Book Review of "Jaya - by Devdutt Pattanaik"

I have seen roughly two types of Mahabharata books - the ones aimed at telling the story and the ones which don't focus on just the storytelling aspect of it but also on analyzing, theorizing and interpreting the Mahabharata text. Obviously the books which fall into the second category are way more interesting than the first ones.

Having said that, I felt that "Jaya" by Devdutt Pattanaik was neither here nor there. This isn't necessarily a bad thing mind you. Its just that, one gets the feeling that the author "holds back" or rather "dials down" on the interpretive aspects and chooses to go down the "tell it as it is" path. Still a damn fine book though, but can't help but wonder if it could have been a great one...

More specifically though, "Jaya" is definitely crisp, to-the-point, fast-paced and yet sufficiently detailed. Some of the footnotes and illustrations are astutely done. My favorite parts of the book are the regional variations & folk retellings of the well-known stories - many of them I had never heard of before. Very interesting.

To sum it up, "Jaya" gets a well deserved 4/5 in my view. 

Reading any book about Mahabharata never gets boring. Reading a good book about Mahabharata, a reader can't ask for much more.

Book Review of "DayTripper - by Fábio Moon & Gabriel Bá"

I dig comics and graphic novels. So when "DayTripper" showed up as a Goodreads recommendation to me a few days ago, I picked it up without any hesitation. But boy oh boy, was I utterly unprepared for it !

One doesn't expect a graphic novel to tell a story with 'death' as its pivotal theme, to leave a lasting impact without doing any emotional manipulation and also have a beautiful imagery that blends effortlessly with the narrative. "DayTripper" does all of this and so much more. Even with the subject of 'death' being an integral part, it still manages to paint everyday life as something immensely valuable and worth pursuing.

"DayTripper" is a graphic novel by Brazilian twin brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá. The protagonist of the story, "Brás de Oliva Domingos" writes people's obituaries as his day-job and spends rest of his time dreaming about being a successful writer.

I kid you not, but the story that starts with a fairly mundane premise as this does not have a single cliche in it. Just go for it.

A definite 5/5.

Book Review of "Forty Stories - by Anton Chekhov"

This was my first Chekhov book and I can't remember the last time I was so deeply moved by a short story collection. 

Forty Stories is a great read, Chekhov's acute observations of the human spirit, the beautifully portrayed 19th century Russian countryside and the gut-wrenching emotional turmoil of his characters leaves a lasting impact. 

In my mind, the first few stories didn't really seem that captivating and were somewhat off-putting but the last few stories more than made up for it. By the time I turned the last page of the book, I felt awestruck by Chekhov's ability to paint vivid and lasting images of his characters. Even though the stories are over 130 years old, each and every character feels hauntingly real and each story reminds us of the intricacies of human personalities.

All in all, 4/5, a great read indeed.