A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth

I love books that explore, exploit, and analyze culture. I went through a phase in college called my “depressing Asian novels” phase where I was passionately obsessed with (you guessed it) novels about Asian culture. When A Suitable Boy showed up in the mail, my first thought was—wha? this thing is gigantic! My second thought was—I’m going to like this. You see, novels based on culture, have stereotypically similar cover art—much like romance novels feature women with heaving bosoms and heads tilted back, mysteries feature dark figures with guns, and fantasies feature swords, leaves, elves, and the occasional eel/dragon. Cultural novels feature autumn colors—red, brown, orange—with lots of fabric and people looking pensive, sad, or plain depressed. As was the case with the cover of A Suitable Boy.


The story tells the tale of several families (with dozens of characters) who live in post-colonial India (approx. 1952). There are four main families who all play different roles in the explanation of Indian culture. The characters range from politicians and teachers to businessmen and mothers. The overarching storyline is that of a mother and daughter, both of whom are searching for a suitable spouse for the daughter—Lata. The story explores the burdens and advantages to the caste system and arranged marriage. It also discusses in depth, the political conditions and fervor of the time as India struggled to peaceably make the transition to an independent country.

Overall, I very much enjoyed this story. The ending was a little rushed, tired and inconclusive, but had no epilogue (as I recall) so I can’t complain too much. (I always prefer an abrupt, inconclusive ending to an epilogue.) Aside from that; the characters were well developed—some were entertaining, some annoying, and others loveable. Another solid, epic tale.

Favorite passages:

"Ma! said Lata, a little exasperated at the emotional capital her mother insited on making out of every possible circumstance." Pg 3

"Meenakshi and Arun were not really able to afford all this--Billy Irani had independent means--but it seemed intolerable that they, for whom this kind of life was so obviously intended, should be deprived of it by a mere lack of funds." Pg. 69

"Lata nodded. I'm not a mouse or a tigress, she thought, I'm a hedgehog." Pg 156

" Everyone has tragedy, he said. 'But Krishna had joy. The secet of life is to accept. Accept happiness, accept sorrow; accept success, accept failure; accept fame, accept disgrace; accept doubt, even accept the impression of certainty." pg 812

"Don't count your chickens before they're hatched,' said Lata, laughing. 'But they might never get hatched,' said Savita. 'I may as well count them now." pg 954

"Dipankar stepped out of his hut in the garden after having meditated for an hour or so. He had come to a decision about the next step in his life. This decision was irrevocable unless he changed his mind." Pg 1192

"...I too hate long books: the better, the worse. If they're bad, they merely make me pant with the effort of holding them up for a few minutes. But if they're good, I turn into a social moron for days, refusing to go out of my room, scowling and growling at interruptions, ignoring weddings and funerals, and making enemies out of friends. I still bear the scars of Middlemarch." Pg. 1370

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: PG-13 (there’s some violence.)

Overall Grade: A-

Would I recommend this to my friends? Yes, to those who can persevere through 1,488 page books.

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Remember in elementary school when your third grade teacher taught you about writing a story and the parts of a plot? You probably saw a diagram that looked something like this:

The diagram, as I see it, for The Pillars of the Earth would look something like this:

Now, I’m not saying that professional writers should stick to an amateur creative method they were taught at age 8, but the deviation from the traditional plot form was so stark in The Pillars of the Earth that I found it particularly annoying. The story went something like this: John was a kid who dreamed of being a concert pianist. John was talented and took music lessons. He practiced and practiced. He found the field was very competitive, but he worked hard and persevered hoping to someday play at Carnegie Hall. Remember John? He once played a gig at Carnegie Hall.

Repeatedly during the novel, Follett would spend hundreds of pages building up to a climax, only to skip the climax and then spend about a sentence talking about how the climax happened. WTF?!

All of that irritation aside, the story itself was quite compelling. It is set in Medeival England with the Builder family. Tom Builder is a mason whose life dream is to build a Cathedral. There’s an antagonist named William who should have been killed on about page 5. I now break for one more criticism. My theory is that Follet wanted desparately for his readers to understand that William was one sick bastard who should be killed. In an effort to make this point, William is painted as a character who is obsessed with raping women. I can deal with a rape scene when it is integral to the storyline, but there must have been close to 10 rape scenes in this book. Was that necessary? I had a pretty damned good idea after rape scene number 1, that William should go to hell. I tolerated rape scene number 2, and thought—okay, I get it—he’s got a sick obsession. The remaining rape scenes were COMPLETELY unecessary. Don’t get it. Don’t want to get it.

Oops, I digress, back to the story. The book talks a lot about building, which I found quite interesting to read about measurements and styles and all of that. Also interesting, was learning about Medeival monastic life (according to Follett). The book contained love, broken hearts, pregnancies (both wanted and unwanted), a witch, marriage, kings, arson, attacks, defense, hope, the absense of hope, times of starvation and times of plenty. It is a great story, long but an easy read.

Favorite passages:
 

"Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing that you would find success if you did your best hgonestly and energetically." pg.424


"She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and he had drawn her out and shown her that she was a butterfly. She would have spent her entire life numb to the joys and pains of love, if he had not walked into her secret glade, and shared his story peoms with her, and kissed her so lightly, and then slowly, gently, awakened the love that lay dormant in her heart. He had been so patient, so tolerant, despite his youth. For that she would always love him." pg. 799

"Philip smiled. 'Knotty theological questions are the least worrying of problems, to me.' 'Why?' 'Because they will all be resolved in the hereafter, and meanwhile they can safely be shelved." pg. 946

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: R (for language and some pretty detailed sex scenes)

Overall Grade: C+

Would I recommend this to my friends? Yeah, a few--it is an easy read.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment is one of those books that was generally enjoyable to read each time I picked it up, but was never compelling enough to keep me awake past my bed-time reading. I actually finished the book a couple of weeks ago, but have been really unsure how I felt about it; therefore the delay in this post.

Crime and Punishment is the story of Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov; a student who has dropped out of school due to lack of funding. He has studied philosophy in depth and has formulated the theory that certain people have the right to murder (he uses Napoleon as an example). Raskolnikov is destitute and has pawned all of his valuables to a cranky old pawnbroker named Alyona Ivanovna. Raskolnikov formulates a plan to murder Ivanova; his justification being that he could perform acts of kindness with her money, also he needed money for himself, his mother, and sister. Finally, he claims himself to be one of those who are authorized to murder.

After committing the crime, Raskolnikov suffers from a nervous breakdown and the remainder of the story tells of his friends and family, and their confusion over Raskolnikov’s state. Raskolnikov goes back and forth through periods of humility where he feels he must confess and then thinks perhaps he can go on in normal society.

Raskolnikov befriends Sonia, a young prostitute, who ultimately convinces him to confess and pay for his crime (prison in Siberia).

That’s basically how the Russian version of “and they lived happily ever after”.

I did enjoy the story—Raskolnikov’s mental struggles were interesting to ponder. I have to admit that I grew a little tired of them by the end though. The story was pretty predictable possessing few surprises, but overall I liked the story—after all, it is about a crazy person.

Favorite passages:

“What answer had your lecturer in Moscow to make to the question why he was forging notes? ‘Everybody is getting rich one way or another, so I want to make haste to get rich too.’ I don’t remember the exact words, but the upshot was that he wants money for nothing, without waiting or working! We’ve grown used to having everything ready-made, to walking on crutches, to having our food chewed for us.” Pg. 153 (huh, and that was in the mid 1800s...)

“She was an ugly little thing. I really don’t know what drew me to her then—I think it was because she was always ill. If she had been lame or hunchback, I believe I should have liked her better still.” Pg. 232

“…but yet she seems in a way to have liked my brutal frankness. She thought it showed I was unwilling to deceive her if I warned her like this beforehand and for a jealous woman, you know, that’s the first consideration.” Pg. 467

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: R

Overall Grade: C+

Would I recommend this to my friends? Some of them—those who like dark, depressing stories about mental issues.

Persuasion By Jane Austen

Persuasion is another Jane Austen novel. As mentioned previously, I’ve never been able to grasp the intrigue of Jane Austen’s style so take my review with a grain of salt.

The story is about the Elliot family who, while once wealthy, had squandered their inheritance and are left up to their ears in debt. Anne, the story’s main character and daughter of the Elliot family, convinces her widower father that the best solution to their financial woes is for the family to move to Bath and rent out their estate.

They do so and their renters turn out to be none other than the sister and brother-in-law of Anne’s ex-fiancé of 10 years ago. (You see where this is going, right?)

Basically from here on out, this story has all of the elements of every other Jane Austen novel I’ve read. One of the sister’s is kind of crazy, one is annoying, relatives propose to Anne and she refuses. Anne likes a guy who turns out to be a creep. Some people get sick and some become engaged unexpectedly. People fall in love and weddings are planned. It is a fine story but completely predictable and white bread.

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: PG-13

Overall Grade: C

Would I recommend this to my friends? Some of them.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Anna Karenina was a beautiful, complex story. True to the style of 19th century Russian literature, the story contains countless characters but the main focus is on four people and their relationships—Anna Karenina, Vronsky, Kitty and Levin.


The story contrasts the experiences had by two different couples—one of which ends with joy and edification and the other ends in tragedy and misery. I thoroughly enjoyed the story but also found it incredibly heart wrenching. I finished this book about a week ago but it has weighed heavily on me and I haven’t been able to write a proper synopsis. I still find myself unable to do so, so I’m going to steal a review from Esther Lombardi. Here you go:

"When Tolstoy finally started the story of Anna Karenina, his wife reported in a letter to her sister, "Yesterday Leo suddenly started to write a novel on contemporary life. The subject is the unfaithful wife and all the ensuing tragedy.'

So, Tolstoy creates the character of Anna Karenina, a young woman who finds herself in a loveless marriage with Karenin. It might not have seemed so intolerable if she had not met and fallen in love with Count Vronsky.

As a comparison to Anna's tragic affair, we hear about the relationship between Kitty and Levin, a conjugal love match. Levin is first rejected by Kitty, since she has her heart set on Count Vronsky. Since Vronsky's affections are already taken by Anna Karenina, Kitty's heart is broken and she eventually turns back to Levin for love and marriage.

In the character of Anna, Tolstoy creates a woman who is perhaps most unhappily destined for tragedy. Anna falls in love with Count Vronsky, only to find that her passions are uncontrollable. She might have continued the relationship in secret, but she defies the 'rules,' and is forced to pay the ultimate price... She loses all contact with her son; and she is shunned from proper society.”


Favorite passages (there are several):

"You think war is necessay? Fine. Send anyone who preaches war to a special front-line legion--into the assault, into the attack, ahead of everyone!" Pg 808

"And it now seemed to him that there was not a single belief of the Chuch that violated the main thing--faith in God, in the good, as the sole purpose of man." Pg 799

"The conversation had begun nicely, but precisely because it was much too nice, it stopped again. They had to resort to that sure, never failing remedy--malicious gossip." pg 134

"Be bad, but at least don't be a liar." pg 235

"The role of a man who attached himself to a married woman and devoted his life to involving her in adultery at all costs, had something beautiful and grand about it and could never be ridiculous." pg 128

"Stepan Arkadyich smiled. He knew so well this feeling of Levin's, knew that for him all the girls in the world were divided into two sorts: one sort was all the girls in the world except her, and these girls had all human weaknesses and were very ordinary girls; the other sort was her alone, with no weaknesses and higher than everything human." pg 37

If this were a movie, I’d rate it: R

Overall Grade: A

Would I recommend this to my friends? Yes

Double Act by Jacqueline Wilson

Yesterday’s read was Double Act; also by Jacqueline Wilson. It was about a set of 10 year old twins who do everything together, think alike, creep people out by saying the same thing at the same time, and can’t imagine life apart.


Their names are Ruby and Garnet. Their dad buys a bookshop in a small town and his girlfriend, Rose, moves with them. The twins, of course, hate Rose as she has taken their dad’s attention and they miss their mother (who died).

Ultimately, Garnet is offered a full ride scholarship at a prestigious boarding school while Ruby is not and Garnet decides to take the opportunity. Ruby stops talking to Garnet and the twins endure a summer of silence.

At the end everyone makes up, they decide that Rose is okay, and life goes one.

This book, like The Story of Tracy Beaker, is told through journals written by the girls. I enjoyed it more than Tracy Beaker—mostly because Garnet’s character was likeable. Ruby was much like Tracy Beaker—loud, obnoxious, mean—basically a bully. This was a cute story. Nothing more, nothing less.

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG

Overall Grade: C.

Would I recommend this book to my friends: Yeah, I’d recommend it to parents of girls age 8-10.

The Story of Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson

Uuuuggggghhhh. Yes, I confess, I went into this book with a bad attitude. It all started when I read the back cover which states “Tracy’s been in foster care as long as she can remember. Maybe one day her mother will show up and together they’ll have fabulous adventures. Then again, maybe she won’t. In the meantime, Tracy’s doing everything she can to take care of herself. And that’s hard work, because the girls she lives with are mean and rude and horrible.”


I just…well, Tracy was really annoying and bratty and that wore on me. Fortunately it only had to wear on me for approximately 2 hours and then the book was over.

From what I can tell, Tracy Beaker became a big hit in Britain in the early 90’s. She’s kind of like Punky Brewster…only not as cute and without the cool socks.

The story is 10 year old Tracy Beaker’s journal written in first person narrative while she is living in a foster home. I’m sure kids are all over this stuff, but I just didn’t get it. Maybe I’m getting old.

If this were a movie, I'd rate it: PG

Overall Grade: Meh.

Would I recommend this book to my friends: No. Not even my friends' kids. Sorry.