Forsaken 

by Jana Oliver

Paperback, UK Edition, 422 pages

Series: The Demon Trappers #1

Published on:  February 7th 2011

Publisher: Macmillan Children's Books 

ISBN: 0330519476 

Blurb:  Riley Blackthorne just needs a chance to prove herself—and that’s exactly what the demons are counting on...
Seventeen-year-old Riley, the only daughter of legendary Demon Trapper, Paul Blackthorne, has always dreamed of following in her father's footsteps. The good news is, with human society seriously disrupted by economic upheaval and Lucifer increasing the number of demons in all major cities, Atlanta’s local Trappers’ Guild needs all the help they can get—even from a girl. When she’s not keeping up with her homework or trying to manage her growing crush on fellow apprentice, Simon, Riley’s out saving distressed citizens from foul-mouthed little devils – Grade One Hellspawn only, of course, per the strict rules of the Guild. Life’s about as normal as can be for the average demon-trapping teen.

Even though I am a diehard fan of all sorts of YA novels, fantasy is not my favourite genre. I cannot easily connect to the said genre. Most of the times, the emotional value of the books is too low. But Jana Oliver’s Forsaken or The Demon Trapper’s Daughter changed my view about fantasy to a great deal. If there is a good writer writing fantasy, you won’t find a scarcity of emotions.

But then a Grade Five Geo-Fiend crashes Riley’s routine assignment at a library, jeopardizing her life and her chosen livelihood. And, as if that wasn’t bad enough, sudden tragedy strikes the Trappers’ Guild, spinning Riley down a more dangerous path than she ever could have imagined. As her whole world crashes down around her, who can Riley trust with her heart— and her life?

Forsaken -  the first book of  The Demon Trappers series was a heart pounding, adrenaline kicking novel that is really, really good for a first book in the series. It is set in Atlanta (where Jana Oliver actually lives) in 2018.

The book has been published with different names and covers in the USA and UK. For the name, Forsaken seems much better than The Demon Trapper’s Daughter but cover of the latter is much better.

Riley Blackthorne is a seventeen year old trainee Demon Trapper. Her father is a top Demon Trapper himself, which makes things harder for Riley. The others in the business assume that she’s trying to rise high using her father’s fame. Riley strives to prove that she is a competent Demon Trapper herself and is worth being called Paul Blackthorne’s daughter.

I absolutely loved Riley within a few pages. She is smart and independent, and although she has flaws, is stubborn, she doesn't take no for an answer and stands up for herself. She may have to work harder to prove her point and does make mistakes like everyone else but I find these qualities in her not only redeeming, but they also make her more human as a person, rather than a character.

Denver was equally lovable. Riley used to like Denver, some years ago. Their relationship is strained but it is great. The best character portrayed in the book, according to me, is Den. His life is in a mess and he is truly believable. He is a mix of dark and light shades and absolutely lovely.

The book is quite fast paced and gets you laughing and crying at the right times. As I said earlier, unlike the other fantasy or paranormal books, Forsaken is packed with emotions. Because normally, most writers pay more attention to the setting and the paranormal aspect of the world, rather than the characters and their development. Jana Oliver does a commendable job of balancing both wonderfully.

And for the lovers of romance, amidst all the anti-demon action there is a love triangle that will keep you swaying to and fro.

The thing I didn’t like about the book was that there was an unnecessary use of curses and swear words in between. Also, keeping in mind the target market, there is a great deal of violence in this book and sexual situations that are adult in nature, such as references to sexual violence, mentions of sex toys, and soliciting a minor. I also didn't like how there was a subtle mocking of people living in Southern USA.

To sum up, it’s a great book, with good characters and a strong plot. I personally am dying to know what Oliver’s got more for us in the next book of the series. I would definitely recommend giving it a go, even if it’s not your usual type. The book is perfect for teenagers between 14 and 18, both genders.

Review originally published on:  http://vaultofbooks.com/a/review-forsaken

2 States: The Story of My Marriage

by Chetan Bhagat

Paperback, 269 pages

Published on:  October 1st 2009

Publisher:  Rupa and Company

ISBN: 8129115301 

 Blurb:  Love marriages around the world are simple:
Boy loves girl. Girl loves boy.
They get married.
In India, there are a few more steps:
Boy loves Girl. Girl loves Boy.
Girl's family has to love boy. Boy's family has to love girl.
Girl's Family has to love Boy's Family. Boy's family has to love girl's family.
Girl and Boy still love each other. They get married.

Welcome to 2 States, a story about Krish and Ananya. They are from two different states of India, deeply in love and want to get married. Of course, their parents don’t agree. To convert their love story into a love marriage, the couple have a tough battle in front of them. For it is easy to fight and rebel, but it is much harder to convince. Will they make it? From the author of blockbusters Five Point Someone, One Night @ the Call Center and The 3 Mistakes of My Life, comes another witty tale about inter-community marriages in modern India.

I wouldn't have picked up a Chetan Bhagat book had there not been a renovation going on at my home, and  2 States the only book available. Helpless, and famished to read something for more than two weeks, I squeezed out 2 States from my shelf, where it was as prominent as a pickle in a glass jar, and for some weird reason, seemed easier to take out compared to all the other books lying there.

I am not the greatest fan of Chetan Bhagat. When I read Five Point Someone, I found him okay. And if talk in comparative terms, he was far, far better than any other contemporary Indian Author. But when after FPS, I decided to try One Night @ a Call Centre, I wanted to puke. I decided never to buy another book written by him. Unfortunately, or fortunately, 2 States was already on my bookshelf at that time.

Krish is a former IITian, who has a back story somewhat similar to Hari (was that the name?) from Five Point Someone. Now, doing an MBA at IIMA, he has fallen in love with the most beautiful fresher of IIMA- Ananya. After having had all the intimacy possible in the two years, when the two are placed for a job in Citibank and HLL respectively, they have a bigger problem to deal with. How would they get married? Since every love story has to have a twist, of course we have one here too. Krish is a Punjabi and Ananya is a Tamilian. This conflict, perhaps valid only in India, makes the story work.

Yes, having been a Chetan Bhagat hater for almost a year and a half now, I must hate myself for saying that I liked this book a lot. 2 States was an entirely different attempt by CB as compared to FPS and ON@CC. While ON@CC is the one I won’t like to discuss here as it makes me want to throw up every time I think of it, FPS is the novel that I would remember CB for all times to come as it was the first book I read by him.

FPS did suck a little in the middle at some parts, but 2 States definitely has a nice flow and grips you until the end. I didn’t hate the book at any point. After reading these books, I feel Chetan Bhagat is at his best in 2 States.

The best thing that made me like the book is its humor. The sarcasm used almost never fails. There were some parts of the book, where I couldn’t stop giggling like an idiot. It had me guffawing in a lot of places.

There are not many instances in the book that seem unreal. Even though I still hate him, I’d say that he is one of the few authors who clearly show the real picture of what actually goes around in the India around us. And ofcourse, he touches realistic and sensitive topics. (Unless you remind me of ON@CC!)

You can’t categorise this book out of the typical CB books, though. This too is tailor made for a movie. Probably CB, like Nicholas Sparks now I reckon, writes books only to sell out the rights to movie producers.

Even if you loathe  Chetan Bhagat, I’d say you should try this one out. I think it won’t disappoint you much. Mind you, I think is the key word.

Review originally published on:  http://vaultofbooks.com/bplus/review-2-states

Sleeping Arrangements

by Madeleine Wickham

Paperback, 320 pages

Published on: June 9th 2009

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (first published 2001)

ISBN: 0312565763 

 Blurb:  Chloe needs a holiday. Her partner, Philip, has troubles at work, and the whole family wants a break. Hugh is not a happy man. His immaculate wife, Amanda, seems more interested in her new kitchen than in him—and he works so hard to pay for it, he barely has time for his children. Maybe he’ll have a chance to bond with them on holiday…
When the two families arrive at a villa in Spain for their respective vacations, they all get a shock—it has been double-booked. An uneasy week of sharing begins, and tensions mount in the soaring heat. But the temperature isn’t solely to blame: What no one else realizes is that Chloe and Hugh have a history—and that the “accidental” overlap might not have been so accidental after all…

For those who don't know, this is Sophie Kinsella writing under her real name. Being a huge fan of Sophie's stand-alone books, I decided to check out her Madeleine Wickham books as well.

Chloe and her blended family need a holiday. Her partner Phillip is having trouble at work. She's sick of making wedding dresses for stressed out brides and could use a change of scenery. Amanda and Hugh are going through a rough patch in their marriage and need a holiday too. Hugh is obsessed with work and spends so little time with his family that his children barely even know him and Amanda is currently stressing the redecoration of their home.

When both families receive an invitation to their friend Gerard’s villa, they each look forward to a restful week in Spain. What they find out when they arrive is that Gerard has accidentally double booked his villa and they end up having to share it as every hotel in the area is fully booked.

But there is this big unfortunate thing, Chloe and Hugh had been a couple at some point in their and now they stand before each other fighting the demons of the past.

This was a quick and light fluffy read that I got through quickly. The book has got a typically clichéd plot. I tried my best to love it as I love the Kinsella books but couldn’t. It is not that I didn’t like it, I did. But I didn’t really die to know what happened next. However, the story was solid and the characters believable in that they had flaws and seemed real.

The Madeleine Wickham books are not even half as good as good as her Sophie Kinsella books. It seems as if two different persons are writing them. It did not grab me and have me rolling with laughter like her Shophie Kinsella books.
There were certain unrealistic and stupid things in the book that were hard to digest. The Nanny that one couple brought with them seduces a 16-year-old boy. His parents don't care. They smoke pot together. His parents don't care.

Hugh is after Chloe even after knowing they have their children and partners. And apparently Chloe is not interested at all. Wickham should note that life's not just drinking a billion types of wine and seducing other people's wives. It’s a lot beyond that. And people, usually, cannot get that lucky that they get to sleep with their oh-so-old-so-missed love so easily and then get away with it without losing a strand of their hair.

I read a lot of Women's Fiction but when I read this one I felt that I hated, loathed chick lit. For a moment, I thought I was really done with it. I do not deny Wickham’s marvellous storytelling skills but at times, some things really need to be pulled in place.

I’d say that if you like Kinsella, stay away from this one. You might lose some respect for her.

Review originally published on:  http://vaultofbooks.com/b/review-sleeping-arrangements

The Color Purple

by Alice Walker

Paperback, 288 pages

Published on: May 22nd 1992 (first published 1982)

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 

ISBN: 0151191549 

 Blurb:   Celie has grown up in rural Georgia, navigating a childhood of ceaseless abuse. Not only is she poor and despised by the society around her, she’s badly treated by her family. As a teenager she begins writing letters directly to God in an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear. Her letters span twenty years and record a journey of self-discovery and empowerment through the guiding light of a few strong women and her own implacable will to find harmony with herself and her home. 
The Color Purple’s deeply inspirational narrative, coupled with Walker’s prodigious talent as a stylist and storyteller, have made the novel a contemporary classic of American letters.

My reason for picking up The Color Purple at the bookstore was simple. It was my favourite color. But, before I started it, I came to know that it was highly praised by critics and had a movie based on it too. It was supposedly a classic. The biggest thing was that it had won a Pulitzer Prize too! Naturally, I was eager to read it.

Celie is a poor black woman whose letters tell the story of twenty years of her life, beginning at age fourteen when she is being abused and raped by her father and attempting to protect her sister from the same fate, and continuing over the course of her marriage to “Mister,” a brutal man who terrorizes her. Celie eventually learns that her abusive husband has been keeping her sister’s letters from her and the rage she feels, combined with an example of love and independence provided by her close friend Shug, pushes her finally toward an awakening of her creative and loving self.

More than half of the book is written in broken English. It is so because it is a narration/diary of Ceilie who knows little of reading and writing. Walker has skilfully crafted several themes in the book like slavery, colonialism, racial discrimination and over the loads and loads of information she gives us about the twentieth century makes her really worth a Pulitzer.

She’s done a remarkable job of indicating the discrimination at that age. She got into the skin of her character and has been marvellous at showing how downtrodden women were at that time. And how ignorant people were. And it is unfortunate, some people still are as bad as they were then.

I love the character of Celie. She has such horrible self-esteem but tells things exactly how they are when it comes to situations and other people. I also liked how she was contrasted next to Shug as a strong female character.

There’s no doubt anyone would hate Ceilie bloody father, but I hated her husband Mr.____ too. You must be wondering who this Mr.____  was. Ah, that is how he was named all through the book. We didn’t have his name anywhere in the book. I wish he had a specific name. So, Mr.____ was an aggressive man who abused Celie, and took advantage of her in many ways. He beat her for no reason, married her because probably he wanted a nanny for his children and kept her because he wanted to sleep with her.

Alice Walker again proves her Pulitzer-worthy skills by potraying different sides of black women in different characters. While Ceilie was submissive, Sophia was a rebel. While Shug was considered to be a slut singing around here and there, Nettie was on a noble mission to educate people down in Africa.

The book was beautiful and moving in its way, yet ultimately failed to excite me in the author seems to expect. To me, this book dragged on and on. At times I really did wonder what the point of the story was all about, and it felt like it was going nowhere.

Yes, I know the book is about a woman who was abused by a father, a husband and invariably didn't know what it was like to exist in a normal life but sometimes it was written in such a monotonous way that I longed to put an end to it. I merely felt that every page I turned, the author was re-writing the pages I'd just finished. Like the old saying, "Same nonsense, different day."

While the letters by Nettie from Africa were nicely done and are my favourite part of the book, but on the whole, the book bored me to death. There was an excessive sexual content in the book and what killed me was the broken English. It confused me throughout the plot. I know it was necessary but still feel that I might have liked it better if normal English had been employed.

If you are one of those serious feminists, and like reading about lives of earlier people, you might like it. But, the risk would be entirely yours. And who knows, if you read it you may give it an A, since it is one those Pulitzer kinds.

Review originally published on: http://vaultofbooks.com/c/review-the-color-purple

The Best of Me

The Best of Me

By Nicholas Sparks

Hardcover, Large Print, 292 pages

Published on: October 11th 2011

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

ISBN: 1455504106

 Blurb:  They were teenage sweethearts from opposite sides of the tracks – with a passion that would change their lives forever. But life would force them apart. Years later, the lines they had drawn between past and present are about to slip . . . Called back to their hometown for the funeral of the mentor who once gave them shelter when they needed it most, they are faced with each other once again, and forced to confront the paths they chose. Can true love ever rewrite the past?

 The new epic love story from the multi-million-copy bestselling author of The Notebook and The Last Song. Nicholas Sparks is one of the world's most beloved authors.

Nicholas Sparks!  If I had to talk of the best romance writer of today, there’s no doubt that I’d say Nicholas Sparks.

I was longing to read his latest book The Best of Me for such a long time and now I can finally say that Sparks has done it once more.

The book starts with the introduction of Dawson Cole, a low-caste man from the small town of Oriental, and his hallucinations of a dark-haired man. Dawson had been in love with Amanda for several years since they parted  ways after high school and has never dated another woman in all these years. Now, in their forties, Amanda and Dawson are reunited for a weekend when they hear of the demise of their mentor, Tuck, at Oriental. After spending some time together, they realize that love was still in the air and was as strong in their hearts now as it had been years ago when they would spend time together at Tuck’s garage.

When I started reading the book, I could feel no emotions to connect with it but that was maybe due to my state of mind back then. As I gradually got mentally stable, I began to feel connected with the book. It seemed like a re-do of The Notebook in some ways, peppered with the feel of The Wedding by the same author.

And of course, the typical things that Sparks does with his books cannot be forgotten. The never dying love, its dormancy and then the surge again; and with the girl having moved on and the man still stuck with her cannot be kept away. Reading so many books by Nicholas Sparks makes this one slightly predictable.

The cover of the paperback, with which it was launched in India as well, is deceptive! It is the beach and the couple are so happy together and so close but when you open the book, you’ll find Dawson hallucinating a dark-haired man. I don’t know about the other people who read the book, but I found it pretty funny. The couple never even went to a beach together in the book (except for the back stories) and for God’s sake, they’re in their forties.

The love story of Tuck and Clara in between was beautiful. Honestly, I liked them as much as I liked Dawson and Amanda. But then, this was not the only sub-plot of the book. It had many unconnected ones which irritated me so much that at some points I would skip a few paragraphs as they dragged on unnecessarily. We had a dozen unnecessary characters like Ted Cole and his wife, Abee Cole and his girlfriend, Dr. Bonner and his wife and his children, Frank and Jared and Lynn And Bea and Annette, some Roger and some Ron and this and that. At times, it seemed as if he’d just done it to fill in the pages, though everything seemed connected.

The characters were a mix of nice and irritating people. I liked Dawson but I didn’t like Amanda much.

Sparks probably tried to mix suspense with romance but couldn’t make it dominating enough.

I want to write about the end of the book which was abrupt, but I don't want to ruin it for you. Let me tell you, although most of it was predictable but a few things don’t at all happen the way - or for that matter, most probably you - would want to happen, thus  giving it an abrupt climax. I am yet to decide whether I liked or hated the end. I don’t think I hated it but I didn’t like it either. It gives a queer feeling in my heart.

I’d recommend this one to the romance readers and the Sparks fans only if they promise not to complain after they read the ending.

Review originally published on:  http://vaultofbooks.com/bplus/review-the-best-of-me

To Sir, With Love

by E.R. Braithwaite

Paperback, 192 pages

Published on: October 1st 1990 (first published 1959)

Publisher: Jove

ISBN: 0515105198 

 Blurb:  The modern classic about a dedicated teacher in a tough London school who slowly and painfully breaks down the barriers of racial prejudice. It is the story of a man's own integrity winning through against the odds. When a woman refuses to sit next to him on the bus, Rick Braithwaite is saddened and angered by her prejudice. In post-war cosmopolitan London he had hoped for a more enlightened attitude. When he begins his first teaching job in a tough East End school the reactions are the same. Slowly and painfully some of the barriers are broken down. He shames his pupils, wrestles with them, enlightens them and eventually comes to love them. To Sir, With Love is the story of a dedicated teacher who turns hate into love, teenage rebelliousness into self-respect, contempt into consideration for others.

I had never heard of this book until I read an excerpt from it last year. The excerpt was half a chapter of the book which was in our Functional English syllabus for the second terminal exams in Eleventh Standard. I found the excerpt very, very intriguing and that day I decided that I was going to read this book for sure.

When I read the excerpt last year, I had a different idea about the book. I thought that it was a book about a teacher who has been wound up completely by a bunch of crooks and rogues who’re his students. But when I read the book, it was an entirely different story.

Set in the 1940’s, it traces the journey of a black man named Braithwaite who has suffered a lot due to the color of his skin. In London, it is hard for him to earn a living because he is either said to be too qualified for the job or too ‘black’ to be bossing the whites in the offices. Finally Braithwaite meets an old man sitting in St. James Park in London who gives him a piece of advice that as Braithwaite says ‘…changed the whole course of my life’.

I liked the line said by the old man to Braithwaite to raise his spirits and it will be one of my favorite quotes I have ever read.

“A big city cannot have its attention distracted from the important job of being a big city by such a tiny, unimportant item as your happiness or mine…. A great city is a battle field. You need to be a fighter to live in it, not exist, mark you, live. Anybody can exist, dragging his soul behind him like a worn out coat; but living is different. It can be hard, but it can also be fun; there’s so much going on all the time that is new and exciting…”

Reading the book, I could relate to each and every character of the book. Being a student, I related to the students at the Greenslade School. Knowing that I might have to teach at some point of my life, I could very easily relate to Mr. E. R. Braithwaite. It is not just these. All the characters from Gillian to Pamela Dare’s mother seemed so close to me.

Although it is an autobiographical account, you would at no point get bored while reading it, even if you’re just a fiction lover. Braithwaite successfully reaches the heart of his readers writing with the skills of a novelist.

The book is mainly a school drama but the main point of the book, racism, is no where neglected. It clearly shows the plight of the colored people living in the white majority societies. It goes way beyond your history books that tell you the blacks were looked down upon. It makes you live the life of a black man himself.

The language used in the book is absolutely marvelous. But the ones who are not regular readers of modern classics might find it a little difficult to get the hang of it easily. It primarily uses the language in a way that is a British dialect of East End Londoners.

And talking of language, the students at Greenslade live in slums and have a very bad mouth. The way Braithwaite quotes the slang is as if you are yourself sitting in front of them, hearing them swear. A beautiful thing about the book is that Braithwaite has no where used the F word in his entire book although you do come to know when the students say it.

He quotes the sentences like “Bastard. You f__ing bloody Bastard.” And “If I’d had the wood I’d have done the f__er in and no bleeding body would have stopped me.” There are a lot of examples like this in the book.

There’s  nothing about the book that I disliked particularly except that at some points it has a lot of narrative summary and no dialogues in two or so pages together. But this being an autobiographical account, we can’t expect dialogues after every paragraph.

A fantastic book meant for the ones who teach or aspire to teach sometime in their life. If you like school dramas, go for To Sir, With Love and you too will fall in love with this Sir.

Review originally published on:  http://vaultofbooks.com/a/review-to-sir-with-love