There’s a tiny thrill in knowing that the character you are seeing in a movie or reading about in a book is the same age as you are when you are seeing the book or the movie. When I saw the poster of 96, I realised they were in tenth standard, the same time I was in, 1996. And so, it felt fun to imagine a school romance in my class and how that would turn out to be.
My class had a star couple. She would copy out homework for him; she would ask him if he has eaten; and she would stand there, school bag strapped on her shoulder, waiting for him to come down so that they can walk to the bus together. Coming to think of it, she was like a mother. And he was Ranbir Kapoor in class 8th — charming everyone, full of mischief, and the kind of a boy whom the Hindi teacher would catch the ear of, but with a grin. My Hindi teacher was stylish. She had sharp pointy nails that would glisten with polish. She had a flicks; and if you don’t know what that is, I can’t help you. Ok, think of Madhuri Dixit in Dil Tera Aashiq. That clutch of hair which falls artfully or artlessly depending on whether you are talking to the make-up person or the director is called a flicks. Everyone had flicks those days; and only on some it looked cool. My Hindi teacher had a cool head and cooler forehead.
They broke up. It was quite sad. I had high hopes for their happily ever after. And I am not sure he would have remained celibate like Vijay Sethupati in 96; but that’s another story (actually, I am pretty sure. I stalked him on Facebook some years ago — he seems like a Gujju Ranbir Kapoor — make what you will of that).
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I started NK Jemisin’s Inheritance Trilogy yesterday. I have read her Broken Earth series, and those who want science fiction with a woman protagonist in her 40s, which is as rare as Krypton in the earth’s atmosphere, this is the book. Norah Jemisin does many things with the book — weave in concepts related to geology; politics of race; and a mother’s search for her child. I once heard her in a podcast say, the question she asks, is what-if. What if there was a world where superstitions came true? What if there was a world where gender relations were altered?
On the one hand is this ‘clever’ plot, but on the other is the emotions, the inner world of the characters, and many books do one well or the other, and sometimes they come together, and it is magic.
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Recently, I gave up many books mid-way. It promised to be fun, but somehow, I think these books are what I would have loved if I had read it at a certain age. There is a book called ‘Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie’. It is a chemistry mystery. The protagonist, who is a young girl, is a chemist, and she solves mystery and loves poisons. A sort of Breaking Bad, but with her playing a young Ms. Marple. Somehow, I couldn’t plough beyond a few pages. I don’t know what it was about the book. Was it the tone? It was like a ghost inside the body of a young girl; it tried to speak like that young girl, but something felt formless, born out of nothing. The setting and the characters? Again, 1950s England, which feels quite far away in so many different ways. And the plot - it muddled around. Disclaimer - I haven’t finished much of it, and so it could improve; but I am not hopeful.
The other book I left mid-way is ‘Insatiable’. I came across this book from a Splainer recommended read in the Guardian. And I wanted to tell the book, if you want to write about sex, don’t. Sometimes it is better not to write about sex, rather than writing about it in a way that makes you change the channel because you feel embarrassed, on behalf of the author .
The guardian article that started it all: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/31/the-return-of-the-bonkbuster-how-horny-heroines-are-starting-a-new-sexual-revolution
Having sex could be fun, but writing about it is a difficult art — it isn’t much about the mechanics of it all, which is quite simple, if you think about it; but it is the emotional landscape in which the mechanics plays out which brings in all the complexity, both emotional, experiential, and all the other als you can think of. This book ‘Insatiable’ (at least in the beginning) is about the mechanics, and a lot of romance novels raise the bar when it comes to even describing the mechanics, and this book feels like a quick-do manual. Short verbs and shorter sentences. And the main character is so inexplicably lost, it feels like she needs a large-fonted map to navigate her sense of self. After a while, I got disoriented, unable to understand why is she making such non-decisions, and then when I realised the plot is going to get more contrived (an orgy vacation paid for by some random rich people), I gave up. I shall go and read some good solid romance to soothe these frayed ocular nerves. And I hope you have had better luck in the reading department. Erm.
Sru - TIL what a flick (in the context of hair)!
There are so so many books that I've given up/stopped reading mid way, and I used to feel bad about them and think to myself - "I am a writer yet I cannot finish this book!" But over time, I realised that life is too short to force myself to read books that I don't enjoy (although reading badly written books can also be a teachable moment!) - and that if it's the right book for me, I'll be unable to put it down or stop. <3
What was the last book you read that you truly loved? I would love to know!