Book Review: A House for Mr. Misra (4*s)

If ever there was a book, that can be described as visually descriptive, this has to take the cake.

The journey begins from the markets of England that are so vividly described, you can almost smell the fresh produce.
Winding its way through the monsoons of Kerala, the traffic, a few tense situations (not revealing the reasons why Mr. Misra had to be hospitalized, however the manner in which he was treated is is an insightful read) and eventually to the house that is supposed to be built.

Do they manage to build it? Does it work out the way they want? Well you have to read the book for that but I can reveal the end leads to a temptation that is extremely hard to resist.

A House for Mr. Misra, by Jaishree Misra is a delightful insight into what goes behind the scenes in Gods own country. And when I say what goes behind the scenes, I am literally referring to insights on how the average Mallu thinks, behaves and interacts with people from within and outside the state.

We discover their way of life, their territorial behavior and through incidents discover what life is like in Kerala.
Is it easy to build a house on the beach you ask? What kind of laws intervene? Can one discover loopholes? How far do you stretch your morals when faced with adversity? All this and more are entwined in the story.

A House for Mr. Misra, by Jaishree Misra is a tongue in cheek, humorous tale of the Misra's attempts to build their dream beach side home. (Why did they consider building a new home when financial challenges were abound is a mystery but they took the adventurous route that had a tale to tell).
Kudos to Jaishree Misra for not getting too critical of the people in the book for she had every opportunity to speak out against them.

What she has done instead is narrate a story that's fast paced, intriguing, a thread bare version of the situation they faced written in a simple, contextual and beautiful manner thats an extremely easy read.

What also stood out is how the laws are drafted in this country. For every clause there is a caveat and for every caveat there is a clause. Like wise, for every person who is honest and helpful there is a someone who doesn't believe he is here to help another soul.

All in all a very good, interesting and insightful read.

Book Review: Murder In Paharganj(2.5*s)

A murder thriller has to leave you gasping to know more.

The anticipation of the progress of the story has to be so riveting that you don't want to put the book down. It has to tease and cajole you into waiting for a twist, the next turn of events.

Instead what Kulpreet Yadav has penned in his novel, Murder in Paharganj is an attempt to turn this around an share details upfront of almost every crucial moment, thereby killing the suspense.

Admittedly this is not a suspense mystery that requires detective style investigation and clearly Vicks Menon is not a detective.

Murder in Paharganj is fast paced in its story line and has some serious potential in the sub plots and credit is due for not sermonizing certain aspects of the book.

It has a variety of characters that have interesting facets of emotions to deal with and yet one wonders if the characters were flushed out further, their could literally be spin off novels on each of them, especially Jalaluddin and ACP Rao.

While the story journeys through the death of Israeli woman Sherry Bing, who had no reason to be murdered and the subsequent investigation into why was she significant to the story, it leads her Killer and investigators from Delhi to Udaipur and off all places Bangkok and subsequently back to India for the tepid climax - no surprises in the book and likewise no surprises in this blog, except for the actual climax for which you better read the book.

Vicks Menon has some way to go before he can be cast into a hero figure. He may be battling for his job (having lost his recently), love (girl friend also left him recently), his drinking which apparently was largely to blame for the loss of job and love and most importantly his self prestige, all at the same time but his journalistic skills are hardly a saving grace in this matter.

There is no great research, investigative piece or stroke of brilliance that really stands out except perhaps his determination to keep going despite his brushes with death.

How an international spy can leave a journalist alive despite being identified by him and being followed around is something that truly beggars belief.

Vicks girl friend is also highly under used in the plot. Her intelligence and contribution could be put to better use. Its like in bollywood movies where the heroine is only around for some eye candy and to throw in some romantic scenes and songs.

Personally I also think Jamie aka Jalaluddin would have made a subject for a normally or indeed ACP Rao.

All in all, its not a book or series I would include in my must read list.

Totally skip able.