in a nutshell

At ELLE, we do reviews shorter than 150 words, which makes writing one a real challenge. Here are some of mine, published in the magazine between September '07 and May '08.

EXIT GHOST, Philip Roth
This spare, riveting book is the last of Philip Roth’s series with protagonist Nathan Zuckerman. Set post-9/11, Exit Ghost examines the tragedy’s impact on the ordinary lives of people as they try and cope with its political fallout. An ill Zuckerman returns to New York from the countryside and, through a series of chance encounters, begins to re-fashion his life in ways that surprise even him. Enter the young couple, Billy Davidoff and Jamie Logan, the old acquaintance, Amy Bellette and the ghost of writer E I Lonoff and thus begins Zuckerman’s difficult journey of self-discovery, disgrace and redemption. Roth is a ruthless chronicler of people; and Exit Ghost is a stark testimonial of his finest talents.
Jonathan Cape London, Rs 690

THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE, Edited by Zadie Smith
When 23 writers – including Colm Toibin, Dave Eggers, AL Kennedy and Jonathan Safran Foer – were invited to contribute to this anthology, they were asked to tell a story about someone they just made up. The results are delightful. Judith Castle by Dave Mitchell is searing, while Hari Kunzru's Magda Mandela tells of an utterly fascinating woman. Worth special mention are Nick Hornby's J Johnson (illustrated by the exceptional Posy Simmonds) and graphic novelist Chris Ware's Jordan Wellington Lint. Editor Zadie Smith, an outstanding writer herself, has compiled a book that succeeds in painting a complex canvas of human lives. It is, at once, humorous, poignant, intelligent and real. And special, because the writers have contributed for free and all profits from book sales go to a charity that teaches children how to write.
Hamish Hamilton, Rs 776

THE AGE OF SHIVA, Manil Suri
When Meera tags along with sister Roopa to meet the latter's singer boyfriend, Dev, you know no good can come of it. She is terribly jealous of her prettier sister while he hopes to become a Bollywood singer; and as circumstances turn, lust brings them together. But this is Delhi in 1955, and both their families are still scarred by Partition, as is India. Hope is a luxury. In her narrative, spanning five parts, Meera struggles with a troubled marriage and uneasy relationships with all the men in her life – father, husband, son and brother-in-law. The Age of Shiva is ambitious and stark, drawing you in but failing to engage, though Suri is a good storyteller. Meera's predictability could have been her saving grace; sadly, it becomes the book's nemesis.
Bloomsbury, Rs 495

HIS ILLEGAL SELF, Peter Carey
Following an endearing little boy named Che Selkirk – the son of student radicals, the grandson of privileged rich folks – on a crazy journey to find his parents can be both poignant and terribly disturbing. Peter Carey adds another dimension to it in this fine book - he makes it gripping. As Che is sprinted off by an unknown woman on a haphazard quest that takes him from New York to tropical Queensland, Carey's narrative goes forward and backward at a pace that's sometimes irksome, but takes in student politics, the headiness of the 1970s and family tensions with consummate ease. One would expect nothing less from Booker Prize-winning Carey, who manages to win us over to little Che's side, while reminding us that much of our lives is spent first running away from and then longing for our roots.
Faber and Faber, Rs 475

THESE ERRORS ARE CORRECT, Jeet Thayil
By the river in this room and the way it returns,/I swear, If I forget you, let everything die./When it rains the dead ascend, disappear/where we cannot follow, into the living air. Jeet Thayil's new collection is dedicated to his young wife Shakti Bhatt, who died of a sudden illness in 2007. With verses like this one from a set of 10 poems titled Premonition, which ache with grief, loss and regret, it is poetry that is searing to read. Thayil's gift, coupled with a deep undercurrent of experience, makes it that rare book of poems where each one is worth going back to, time after time. Flowers for Parijat and Not Remembering are especially powerful. One of India's most talented poets, Thayil experiments with ghazals, sonnets and the canzone to create a body of work that is haunting, distressing and beautiful; but not for the faint-hearted.
Tranquebar, Rs 250

GIRLS OF RIYADH, Rajaa Alsanea
This debut novel is being heralded as Saudi Arabia’s Sex and the City, but it’s really not quite that as much as it is a rare honest look into the lives of young women in a stiflingly patriarchal society. Cleverly written, with each chapter being a group email sent out by an anonymous young woman about her friends Sadeem, Gamrah, Lamees and Michelle, Rajaa Alsanea chronicles their friendship, love affairs and constant struggles against tradition. They walk a thin line between their own desires and the expectations of others, sometimes risking too much but often compelled to sacrifice what is most precious to them. A searing account of Saudi society from a refreshing female point of view, Girls of Riyadh is definitely worth a read.
Penguin, Rs 390

KABUL BEAUTY SCHOOL, Deborah Rodriguez
It’s a heartwarming tale of friendship and those special bonds that are forged over haircuts, manicures and a good gabfest at the parlour. Deborah Rodriguez writes wittily and poignantly about her experience of travelling to Afghanistan and setting up a beauty school to help war-ravaged women take pride in their appearances again. The ‘crazy American’, Deborah, bulldozes her way past the Taliban, red tape and patriarchy with her humour and nerves of steel. There are times you want to skim past Deborah’s lengthy accounts of everything, but don’t give up. While we take our pedicures and facials so utterly for granted, there are women who risk everything to just have a good hair day.
Random House, Rs 862

GIFTED, Nikita Lalwani
Rumika Vasi has a gift she would rather do without. From the age of five, she has been a reluctant magician of numbers. She knows her age down to the last second, can calculate the disappointing probability of her speaking to the most popular boy in school but has to call 999 just to speak to someone outside of her family. Rumi’s immigrant parents – the father a disgruntled professor at a Welsh university, the frustrated mother still longing for India – each drive her with their own, contradicting ambitions. What Rumi wants, however, is not being accepted to Oxford at 15, but the chance to live her life free from the numbers that eventually become her undoing. Gifted falls short of being a book of great poignancy, but troubled, lonely Rumi is a compelling protagonist, worth reading Lalwani’s debut for.
Penguin Books, Rs 395

THE CURTAIN, Milan Kundera
Had he written in his native Czech instead of German, would we never have heard of Franz Kafka? How many books are influenced by Don Quixote, and how many characters have been inspired by Anna Karenina? How much does a novel shape a person, a nation, a culture and vice versa? The Curtain, Milan Kundera’s essay in seven parts, examines the art of the novel, weaving together history and literary criticism. Kundera – ever the powerful writer -- studies how the novel reflects human nature by manipulating the mundane and the possible to address the greater questions of life. But in these changing times, will the novel survive and will the novelist continue to reinterpret reality? Kundera’s musings are provocative and instructive but read The Curtain only if you are fascinated by the power of literature.
Faber and Faber, Rs 395

A WRITER’S PEOPLE: A WAY OF LOOKING AND FEELING, V S Naipaul
To read V S Naipaul on writing and writers is a study in perception. Over a series of five lucid, exhaustive chapters, the Nobel Laureate dissects the works of writers as diverse as Anthony Powell, Gustav Flaubert and Nirad Chaudhuri. Coming back to India in two chapters, Naipaul critically examines Gandhi and what he calls the Indian manner of “looking, and not seeing” as only he can, in his acerbic and unforgiving manner. Naipaul also goes back to his Trinidadian roots, writing about people (including his father, Seepersad Naipaul) and themes that will be familiar to loyal readers. It is a book that many might disagree with; many people do like Somerset Maugham, for instance, despite Naipaul’s dismissal of him. What can only be appreciated, however, is the depth of discernment and knowledge that Naipaul writes with. A Writer’s People is a study in literature, authored by an awe-inspiring writer.
Picador, Rs 395

WHEN A TREE SHOOK DELHI: THE 1984 CARNAGE AND ITS AFTERMATH, Manoj Mitta and HS Phoolka
The massacre began on 31st October, 1984 and its first victim, though unharmed, was President Zail Singh, as he drove to pay his respects to slain prime minister Indira Gandhi. In the next three days, over 3,000 Sikhs were slaughtered in a pogrom sparked off by the fact that Gandhi had been assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards, in retaliation to Operation Bluestar. This significant book, written by journalist Manoj Mitta and HS Phoolka, who heads the campaign for justice for the victims, is a chilling account of a state-sponsored carnage, which the late Rajiv Gandhi had dismissed as “some riots...when a mighty tree falls...the earth around it does shake.” Mitta and Phoolka record -- with painful accuracy -- the killings, the cover-up and the victims’ fight for justice, going beyond statistics and legalese, to recount history in the voices of those who witnessed, suffered, fought and who will never forget. A distressing, but essential, read.
Lotus Roli, Rs 395

NEITHER NIGHT NOR DAY, edited by Rakhshanda Jalil
Thirteen young women writers reflect upon Pakistani society – this is an ambitious anthology, which has chosen ‘ordinariness’ as a criteria, bravely looking beyond politics, gender studies and religious commentary. Rakshanda Jalil has chosen well, showcasing promising young writers who are unafraid to experiment with form, genre and language. Nikhat Hasan’s The Tongue is at once fantastical and bold in its criticism of a society that censures public opinion. Soniah Kamal writes sensitively and very poignantly about female foeticide in The Breast. Bina Shah shows mastery over the craft of the short story in The wedding of Sundri. Some stories are fascinating in their play with voices, others are a bit clumsy, but Neither Night Nor Day succeeds in offering a refreshing, provocative insider’s view of routine, everyday Pakistan.
HarperCollins, Rs 250

THE POST-BIRTHDAY WORLD, Lionel Shriver
What if you didn’t have make a decision – you could have both men, both lives and then see what happens? Only fiction can afford this luxury, as it does in this engaging read by Lionel Shriver, who plots two lives for protagonist Irina McGovern. The odd chapters detail Irina’s settled, if slightly boring, life with long-time partner Lawrence Trainer; the even are a wicked account of her dalliance with rakish snooker champion, Ramsey Acton. Shriver balances the stories with consummate grace, switching voices effortlessly and going from odd to even, without losing a beat. Irina is a fascinating character to follow, riddled with flaws that only make her more endearing. Shriver’s Orange Prize-winning last book, We need to talk about Kevin, was a dark read and a very different one from this delightful, perceptive tale.
HarperCollins, Rs 900

a life less ordinary
Why is it important to know about Doris Lessing, who has just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature? Because when an 87-year-old author of 80 books is described by the Swedish Academy as 'that epicist of the female experience, who with scepticism, fire and visionary power has subjected a divided civilisation to scrutiny', one cannot afford to ignore the name anymore. Lessing was born in Persia (what is now Bakhtaran, Iran) and grew up in Southern Rhodesia, which is now Zimbabwe. Dropping out of school at 14, Lessing embarked on a series of jobs, including being a nanny and a journalist. She has been married, and divorced, twice and has three children.

Lessing is best known for The Golden Notebook, written in 1962. Strident and unapologetic, the novel has remained path-breaking and inspirational with its distinct feminist undercurrent. Lessing then effortlessly switched genres to science fiction, with the Canopus in Argus: Archives series. Her other celebrated books include the Children of Violence series, The Summer Before the Dark, The Fifth Child, The Good Terrorist, African Laughter: Four Visits to Zimbabwe, and Memoirs of a Survivor.

Why Lessing matters is not just because of the Nobel, or her formidable body of work but because she is that rare writer who is gifted with the ability to question and capture realities through her work. And all along, she has remained a name that might not even ring bells for most people. But that is just what Lessing is – unassuming and utterly devoted to being a writer.
In an interview to The New York Times in 1999, Lessing chose life over art and remarked that, “There's always this sense of incredulity that writers feel, because they're usually living flat and ordinary lives, because they have to. Then there's the other side that gives interviews, that goes on television, that gets recognised in the street.”

When it was announced that she won the Nobel, Lessing was out shopping and got back to find gaggles of the press at her doorstep. She sat down on the front stairs of her modest home in London, and announced, "Look I have won all the prizes in Europe, every bloody one. I'm delighted to win them all. It's a royal flush." And then she went back to just being Doris Lessing.

the diving bell and the butterfly
This is not a new book, but as the film was nominated for four Oscars, including Best Adapted Screenplay, it’s worth revisiting. Poignant and heartbreaking, this true life story of the Jean-Dominique Bauby (who was editor-in-chief of ELLE France), chronicles his fatal affliction with locked-in syndrome, where the body is paralysed, but the brain remains unaffected. The diving bell, therefore, is Bauby’s physical state – he was able to move just his left eyelid while the butterfly is his mind, which continued to remember and soar. Able to ‘converse’ through a complicated system he devised using his eyelid, Bauby dictated this book, which chronicles his previous life as “perfectly functioning earthling” and his time as a “hermit crab dug into his rock”. The film by Julian Schnabel, is based on the script by Ronald Harwood and stars Mathieu Amalric as Bauby, in a performance lauded as tremendous. To call this story – in prose or on screen – phenomenal would be a cliché; it is, at its heart, searing but also valiant as a “pensive and confused” Bauby searches for “keys for opening up my cocoon”.