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5 Unforgettable Characters I have read about! May 6, 2012

Posted by Afrozy Ara in Classics, Mumbo Jumbo, Non Fiction, Sci-Fi.
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Yes, I love reading fiction!. And what makes it awesome are people I meet as I journey through these novels. Breathing life into stories are protagonists woven out of their authors’ imaginations, characters with their own quirks and idiosyncrasies. They capture your attention, invite you to live their lives, and amaze you with the surprises they hold!

So this post is dedicated to the 5 most unforgettable characters I have read about.  I guess books you read in your childhood impress you much more, so this list is slightly favoured towards fiction I read long long ago. You would also have a list of favourite characters right ? Let’s see how much my list matches yours!!! 🙂

 

Catherine Earnshaw

Yeah, topping this list is Catherine Earnshaw from “Wuthering Heights” by Emile Bronte. I first read Wuthering Heights when I was thirteen (and I’ve read it over and over again!). It is an amazing story of unfulfilled love, an all-consuming romantic passion, alarming you with the violence of emotions and the scary dark shades of the characters. No wonder, the scenes of the novel struck in my mind forever. The desolate moors, the ghostly visage of Heathcliff and Catherine. If there was one book that made the most vivid impression on me in my childhood, then it was this one. And I can never forget the introduction to Catherine in the movie, where she wails on the window as a ghost, pleading to come in.  And as you read further, her character gets even more unforgettable. My memory of her is still fresh: her cruel yet loving nature, her tempestuous character with a ferocity and depth of passion which will singe you. And the haunting description of Catherine in rage- her hair flying over her shoulders, her eyes flashing.. She has some passion within her that drives the whole story forward, and even after her death, Catherine is an overpowering presence in the events that follow.

Lisbeth Salander

I have obsessed about Salander over and over again after having read The Millenium Trilogy. You can read that here.  What makes her awesome is the combination of brains and brawn with a nasty – “I’m-not-going-to-apologize-for-the-way-I’ve-led-my-life attitude.A self-confessed freak and weirdo, she needn’t  say much to alarm you. The simple – “Keep in mind that I’m crazy, won’t you?” would suffice. She is perhaps the few characters from modern fiction that has impressed me so much (most of my favourites are from age old classics!)

Severus Snape

Can you imagine how life would have been if there were no Harry Potter books to read? I can’t, and no list would be complete if it didn’t have the Potter element in it! So my unforgettable character from this series is Severus Snape. Don’t wince; I know he made your skin crawl – with his crooked nose; greasy hair and twirling black robe as he glides down the corridors at Hogwarts. But I loved his brilliant wit and sarcasm, with ingenious methods to punish students out of favour with him. Remember the first portion making class – “I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren’t as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach”!!!. His face offs with Harry potter were le-gen-dary; “What would your head have been doing in Hogsmeade, Potter? Your head is not allowed in Hogsmeade. No part of your body has permission to be in Hogsmeade.”

Yet, beneath the meanness and tragedy, there was a certain grace about his character. The grace with which he went around making Potter’s life miserable ( while saving his life), taking sides with the Death Eaters, getting killed by Voldemort, and finally redeeming himself with his memory. Snape was indeed the most heroic and misunderstood character of J K Rowling’s master creation. His presence made the whole story volatile and interesting, and I have to give him full marks for that!

Howard Roark

Fountainhead was the first Ayn Rand book that I had read, sometime while pursuing graduation. And it sort of zapped me, in some magic spell. Howard Roark was like some weird perfect human being from another planet. Out of the world, he could as well have been an alien from Proxima Centauri!!. And the way Rand crafted her character made him an unforgettable hero in my memory. Not that I am a big fan of the one-sided capitalistic abracadabra that Rand propagated in all her books, yet she made a grand entry and left a gaping impression with Roark. The first scene of Fountainhead completely defines him. Standing at the edge of the cliff, confident in his skin – Howard Roark laughed. Like some sort of God mocking at the trivialities of humankind. Like an insubordinate spirit walking the earth. “High cheekbones over gaunt, hollow cheeks; gray eyes, cold and steady; a contemptuous mouth, shut tight, the mouth of an executioner or a saint.”!!  Howard Roark is the mouthpiece of Ayn Rand philosophies, which actually inspire a cult-like devotion because they are so powerful (Remember the long speech in the last chapter!). And like all impressionable minds awed by her dazzling philosophy, I was also swept away. It took me 3-4 years to real life to be pushed out of the haze of Rand’s Objectivist propaganda!

Hercule Poirot

Oh, how can I forget this one – the English TV series so vividly colours my imagination of him!  Hercule Poirot is the moustache obsessed Belgian detective with an egg shaped head and a sensitive stomach. I loved the way he tapped his forehead beckoning his grey cells  – “This affair must all be unravelled from within. These little grey cells. It is ‘up to them’ — as you say over here”.  And he has style. Unlike Sherlock Holmes, the mystery didn’t  unravel itself by magic in the end. Poirot will throw clues here and there (  master of deception that he is)  keeping you guessing on an entirely different track. And with a flourish,  exclaim “I did not deceive you, mon ami. At most, I permitted you to deceive yourself.” !!

There was a time in my life when I lived off Agatha Christie Novels. There were around 30 in the school library, and I devoured every one of them, by hook or by crook. And it all seemed so real, so striking at that age; the drama and flourish with which he uncovered mysteries, removing his pince-nez glasses for impact. Well, Christie was a ruthless story teller ; she didn’t even  spare her star detective- Poirot was forced to become a murderer himself in “Curtain: Poirot’s Last Case”, and was killed off by her  at the end of the novel.

Times have changed. We hardly have the patience to read these long winded Agatha Christie style stories now – I don’t have the patience to read one again myself. But they were wonderful companions at that age when we didn’t have many options, and the school library stocked loads of them!

Ending with a thought : “Imagination and fiction make up more than three-quarters of our real life”. Maybe that’s why these characters keep coming back to me, and that’s what makes them unforgettable!

1984 April 23, 2012

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I am writing the review for this book 1984 I read a while ago and the words that ring in my head are: “Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.” I know this is totally incongruous to the subject, but no amount of shooing drives these words out of my head. They keep buzzing around like flies on a hot summer afternoon, and I console myself with the thought; perhaps there is a link somewhere, which will eventually dawn upon me!.

Now coming back to the Novel… When you think of dystopian worlds, George Orwell’s book is a classic. I had always seen this name in the list of top books of all times; and it lingered in the back of my mind, gnawing at my to-read list for a long time now. For what reason – I am not exactly sure; maybe because it has this power, a captivating aura around it.  Made famous by allusions to “Big Brother” and “Room 101” in countless articles and publications.. And of course, the iconic 1984 Apple commercial that heralded the release of the first Mac!

Before beginning the book, I already had these subliminal negative vibes about it.. This book is about power, about total loss of individualism, about an nightmarish world where everything has gone wrong.. A universe of totalitarian oligarchic control.. A book about the madness which dwells in humanity…suppression of justice.. About the mutation of happiness.. war crimes and rants against a changing common enemy.. A book about humans pushed to their worst. And how hell can be raised purely from the potency of our thoughts!

Okay, 1984 is definitely not a happy book. It is not a sad book. It isn’t even a scary book. I felt it to be a very thoughtful book, showing what depraved limits we can push mankind to, and man’s vulnerability to thought control.. Exposing the chinks in the fabric of our psychology. Baring our worst nightmares….. It warns us against this extreme form of civilization…and that a dystopic world like this is no impossibility because “Nothing is so unbelievable that oratory cannot make it acceptable”!

And I have to admit, this totally zapped me…

You know, what’s most impressive about 1984 is the completeness with which its dystopian world has been portrayed. Thoughts, words, language, expressions- everything is government controlled.. It is scary, but fascinating – the depth to which the author has explored the psyche of the totalitarian state. It also makes you wonder.. What is it that defines who we are? Our ability to think?.. The language that allows us to express ourselves.. Our family ties?

This book also made me understand the importance of knowing history. If you think of it now, the past is what defines you. You are moulded into a certain structure, you have certain beliefs. It is by looking at your past that you gain assurance about your identity. Now imagine a world where you have no past. Or no definite past. The past is fluid, malleable, modified by what the ruling powers believe in. You are expected to blindly believe in the state. Even thinking against the state is a “thoughtcrime”. When powers beyond your control try to redefine everything that you have always known and believed:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

How is that kind of a world going to be??

The ideas portrayed in this book are mind-boggling. And the importance of individualism is so starkly expressed in a world totally devoid of it. One of my favourite lines from this book poignantly expresses this – “Being in a minority, even a minority of one, did not make you mad. There was truth and there was untruth, and if you clung to the truth even against the whole world, you were not mad”.

This one is a must read book if you are curious about History, Politics, Economics and Human Psychology. Not all the ideas are radical or unique – we have learnt lots of it in history lessons and newspaper columns. But then – the best books, are those that tell you what you know already!..

The Millennium Trilogy Series February 25, 2012

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What are the 3 most important factors that would entice you to begin reading a 600+ page novel in the midst of a mindlessly packed office schedule?

Hmmmm..You might have your own opinion; my list goes like this:
• The first impression (name, look and feel)
• Personality and characterization of the protagonists
• The eccentric wisdom of the crowds

With these factors lingering in my subliminal consciousness, the Millennium trilogy by Steig Larsson figured at the top of my reading list for this year! This is a series of 3 books with the most riveting titles – “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl Who Played with Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest”. And, as the names suggest, the stories spin around this girl Lisbeth Salander who is the main protagonist of the series.

So, in the 2nd week of Jan, I embarked on mission Millennium. Reading these novels was like a 10 day phase. I used to shuffle to office every morning, worried and wondering what would happen next in the story and come back home longing to dig my hands into the book again. And the author ensured to keep the adrenaline pumping!  The books had the intrigue of an Agatha Christie novel, and the brashness of Sidney Sheldon. And Lisbeth Salander is the Lara Croft of Crime fiction!.

Quite predictably, the moment Salander was introduced, the plot got me hooked. My naïve first impressions had expected her to be a Charlie’s angels sort of diva. But man, that is not even close!

Shockingly different, she is a strong, ruthless yet tragic character. A bizarre anti social anti hero with a crooked smile.. a genius hacker with an eidetic memory.. a fiercely loyal and private weirdo..  You will worry about her, you will want to protect her, but she wont let you feel sorry for her.  Wandering the corridors like a stray cat, brazenly spooky, she sometimes seems more of a wiry character from anime series, than a real person! And the way she rises from the dead ( in the 2nd novel ) is … Well, I don’t have the words to describe it!!..

The other major character in the series in Mikael Blomkvist. A finance journalist, he is dedicated to revealing frauds in banking and business. He is a quite opposite Slander’s fiery personality; their queer relationship is what drives most of the story forward. A man of a somehow mild constitution, the way he is treated by his ladies (IMO, like an intelligent puppy : P ) is quite amusing!

The underlying theme of all the 3 novels is violence against women. The first novel is intriguing.. The second one is nail biting. The last one is a bit long drawn – with the secret service hocus pocus. But the climax is intensely satisfying. The story is touching, thrilling, shocking and scandalous. .. You will experience the most volatile waves of emotions..Love, hate, loyalty, disgust. All in one go. No guns, no hi tech drama.  Just raw emotions.

You might not like the books if you are disturbed by immorality and violence (some scenes might be described as grotesque). But from the point of crime fiction, it’s an awesome series; and the character of Lisbeth Salander is mind-blowing! The most outrageous and flabbergasting heroine I have ever read (or seen), you have no idea what she is going to do next!

What more can I say, this one is indeed a gripping read. A book that will be difficult to forget,  long after you have read it!!..

The 2012 Reading List Part-I January 8, 2012

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2012 is in. It is a unique year; heralded by doomsday predictions and bucket-list resolutions.

Well, I am not the usual new-year-resolutions maker. But a one week vacation from office on New Years Eve gave me a lot of free time to dabble with. And, I managed to scribble my TO-DO list for this year.

The resolution topping the list was; Read… Read.. READ!

So, I’ve prepared my reading list for this Quarter ( In line with another resolution of mine! ). No specific preferences, but a mishmash of genres which I had been hoping to experiment with, but had never really got down to.

I have chosen the series form of books because it has always impressed me. IMO, this is one of the most challenging forms of writing. Being able to capture the attention of a reader through thousand and thousands of book pages, and a delicate web of entwined plots is a commendable (and tough) job!

A Disclaimer:

I haven’t read all these books yet, so don’t blame me if you don’t like them. But they have this quality of beckoning you, like some sort of literary seduction, making you want to read them. I am not sure how they will turn out to be, but here is my list.

So without wasting any more time, lets go..

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting the definitive “Reading List Q1 2012.”!!

The Millennium Trilogy:

There are some books that catch your imagination – simply by an intriguing name or the imagery of a character which flashes before your eyes. When I first heard of the name – “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, my first reaction was – “What?”

The trilogy is a series of the books with the most riveting names -“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”, “The Girl who kicked a Hornet’s Nest” and “The Girl who played with Fire”. It is written by Stieg Larsson, a journalist who came from nowhere and attained iconic status in the crime fiction world with this series of books.

I have not read much of Crime fiction earlier. The most I had read were the Agatha Christie novels, and the occasional classics like “The God Father” . And of late, had been bit too preoccupied with Wizards and Vampires.

So this is my first detour into crime fiction in a long long time.

I have just orders a Box set of the trilogy from Flipkart, and the books seem to be pretty long (600+ pages each ). Yet, every review I have read has called these books a page turner, so it is No 1 on my reading list.

And the biggest motivation of course is the character of Lisbeth Salander. Weird, enigmatic, brilliant, dangerous security specialist; she simply cannot be missed!.

The Shiva Trilogy:

This is a series of books by an Indian author Amish Tripathi. The first 2 books – “The Immortals of Meluha” and “The Secret of the Nagas” are bestsellers. The third book of the series has not been released yet.

It is an unusual genre – Mythology, and I don’t remember having read any books of that genre yet.

OK, you may count Lord of the Rings as Mythology, but Indian mythology is unique – it is such a dense and spiritual subject. And taking a culturally sensitive subject like mythology and converting it to believable fiction is an awesome feat !.

I have spent most of my childhood reading books by great English authors. The characters in my mind, the novel settings.. Everything is foreign. The last great book that I read set in Indian settings was the “White tiger” by Arvind Adiga. So I am really looking forward to how the author has pulled it off.

Another thing that attracted me to this book is this haunting quote from “The Secret of the Nagas” – “The opposite of love is not hate, its apathy”.

Well..Age old thoughts spun into a tale relevant in the modern context. This is a must-read book!.

The Hitch hiker’s guide to the Galaxy Series:

The Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy is a crazy book.

It tickles you out of your senses. Gives the absurdist, stupidest, most bizarre ideas in the most matter of fact way, expecting it to be funny and it actually is!!

This is the first in a series of 5 books by Douglas Adams. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” , “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”, “Life, the Universe and Everything” ,”So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish “, “Mostly Harmless” and “And Another Thing…”. The last book was written by 2 other authors after Doulas Adams’ death.

The author’s line of thinking, the way the arguments are constructed, the anecdotes will make you ROFL, BWL, LMFAO.. ( OK, I am running out of expressions now! )

Wickedly funny and geeky, it is an absolute must read for any SF or Humor enthusiast. Douglas Adams actually has a cult status among Science Fiction enthusiasts – Just Google “Meaning of life 42”

Taking the most ordinary mundane daily happenings, and spinning it into the weirdest anecdotes, this book has intellectual gems thrown in the most the most unassuming way!..

Want a peek? Well, this is one of my favorite passages (out of the countless others) in the first book.

“People of Earth, your attention, please. This is Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz of the Galactic Hyperspace Planning Council. As you will no doubt be aware, the plans for development of the outlying regions of the Galaxy require the building of a hyperspatial express route through your star system. And regrettably, your planet is one of those scheduled for demolition. The process will take slightly less than two of your Earth minutes. Thank you.

There’s no point in acting surprised about it. All the planning charts and demolition orders have been on display at your local planning department in Alpha Centauri for 50 of your Earth years, so you’ve had plenty of time to lodge any formal complaint and it’s far too late to start making a fuss about it now. … What do you mean you’ve never been to Alpha Centauri? Oh, for heaven’s sake, mankind, it’s only four light years away, you know. I’m sorry, but if you can’t be bothered to take an interest in local affairs, that’s your own lookout. Energize the demolition beams.

I don’t know, apathetic bloody planet, I’ve no sympathy at all.

There was a terribly ghastly silence.
There was a terribly ghastly noise.
There was a terribly ghastly silence.”

The Bourne Trilogy:

Oh, I know. Don’t give me that pitiful look. I know this series is ancient. I should have read it like 10 years ago! But then, it’s better late than never. And what best way to start a New Year than make up for all the good things you missed in the past!. So, the Bourne series makes it to my list.

There are 9 books in the series; out of which the first 3 are “The Bourne Identity”, “the Bourne Ultimatum” and the “The Bourne Supremacy” written by Robert Ludlum. The rest 6 have been written by some other author. Don’t know how long the series will be able to hold my attention, but at least the first 3 are a must!

There is something very touching about a man who is constantly trying to understand who he is. And, when he is painfully deducting his past by analyzing his instant reactions to situations and things. It is sort of scary yet tragic in a very poignant way.

The book is an absolute edge of the seat thriller. I have read the first one halfway through and it is quite promising. Am determined to make the rest this Quarter.

Let’s see!

The Vampire Diaries:

What is life without any romance?. So here is my last entry – a dash of romance to the reading list. And what is the best form of romance other than Vampire love stories – it’s the hot flavor of the day!

I have read the first 2 books of the series – The Awakening, and The Struggle, and there are 7 more to read. Since the novels are only 100+ pages each, it isn’t much of a challenge really..

The books are not much of a literary genius (is sort of Mills and Boons sometimes), but the plot somehow got me hooked. It has all the elements which will make you want to read it more – romance, suspense, drama.

Actually the motivation for me to read this book came from the Vampire Diaries TV series. The series is awesome, with impossibly handsome vampires and equally ravishing vampire-victims stuck in a world with witches and werewolves. Gosh!

I don’t know, but there is something very enticing about these Vampire love stories . Perhaps it is the idea of an impossible romance – a relationship so volatile that it cannot exist naturally.. Hunter loves the hunted.. Guy thirsting for the blood of the woman he loves. The conflict between extreme emotions.. Lion falling in love with the lamb.

But then, writers are crazy people – the readers even more!

So, here is my list for Q1 of 2012.

Hope I’ll be able to keep up my New Year resolution and post my reviews as I read along!

See you later, Alligator! 😛

The Stranger January 6, 2012

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For quite some time now, I have been pondering over The Ultimate Question.

What is the meaning of my life? What do we achieve by rushing round in the humdrum and mundane-ness of our daily chores? What do we have to gain from this melodrama?…

Is it something to do with our surroundings? Is it significant because of our experiences? Does this life have meaning in itself, or is it valuable only when lived amongst people we love?

In short, you can call it momentary pangs of self existential dilemma!..

Of course, I’m not the first one to ask these questions. For centuries, men have pondered over the same. So, it is an eerie coincidence that at a moment when I was stung by these questions, this book by Albert Camus seems to have “accidentally” strolled into my life.

“The Stranger” is a personification of the self existential dilemma. It is a queer book. Starting abruptly, you are introduced to a character who seems to be totally apathetic to his surroundings. He has this uncomfortable air of careless indifference which makes you wonder – What’s wrong with this guy? Is he a sociopath?

Meursault is a man out of touch with things on an emotional plane – who considers everything around him with an objective mindset. He gets along well with people, but they hardly touch an emotional chord in him.  He either finds people interesting or boring, and  usually agrees with them to avoid confrontation.

And then a freak incident happens when he accidentally kills another man and is sent to jail. The case is brought in court, and Meursault’s indifferent attitude towards the murdered man horrifies the judge. He is served a death sentence.

The last few chapters deal with how he deals with this sentence, contemplating on what really matters to him. Why should he look forward to living his life? Is it a relation with his girlfriend? Is it about experiences with the world outside the walls of the prison?.. Is it the pleasure of seeing the sky and watching the stars?.. Moments of freedom?

What is it that makes his life worthwhile?!

The book is a French translation. Seems to be very simple but holds a lot of symbolism – the concept of death brought in to contrast with the value of life. Not much of a leisure read, it would pass off more as dense stuff for an advanced literature class.  The book does not tell you much, but makes you think a lot.

So… What exactly is  the purpose of our lives??

A plausible solution to this questions came from an unlikely source.

Abraham Maslow, an American psychologist had said:

A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. This tendency might be phrased as the desire to become more and more what one is, to become everything that one is capable of becoming!.

The Adventures of Tintin December 5, 2011

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It was the summer of 1995, fifteen years ago. I had just taken membership in a library called the “German club library”. For a small sleepy town like Rourkela, the library was pretty good. Contained around 15-20 racks of fiction books. As a youngster fascinated with fiction, you could read along to all your heart’s desire!

It also had a small sofa, a sort of reading room. And that day, I saw a thirty something uncle (yeah, we called thirty year olds uncle then 😛 ) reading this big, thin book, chuckling and guffawing away in every 2 minute intervals. Curious, I peeked into what was making this person so happy. Aha!!..No wonder..Uncle-ji was reading a Tintin comic. 😀

So that’s Tintin for you. A hilarious, thrilling and engrossing series set in a perfect world where good always triumphs and the villain always ends up behind the bars. The expensive comic, with beautiful glossy print unfolding pages and pages of delightful merriment was a prized possession in my childhood days. Every kid loved them!

Obviously, when the much awaited cinematic version arrived, it was looked forward to with breathless anticipation.

We were not disappointed.

Spielberg has done it again! The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn is a dazzling adaptation of the comic series. And in 3D, it seems so real, so remarkably Herge, with the adorable captain Haddock, spunky Snowy and Tintin of course!. The movie actually made me feel lucky – it was like the characters have come alive; walking out of my imagination right in front of my eyes!

Every bit of it keeps you engaged – either you are laughing or you are gaping at what would happen next. With mind numbing stunts, albeit in animation, the Tintin movie is total awesomeness packaged in one deal. Spielberg waited 30 years to make a movie of his favorite character, and every bit of it is worth the wait.

The story involves an inquisitive detective with an extraordinary flair for uncovering mysteries. Tintin gets caught up in curious happenings involving a long lost ship, which begins a roller coaster ride leading to a hidden treasure. For a generation that began its brush with English literature in stories of lost and hidden treasures ( remember Enid Blyton’s Famous Five, Nancy Drew, Hardy boys, and our very own Treasure Island by R.L.Stevenson!), it is the perfect cinematic and visual treat.

The racket goes on and on and on, almost making your head reel. And even towards the end, you feel that there is so much more to go. After so much action, the climax seems to be a bit abrupt – not the director’s mistake; the character of Tintin had so much up his sleeve.

107 minutes of absolute entertainment. It is 9 out of 10 on the awesomeness scale!

To kill a Mockingbird May 18, 2009

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to kill a mockingbird

A perfect blend of innocence and maturity – this book is a fascinating fable of human attitudes and perceptions, narrated though the ingenuous eyes of an eight year old girl. With masterful strokes, Harper Lee paints a vivid picture of a small town in Alabama at a time when racial prejudice and apartheid were burning issues in the United States. The fabric of the novel is strikingly believable and authentic, probably derived from the author’s own experiences as she attended local schools in Alabama.

The story begins with the merry adventures of eight year old Scout and her twelve year old brother Jem. You begin to get completely engaged in their childhood gambles and escapades, and how the siblings discover the attitudes and realities of the society around them. With a brilliant wit, the author describes how these kids build imaginary worlds, recreate weird stories about the townspeople enacting them, and react to the prejudices and racist mentalities of their town. They are strongly protective of their father, who is a white criminal lawyer in the town court and also a single parent. He is fighting a case for a black man who has been falsely accused by the testimony of a white girl, and here the story begins to get  darker as the details of his struggle trickle in.

Reading ahead, you get to see a long and tortuous courtroom scene, when one man struggles in a bitter fight for equality and justice for all mankind – irrespective of race or colour. At a time when it is unthinkable for a black man to win over a white man’s verdict in the court, he exhorts the Judge and the Jurymen – “In the name of God, do your duty!” . In spite of his efforts, once again the unspoken rules stay unbroken. The court pronounces the defendant “Guilty”. The young kids, who have been watching the trial unbeknownst to their father, are devastated. All they can do is to feel cheated by a society that “ain’t fair”!!

This book is a rare gem, leaving a lasting impression after you read it. It traces the trajectory of human thoughts right from innocent childhood, and the loss of this innocence to the so called “worldly wisdom”. It is witty, funny, emotional and sensitive, and demonstrates that even people in the toughest professions can have the gentlest of hearts.

Quoting from the first page of the paperback –

“Lawyers, I suppose, were children once.”

                – CHARLES LAMB

Rear Window (1954) April 26, 2009

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Rear Window 1954 Movie

A magazine photographer recuperating with broken bones after an accident.. His pretty and perfectionist girlfriend who he feels is too perfect for him.. A bustling neighbourhood in which an array of rear windows open into the lives of all the people living there… This is the setting of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1995 thriller “Rear windows” starring James Stewart as Mr Jeffery and Grace Kelly as Lisa Fremont. 

Loneliness, love, lust, anger, desperation – all shades of emotions are available for Mr Jeffery to contemplate upon as he sits whiling away his boredom and waiting for his broken leg to heal. This row of windows becomes his lifeline, and amidst this ennui, he comes across a startling discovery of strange going-ons in the window across his. But haven’t we heard the saying – “Curiosity killed the cat”, and truly enough it landed Jeff in trouble too!!. The sudden disappearance of the wife of his across-the-window neighbour piques his curiosity, and make him suspect that the neighbour has murdered his wife. Jeff briefly toys with the ethical dilemma of “Should we spy at our neighbours?” , but as the plot unravels, he finally vindicates his stand. The rest of the story is a roller coaster ride of how he finally does it.

The main protagonist is a witty young man, with a la Sherlock Holmes kind of detective instinct, and a thirst for excitement that fully engages the audience throughout the film. Grace Kelly as Lisa startles us in the end with her pluck and audacity, making Jeff finally rediscover his lover through this adventure. The movie has its own share of whodunnit moments, and that’s what keeps you riveted to it till the end.The dialogues are crisp, the screenplay commendable, and you can feel a distinct old world charm throughout. Definitely a worth watch film!