H : Haruki Murakami & Other Escapes (Book Reviews) #AtoZChallenge2020

The post "Books in Lockdown" was about the three books, that I get reminded of in current dystopian situation we are facing. But they are dark or thought provoking books which might trouble your minds. I won't recommend them for reading during the lockdown. So in today's post, I am going to suggest four books, I read last year, that can help you relax your mind or provide you an escape from dreary thoughts you might be having. 

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle By Haruki Murakami

Why is it a great escape? 

Because Haruki Murakami has created such an elaborate, screwed up world, that you would be so immersed in it, to notice what is happening in the real world. 

Views on the book: Haruki Murakami, yet again creates a world, that is real and surreal at the same time. As a reader, you will be confounded with the on-goings, but will still get a strange satisfaction which is difficult to describe. It is a 600 page epic and can accompany you for the whole lockdown period. 

It is the story of Toru Okada and his search for his cat. He encounters strange people, stranger dreams and weird, other-world, experiences on this journey. Meanwhile, his wife also vanishes and then he is searching for his cat and his wife. But it is his search for the answers to his yet unformed questions, and the search for his mental balance / peace that forms the crux of the story. Toru is both the lead protagonist and the narrator of the tale. 

While, at the level of each chapter and sub-plot I found the book interesting and within the realm of my understanding, but in certain portions where things get into mystic and surreal zone, I lost grasp of things. I didn't get all metaphors. Some sub-plots are really juicy and interesting, especially the ones that dive deep into Japanese war stories from World War II and the associated Japanese guilt with them. 

As it often happens with Haruki's stories, the protagonists are mostly passive, and they are just the medium or the vantage point through which stories are narrated. Toru is that passive protagonist in this book. The real action lies with other characters - both real and imagined. Their plots find closure and are cool. Toru's plot remains open and several things unexplained even at the end. I really liked the story of Creta Kano and her journey from a person who feels pain all the time and then transforms into a person who has no feeling at all and eventually becomes normal. Or the story of Lt. Mamiya who is cursed to live long but has no desire to live. Desire being the key metaphor here, appears as the root of all evil, motif for all sin and cause of all suffering throughout the book. And that is my key takeaway of the book too.

If you once read a Murakami, even if you don't get it, you read him again. That's the power of his writing. 

Raavan ~Enemy of Aryavarta By Amish

Why is it a great escape?

Because Amish's modern take on our mythological tales is beautiful and he creates a world, where even villains are not necessarily pure evil. There is no better escape than mythology.

Views on the book:  It is a quintessential Amish book - interesting and fast paced. Over the years, I have come to appreciate three things about his writing - his description of battle scenes, his modern interpretation of mythology (even if it means choosing lesser known threads of the epic like Ramayana, the themes of which are related to today's politics and feminism) and the scientific logic  (sometimes far-fetched) he uses to make things grounded as there is no place for convenient miracles in his re-telling of these epics. 

Raavan, third book in Ram Chandra series, shows Raavan and Kumbhkarna in a humane way and still manages to set them up as formidable villains. That is a great achievement. The back story of Raavan and his childhood love is interesting and so is the tale of Raavan's ascent against all odds. 

A better way to read this series is to read it at one go when all 5 parts are out. I have forgotten few things from the earlier parts already. 

India Positive - simple takes on India's burning issues (A compilation of new essays and selected columns) By Chetan Bhagat

Why is it a great escape?

Because Chetan Bhagat lives in a bubble and it is a good time to get into that. This book looks at India's future optimistically. 

Views on the book:  Chetan Bhagat is a master story-teller, irrespective of his command over the language. His detractors, who keep dissing him, still go ahead and read all his books, to diss him again. These are those virtue signalers, who share their opinions on Twitter. At the same time, I would like to admit that his non-fiction work has always been too safe, too middle of the road. And this book also largely remains that. Chetan tries to play to the gallery and keeps the balance in his views keeping both sides on any issue guessing!  Though on certain subjects, like Kashmir and OROP, he takes a definite stand. I must appreciate that the simplicity with which he writes on these subjects, can come only after doing a certain amount of research.

Then there are certain essays, where he becomes patronizing or sounds biased or repeats already known facts. May be these newspaper columns, had a deadline. But for a large number of Indians, who don't read anything, and who have limited knowledge of key issues in our country, and still have a lot to say on social media, this book is a good place to start. 

The book doesn't enlighten you, but it does make you aware. And I think after his two previous non-fiction compilations, which I didn't like much, this one is a winner, relatively. 

Oh, Mind Relax Please! By Swami Sukhabodhananda

Why is it a great escape?

Because throughout my reading of this middling book, I kept wondering that the comma in the book title should have come after the word 'Mind' and not after the word 'Oh'. 

Views on the book:  I picked this book, because I had heard Swami Ji at few forums and he is a great orator and story-teller. He has his audience captivated and makes them laugh. His oration is energetic and his talks are engaging. But I am sorry to report that the same can't be said about this book though. The heart of the book is in the right place, but it had anecdotes similar to what we get as WhatsApp forwards. The book relies on cliches, that are thrown around by so called 'Life Coaches', who are spreading on Linkedin faster than the the Coronavirus. There are few anecdotes that do stay back though, as they are powerful moral allegories

This book about spiritual lessons narrated through parables, mentions things which are definitely true and meaningful. But my mind feels more relaxed, listening to the chirping of birds, while having a cup of tea. May be I am already the Zen Monk or may be I read the book at a superficial level, as the author had warned me not to in the foreword of this book. 

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What are your recommendations for the light / escapist reads, in this lockdown?

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My theme for this year's #AtoZchallenge is Lock-down Blues. I intend to write and talk about how I deal with it, what it inspires me to read or watch or any aspect of it which fascinates me. You can read the theme reveal post here. 

Previous Challenges : Letter H

2017: Haan... Maine Bhi Pyaar Kiya Hai

2018: Holidays that were memorable

2019: Henchmen & Policemen in Hindi Films / Bollywood

Fast September

September of 2018, already feels like eons away. And it went by in the blink of an eye. All its memories  will soon become hazy and melt into the monolith of the time gone by. It makes me wonder about all the years, months, weeks, days and hours which were exactly the same. Nothing stands out. Yes, there are some milestones and memories, which I remember vividly. The memories, which actually define my life. Our lives. But then what is life? The moments and milestones which define it or the time you spend in between those memorable moments. 

There is so much of the same happening to all of us, that our memories now play with us. I generally remember key dates - like birthdays of my close friends and colleagues - very well. But if you ask me after few weeks of reading a book, about that book, I may not be able to recall all the details. So does reading help? I think it does. Because just like our lives, the narrative itself isn't the key. It is all the same. There is a set-up, followed by a conflict and then the resolution. What stays back from any book, is not the narrative, but the addition it makes to your perspective and the way you see your world.

The two books I read last month were as different as chalk and cheese. One was Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood, which is essentially a love story written like a thriller. The other one was Salil Desai's 3 and a Half Murders, which is a whodunit but it works better as a police procedural.

In my earlier posts on Murakami's books, I had mentioned that he becomes inaccessible as an author at times. So people recommended Norwegian Wood, because they thought it is a straight-forward story. But I liked it for very different reasons. 

The key protagonists of this book - Toru and Naoko, whose love story, the author wants you to believe is epic, are the most boring and painful characters in this book. Both let things happen to them. They are just living their lives in between the key moments brought upon them by others. The other characters in this book - like Midori, who brings liveliness to the proceedings or Reiko who lends gravitas and mystique to the entire issue of mental illness  and loneliness explored in this story - are the ones who really move things forward. They catalyze things. They trigger events. They cause conflicts. These characters are so well fleshed out, that they make this book a great read. 

While the author doesn't get into the surreal zone - but his ability to make me think about memories of our lives (That explains my personal reflections in first two paragraphs of this post) and hide and seek these memories play with our minds - he creates a world equivalent to the world of magical realism he creates in his other books. So while the narrative is straight-forward, the reading of this book still leaves you with some twisted questions which you will keep chewing upon days after you have finished it. 

Lastly, the author uses sex liberally in the book, not to tantalize, but as a metaphor for the escape we seek from our mundane lives, the lives we spend between two milestones or two vivid memories. I think this aspect makes this book epic. Not its love story. 

I got 3 and a Half Murders as a gift on my birthday. I haven't read any of Salil Desai's books in past. And it was after a long time, I was reading a crime fiction. So I was really excited about it. It partially lives up to the expectations you have from such novels. It has a fast paced story, with characters that you encounter in daily lives or have heard about them. It is set in a very real world. It keeps you engaged throughout. The lead police officer / investigator has a sharp mind but is often weighed down by his physical ailments. That makes him standout in the world full of James Bond kind of operatives. The book works really well as a police procedural and thus makes you enjoy the details of an investigation. But as a whodunit, it disappoints. By the end of it, you really don't care who is the killer. Though you may not be able to guess who it is. Also the conclusion seems far from satisfactory and rushed. If you are looking for a rank page turner to spend time in a long flight, this one is a safe bet. 

September was like any other non-memorable month. I had been really busy with office work and travel. So the books really helped. Oh! I almost forgot that I shifted from one apartment to another on 1st of September. Staying in rental places is a pain. You don't feel rooted. That event of shifting though, itself feels like eons away. 

Men Without Women : Book Review

Earlier this year I had read, Kafka on the Shore, by Haruki Murakami. (Read review here) It was the first time I had read a book by this author. While I had enjoyed reading it, I hadn't fully understood it. So I picked up this collection of 7 short stories titled, Men Without Women, by the same author with trepidation. I knew beforehand, that I will not be fully able to grasp everything, but I took the plunge anyways. I have reached a conclusion that Murakami's writings might enlighten you few times, but mostly they leave you feeling incomplete, incompetent and irritated. But as you try to find answers, you get addicted. Addicted in a bad way, like mind altering substance abuse! I must still confess, that some stories in this collection were highly accessible and enjoyable. 

As the title suggests, each of the seven stories, is about lonely men. Loneliness which may not necessary stem from lack of the company of women. Each story also has some twisted or broken relationship between a man and a woman. While in Kafka on the Shore, there were undercurrents of  Oedipal Complex and Incest, this collection of stories rely heavily on cuckolded men, promiscuity, sadism, fetish etc. But mind it, the stories are not actually about these issues. They are just triggers for a protagonist's journey or for his or her search for answers. The stories are about the emotions or lack of them that emerge out of these triggers. 

The first story, Drive My Car,  is a pleasantly accessible story. The main act in this story is a conversation between Kafuku (a middle aged actor and a widower) and Misaki (a young adroit female driver, he has recently hired and who rarely speaks). During that conversation Kafuku talks about his now dead wife and a question that bothers him. He also talks about a co-actor of his wife whom he befriended after her death. At the end, the usually reticent Misaki says something, that is simple and profound at the same time, which provides a sense of closure both to the reader and Kafuku. For me that is a great reward in a short story. 

A line that stayed back with me from this story - "There's no logic involved. All I can do is accept what they did and try to get on with my life."

Yesterday, is the title of the second story. It was surprisingly underwhelming and felt incomplete. But not incomplete in the sense of wanting more of it. By now a pattern also emerges in the stories. These are stories about men who may not be with women at this point of time, but their presence still looms large in their lives. Also Murakami isn't going for a conclusion or resolution by the end of the story. He just stops at a point, where some resonance happens or a reconciliation appears. This is a story about two boys in their twenties - Kitaru and Tanimura and Kitaru's girlfriend Erik. The story itself is about how Kitaru finds it difficult to take his relationship with Erik to next level and how it impacts others. This simple short, for a non-Japanese like me, gives me an insight into how the haves and have nots are divided in their society. It highlights how your dialect and address can impact your social stature.  

I don't want to give any spoilers, but a quote from the story really resonated with me - "As time passes, memory, inevitably, reconstitutes itself."

One of the weakest stories in the collection, An Independent Organ, has a very laborious narration to make a point which sounds profound but is really not. The story is about a cosmetic surgeon Dr. Tokai who is in his 50s, never married, but is highly promiscuous. So in physical sense he is never without a woman. He finally falls in love at the ripe age and also experiences his first betrayal, which leads him to question his being - "Who am I?"

Despite its obvious trappings, I really like the following extract from the book. It is such a cliche though. "With something like that (love) there's  no such thing as too soon or too late, I told him. Your understanding may have, come a little late in life, but that's better than never realizing it at all."

Scheherzade is highly enjoyable and intriguing account of love. It may be because in this story the male view point of Habara is limited. As a reader, we don't even know who really Habara is and why is he confined to his home or whether it is really his home or why he can't go out. It doesn't matter after a certain point in the story. Because that is not what this story is about. The story is also about Habara's nurse or house-help whose real name is never told, but Habara in his own mind has named her Scheherzade. He names her so because, she narrates strange stories to Habara every time she sleeps with him. The story of her almost debilitating, teenage crush on a boy in her class is told like a thriller. The thrill of doing something taboo is so palpable in this sad account of one sided love. Is Murakami indicating here, that though her love was never reciprocated and she married someone else, but the memories of her early years never make her feel lonely? That she will never be a Woman without Men! The last story she narrates is left unfinished and here I wanted it more. My curiosity kills me here, but no answers are revealed. 

It is in the fifth story, Kino, where Murakami gets surreal. The elements like snakes, rain (and metaphors thereof) and cats make appearance, that reminded me of Kafka on the Shore. Almost till the end I thought I understood everything about this story. The story of a bartender who is going through a divorce. But by the end I lost it. Or may be I think I lost it. Because the core thought of confronting your inner hurt and pain stayed back with me. If you don't confront your inner feelings, they will gnaw at you.

"But there are times in this world when it's not enough just not to do the wrong thing,"a character in this story says so aptly. 

Samsa in Love does it for me. This is the story I loved the most. This is the story which will make me read more of Murakami. A bug turns into a human. It doesn't enjoy being one. It falls in love and it doesn't want to be anything but human. By now I realize that loneliness is not necessarily physical absence of someone.

He thinks to himself , "Yet had he been a fish or sunflower, and not a human being, he might never have experienced this emotion."

The last story, Men without Women, is the story which gives the book its title. Here the narrator is not actually lonely. He has a wife, about whom we don't come to know anything. We also don't know about how is their marriage. It might be actually a happy one. One night he receives a call about the news of the death of one of his earlier lovers. That makes him feel lonely There is lot of rumination after that. Many metaphors are used to drive home the point that she was the kind of love, everyone looks for. But I didn't connect with those allegories at all. I thought this one didn't require more than a page, but the author says this story in about 15 of them.

I also didn't connect with the central thought of this one - "That's what it's like to lose a woman. And at a certain time, losing one woman means losing all women."

Yes! There are few rewarding moments and stories in this one. As I said earlier, the highs are addictive and thus those lows really leave you vacant. Just like I have heard drugs do!!!