'Criti....que not Criti....cize'

         “I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”                                                         ― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre     She lives in Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, with her husband and two daughters. With a Masters in Business Law and great interest in cases of abuse and violation of human rights of children and women, she’s a lawyer and a writer. After twenty-two years of practicing law, she finally decided to give writing a go and that was when she realized that it was the piece that was missing in her life. We met on Goodreads. I, a journalism student, a lover of books and a part-time writer. She- a published author with a beautiful smile and ...

Love is Vodka A Shot Ain't Enough by Amit Shankar My rating: 2 of 5 stars Love is Vodka A Shot Ain't Enough by Amit Shankar It is a roller coaster relationship ride that made Moon open her eyes to the fact that if one must befriend anyone, it has to be one's own self first. Everyone else can wait. 'The moment we befriend the woman or man in us, the desire to have an obscene number of Facebook friends would subside. After all, the desire to have people like one's status updates or pictures is just a reminderfor the person inside that he is being appreciated and liked. How pathetic!' - Amit Shankar I couldn't have agreed more. It is the story of Moon, a love child of a single mother, a well-known journalist. It is her journey to find love which she seems to be missing from her mother. A father who seems so far yet so close and a mother so close and yet feels so far, this tale takes the reader into the turmoil that Moon faces, includi...

The Kite Flyers by Sharad P. Paul My rating: 4 of 5 stars 'People in the village used to say that life is like the Kaveri River, with ever-changing rhythms and relentless passage until it reaches the sea.' This is a tale of that very village, so beautifully described by the author who has got an amazing flair of designing a 'maanjha' with politics, education, passion, love, life of eunuchs, the strength of friendship and respect that helps him win many kite-fights.(Kite here refers to the many books flooding the market today) A journey of three friends, Raman, Lakshmi and Kumar, through circumstances in life with kites forming an essential and truly important part in the progression of the story,it is a well planned book that is unpredictable and awe-inspiring. The intensity of the words are far reaching even though it is not a very heavy read. The tale would last for a long time in the hearts of the readers. 'She thinks eunuchs are like w...

Stories of Hope by Kirthi Jayakumar My rating: 4 of 5 stars There is a breed of bookworms who prefer reading novels instead of a book with short stories. I partially belong to that breed. Ofcourse I do read books containing short stories but then the 'liking' part depends on how crisp the stories are and the impact it creates on my mind.Till date I have come across few books like that(I don't mean to offend anyone. My scope of reading could entirely be blamed in this case!) Praise to the author, Miss Kirthi Jayakumar, who has strung together such diverse topics and themes that the reader just cannot predict what the next page has in store. All one can do is to relish the beauty of the joy and pain of the proceedings as they are exposed, line after line. The stories penned down end soon but their echoes linger long after they have been narrated. The excruciating nature of hurt, of overcoming obstacles and pain is something that has the power to leave the r...

The Crossover Year by Bhargavi Balachandran My rating: 3 of 5 stars Aren't we all nothing but a bunch of memories and attitudes born out of our life experiences? - Bhargavi Balachandran, The Crossover Year Confusion and uncertainty can sometimes lead us onto our true, so-called 'destined' path.How exactly can one know where he/she is headed to? No matter how many coconuts one plans to break in temples(Oh yes, that's a common practice in India) or how much one wishes to just change the monotonous schedule and the emptiness in life that does tend to creep up at some or the other juncture in one's life; every problem has a solution. Every step we take becomes a cut above the rest of the ones that we took until then. Anu Prabha is a woman of substance who initially seemed like a confused, messed up lady with a crazy and bizarre streak to her personality. It is a humorous as well as thought-provoking journey with her. The characters resemble the ones we ha...

Chapter Eleven by Amit Shankar My rating: 3 of 5 stars It stood there braving the storms until the last gush of fearful wind brushed past its branches... Shatter it did, but so silently that its existence faded away just like the darkness when it was claimed forever! - Divya Nambiar This is what exactly came to my mind when I turned the last page of this book. A powerful story of what goes behind the sophisticated, glass structures of corporate offices- told with real proximity. The reader can expect to be surprised,disgusted,amused,shocked and regaling in the strange corporate world that is described in this book. Virendra Vikram Singh a.k.a. VVS, a 'Rajput' from a small town in India, lands in CommTech wearing rose-tinted glasses. Bit by bit the reality dawns upon him, albeit the fact that not all things are meant to last- not even one's hopes, dreams and trust. The author describes the 'Kissa Corporate Bankruptcy Ka' with amazing precisi...

Tall Man Small Shadow by Vipin Behari Goyal My rating: 3 of 5 stars Tall Man Small Shadow by Vipin Behari Goyal Pages : 152, Genre: Philosophical Fiction Published July 10th 2013 by cyberwit.net I have always believed that no book should be stopped reading midway and this book has just further cemented my belief. I lived every moment of my life as if that was my whole life. If it is death, I am dying every moment; if it is life, I am living every moment. - Vipin Behari Goyal, Author;Tall Man Small Shadow 'Everything is a coincidence'. Is it ? How much would you agree to it or how much would you disagree to it? Both parties have a good read in waiting. To begin with, it is roughly a story of Indian parents searching for a son-in-law. Well it's just the beginning. The story takes turns in the most unexpected of moments, rises and falls with situations that would just not be expected in a normal person's life. The narration by Aalya'...