The Five People You Meet in Heaven

 

Fairness doesn't govern life and death, if it did, no good person would have died young.

For every individual who thinks of him as waste, lonely and insignificant should read this book. There is no life insignificant, not even the miniscule of the species. All life intersects and leaves an impact on others. Death doesn’t just take someone it misses someone else and in the small distance between being taken and being missed lives are changed. Threw out life, have there been any situation where you have no idea why a certain result occurred?  Do you think there are any events from your past that didn’t have a big impact on your life, that potentially had a big impact on other person’s life? We normally tend to see and live life in our own perspective yet our decision directly or indirectly shapes the future of a few individuals. This book has the crux of life and teaches the idea of death, life and life’s unanswered questions. Mitch Albom writes a fantastic story that will change everything you have ever thought about life, death and the meaning of life when we were alive.

Plot: Eddie is a wounded war veteran, an old man who lives an average life in solitude. His job is fixing rides in an amusement park. On his 83^rd birthday a tragic incident takes place when he is killed trying to save a little girl from a falling cart. He awakes in the afterlife and has to meet five different people explaining his life. With these five different people we dig deep into Eddie’s life from childhood to his end and learn the significance of each person and their impact on his life. These vivid individuals teach Eddie 5 important life lessons and how it shaped Eddie’s life. This is a classic Mitch Albom story, when Important life lessons are taught in an unconventional yet entertaining manner. The Five People You Meet in Heaven is a beautiful story and its effect on me is heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measures.

Sea Prayer

 

Sea Prayer -Khaled Hosseini

“My dear Martin, in the long summer of childhood, when I was a boy the age you are now, your uncles and I spread our mattress on the roof of your grandfather’s farmhouse outside of Homs.”
― Khaled Hosseini, Sea Prayer

Sea Prayer is about the plight of a refugee family seeking refuge and is left to fend on the mercy of sea and gods for survival. This is a beautifully written book and the illustrations are exemplary and increases the reading experience. Sea Prayer is about everything that can go wrong in society. How millions suffer because of the chosen few. Sea Prayer tells us how humanity and human existence is going to cease because of our sheer foolishness. The ordeal of millions is a pleasure of few. The fight for Religious and Racial supremacy is leading us all towards an infinite abyss. The war for territorial gain and natural resources have left the citizen broken bleeding and empty handed without an iota of mercy is saddening. Khaled Hosseini is a mastery story teller when it comes to migration and its pain. His verses describe the pain of a father beautifully where he is uncertain of the future ahead yet he assures and entrust his son of the better days ahead. Though the book tells us about the Syrian refuge but half of Middle East and Africa is under civil war.

Impelled to write this story by the haunting image of young Alan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed upon the beach in Turkey in September 2015, Hosseini hopes to pay tribute to the millions of families, like Kurdi's, who have been splintered and forced from home by war and persecution.

8 pm- An apolitical love story by Fazle Karim

 

8 pm An Apolitical Love Story is a political satire narrated in accordance with Rahul’s ordeal. The book briefly conveys all the major political developments happening in Indian political and social establishment, the policies and events that have made news and left an impact on citizens directly or indirectly. Rahul’s life tragedies and incidents are largely based around government policies. At majority of instances these subtle nuances is utterly humorous while a few are repetitive. Fazle Karim blends fact fiction and humor to create a humorous read.

8 pm is an odd love story, odd in the sense of its narration and its final outcome. The book is about Rahul’s insecurities in life. It is about how Rahul is beaten in love twice and that to by the same person- irony but true. The betrayal he faced in love and then a failed marriage made him insecure and less reliant on people even if they were true and genuine. This book has some great moments from college life and first kiss and heartbreak. Rahul’s character is beautifully portrayed his arrogance and his attributes all seems genuine. 8 pm is an entertaining read and the side characters leave a remarkable impact on the story. The story lacked closure for me and there a few unanswered questions, guess writer wants us to assume the fate of other characters. I would have love to read more of Rasna …..

DIVYASTRA

 

Quote: - The single greatest cause of happiness is gratitude

Divyastra is a different kind of storytelling, a read that is not going to leave you exhausted will rather leave you elated. The book starts with a promising note, A hall full of listeners spectators comprising of students, professors, delegates, scientists, military personals all eager to listen Dr. Vyas a physics Nobel Laurate speaking of “Future of Weaponry”. Dr. Vyas’s lecture is entertaining and enlightening and gives a different perspective and approach to Indian Mythology and Vedic science. His lecture resembles a class of theology and ancient war craft. The book parallelly narrates the story of Shankar who is disappointed with his life and its outcome. He lives a mediocre life working in BPO and still in pursuit of finding his identity. A sudden news of his father’s accident and his visit to Gopalpur turns his life around for good. Though he ends up loosing his father to discover himself. For me the highlight of Divyastra is the stories narrated by his grandfather, they are captivating and gives us a closure to Dr. Vyas’s lecture and takes us towards the real story. Namish tactfully converges both the parallel plots to one and the convergence is excruciating and enticing. The book Divyastra is an intriguing read crafted by Namish Tanna. The book is divided in smaller chapters which makes it a convenient read and shows its relevance with the storyline. This was a fast yet fulfilling read.

Jean Angel – Atul mohite

Quote: “Between the battle of emotion and reason,what wins? Reason.”

Apart from prologue and epilogue there are 17 chapters in a 74-page book that makes the reading experience easy and it lets the reader get a grip of the story. JeanAngel falls under the category of fantasy and story revolves around 3 kingdoms but mainly focuses on Zesia. Zesia was ruled by a tyrant ruler king Robert who exploited his own people and killed them for no reason. His strict rules of controlling citizens were terrifying. A noble fearless man who did not care of repercussions spoke his heart out against king Robert, he announced about the child of prophecy who will be born and liberate people from Robert’s oppression. The story is based around this prophecy. The story is character driven and some good characters are portrayed in Atul’s storytelling. The only problem I had was abrupt names of some characters in  English while some Hindi made me feel tad disconnected at times. Though I get Atul Mohite’s perspective of inducing vivid culture and racial variety in storyline. The most fascinating character is of Jean-“The child of Prophecy”. He is mature beyond his age. He shows composure and understanding that speaks volume of his character. The storytelling is crisp and engaging yet there were few occasions when it felt rushed. It is quite entertaining when Jean narrates his dreams and when he communicates with angel seeking knowledge and wisdom. Jean is focused and progresses gradually towards his destiny of liberating Zesia and killing Robert. This is the first part of the book and was sad with an abrupt ending on cliffhanger. It is recommended for beginners as its language is easy and the book is a fun read. Though there are few mistakes in editing but it can be overlooked    

Dolly won’t Play-Monisha K Gumber

In recent days I have read three different books by Monisha each of them vivid and significant. Yet Dolly won’t play is a heart wrenching and tormenting tale. Monisha’s work in Dolly won’t play is poignant in describing the ordeals a girl child faces if her parents are emotionally unavailable or not aware of her difficulties. The book serves as an example of a larger problem and clearly states the need of awareness in both parents and children. This book is written in free verse and consists of poetry and some amazing art. The art work in the book are amazing and they enhance readers experience and shed some light on Dolly’s state of mind and her share of fear and anxiety. Dolly our protagonist and the book vividly describe her life its challenges pain agony and humiliation yet she fights them bravely. The book is divided in four parts.

1.      Growing up pains

2.      Love is in the air

3.      Coming of age

4.      Closure

I normally don’t like to give spoilers as it decreases readers interest’s and they create a prejudice evidently losing the connect. Dolly’s parents are going through a rough patch in their relationship and she suffers a lot because of ignorance and lack of emotional availability. When she was kid, she faced some challenges while communicating in school and was diagnosed with ADHD syndrome. She faced discrimination and humiliation in school and hate and disgrace from her father. She is longing for some love and care which she found from her uncle her mom’s friend. She was elated by his presence and felt special by all the love and care he possessed and was heart broken when he moved abroad. With time and some knowledge, she realized it was not love he showed rather he was comprising her modesty and took advantage for her loneliness. He has physically and mentally tormented her to core and beyond repair. The different part of book describes of her struggle for survival and how she overcomes her fear and childhood trauma. In all this chaos Dolly shines as an individual and thrives against all the odds. She is a phoenix who rises from ashes to be born again.

INDRADHANUSH:

Indradhanush is an amazing brief read, the book has some really good stories drawn out of life and realistic character by Gainandra Kumar Bhagel. The highlight of this book is its language written in hindi that is largely spoken by the masses in India. The title of the book Indradhanush is appropriate given as it contains 7 vivid stories and they converge together to form a rainbow. Gainandra Kumar Bhagel’s narration is realistic but very engaging and humorous. Bhagel’s storytelling is different entertaining and has some life lessons and values plus plenty of imagination incorporated in his stories. Gainandra’s observation helps him draw parallel from real life scenario and make stories of them.

FIRST- if u feel defeated deflated turn to your parents become a child again and you would regain confidence and feel like a champion again. A child never fails in the eyes of his parents. This story is full of family values and parenting technique.

Kabra and Jackie- This story is born out of observation and writer find 2 dogs from his locality as an inspiration. Writer outlines traits of personality and character of these 2 dogs and frame 2 basic rules of friendship. this story is humorous and entertaining.

Shapit Katha- This story resembles as if it is an inception through which a character from story takes place of a person from real life and the real-life character gets trapped in the book.

Comics and Bhikari- This short story is based on a railway platform and its chaos where a young boy eager to buy a comics find a boy helpless and begging. Boy donates rs 10 and let go of his desire to buy the book later finds out the beggar purchasing tobacco through the donated money.

Makan no. 401- Describes a supernatural occurrence and the reaction of the fellow flat mates.

Generations gap- Generation gap narrates the difference and fallout between a father and son and later both of them reuniting and sorting out their differences.

Sunsaiba sun: this story talks about a boy who acquires the power to understand the language to different creatures and animals for a brief time and this brings utter chaos and amusement in his life.

Indradhanush is assorted collection of vivid stories.