The Bhudda in the Attic-Julie Otsuki(review by Chaitanya Sivanandh)

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka centers around the story of Japanese immigrants in America who came in search of better lives.They were a group of young ladies who dreamt of a new life with their unknown husbands in America.They knew well that if they stayed back at their homeland,they would end up in the fields like their mothers.

They were totally ignorant of the new land and when they reached there,to their misfortune,their expectations did not meet reality.Their yet to be husbands had no resemblance with the persons in the photographs as those photographs were 20 years old.The chapter First night is a devasting account of physical consummation. Although they dreamt of a new life,their condition was no better in the unknown land.They had backbreaking works in the fields.Some of them worked as cooks in their labor camps,some as dishwashers,some as sharecroppers etc.,

In the chapter Babies,different conditions under which they gave birth are vividly described.They brought up their children how the natives did and they were more comfortable in the foreign land than their parents.And on one fine day,order came for the Japanese to be interned and they were forced to leave their households back in America.

An interesting thing to be noted is that in the final chapter,the collective voice of the Japanese changes to the American."The Japanese have disappeared from our town.Their houses are boarded uo and empty now."A few days after their disappearance,people even forgot about their existence.They came there,lived there,gained nothing and disappeared.

First person plural narrative is the point of narration employed in the novel.Recurring usage of same phrases through throughout the entire chapter is a stylistic technique the author has  adopted which is annoying at times.The narrative style is highly poetic.It can be said without doubt that Otsuka has succeeded in giving a haunting and heartbreaking account of Japanese women

The Edge of Desire-Tuhin Sinha(review by Princy John)

The Edge of Desire is the work of  Tuhin Sinha . He is an Indian author.
 He had written many novels ,like the rest of them this is also an awesome work by him.

The story revolves around a woman named Shruthy Ranjan. Like every other girl from our country she was also expected to get married her at twenties.  She was married to an IAS officer whose deputation was in Kashmir .  There he was given many duties where had to overcome many jeopardises .
 When  she was leading a happy family , she had been forced to become a victim of a local politician - Salim Yadav who had raped her brutally . She became his victim as a result of his vengeance to her husband who had inferred in his illegal activities .

But to her fate Salim Yadav proved himself to be innocent in the eyes of justice by making up fake proofs .Back then at her college days she had an affair with a guy , who had cheated on her .  Salim also made use of this issue and proved her to be a prostitute .

In this scenario,  she was depressed by the turn over of incidents in her life .

As an angel, famous political party leader Sharad Malyiva entered to her life . He boosted her with support and convinced her that she can avenge the rapists by winning elections.
 Ultimately she won the elections. She succeeded her political career amd became the deputy assistant of Sharad Malyvia .But on the other hand ,her relationship with her husband was breaking aa more stories about Shruthy and Sharadh were cooked up.

But still she remained to be single, after her divorce .
 Later as the story ends she is put in jail for a fake case about terrorist , where she was acclaimed to  be guilty. But she was happy that she saved millions of lives from terrorist attack.

In short its a story about woman betterment and  empowerment.
 This is one of my favourite books .
 I would suggest this as a must read book.

Veronica decides to die-Paulo Coelho(review by Princy John)

"Veronika decides to die" is an inspirational novel which has been meticulously written down by Paulo Coelho .This novel feeds the mind of an inquisitive reader with the realisation that every second of existence is a choice we all make between living and dying .
             The protagonist of the novel,Veronika decides to commit suicide ,though she possessed beauty,wealth,boy friends and all other leisures that a typical young lady crave for.  She thought of the myriad ways of committing  suicide and finally switched on to taking an overdose of sleeping pills,only to wake up some time later in a mental hospital named Villete.
               Dr Igor ,the in charge of the hospital convince Veronika that her heart is now irreparably damaged and she has only few days to live her life. Veronika ,who is now admitted in the hospital started cracking a friendship with the inmates of this hospital who doesn't at all seem mad. Zedka was among the first and her ideas about life aroused a spark of surprise in Veronika.Zedka  believes that anyone who  lives in their own world is mad. Like schizoprenics, psychopaths,maniacs.  People who are different from others seems mad.
            
              Veronika had given up many of her desires so that her parents would continue to love her as they had when she was a child,even though she knew that real love changes and grows with time and discovers new ways of expressing itself. She failed to decipher the meaning of her own life and lost interest to live.   But  the very idea that those were to be her last days made her think over the topic "is life worth to live". Moreover the encounter with friends like Zedka  and Eduard was moulding her bit by bit .Eduard  never spoke to anyone as he was acting as a schizophrenic in order to escape from the hardship of reality.

         Dr Igor, who was watching the whole drama in silence was happy about their eloping. Because it was his idea to cook up a story that Veronika 's heart was irreparably damage .Dr. Igor knew that both Veronika and Eduard are perfectly normal except for their lack of interest towards life and fear of taking challenges.

MAYYAZHIPPUZHAYUDE THEERANGALIL by M.Mukhundan (Book Review by Sajna NS)

MAYYAZHIPPUZHAYUDE THEERANGALIL
     

           "Mayyazhippuzhayude Theerangalil" [ On The Banks Of Mayyazhi] is a Malayalam novel by M.Mukhundhan.It is a classic novel describes the political and social background of Mahe [Mayyazhi] the former French colony, in the past ,in a mystical way.It was a story of an age, a story of love,independence and rebellion. The writer charts the mythology and legends of this region,existing in the period between colonization and democracy


                Dasan is the central character in this novel.Dasan is a person who is influenced by a political ideology.He appeared as a strong communist worker.His whole endeavor was to send back the foreigners to their mother land France. In between dasan fall in love with the niece of his school master. Mukhundhan could portray some real lives through this novel.Mayyazhippuzha itself is treated as the character in this novel.the novel stressed on the life styles of each and every people resided over Mayyazhi. The writer defines them 'mayyazhiyude makkal'. The life of people in Mayyazhi during pre independence period is described in this novel.Many foreigners used to live in mayyazhi during those days. Mayyazhi people had a very close relationship between them.They both lived in a co-operative manner.But when Dasan and his ideologies attained its highest growth,he and his followers tried to vanish the French people from Mayyazhi. Thus the life of the people at Mayyazhi became rebellious. As a result, Dasan was forced to go through many difficulties.

                    The novel has  a plenty of heart throbbing characters.Kurambiyamma, Kunjakkan, Lesley sayipp, Kunjichirutha, Girija , Pappan,  Achu, writer, Kausuamma were some of them. The interesting fact is 'Velliyaamkallu' which is located in the lap f the ocean , where the souls of the departed who became dragonflies  and traversed the sea to that distant island of souls. The main sensitive fact for the readers was that Dasan was not able to marry Chandrika .After all it seems to be a tragic end. 

The American Champa Tree (Book Review By Sandra Roy)

 THE ARMENIAN CHAMPA TREE

"THE ARMENIAN CHAMPA TREE" is written by Mahasweta Devi, an Indian social activist and writer . She is belonging to a literary family. Her father was a well known poet and novelist.Her mother was also a writer and a social worker. 

          This is a sensitive and attractive story especially for young readers,for whom over the years Mahasweta Devi has written extensively.She used her considerable experience of verbal history and grass root realities to create stories  which educates future adults about an India very few of them would otherwise know of.

                          This is the story of a ten year old young Buno tribal boy named Mato. He is a pain to his mother. because he doesn't do any useful things that Buno boys are meant to do. And he spend all his time simply daydreaming.He is completely dedicated to his pet baby goat , Arjun. At that time their place was facing huge famine. Then their comes a saint . Actually he was not a real saint. since the people are very orthodox and superstitious,he tried to cheat them.He demanded that  Mato's goat should be sacrificed to the goddess Kali,to get rain .And he prescribes a date  for sacrificing .It should be done before the prescribed date otherwise they will be punished with flood. Hearing this Mato runs away with Arjun in a desperate bid to reach the refuge of the Armenian church. They  were followed by the whole village . Mato and his goat wrestle to fence the arrest and reach safety. The villagers didn't  get them.The prescribed date has already passed. No flood came and the villagers understood the saint was cheating them.

                      This is a short and simple story tat can be read in one hour.Te writer follows a simple language that can be easily understood. We will be definitely tempted to read Mahasweta's other books ,if we read her Champa Tree.This is such an interesting novella. Through this story Mahasweta Devi unmasks the system in which religion  utilizes superstition for its own needs.

The American Champa Tree by Mahasweta Devi (Book Review by Alina Celine Lancy

The story speaks of a group of primitive tribes leading  confined lives according to ancient beliefs and practices.Their main source of livelihood is farming and livestock.The whole tribal area was famine striken and the tribals suffered from severe poverty.Many of the tribals turn into dacoits inorder to fulfill their basic needs.The central characters in this story are Mato,a young and innocent Buno tribal boy and his goat named Arjun.Things remain quite normal until a wicked sanyasi predicts the commencing of a destructive flood in the region.The flood would be more like adding fuel to fire as the Buno tribal clan was doomed completely by the famines.The wicked sanyasi ensures that the place could be saved if Arjun would be sacrificed to Goddess Kali.Then the whole story shifts its focus onto how Mato saves his pet from being fed to the Kali.Inspite of being chased and threatened ,Mato escaped with Arjun to the other side of the river.He seeks for help from a priest who lived a beautiful place where sweet smelling and light yellow shaded champa flowers bloomed in all glory.The tribals fail to make sacrifice ,but no floods occur.The wicked sanyasi is beat severely and driven away from their land by the tribals.Mato and Arjun returns back to their village to lead a more happier and peaceful life.

As you like it-William shakespeare(Review by Rinol job)

As you like it is basically a cliché love story..well it's also a story of hatred between brothers.The story begins with Duke senior,in banishment living in a forest named Arden with his well-wishers,they engage themselves by hunting and gathering fruits.
His brother Duke Frederick was plagued by guilt and suspense especially towards his niece,Rosalind.She wasn't banished,because she was Celia's,only daughter of Frederick,childhood playmate.The story then paces forward when Rosalind accidently meets Orlando,the son of Frederick's arch rival.Later it depicts how Rosalind falls in love with him,and she too gets banished from the kingdom at the same time Orlando too had to flee from there in order to evade from getting himself murdered.Rosalind and Celia rents a house and live there disguised,in order to find her father and Orlando.Later when she meets him,she doubts his love for her,so decides to find out if he does now.The story then revolves around them while more characters drop-in in later,adding more colours to the story.
This story is one of Shakespeare's classics.I would recommend all fantasy-ardent readers to read this drama once,I guarantee

 a feel-good book..