whicher being incompetent. The detective is so paralysed mentally that he has to take a break.  Meanwhile demented people confess about committing the crime because they want to end their life?!? (A glimpse of life and people back then which is not very different from the current scenario)

Anyhow, so after 20 years the culprit confesses and puts wagging tongues to rest. Life wasn’t so different then eh?

An honest effort at writing that comes across as very real and practical. A nice read for those who like detective novels and would like to experience the taste of one of the first ones written.

The man with the golden torc

This is the first in the series of the secret histories. This is the book that introduces a fantasy world that no one would imagine exists. It starts with the introduction to the family of droods and their assignments to save the world from unforseen forces and creatures whose only enemies are humans!
The journey throughout the book moves up an exponential curve..it keeps getting interesting. Eddie the protagonist gets caught in a mesh of misunderstandings with his family and is declared rogue. His fight to find out the real traitor and his own survival is what comprises the main plot in the book. There are fights with weird creatures, secret doors, spells, magic, gadgets, spatial portals and much more. It is a journey into fantasy worth making. Enjoy the ride!

The color of Magic

  This is a book by Terry Pratchett about the eighth color i.e. the color of magic.

Before I start off with the review, a little interesting note. I picked up this book from the library because the synopsis was interesting. On discussion with a friend, I found out that this writer is pretty well known. When I started reading the book, it felt a little boring. I decided to return the book (only after reading 3-4 pages). Luckily, in a hurry I returned some other book and this one remained with me (magic maybe..something I have read so much about in this book)

But, its worth every minute you spend with this book. Humorous, descriptive and very imaginative! A fiction you would love to read.

The book is part of the disc world series which is based on an ancient fact that the world is a disc that resides on the back of a giant turtle. So all the imagination, humour revolves around these very beliefs. Its also mentions various Gods sitting at a table and playing dice to decide the fate of the people of the world.

The plot revolves around a wizard rather a sort of wizard named Rincewind and a fool (yea literally a fool) a rich fool named TwoFlower who comes into the city of thieves with tons of gold! These two strangers meet and have the worst night mare of experiences, life threatening experiences and stay alive..well almost alive. They meet and fight against fire, thieves, evil trapped spirits, dragons, magicians, barbarians and death!

The writing is simple, but the characters portrayed have humour in them. You literally live the mad journey that these two characters go through. The finale..is something I never though of. Imagine a space mission to ascertain the gender of the giant turtle that has our earth on its back? Hilarious!

The inventions I loved are:

1. A camera has a creature within it who sees the scene you want to capture and paints it.

2. Do you know how acorns are produced? By a male and female dryad living inside the oak tree.

3. Humans wear pants. No they have tube shaped cloth around their legs.

4. Living on the edge i.e. circumference of the disc is not easy. You have water trolls and a whole lot of octarine around.

5. Octarine is the color of magic!

6. Number eight is evil!

7. At the disc there are seeds which have the fourth dimension. Hence they grow in the past once planted!

I think the list can go on. But I’ll stop now and let you add some more once you’ve read the book

War of the worlds

This is a classic by H.G. Wells. Yes, there is a movie inspired by this book named War of the Worlds starring Tom Cruise.

The story is about martians descending on plane Earth to make it their own. It is a story about mankind being threatened of its very existence. The book is written from the perspective of a survivor and his experiences, trials, tribulations, fears, victories.

What I liked about the book :
1. Simple language, not too flowery
2. The description of the aliens that the author gives, when he gets a chance to take a closer look at their routine. The comparison with a human’s routine is nice.
3. The extreme emotions experienced by the survivors have been portrayed very well.

All in all a good read.

Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem

This is a crime fiction written by Peter Ackroyd. The  interesting part about this crime novel is that the story is set between the lives of famous characters like Dan Leno, Karl Marx, George Gissing, Thomas De Quincey, Charles Babbage. Its almost like a biography of their lives with the mystery interleaved within. The stories of these great names is used to build a story with the murderer interacting with all of them acting as the narrator of the play.

The details of the lives of these characters are just sufficient to give you an idea of their past and present life. The stories of all the characters are presented like the scenes of a play. The first scene belongs to the protagonist. The second scene to Dan Leno, the third to George Gissing and so on. All these scenes converge at a single point to tell you the story in whole.

The crime, detectives, court case are also brought out well. The whole novel keeps you guessing who the killer is but you never succeed. Not even towards the end The disclosure of the murderer is also very well written.

The whole novel is written so perfectly, that anyone could pick this up as a script and convert it to a movie. A must read!