Innocent Erendira and Other Stories by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

I got this book at the Hyderabad Book Fair last year. The description seemed good. I did not have a chance to read it for a long time. I read a big part of the book during my commute to work.

I have never finished any book by Gabriel Garcia Marquez before, though I started reading a few. I own 'One Hundred Years of Solitude', started reading it but never finished it. I was a student back then and my exams got in the way of finishing the book. Innocent Erendira and Other Stories is the first book by Marquez that I actually finished reading.

As the name of the book suggests, this is a compilation of short stories. Most of the stories have a common theme of supernatural and some of them are single active character stories. Most of the stories came across as a drag, some of them were good but not memorable. I have actually already forgotten them. I liked the story that made its way to the title- The Incredible and Sad Tale of Innocent Erendira and her Heartless Grandmother. This story is about a young teenage girl who is forced into prostitution by her grandmother and how she finds her freedom from the dreadful life. This is not a modern day story in terms of setting. From the description, it is either an ancient or a medieval times setting. There is a lot of superstition, intuition and a very small bit of super natural element in the story. I think this particular story was the best in terms of writing when compared to the rest of the book. My heart really went out to Erendira and I would think of ways to rescue her from the predicament. Truly, this is a story worth reading but you can easily pass up on reading any other story without feeling guilty.

Marquez's books are originally in Spanish, which have been translated to English. It could be that it is a brilliant book in the original language of writing but may not be the same when translated. Sometimes, the magic can be created only in the original work and not in a translation, no matter how good the translator is or how best he has done the translation. So, it is quite possible that this is an amazing book in Spanish but lost its charm in English.

Another possible reason why I may not have liked the book as much could be the amount of negativity in the stories. When we lead stressful lives, we look for strands of positivity to hold onto. Most of the stories in the book are depressing and I do not think I was mentally prepared for the volume of negativity.

On a scale of 5, I would rate this book 2/5. Innocent Erendira is the only reason for 2. All other stories are pretty ordinary.

Drop Dead by Swati Kaushal

The first book of Swati Kaushal that I read was A Piece of Cake. It was a thoroughly enjoyable book and that made me pick this book for a read. My husband gifted this to me back in 2013, if I am not mistaken, but I never got around to reading it. It was ordered on Flipkart.com.

I read this book in June,2016. I read most of the book during my commute to work during very stressful times and it made my commute quite entertaining and interesting.This book was quite different from the 1st book of Swati Kaushal's that I read. While A Piece of Cake is a chick-flick book interspersed with office politics which many can relate to, Drop Dead is a mystery novel. The write shows two different aspects of writing- one part is cheesy and cheap, and another one is that of a well-read literati. It almost feels like two different people have written the book.

The story is based in the beautiful hills of Sonargam with a dashing and savvy protagonist Niki Marwah, who is a cop. Niki has a team of officers who are investigating the case of a high profile individual, Rakesh (Rak) Mehra. While the story for the most part is quite engaging, there are a lot of technical flaws in it. For example, as soon as they become aware of the death of Rakesh Mehra, Niki insists that it is not necessarily a murder or an accident and that they are yet to establish it; however, she calls the scene of the event, "crime scene" and the people they interrogate as "witnesses". It would have been still a little bit okay, if she termed them "suspects" but time and again they are referred to as "witnesses". Also, how they conclude on the murderer is also a little bit weird but not implausible so I am not going to argue on that front.

I love descriptions of food in books and this book did not disappoint me in that aspect. There is also a glimpse of Niki's family who is bent up on getting her married, which does not add any value to the story or character development. Some of the characters just disappear quite suddenly without making any significant appearance again, like Niki's best friend. Though it is quite entertaining, it is a very average read. It feels like reading a Bollywood masala movie script. Maybe the writer, did have a movie in mind with Priyanka Chopra playing the lead as Niki Marwah. The cover art definitely resembles Priyanka Chopra.

If I have to rate this book on 5, I would rate it 2/5 just for the entertainment value. I hope the next books by Swati Kaushal would be much better that this one and that she can recreate the magic of "A Piece of Cake".

Ricardo

I recently participated in a short story writing contest. Though the results have not yet been announced as of now, I kind of know it is not a winner. However, this contest helped me get back to writing a short story after a long time. Below is my entry:

It was about that time of the day when Rose would visit the church. Ricardo waited for her patiently. He made an effort to clean himself up and look presentable. He looked at himself in the mirror several times and made sure he looked neat. He looked forward to Sundays to meet Rose. 

As he waited outside the church, he thought of their first meeting. Rose was with her father at the church and Ricardo was accompanying Chris. Ricardo was very little then. He recalled how beautiful she was- young, vivacious and with a spark in her eyes. She smiled at him pleasantly that day and the thought still warmed his heart. It has been 13 years now. Though Rose has aged gracefully, nothing else changed about her. 

He could now see Rose walking towards the church. She arrived, smiled the familiar heart warming smile, tousled his hair and went inside the church. Ricardo would never enter the church. Chris never encouraged it and though he was no more, Ricardo honoured his wish. He waited patiently outside the church for the service to end. He paced quietly in the churchyard and reminisced the summer time spent at Chris’ estate. He was very little then and frolicked in the vast gardens while Chris and Rose cheered him. Everything seemed to be perfect. Little Ricardo loved Chris and Rose. There was news of their betrothal in the estate. He smiled to himself now and wished nothing had changed. 

Rose emerged from the church after the service and walked towards Ricardo. He could smell her familiar rosy fragrance. She smiled at him again, he reciprocated. “How have you been Richie?”, she said as she tousled his hair again, and coughed. This was their Sunday routine. He always wished that he was not born mute and could respond to her in words. He wanted to know about her cough. She has been coughing for a few months now and it seemed to get worse. All he could do was respond to her with gestures of affection. 

Rose walked back home and Ricardo accompanied her for a short distance but not all the way. He thought it would not be gentlemanly and bade her farewell. As she walked on, Ricardo wished that Chris was amidst them and they could all walk towards the estate. He thought of Rose- How lonely she was! Life had not been easy for her. She was by Chris’ bedside while he succumbed to pneumonia. As she grieved, news arrived that her father, her sole source of support, was no more. Her empty world was soaked in sorrow in a matter of days. She did have Ricardo, but, he was much younger then. She thought he would be cared for better at the estate and sent him away despite his quiet protests. 

Ricardo walked aimlessly all day. Sundays are bitter-sweet, when all those memories come flooding in. He rested under a tree in a park in the estate. His thoughts went back to Rose. He recalled, how she braced life bravely and made some tough decisions. She did not marry anyone. She lived with her maid and when she stepped outside her home, she carried her heart-warming smile. He wished she had not sent him away to the estate. He wished to accompany her everywhere but Rose had been firm. She would meet him only on Sundays outside the church. He respected her decision and looked forward to every Sunday. He waited eagerly for Sunday to arrive. 

It is Sunday again. As always, Ricardo eagerly waits outside the church for Rose to arrive. It is raining heavily. Rain or shine, she is always on time. He admired her for that. He knew by instinct- it was time for her arrival. He could see the church filling up. He waited patiently. He could hear the sermon begin. There was no sign of Rose today. He rushed to Rose’s villa. As he approached the villa, he could hear her violent coughing. He peeped in through a little opening in the window- she looked quite pale. Her maid was trying to comfort her while a doctor looked over. Ricardo wanted to run inside and talk to the doctor. He found his muteness unbearable. He peeped in every now and then. Rose seemed to be falling asleep with intermittent coughing. He left the villa. He worried about her all day. He visited the villa again in the evening. There was silence as he peeped in. Rose seemed peaceful now. Her maid was asleep by her side. Ricardo rested outside the villa and gradually slipped into a deep slumber. 

He woke up startled, to loud wails and rushed inside the villa. Rose was lying peacefully on her bed as she did the evening before.There was no movement from her breathing. She was very still. Her lips parted slightly. There was no colour on her face. He had a sinking feeling that Rose would never wake up again. In a few hours time, Rose was laid to rest in peace. Ricardo walked to the grave carrying a flower between his teeth, placed it on Rose’s grave, wagged his tail, lowered his aged body next to it, watched sadly and whimpered.

From My Kitchen

Make Me By Lee Child

This was the first book I completed reading in 2016. I have set some lofty reading goals for 2016 and I know it is not going to be easy. However, I am quite confident and positive of achieving my reading goals in the second half of this year.

This is my first book by the author. I bought this book from Sapna Bookstore in Bangalore. I chose this book based on a friend's Facebook post. It seemed interesting from the posts and I thought I will try reading someone's work that I have not done before.

The writing style is quite different. The sentences are broken down unusually into phrases as stand alone sentences, which I have not seen with many writers. I am unable to explain it properly in words....Maybe there is a word for it which I am not aware of. An example below might explain my point better.

The plot of the book is quite dark and gives a deserted feel for a big part. It all begins with Jack Reacher, the protagonist, travels to a place called Mother's Rest, intrigued by its name. He meets a former FBI agent on a mission, Chang, who is looking for her untraceable colleague Keever. Together, they decide to unearth the mystery of missing Keever and one thing leads to another and they soon discover the dark "happenings" at Mother's Rest, leading not only to Keever's whereabout but also many others who suddenly seemed to be missing. 

The biggest takeaway from this book for me is- being aware of something like Deep Web. I was quite naive and could not imagine for such a thing to exist and also the horrific end that is meted out for some people. 

Though the story in the book was well-written and fast paced, I do not think I would pick up another book by Lee Child. I did not really enjoy how the author described physical fights that happened. I found them unnecessarily descriptive. However, I think people who enjoy Action books and movies may enjoy it much more than I did.

On a scale of 5, where 5 is excellent, I would rate it at 3.