Book Review of "The Guest List"

Ok, sorry, but no! This was a snoozefest. I consider myself a fan of the ‘whodunit’ genre and of course I don’t expect every ‘whodunit’ story to be the next “And Then There Were None” caliber, but “The Guest List” just didn’t work for me. 

The first 20-25% of the book was engaging, the setting was sufficiently creepy, the characters just the right amount of quirky, but my interest started to wane as the plot took forever to get going, the characters and the story slowly became too campy. And don’t even get me started on the coincidences! Even a cheesy, sugary 90s romcom has fewer coincidences than this story. 

Maybe it is me. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone in with high expectations based on the reviews and I shouldn’t have been expecting the next “Gone Girl”. There’s definitely some good stuff here (and for sure a ‘racy’ low-budget Hollywood movie in near future). But if you want to dive in, then do so with lowered expectations - you have been warned.

Book Review of "Flash Boys"

“Every systemic market injustice arose from some loophole in a regulation created to correct some prior injustice.”

Being a fan of Michale Lewis’s past work, mainly “The Big Short” and “Moneyball”, I had super high expectations from the “Flash Boys” - a book about anything and everything HFT (High Frequency Trading). Unfortunately, though, the book is simply put - just all over the place.

It starts out taking a technical look at the fascinating world of High Frequency Trading but then stops short from getting into the real meat of the details and prefers to just be handwavy about it. It then embarks into portraying backstories and motivations of some of its characters (which are, by the way, all real people from the world of HFT) but then suddenly changes gears to go back to talking about HFT. I think the book has a serious identity crisis - it wants to be technical about HFT but not really, it wants to paint interesting character portraits but then prefers not to do it to completion.

Despite all of this, it’s an engaging read. On one hand, the sheer technological feat of running HFT at scale is fascinating but on the other hand, the monumentally immoral way in which it is being used - leaves one speechless. The “Flash Boys” gives an excellent peek into the inner workings of a stock exchange and interesting details around the IEX vs NYSE vs Nasdaq spiel. A fair 3.5/5 from me. 

Book Review of "The Anthropocene Reviewed"

“I can recall feeling that intense longing for the you to whom you can never return.”

“The Anthropocene Reviewed” is a collection of non-fictional essays about absolutely anything and everything “human” - from the origin story of “teddy bear” to “Halley's Comet”, from “Diet Dr. Pepper” to “Cave Paintings”. In the typical John Green fashion, the prose is simple yet profound, heartfelt yet humorous and even though one wouldn’t call this a literary masterpiece in any shape or form, it is still deeply moving and unabashedly hopeful in the face of today’s bleak pandemic-ridden present. 

"The challenge of personhood, is to recognize personhood in others—to listen to others’ pain and take it seriously, even when you yourself cannot feel it."

I have always been somewhat guarded when it comes to John Green’s books. On one hand, I am a fanboy of his CrashCourse YouTube channel but on the other hand, I found his fiction novels a bit saccharine & unauthentic. To me, in “The Anthropocene Reviewed”, John Green has managed to walk the tightrope - being hopeful and sweet without being profusely dramatic. 

That being said, the book is not without its faults. A couple of essays ramble on unnecessarily. But overall, it's guaranteed to have a net positive effect on your emotional well-being and bring a smile to your face, a solid 4/5.

"
It’s so easy to take refuge in the “just” of just kidding. It’s just a joke. We’re just doing it for the memes. But the preposterous and absurd can still shape our understanding of ourselves and one another."

Book Review of "Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less"

‘Not A Penny More, Not A Penny Less’ is your typical Jeffrey Archer fare - fun, entertaining, fast-paced, and keeps you hooked till the end. The premise is essentially an elaborate con but as always is the case with Jeffrey Archer’s novels - it's the characters, their motivations, and their personalities that keep the story interesting. Don’t expect a Shakespearean literary work and you won’t be disappointed.

A word of caution though - there are at least a couple of places where the protagonists make borderline misogynistic comments. It’s cringeworthy to read, but then again, keep in mind that this was published in 1976. 

Apart from this, an adequately entertaining and frankly a near-perfect read for the Holiday vibe! Despite being Jeffrey Archer’s first published novel, this is a finely polished piece of writing, quite impressive. Overall a solid 4/5.

Book Review of "The Space Between Worlds"

Underwhelming. I was always intrigued by the ideas of multiverses and parallel worlds and was really looking forward to “The Space Between Worlds”, a science fiction novel that centers around multiverse ideas and such. Unfortunately, though, this book did not work for me. The premise is good and fairly captivating. I quite enjoyed the first 20-25% of the book. But the exciting stories of a universe hopping, quippy, wise-cracking woman slowly turn into a labyrinth of meandering tales that randomly switch from commentary on racial injustice to revolution against oppressors to quite graphic and unnecessary domestic violence. One saving grace was that the last 10% of the book felt like it was “back on track” and did tie up all loose ends nicely. All in all though, not recommended.