novel reviews

If you liked “If God was a Banker” and “Devil in Pinstripes”, here is another fiction based on banking world. But can Puneet Gupta,  author of The Suicide Banker, bring a final balance sheet that adeptly handles various characters, their personal life and the banking environment? I am going to give the bank book audit for book lovers.

The protagonist, Sumit Sharma, makes a career shift from the safety net of public bank to the world of private bank, a working culture that can be quiet rewarding but in  pressure cooker environment. The book narrates  the upheavals both in his personal and professional life during this period.  So typically we have here a young working parent struggling to balance work and family, the protagonist’s banking principles and outlook clashing directly with his bank’s wisdom of  “turning conventional wisdom upside down” , a young assistant thrown into the picture, ambitious colleagues who considers him too old-fashioned and rigid and a banking market that can turn hot potato anytime. So the stage is set for a filmy masala story.

Sumit’s bank, Ind-Credit Bank, is on a phenomenonl growth thanks to the mega successful Agri-business venture, an out of box biz model, scripted by it’s executive director, Mohit Sharma. When the going is stupendous and with markets on a high, Sumit joins the bank as Head-credit monitoring.  Soon, he picks up holes that annoys most of his colleagues who are intoxicated by ambitions and success. Shalini, his wife, finally picks up her career again after being a house wife for couple of years and joins as a journalist in a local media channel.  With both deep neck at work, quality of family life suffers. Enter  Annie, young simple girl who lost her father recently, as assistant to Sumit. Pretty soon,  things change both in personal life and professional life and slow tremors build up only to be released with a force.

For a first time author, Puneet has digged well into his banking background to base the story. But then like Puneet mentions in the novel,  the impact of statistics can always be interpreted differently so is the impact of the story on the readers.  Average readers might find the banking industry dynamics in the novel bit dragging.  The protagonist is not your dynamic, charged up hero.  He is like many of us in real life – A middle class man with certain rigidness,  few principles that he would cling to inspite of few other weakness that might threaten his fundamentals.  The character could be a plus and minus point of the script  and it all depends how you look at the story from your perspective.  Like the characters of the story, even the author struggles to find a balance between the personal and professional side of the protagonist. After some spicy build up,  Sumit – Annie’s relation  is conveniently forgotten, so is Alec Steward, ex-bf of Annie who also works in Sumit’s team. Excusing few corny lines and a slight uneasiness while shifting between professional and personal stories,  the language and narrative style of Puneet is fluid.

GingerChai Verdict: The Banker is definitely not a God but nevertheless an affable banker with normal human strengths and weakness that you can identify with.Read it, if you are a fan of  fiction based on banking backdrop.

Are you a writer? Publisher? Want to get your books reviewed here? Just write to us to get reviewed. Write to sip[at]gingerchai[dot]com or contact us here

Every book has it way of appealing to the readers. With young adult books ragging the market and imagination of budding authors running free among the clouds- readers are indeed most benefited. Ishaan Lalit’s debut book- “the Bracelet” creates a sensation of mystery and thrill- with an aura that sucks in a reader through its first few gripping pages. When we are talking about fantasy, we are essentially thinking of young Potters shuffling their lives between the Muggle world and Hogwarts. Ishaan gets into more serious business, his alternate world is the venue of intense action, fatal and threatening, conjuring levels of implied danger which only the brave hearts can survive through, yes we are talking about the Alpha and Omega levels.

Abhay, the protagonist, faints, runs a raging fever of 107 and the doctors fail to ascertain reason behind all this. Their innocence is justified to the readers because he can see what the others cannot. Imagine yourself as a witness embedded somehow in the Oscar winning movie “the gladiator” and even you will feel the elephant grass fields witnessing a pursuit, an ambush and eventually become a part of a long standing episode of a battle fought between two antagonistic groups. Ishaan involves lost brothers and loved-ones, involves politics and its dirty tricks that oscillate its power among both the worlds. A serious take is further given to the involvement of machines that transports seekers armed with an Arrow to a world where spirits would kill them in seconds and their arch rival the ArthRakshaks following at heels to overpower them. “The Bracelet” speaks volumes and weaves a plot noteworthy to keep the readers looking out for the peril the protagonist and his friends face at every turn.

But whom will you trust, your college buddy, who is faking the bond itself, or the family who keeps secrets from you? It not just a quest for Abhay to find reasons behind his frequent journeys to different world, it also a story that helps him realize his strength, understand his estranged brother, and stand by, what he believes to be the righteous. To reveal more will be a crime, for even, I want the readers to follow Abhay at close heels!! All I would request to the writer as a reader, is to pen down a magnificent sequel to the present intriguing tale, that triumphs just like Michael Crichton’s “Timeline”.

About the book author:

Ishaan Lalit is a twenty seven year old gemmologist, pilot, and adventurer form a multi-cultural background. He is an avid traveler and observer of human behaviour. He conceived of the bracelet while he was training in his flying school in Philippines. He lives in Delhi NCR along with his family and his three dogs. This is his first book and he is currently working on his second book. His Bracelet is racy and intriguing simply because he has mentors like Arthur C. Clarke, Richard Bach, Stephen King and Dean R. Koontz- to kindle his imagination through the alleys of mystery.

Author: Ishaan Lalit

Format: Paperback

Language: English

Pages: 160

Price: Rs. 150.00

Publishers: APK Publishers

Are you a writer? Publisher? Want to get your books reviewed here? Just write to us to get reviewed. Write to sip[at]gingerchai[dot]com or contact us here

A Bowlful of Butterflies by Ritu Lalit is written with teenage charm and at the beginning I will suggest to read it; reasons being – it is cute (okay, it is a girl’s way to describe!); it reminds you of your teenage days and all you people who have siblings will relate to the book, once in a while we all have fought with them, shed tears with each other, tried hurting them etc. but at the end of day we just hang out together because they are the best people available out there!

The story is set in NCR region for a change and it is not so and so NRI visiting India or something like that. The story is about Chandni who is appearing for her class 12 boards with her two best friends Amrit and Soma. Readers’ will see the world through Chandu aka Chandni; what is her relationship with her friends, what happens when her friend starts seeing her cousin Jogi, the jealousy pangs; Chandu’s two elder brothers – Vicky and Vinni; the antics done by these boys.

Chandu’s world revolves round the home, school and her family and the sleepy town of Majhi Nagar. Her world goes topsy-turvy when her cousin Jogi arrives to stay with them for couple of days before he gets the room in the Enginnering College. She, Vinni and Jogi spy on Vicky and realize that he is gay and then one fine day Vicky leaves home because he wants to become a singer and he is participating in the reality contest. Admist of all, Jogi and Amrit become a couple, Soma has her own problems, Jogi’s parents are separating, his father is seeing someone and so on and so forth. Each chapter is defined, short and crisp. There is melodrama, fun, fight, love, hate….all emotions outlined clearly. Slowly, Chandu realizes her calling in life, even finds love in Avni, a guy who is 25; thankfully he also falls in love with her

As a first time book writer, there is refreshing feel to the book, no unnecessary love scenes thrown in; there is a light – hearted feel to it. It is a transition story of Chandni – a teenage girl to womanhood.

Ginger Chai verdict – Please read it, it is a sweet and cute book.

Are you a writer? Publisher? Want to get your books reviewed here? Just write to us to get reviewed. Write to sip[at]gingerchai[dot]com or contact us here

So you are in the final year of college and awaiting campus interview? And then the day comes and you got recruited after a teaser of an interview. Your days have arrived. You proudly join the company and then you realize reality could be quiet different. Nevertheless, the journey of reality could enrich you with valuable experiences to build the foundation for the future.  Corporate Atyaachaar is one such journey of a twenty four year old financial advisor, freshly recruited from campus interview and posted in a new city where his new journey begins.

The protagonist, the young freshly minted financial advisor, lands up in Bangalore to join his first company, Wealth Capital Advisors with full of dreams and energy only to learn the non-financial sides of his Boss , The Human Ball Scratcher the very first day. Yes, that is how the author has chosen to nick-name him for some obvious reasons and the other colleague is nick named Sweet Lady.  This three along with an office assistant and driver comprises the Bangalore team nested in a pigeon hole sized office.  The story takes you to their journey in one eventful year that saw the stock market euphoria of 2007 and the subsequent market crash of 2008 and the High Net worth Individual clients the young financial advisor meets in his first year of work – an old business man, an inflated ego man, tough speaking ex-wall street banker, a CFO and a truly happy family man.

To be honest, the book is just a gist of one year of the protagonist first year at job. A quick summary told in a comical way of his one year at work and the clients he met. Stay clear, if you are allergic to finance and stock markets even if laced with comedy. Also I am not sure to call it a plus or minus point, there is no romance angle in the story, except for the love of stock bulls and bears. In that sense, the author deserves a mild pat for not getting tempted to introduce a love story into an otherwise a treaded path.

GingerChai Verdict: Of late, the racks of the book houses are filled with a genre of novels that is typically low priced (read under 100 bucks) and light on subject. The authors and the publishers make no pretence of selling a highly literary content but a very casual, time pass read while munching snacks or on a go. It is like our Indian masala flicks. Some movies are super hits, some average and some flops but new movies continue to hit theatre. Some make it big like Chetan while some goes unheard. Corporate Attyaachaar belongs to this school of Indian masala novel.  It is average, don’t boast an arty treatment, has a mild comedy elements thrown in.  Some may like it for one time; some may not but for Rs.100 (you get it for a further discounted price in some online shops) it won’t hurt your pocket much for a casual read.

Are you a writer? Publisher? Want to get your books reviewed here? Just write to us to get reviewed. Write to sip[at]gingerchai[dot]com or contact us here

We have so many Indian mythological characters that have a lot of powers but still we have very less contemporary Indian superheroes like Spiderman, Batman, Superman etc.

And similarly I have always wondered why we don’t have more fantasy fiction when we have Things like Ramayana and Mahabharata for inspiration. But this book- Immortals of melhua is one attempt towards contributing to Indian fantasy fictions.

Immortals of Meluha is the first book in the series of Shiva Triogy by Amish. When I first heard of Immortals of Meluha, I thought it’d be something like “The Da Vinci Code”. But I was wrong- this book is different.

Shiva at the start of story is no lord- he is a tribal man from a tribe residing by the side of Mansarovar Lake at the foot of mount Kailash in Tibet. An extremely skilled warrior, he is the chief of his clan and Bhadra is his deputy and childhood friend. Though the best, most courageous and intelligent warrior in many tribes combined, he is fed up of the barbaric ways of the tribal life.

Plot in brief:

The Indus valley civilization of today is the Meluha of 1990 BC. Meluha is an amazingly organized and scientific civilization for its time. The Infrastructure of the Meluhan cities is so good that it can put the modern day cities to a shame. The people of Meluha are not only happy- they are Immortal.

But this crazy-and-freakishly-perfect society has its own set of problem. And like their grand style of living, their problems are also grand. The river saraswati, whose water is main component of their elixir of life- Somras, is drying. They face constant terrorist attacks from the rival nation- the Chandravanshi who have joined forces with the ferocious martial art warriors- the Nagas.

Then there is the legend of Neelkanth which says: “When the evil reaches epic proportions, when all seems lost, when it appears your enemies have triumphed- a hero will emerge.” Enter Shiva in Meluha and the story kicks off…

Other than the Plot the book has two most important aspects:

1.       The character of shiva-  the character shiva has been put in an interesting manner.

The introductory description of shiva’s physique in first chapter says it all. He is atheletic and he is warrior- an extremely good one at that. He smokes chillum. He has a sense of humor – a really good one. He is a natural dancer- a perfectionist dancer. Despite belonging to a barbaric clan, he is humane. He is an inspiring and extremely respected leader.   He has lazy, elegant and effortless charm about him. Ladies can’t help admiring him.

Sounds like James Bond? What seperates him from being bond is the fact that he is profoundly humble and he can love. He is in deep love with Meluhan king Daksha’s Daughter- Sati, who is, let us say a little reluctant to go in  a relationship with shiva though she likes him a lot. Interesting uh? It is…

This character shiva- the elegant, powerful and effortlessly brilliant, alone makes the book a worthy read.

2.       The language used- The language used in the book is, to say the least- contemporary.

That is where the main objection of critics lies- when godly people go about saying stuff like “For god’s sake man, if you are happy with her, then I am happy for you”  it becomes a little difficult to digest. It could have been better of the language was a little more dignified when you are setting the plot in 1990 BC.

But for me, such language totally worked- it helped me connect to the story better and added to the humorJ.

But there was one place in the book where even I had an objection with the language- the chief scientist- Brahaspati explaining Shiva about food, oxidation of food by oxygen present in respiration and other truck load of science including ageing. I mean man, cm’on- you have set your plot in 1990 BC, did you forget? At least use some creative words for the scientific terms to prevent it from being weird- like you could use “pran vayu” for oxygen.

Amish has a very captivating style of storytelling- the story is fast paced and gripping. The book has everything- Drama, Action, Romance, emotions- everything. Romance has been portrayed particularly well. Once you start the book, it is an absolute un putdownable. Amish has this ability of putting romance and action simultaneously in same scene. He is also very, very good at sketching the characters because of which you can relate to the characters better.

A must read if you enjoy fantasy fiction- the book leaves you waiting, anxiously for the sequels!!

PS: I personally liked the character ‘Anandmayi’ –towards the end of the book, a lot. Read the book and you’ll understand the obvious reasons behind this

A commemorative postage stamp featuring Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai

In the eighties, Kayar used to be telecast as a period drama series on Doordarshan. Having watched an episode or 2 then, I don’t remember to be impressed or understood anything being an adolescent. But recently, having read its English translation by N. Sreekantan Nair published through Sahitya Akademi, I can’t help but marvel at this masterwork of a book and its distinguished author.

Kayar (Coir) is a voluminous novel originally written in Malayalam by Thakazhi Sivasankara Pillai. It is the saga of Thakazhi village in Kerala, during the British Raj and early days of Independence. The canvas of this magnum opus stretches across 7 generations and a time span of 150 years vividly painting the culture, tradition and the social order of yesteryears’ Kerala and the gradual transition it went through to arrive at the current state of affairs. By means of myriad characters it recounts in finer details the social, political, economic reformations as well as the upheavals the society, families and individuals went through those times.

Pillai’s style of writing is plain and straightforward but heartwarming nevertheless. There are no concealed connotations, suggestive overtones or confusing philosophies of any sort. Yet in this simple narrative of numerous tales of different people belonging to different communities/ religion and their families, Pillai reveals his great insight into human nature and acute analysis of human character. He skillfully etches the ‘Change’ in times, values – cultural and moral, lifestyles, caste system, human emotions and relations – personal as well as between various religious communities. His recitals efficaciously depict the gradual switch from the matriarchal to patriarchal system, the tragic consequences of the high-handed British Laws and Acts, failure of land reforms and its disastrous effect because of the partitions of the matriarchal families, radical transformation in the education system – from caste based guru-kuls to ecumenical English schools, defeated feudalism and slow emergence of socialism, new found awakening of patriotism, influence of Gandhism, ensued situations of World War II, creeping in nepotism, preferred overseas immigrations, overall greed and a general loss in prominence for morals, God and the good in the society.

Story unwinds with advent of renewed land classifications, by the orders of the Royal family, and arrival of a Classifier and his greedy wife in the village. The social set up then consisted of some powerful feudal lords belonging to the rich ancestral families of higher caste Namboodaris and Nairs enjoying complete authority over the matters pertaining to the village and the temple. The temple of village deity Dharma Sasthavu was held in high reverence and formed an integral part of the god-fearing people irrespective of caste and creed. The labour class was of Ezhavas, Parayas, Pulayas and Christians. The only source of income was agriculture and all payments were made in kind, especially measurements of Paddy. Deep-rooted customs, rituals and traditional sentiments were the undercurrents holding this society together.

Typical family would have several generations living under the same roof with daughters of the house inheriting ancestral properties and the uncles being responsible for bringing forth the nephews and nieces. Adultery and infidelity, though not socially acceptable were still prevalent and as-a-matter-of-fact things. Free willed marriages, widow remarriage, taking in second husband etc. were all accepted norms. Intercaste marriages were very common, but the rigidity of caste system prevailed by not taking any food at spouse’s place.

Corrupt Classifier and his team reassesses lands accepting bribes and other favours. The normal system is disrupted by such irrational land assignments and an imbalance creeps into these families. To add on to it, newer land reform laws of British and introduction of courts for settling disputes create a tumultuous situation as they are highly misused by the knavish.

Slowly, this affects generations down the line, and the once affluent families now face penury while the labour class and Christians gain prominence by sheer hard work and European association. All these are recounted through stories of different members of Kodanthara, Mangalaserry, Cheeratta, Seelanthipillil and other such families, Outha Mapilla, Attukkadavil Anthony and their successors representing Christian community and Purakkalathil Abdul Rasak, Pareed etc., belonging to the Muslim families.

Stories of Kochu Nair and his son Manikantan disclose the total revamp of Education system and the mad rush for official ranks and government posts. Through Kunjan Nair, Surendran and Viswanathan author brings out the patriotic ardour that was gaining stance. Similarly, World War II, partition of India on religious lines, gaining of Independence, there upon following elections, Government and other changes in the society are subtly conveyed.

The Novel is very big and takes considerable time for reading. There are more than 100 main characters and innumerable side stories and to keep track of them is slightly weary. The consistent introduction of several characters in first few chapters is somewhat confusing. But as you continue, you realize that it is not really necessary to remember them, simply because it’s a flowing story and with ample back references. Anyway, the list of main characters is given in the beginning, which is helpful as you cruise along this marathon classic. The complicated long Malayalee names, which are sometimes repeated over several generations, are bedeviling. Also generous use of Malayalam to maintain its originality gives that authentic native touch but would have been difficult to comprehend without the glossary provided at the end.

The only other book of similar genre that I can recall is “Things fall Apart” by Chinua Achebe, which portrayed the cataclysm of African society on account of European invasion. Kayar however brings forth true India in all its beautiful diversity and gives a joyous experience of reading.

A highly recommended read.

Xcess Baggage comes with a strange baggage with it and I can’t figure out if it is a surprise or a shock or I guess it is a mix of both….

At the onset I will say, please read it at your risk, I mean I am not saying don’t read it but then the beginning was not great, one has to hold on to ensure that one hangs on it. It is plain boring until the Vampire hits you on your face full on! Unbelievable but true, it is a story about a female in US who falls in love with a Vampire who  is a werewolf, the one who is hell bent to kill her; reason, they want to set free ‘Unquiet Dead’ inside her by killing her and which would have benefited the specie of the Werewolves! Ok, I can’t explain these things detail, simply meant, the female protagonist must be killed or rather sacrificed for the well being of male protagonist ‘s clan….you can draw inference in whatever way you may like it.

So we have Meghna Chandra who resides in some part of US (off late I am reading all such books where the setting is always in US, I wonder why?) and Byron who is Lord, I mean not in literal sense but yes he is because he is a werewolf, a rare combination of vampires and wolves. There is a big clan though not so big lead by Byron the Beast as Meghna calls him. So as you move on, the story unfolds like a true fiction like a movie with all special effects with hero flying out of aero plane with heroine, saving her from dying etc. Oh yes! He excels in almost everything, literally yes, he has even studied medicine.

I hope and believe that it is a pure fiction (I am not sure if werewolves exist). You will enjoy the verbal repartee between Meghna and Byron, you will also hope that he will finally fall to her charms and you will also hope that they live happily after but that is not the case. What exactly happens? To know this, you need to read on.

The first book – Right fit wrong shoe – was really enjoyable, so the second book came with the excess baggage of expectations of being a better one than the first but somehow it is not so. Or, may be we had so much of expectations that it failed to meet so. The book is different in its own way for the simple reason I never knew or could think of this kind of plot so it was seemingly fresh to say. After you have managed to stay put through first five pages then there is no way you can put the book down without completing it which makes it clear that it is good in its own way. I mean if you ask the author which book is better, she will have no answer. My only wish was the different ending; yes a true happy ending would have sent my spirits soaring. I actually imagined that it will be a one bollywood ending but that was not the case alas! It is not even sad, it is just painful and leaves you with a question why or rather “Oh Noooooo”!!!

Over all I suggest to read it in leisure, reasonable price, sweet & sour story, not meant for those who do not believe in fairy tales, or who always believe in happy endings J

Yes, the review was late, I have been writing it for ages; I had read the book in its first week of launch itself….I managed to read some chapters again in order to write the review….and yes I can read it again (but not the first 4-5 pages !!!!).

The Fountain Head is a story of one man and the rest of the world. It is a philosophical fiction that entails the story through love, lust, trust, jealousy, care, passion, and enthusiasm of the people and the world.

The story starts with the two architecture students, Howard Roark and Peter Keating; one being expelled from the college for his designing methods that were considered inappropriate by the professors, and the latter being the topper of the same college. The story moves on marking the methods and principles, they adopted in their architectural career, and how it became the reason for their success and downfalls. It also presents a very powerful picture of print media – how it can control the people, the world and their opinions.

There are certain parts in the book which can be read, reread and reread a number of times. While reading it, there were instances, when I lost track of the book, and drove on to the path of my own life, thinking deeply about it. This book is so powerful in its essence, that it can change a person’s view for nature, world, society, and an individual. This is one of the most intelligently written books that I have come across; one lady suffering for her lover, two men wanting to own the world, other people dancing to the tunes of money and fame, and one man living his life as he desired, all this together make this a very energetic and dynamic book.

Plot:
A scientific research deep sea drilling team drills into an underwater volcano except that it isn’t a volcano at all!

Main Protagonists:
Perry Bergman (President of Benthic marine), Suzanne (Oceanographer), Donald (ex-navy), Michael (ex-naval diver who was thrown out the Navy as a result of more than a few transgressions), Richard (same story as Michael!)

The review:

Benthic marine is an exploration and drilling vessel which sends a team down to investigate an underwater oceanographic anomaly. They expect to find an underwater volcano but when the team approaches the said anomaly, they get sucked into a seemingly bottomless pit into a dystopian world where there are ‘people’ living. Really beautiful people, physically and mentally -A utopia. They call their land ‘interterra‘.

The interterrans are supposedly the ‘first’ race of humans ever who moved underground and underwater to escape a predicament that awaited the dinosaurs and such. So, having a leg up on the ‘second generation humans’, the interterran’s technology far exceeds the wildest imagination of the drilling team.

The interterrans welcome the unexpected guests and bestow on them all the pleasures of life that could be imaginable. They come to realize the very many fascinating advances in science that the interterrans have made. For instance, they’ve somehow perfected the human body to sustain several centuries without severe debilitation. And if the human body were to wither away, the ‘essence’ of the body would be captured and injected into another body, a next life.

However, what dawns on our team of intrepid scientists and ex-navy soldiers that they are prisoners in a gilded cage. The interterrans have no intention of letting them go back to the surface as that would give away this secret and given the belligerent nature of us, the second generation humans, it would only bring war, terror and despair to interterra.

The unwilling participants, except Suzanne (who decides to remain in Interterra), somehow contrive an escape by taking a few of the interterrans hostage. This leads to the interterran government eventually realizing that they couldn’t stop the escaping second generation humans and hence ‘send them back’.

But where exactly do they ‘send them back’? Little do Perry Bergman, Donald, Michael and Richard know that although they’ve escaped the underwater gilded prison, they are in for a humongous surprise when they do figure out what they’ve swapped interterra for!

A must read for fans of Robin Cook. This is the first time the american author has deviated from medical mysteries and has done a good job at that!

Robin Cook does an amazing job with creating the dystopian utopia, Interterra and the trials, tribulations and psychological effect it has on all characters.

When it comes to reading books with power play, I trust no one else than John Grisham. He has a sense of power in his writing and personally I rate him more than Mario Puzo. (we can always agree to disagree!)

Joel Backman is a former powerful Washington Beltway lobbyist who was called ‘The broker’ in his glory days and now spending six months in federal prison and is ‘Broke’ The story revolves around this master mind who escapes the clutches of some of the best agencies in the world-Russia, the People’s Republic of China, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The plot is played brilliantly with the addition of Pakistani Hackers, the CIA, white house corruption and a chase, a terrifying chase on the beautiful streets of Italy.

Infact, Backman is pardoned and released by US authorities on a ploy to undo a knot he made and for which he landed up in prison. Backman had gone to prison as a result of a scheme to sell a classified satellite system’s secrets to the highest bidder. The U.S. wants to know who owned the system and had access to its secrets, and who he was intending to sell the secrets to -Russia, the People’s Republic of China, Israel or Saudi Arabia. They theorize that once the broker is established in a new location with a new identity, the actual owner will exact its revenge on Backman by assassination, thereby revealing further useful intelligence.

So will the CIA get their information? Can the old man in his fifties outwit five of the most deadliest agencies in the world? Can the broker ever return to the states, his home ground.

You should read it.