Lustrum - Robert Harris

LUSTRUM

Sequel to Imperium

ISBN - 978-0-0918-0130-4

FIRST PUBLISHED - 2009

PAGES - 454

GENRE - Historical Fiction

BINDING - Paperback

AUTHOR - Robert Harris

BEST-SELLERS - Fatherland, Imperium, Pompeii

SYNOPSIS - [From the back cover]

ROME, 63 BC. In a city on the brink of acquiring a vast empire, seven men are struggling for power. Cicero is consul, Caesar his ruthless young rival, Pompey the republic's greatest general, Crassus its richest man, Cato a political fanatic, Catilina a psychopath, Clodius an ambitious playboy.

The stories of these real historical figures - their alliances and betrayals, their cruelties and seductions, their brilliance and their crimes - are all interleaved to form this epic novel. Its narrator is Tiro, a slave who serves as confidential secretary to the wily, humane, complex Cicero. He knows all his master's secrets - a dangerous position to be in.

From the discovery of a child's mutilated body, through judicial execution and a scandalous trial, to the brutal unleashing of the Roman mob, Lustrum is a study in the timeless enticements and horrors of power.

QUOTES - 

“Surely the greatest mercy granted us by Providence is our ignorance of the future. Imagine if we knew the outcome of our hopes and plans, or could see the manner in which we are doomed to die - how ruined our lives would be! Instead we live on dumbly from day to day as happily as animals. But all things must come to dust eventually. No human being, no system, no age is impervious to this law; everything beneath the stars will perish; the hardest rock will be worn away. Nothing endures but words.” 

FL Speak - Lustrum is beautiful. Its stunning. Its full of power, vice, corruption and greed. Its ROME!

Lustrum is the sequel to Imperium which I had no idea about and which I didn't read. However the good thing is you can read the 2nd book even if you didn't read the first. But, do read the 1st one, before you die or the world ends (whichever is earlier).

Lustrum : (noun), a period of five years.  Lustrum depicts the next five years of the life of Cicero and his servant Tiro after he is elected consul.

Rome is full of power and wealth. While the wealthy are cunning, the poor has no champion. And the only just man there is, is Cicero. The long standing enmity between Cicero and Julius Caesar was worth reading. Oh Caesar is famous now. He was also the most manipulative, power-crazy megalomaniac ever that brought the Rome on the brink of destruction. 

The author firmly states that Lustrum is a tale of fiction. However, you do wonder where the thin line between fact and fiction dissolve. 

Coming back to the story, as soon as Cicero is consul, Caesar and his friends start brewing trouble. Cicero knows that Caesar is the most dangerous of them all, but without definite proof he's powerless to act and Caesar is simply to wily to get caught. When a child's mutilated body is discovered and it is realized that a human sacrifice was done and an oath made to murder Cicero, Cicero knows that he needs to move fast.

With only the gift of being a wonderful orator, Cicero foils plans of Caesar and Catilina time and again. With the passing of time, the adversaries grow stronger and plans bolder. And only with a sharp mind can Cicero save the republic from descending into tyranny. And if Caesar has his way, the entire world would crumble.

Page after page of excitement, Lustrum never fails to amaze. And when Cicero has finally defeated Caesar in the courts, he breathes a sigh of relief as Caesar apparently has given up on his quest. Instead Caesar moves away to the border to lead Rome's army against his enemies. But the time for stability has only started when after a year Caesar returns being ever-victorious in the field and with much more power. With Caesar being consul, the laws that Cicero managed to implement started shifting.

And then Cicero's friend and Rome's greatest general, Pompey returns. But is he still the same friend or is he back because of Caesar, that my friends, you need to read to find out. As Cicero's fame wanes and Caesar's grows, the enmity between the two increases.

By the end of the book, you'll realize just how far can a person go for absolute power. Lustrum marks the rise and fall of Cicero. Lustrum marks the beginning of a new Rome. Lustrum shows the sin is never truly forgotten.

My Rating - 4.5/5 stars

PRICE - INR 309/- [Flipkart Price]

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A Week in December - Sebastian Faulks

A WEEK IN DECEMBER

ISBN - 9780091794453
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2009 
PAGES - 352
GENRE - Literary Fiction
BINDING - Paperback 

AUTHOR - Sebastian Faulks

BEST-SELLERS - A Fool's Alphabet, Birdsong, Engleby

SYNOPSIS - [From the back cover]

A powerful contemporary novel set in London from a master of literary fiction.

London, the week before Christmas, 2007. Over seven days we follow the lives of seven major characters: a hedge fund manager trying to bring off the biggest trade of his career; a professional footballer recently arrived from Poland; a young lawyer with little work and too much time to speculate; a student who has been led astray by Islamist theory; a hack book-reviewer; a schoolboy hooked on skunk and reality TV; and a Tube train driver whose Circle Line train joins these and countless other lives together in a daily loop.

With daring skill, the novel pieces together the complex patterns and crossings of modern urban life. Greed, the dehumanising effects of the electronic age and the fragmentation of society are some of the themes dealt with in this savagely humorous book. The writing on the wall appears in letters ten feet high, but the characters refuse to see it — and party on as though tomorrow is a dream.

QUOTES - 

People never explain to you exactly what they think and feel and how their thoughts and feelings work, do they? They don't have time. Or the right words. But that's what books do. It's as though your daily life is a film in the cinema. It can be fun, looking at those pictures. But if you want to know what lies behind the flat screen you have to read a book. That explains it all. 

I suppose I was lucky enough to be educated at a time when teachers still thought children could handle knowledge. They trusted us. Then there came a time when they decided that because not every kid in the class could understand or remember those things they wouldn't teach them anymore because it wasn't fair on the less good ones. So they withheld knowledge. Then I suppose the next lot of teachers didn't have the knowledge to withhold.

FL Speak - A Week in December. Sounds appropriate since its December right now. But this had to be the longest week I endured. I simply couldn't finish this book in one sitting. or two sittings or three.

I've heard such great praise for Mr. Faulks to not pick him up again, but if his other books are anything like this one, I might have to skip. I'm not saying this is not a good book. It is.  It is a complicated plot of seven different people. Its kind of intriguing and boring at the same time. For me, it inclined a bit towards the latter one.

Its the modern world and these seven people are on with their lives. The story of the the Tube train driver, Jenny was simply beautiful. Addicted to online gaming, she meets Gabriel Northwood while travelling. Gabriel is another character in this book and as the pages fly by, you can almost expect to see those two together.

Veals, the hedge fund manager has probably the most boring scene. He's selfish and he'd do about anything to earn a profit. One thing that Sebastian Faulks does here is expose the blatant fraud scene in today's world. The story of the book reviewer Mr. Tranter was also uninspiring. He failed to be a hotshot novelist so now he writes scathing reviews about others (feels like me right now)

Hassan, a young Muslim lad, slowly started going over to the dark side. His story was infact a lot interesting. Despite his inclination towards being a terrorist, you can't help feel sympathetic for the lad.

There's another character, Veal's son, Finn who's more into drugs and stuff but I will skip mentioning him here. As a whole, the book fails to inspire you to finish it. I skipped boring parts (yeah, judge me!) In the end, its a satire on modern life, according to the Telegraph. The satire though, falls flat on a few occasions.

My rating  - 3/5 stars

PRICE - INR 590/- [Flipkart Price]

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Keeping Faith - Jodi Picoult

KEEPING FAITH

ISBN -  9780060878061
FIRST PUBLISHED - 2006
PAGES - 502
GENRE - Fiction
BINDING - Paperback

AUTHOR - Jodi Picoult

BEST-SELLERS - My Sister's Keeper, Salem Falls, Sing You Home

SYNOPSIS - [From the back cover]

When the marriage of Mariah White and her cheating husband, Colin, turns ugly and disintegrates, their seven-year-old daughter, Faith, is there to witness it all. In the aftermath of a rapid divorce, Mariah falls into a deep depression - and suddenly Faith, a child with no religious background whatsoever, hears divine voices, starts reciting biblical passages, and develops stigmata. And when the miraculous healings begin, mother and daughter are thrust into the volatile center of controversy and into the heat of a custody battle - trapped in a mad media circus that threatens what little stability the family has left.

QUOTES - 

“The truth doesn't always set you free; people prefer to believe prettier, neatly wrapped lies”  

“Sometimes you can see things happen right in front of your eyes and still jump to the wrong conclusions.”  

“This is love, I think. A place where people who have been alone may lock together like hawks and spin in the air, dizzy with surprise at the connection. A place you go willingly, and with wonder”  

“What's worse ...?The devil you don't know ... or the devil you do?”  

“If it is possible to die of grief then why on earth can't someone be healed by happiness?” 

FL Speak - Remember what I said about Jodi Picoult? Well I do. Do not pick her up unless you know you're going to be shaken to your roots and probably stay up all night wondering what the heck did you just read.

Well, I threw caution to my own advice and picked her book up. Again. 3 books in as many months and now am numb. A 4th book is calling me from the shelf above my head. So far, I'm resisting. So far.

What to expect in a Picoult novel? A broken family, legal stuff and a whole lot of unbelievable awesomeness that you cannot put down. The more tragic and complex a plot is, the more Picoult writes it better. In this, we have an ass cheating on his wife. Wife finds out and the guys moves out. Its here that the story truly begins. Faith, their seven-year-old daughter watches her dad come out of the shower with another woman. She's seven, she doesn't understand. But she knows that her mom is terribly upset. Few days later, she makes an invisible friend. Mariah, her mom is worried. [I would be too, unless the friend was a tiger like Hobbes]. Nevertheless, doctors assure her that a child may seek solace in an imaginary friend and it is completely natural. What's unnatural is when she starts reading from the Bible. Something, that she never read before.

Meanwhile, Ian is on a country wide tour disproving anything that has to do with God. And then he hears about little Faith who talks with God. A God who is a female.

Bam! People start flocking to Mariah's house. Mariah still tries to act normal until the day when her daughter brings back her grandmother back from the dead. One miracle after another and Faith starts showing signs of stigmata.

With Ian trying to prove it a hoax and her ex-husband, Colin trying to take Faith away on grounds of Mariah being mentally unstable, the mother-daughter duo must face a trial by fire and more to survive the coming storm. And maybe God won't be enough this time for a miracle.

Hell! I should stop now! Lest I give away any major spoilers. Let me tell you one thing though. Faith is utterly adorable. The last paragraph literally blew me away. I had to read it thrice! THRICE!! And I was still left shaking with goosebumps all over me. Read it! READ THIS BOOK!

My Rating - 4.5/5 stars

PRICE - INR 350/-

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Let's Pretend This Never Happened - Jenny Lawson

 

Book Specifications:

ISBN: 0399159010 (ISBN13: 9780399159015)

Published April 17th 2012 by Amy Einhorn: Putnam

Hardcover, 318 pages

Original Title: Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir)

Author: Jenny Lawson. This is her first book.

Here’s my fancy reviewer line to put on the book-cover along with my name: All the foibles and fallacies of a funny, f***-saying, freaked-out female in a package.

And don’t blame me if you go punch drunk and giggle when you hear ball-pop or anything like that after reading the book.*giggle*

‘Hilariously inappropriate’ (according to Marie Claire) is I think the best comment to describe this book in a nutshell.

The assortment of characters is pretty interesting and mostly unbelievable (just like real people).

You have a taxidermist/armadillo-racer/dead-squirrel-puppeteer father, a children- learn-and-live-through-risks mother, a patiently all-bearing occasionally crazy husband (make no mistake, this guy is fun...or must be, to bear all the antics) and a sister who’s dressed up as a chicken and best of all, an author.

And some taxidermied animals dressed up in cute costumes...the one on the cover is Hamlet von Schnitzel and I so want him...people who know where to get him, email me.

Don’t let the words memoir or autobiography on the cover put you off, not at all, rather this is the book you should be picking up even before that coveted copy of Bridget Jones(yes even if it is a sale).

After all, what can you expect from a person who is neurotic, polyarthritic, panic-attack-prone and has all the craziest things in the world happen to her?! I’m not kidding; the high point of her high school is sticking her arm up a cow’s vagina.

Yes. I know.

And that’s how I felt throughout the book.

This book is stuffed with oh-my-freaking-pants incidents like that. And it would be advisable to find a place where people don’t mind raucous laughing and choking and snorting because that’s what you’re going to do while reading. Really. I’m seriously worried about that look my brother gave me.

Jenny is only as screwed up as you or me plus a little extra maybe...she did manage to talk about a cow’s vagina during a funeral.

I don’t know what else to say for fear of ruining that first rush of gawky, chokey surprise when you read the book and not because I want to be the irritating reviewer who is all ‘lovely, beautiful, awesome’ and less story. All in all, a perfectly, hilariously, crazily, convoluted general knowledge autobiography (oh don’t be put down, Jenny explains why. In the end. And she’s a blogger. How cool is that??!link)

P.S. Don’t leave it open anywhere for your parents to find. Or your little sister. Or brother. Unless you know how to explain away cusses. If you can then it’s perfectly fine.

Rating: I don’t know how the scale works here but being one of those nothing-is-a-perfect-ten-ever people, I give it a 4/5 plus a big smile? hug? bookmark?...whatever you give a book for making you happy.

Go get it and pre-book the next.

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Lost Libido and other gulp fiction by Salil Desai

I have no idea what gulp fiction means. Is is the kind of fiction which is so awesome that it makes you gulp? Or makes you choke with excitement? Or makes your heart stop momentarily under the thrill it creates? Whatever it is, it is a potentially amazing, rather, fatally amazing genre of fiction to experiment with. And Salil Desai, in his third book, has done a marvellous job of introducing and promoting this new and curious genre of writing in the market.

I am still gasping from the effect the second last story of this compendium - called Lost Libido and other Gulp Fiction - had on me. I could talk about that one story at length, and of course, Cul-De-Sac, the name of the story I am caught under the spell of, happens to be my favorite of the lot. It is funny, innovative, creative, weird, weirder  and just so exhaustively awesome, that despite being one of the longest of this 17 story collection, I still wished it wouldn't end. I wanted it to give me more moments of hilarity. I wanted to see to what level the author's imagination could stretch. And stretch it sure can. Not so much imagination as wit and observation. Salil Desai, in this collection of short stories drawn from mundane lives of urban individuals has proven himself to be a master of both - wit, observation - and perhaps a lot more. 

Lost Libido and other gulp fiction is a book which single mindedly sets out to dwell on the darker side of humans. When Angel Lucifer was expelled from Heaven and given the unholy title of Satan, he vowed to keep extracting revenge from the most dear creation of God - Man. And he did not stop at the exit gate of Garden of Eden. He followed Man to Earth, and is almost as important an influence in Man's daily activities as God, or Goodness is. Only we seek to refute this obvious fact time and again. Salil Desai's book will not paint any heavenly pictures of human existence. It will not tell you how beautiful life is, how goodness always triumphs, how truth is consistent, or how love is the basis of existence. It will show you a mirror of your lives, our lives. It will tell you how an average individual, caught in the rigmarole of routine jobs copes up with stress which his confused existence heaps on him. People today, specifically talking of India (since this book uses urban India as a backdrop), are dealing with a life which is always in flux, where competition lurks in ugly manifestations and where desires and expectations often get the better of man. If anything, Salil Desai's book will break the image of a perfect world which you conjure, very specifically in a story interestingly titled - Our Friendly Neighbourhood Murder.

Each story, which finds a place for itself in this anthology, is worth talking about individually. Very few, if any, disappoint the reader. The only reason I had of being disappointed with a few stories was that with the first two stories, Salil establishes a high standard from himself - one that as a reader you fervently hope doesn't dip at any cost. I have said this before, and I maintain - In the mad pace of life all of us have adopted for running towards nothingness with, short stories are ideal breaks one can afford to apply when distractions are sought. Only, be careful of reading a book with as promiscuous a title as "Lost Libido" in public transport. Like I did on my daily journeys in metro. People stare. But that is also fun in a way.

So, anyway, this is a 3.5 on 5 stars book for me. My favorite of the lot were - 

1. Cul-De-Sac - Enough reasons explained above.

2. The Maths Conundrum - As a child, I had a horrendous time trying to cope up with the devil that mathematics was. I understood what little Nakul went through while being unable to cope up with the same, though I had no idea his predicament would acquire such tragic proportions. 

3. Our Friendly Neighbourhood Murder - Dark. Awesome. Brilliant. Leaves you asking for more. 

4. One Monday Morning - A whole family, spending its last happy day together. Why last? Well, read to find out. I only wish the ending gave me more. 

5. A Susceptible Conscience - This story is one in which all of us, invariably, will find an echo of ourselves in. How easily we convince ourselves, how easily we think we deceive the omnipresent powers - read this one to know. 

Book Details - 

Source - Review copy

Publisher - Fingerprint

Published - 2012

Price - ₹ 195

Pages - 288

Genre - Short fiction

Rating - 3.5/5

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Gone with the wind

Author- Margaret Mitchell
American Classic
Pulitzer Prize winner

Excerpts:

"Advice is the only thing I can give you at present. Listen to it, for it's good advice. When you are trying to get something out of a man, don't blurt it out as you did to me. Do try to be more subtle, more seductive. It gets better results. You used to know how, to perfection. But just now when you offered me  your--er- collateral for my money you looked as hard as nails. I've seen eyes like yours above a dueling pistol twenty paces from me and they aren't a pleasant sight. They evoke no ardor in the male breast. That's no way to handle men, my dear. You are forgetting your early training."
"I do not need you to tell me how to behave," she said and wearily put on her bonnet. She wondered how he could jest so blithely with a rope about his neck and her pitiful circumstances before him. She did not even notice that his hands were jammed in his pockets in hard fists as if he were straining at his own impotence.
"Cheer up," he said, as she tied the bonnet strings. "You can come to my hanging and it will make you feel lots better. It'll even up all your old scores with me- even this one. And I'll mention you in my will."
"Thank you, but they may not hand you till its too late to pay the taxes," she said with a sudden malice that matched his own, and she meant it.

Maithili Speaks:
Reviewing this book is not an easy job as is the case with all classics. Its just not a book, its an era. Through the 1024 pages of the book you pass from a carefree, abundance, barbeques, balls through a period of war and poverty and terror to a Reconstruction period.
The story starts with the excitement about the war and the Southern confidence that they will wipe out the Yankees rapidly. The early upbringing of the main protagonist Scarlett O'Hara at the plantation Tara by her mother Ellen and her black Mammy. Scarlette is the belle of her town and is spoilt,arrogant and self-centred. It gives her a high to know that she is desired by all eligible men in the town and when Ashley Wilkes (who Scarlette thought was in love with her) decides to marry his cousin Melanie, Scarlette is confident that she can woo him back on the night of barbacue before his engagement is announced.
She confronts Ashley that evening and though he agrees that he did love Scarlett, he refuses to elope with her. In a heated arguement, Scarlette slaps Ashley and throws a vase which is highly unladylike and attracts the attention of Rhett Butler who was  silent witness to her confession to Ashley.
Fearing humiliation of letting the whole town know of her rejection by Ashley and to avenge her insult, she married Charlie- Melanie's cousin. Charlie enlists for war and dies due to pneumonia while Scarlett is widowed and pregnant at the age of 16. She had no love for Charlie and now she has to live a life of his grieving widow with a son  for whom she has no more affinity than for her dead husband.
Soon she leaves for Atlanta to live with Melanie while Ashley is on war. Atlanta gives her new hope and here she meets Rhett Butler again.
While all the southern men talk about winning, Rhett is practical and predicts that there is no way south can win. Rhett is a blockader and makes enough money out of it. He is an outcast in the well mannered South. Scarlett joins his rank soon enough, with her outspoken behavior and what starts is a chemistry between Rhett and Scarlett.
Rhett knows her to the bone and is with her without ever hinting at anything else from her. Scarlett is too busy being in love with Ashley ( although she wonders why Rhett doesn't desire her!)  and wishes Melanie was  dead. Melanie is too gentle and innocent to know the intentions of her sister-in-law.
Then starts the impoverished period of war and Scarlett battles through the tough times at the plantation and in the Reconstruction period she takes it upon her to make money out of mills (Highly condemned for her manly behavior). She does not hesitate to manipulate people if it means she will make money. She is a total practical bitch but with romantic ideas for Ashley.
You cannot help feeling sorry for Melanie who had undying belief and love for both Scarlett and Ashley. Ashley keeps the talk of honor to evade his feelings for Scarlette while Rhett denies loving her but does everything to make sure she has her way!
The book also speaks on the treatment of blacks. The hypocrisy of the war. The castes within the slaves and their attachment to the white families.
Rhett and Scarlett survive the tough times because they are ready to adapt to the changes while the rest are happy reminiscing the past and unfit to live in the changing times..
You need to read the book to experience it for yourself when I say you live in another era for that time when you read it :)

Rating: 4.9/5

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The Eye Of The Predator - Abhisar Sharma

Abhisar Sharma's latest book The Edge Of Machete is already creating buzz in the reading circuit. When it dropped at my doorstep for review, I did a bit of googling to know about the author and when I got to know that it  is the second book of trilogy named The Taliban Conundrum, I decided to pick up the first book of the trilogy which is The Eye Of The Predator. Though, both these books are not interlinked in anyway, but if they are a part of any series, I try and read all of them. 

The Eye Of The Predator has a tight plot. The book just flows from one plot to another. A nicely woven plot with twists and turns and betrayal. Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the terrorist group Tehreek-e-Taliban is trying hard to make a strong mark on Pakistan but Baitullah gets killed in the most insane way. With the untimely death of Baitullah, a lot of people try too hard to get a hold of his position as the leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban. Too many meetings, discussions, arguments and planning goes among a lot of people including confidantes of Baitullah and people who had sheer disliking for him. Also, Afghanistan and United States involvement in rooting out Baitullah creates a lot of fuss and things go for a toss. 

The book has a tight plot but what was tough for me was to remember the names of the characters. At times I used to get confused because to keep a track of so many long names becomes tough, but that doesn't take away the flair and power of Abhisar Sharma's writing. The Eye Of The Predator is a dark thriller and you already know what is going to happen in the end but if you enjoy such books, give it a shot. You might like it. 

Book Source : Personal Copy
Publisher : Hachette India
Genre : Fiction, Thriller
ISBN : 978-93-5009-074-9 

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