Norwegian Wood – Haruki Murakami

I read today like I used to read as a girl. I had some hundred odd pages left and wanted to finish the book in one go.

The book definitely has the flavour of a love story but to me its more than one love story. Toru Watanbe had several women in his life. Each of them knew that he was an innately decent guy. He lived his life with honesty and that was what they were looking for. To me that is enough reason to be with a man. Intellectual honesty.

There are parts of the book where just like in real life you can’t express why you did a particular thing, and in such parts things were left hanging to the reader’s imagination. Further, one could see Toru maturing and reaching a stage where he could understand himself and express the understanding with precision. The book started when he was seventeen and went to on when he was 20-21.

His greatest trait was that he accepted all persons with their limitations, their ugliness and their weaknesses as a matter of fact. The limitations were emotional – like Nagasawa, psychological -  like Naoko, physical – like Reiko with her age and her wrinkles and also sociological like Midori’s.  It was obvious he loved Midori, but never made his move on her till she was with someone else. He did not sleep with her till Naoko died.

What one may call his stubbornness, is really his strength.

To me “Norwegian Wood” is like a painting. A picture that depicts the life altering years of one man.

I loved it and would recommend it to everyone, age no bar sex no bar.

My husband read this book and told me its nothing like Wind-up Bird Chronicle, that one wouldn’t know unless told that it is the same author.  The truth is, this book may be far out from the league of Wind-up Bird Chronicle, but it is the same style. He expresses the philosophy of the protagonist through the voices of others, during their conversation with him. The randomness of the conversation with strangers and the ease with which he slips into deep conversations with certain people. The style is pretty much the same. The protagonist surprisingly doesn’t talk much. Just observes.

Also his rendition of college life is so real. I have lived in a hostel myself and know that I had left my parents far behind while I was trying to sort stuff out in my head. He never once mentions Toru’s parents or his relationship with them. Its not that Toru is dysfunctional socially or a sociopath, just that the years of his life being described have nothing to do with his social connections to his parents or others.

On the whole, a very enjoyable reading experience. I would give the book – 5 stars.

Fall Into Reading 2009 – An Update

Guys,

I am very happy to say that though I edited my list, I am not way behind target. I am currently reading Norwegian Wood by Murakami and loving it. Have also read Architecture of Happiness by Botton. I have a confession to make though. I never completed the book. There are some books where I have read 3/4ths and decided not to complete it ‘coz I feel I have got everything from it that I needed.

This is one of those. Its a very light book that takes you through some marvelous architectural pieces. The book expounds on the art that architecture is and how it requires to combine art with logic. Also the book gives an insight into the ways in which architecture can change your life, your everyday life, your moods, your happiness and in general your lifestyle.  Warning at the same time that architecture should not be deemed to have such a sweeping power on your life. When I get the time, I will post some excerpts from it.

Happy reading guys.

Fall Into Reading 2009

This competition sounds fun and interesting. I have off late only been able to read a book a month and am setting myself a realistic target. So between now and December 20th I will be reading the following books.

1. A Quickening Maze – Adam Fould
2. Brother’s Karamazov – Dostoevesky
3. The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh – Mark Roskill
4. Temples of South India – Ambujam Anantharaman (To be deleted)
5. Thus Spoke Zarathustra – Nietzsche
6. Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc – Mark Twain
7. Architecture of Happiness – Alain De Botton

8. Norwegian Wood – Murakami (New)

I also need to read all of the National Geogrpahic magazines that I have neglected from June 2009 onwards. Would also like to throw in the Paris Review.

This would be my reading challenge.

LIVING is a full-time job.

I have recently, on account of my health and my husbands’ condition (he has auto-immuno disorder), been concentrating on trying to do the right thing. Live right, eat right and exercise. Its exhausting.

My husband is an exercise freak – in that he freaks out on hearing the name of exercise. I am trying to exercise, have joined the gym but of no use. I have not lost a single kilo in the last two months that I have been to the gym. I sometimes think, it would help both of us, if we exercise and go to the gym together. One motivates the other kind of thing.

Exercising is still manageable. What gets to me is dietary restrictions. Trying to turn vegetarian – avoiding meats. Great. The one thing that my husband loves is greens – different kinds of spinach. But some say can’t give him, as it will increase urea content. We eat okra three times a week at least. But just found out, okra may increase my allergic reactions. Phew!!

Can’t eat carbs. But can’t eat all types of protein together. I am not to mix pulses and curd. However, I shouldn’t eat just veggies and fruits, should eat optimal amount of carb.

I am really exhausted. I sometimes wonder if by the time I achieve the right balance, I will be too old to enjoy the benefits of this process. Having said which, my attitude of neglecting my health has lead me to this state of health in which I am.

The only thing that keeps me going is an optimistic thought that every step in the right direction brings me closer to the balance and before I know it, it will be achieved. After that I just have to watch for abberations and correct them as and when they arise.

As for my husband, I hope he gets going as well.

The Holocaust – An Essay by an Ignoramous

“It is as if, after a night of terrible dreams, one looked around the world, defeated, helpless.” – Imre Kertesz

One definitely cannot imagine what the victims of Aushwitz would have gone through. Of course, there is abundant literature on the subject and we get different views in each piece of work. I am going to outline the various things I have read or seen in that connection and may be reflect on the subject.

My first exposure to the Nazi treatment of Jews, obviously apart from word of mouth, came from The Odessa File by Fredrick Foresyth. He is, of course, a master story teller and the book recounts through the diary of one person who commits suicide and the horrors that the concentration camps were. Of course, then I was too young to understand the concept of mass killings or genocide. Let’s just say my sensitivities weren’t that developed.

There was one movie titled “Life is Beautiful” which put a positive spin on the gory past. It was about an intelligent Jew who refuses to let his son despair and manages to convince him that all this was but a game and if they won, they would be rewarded with a big tank. The bleak and horrifying situation around the concentration camp is turned into a game and despite everything, we can not help but smile at the antics of the Protagonist. The child ultimately is freed and one can’t help but feel joyous.

Then, years later I saw Schindler’s List. The movie moved me in many ways and I got a glimpse of what a horror the whole situation actually was. The abuse of power by one man as an example of all the Commanders of the concentration camps who device ingenious ways to torture people. Strangely these persons/German commanders find ways to benefit themselves in the midst of all this. Of course, we see how Schindler manages to let several escape and the historic list actually is the reason for the survival of the entire Jewish community.

Then I watched (not read) Sophie’s Choice. It is an intricate story of a young polish woman who was sent away without reason and without any explanation with her children. Towards the end of the story we learn that Sophie’s choice really relates to her having to make a choice between her two children – to be killed. She ultimately loses both her children and comes to be cared by a mentally challenged person.

An extremely varied perspective is that of “The Reader”, from the eyes of those who were part of the regime, and wish to continue a normal life. The trial, the embarrassment of the protagonist and her experiences at the time. She got little children to read to her before she sent them away! Was she postponing their destiny or was merely arbitrarily using her powers to put an end to their lives? No one can really tell.

I started writing this post in February and then shelved it. However, for some reason I saved it. Yesterday I watched Valkyrie, the movie. This was another perspective. Well, more than a perspective it was an example of hope. It is touching what some German Commanders and Generals tried to achieve for their Germany, who were sensitive to the obnoxious ways of Hitler.
They almost had him. But Hitler was not to be deceived and each of the members of the Valkyrie Operation was shot dead or hung to death.

Of all that I have read and heard of the Holocaust so far, Imre Kertesz’s one sentence (supra) summarises the anguish perfectly. It is difficult to say whose anguish it is – the sufferers, the people who caused the suffering, the silent witnesses or the generation that abhors the silent witnesses.

I wonder what was the command Hitler had over the people. Can a mass of people really, truly believe in the extermination of an entire race? Hitler’s antipathy towards the Jews is really indiscernible. Today, can a Hitler pull something off like that?

Today, possibly we are too factionalised for something like the Holocaust to happen. My only question is, are we today protected against such tyranny were it to be perpetrated by another mad man. Is it even today a possibility? I shudder to think, yes. Only it is a different set of people with a different agenda. Can we protect ourselves? Can we protect our next generation?

I shudder when I think, another holocaust is not impossible.

THE BOOK THIEF – MARK ZUSAK

Death tells you a story. From among the million souls he has carried away, he remembers a girl he has not. He marks details of her life, makes a heroine of her and tells her story! Despite the fact that he is so busy, you can imagine Nazi Germany a time death would have needed several if not thousands helpers. Yet he stopped to observe this girl. Why was she so special? Why did he chat with her soul and show her the book after snatching her soul? Why not carry her beyond the skies like he did with the others?

A girl who made life look easy in Nazi Germany. The girl who loved her foster parents and had a best friend whom she later fell in love with. A girl who extended her life in friendship to a Jew when the Nazis were killing them, not out of sympathy but because he was a human being. The girl who read while and to the people huddled in a basement afraid they may be bombed. The girl who stole books. The girl who rolled cigarettes with her father and enjoyed it. A simple 14 year old girl who survived the second world war. The girl who was hidden away from death because she wanted to write the story of her life. Death seems small in comparison to this girl. May be that is why we have the expression larger than life. The expression should really be larger than death.

OBAMA VICTORIUS

A nation of passionate voters, the United States of America, showed us what democracy can do! 5th November 2008 is a historic day.

The victory for Barack Husseini Obama comes at a time when the world is desperate for hope, for change, for leadership.   The people of the United States of America have shown us what a united stand can do for the world. They chose their leader unequivocally. The election of Barrack Obama stands as the benchmark for elections in the world.

The election of Barrack Obama shows that the political and electoral systems can work and are not all obsolete.  Waiting in a queue for 4 hours to vote, knowing that their one vote could make a difference, thats a responsible democracy.

The euphoria in the world begets the question – Is this Obama’s victory?  No. This is not Obama’s victory. Obama being the next President Elect of the United States of America is a victory of the people.  Obama’s journey has just begun.

The world polity, the citizens of the world shall watch every step their leader takes. OBAMA PLEASE DONT LET US DOWN.

I QUIT

Why is it so difficult to quit? Why does one have to necessarily quit to start something new. Quit smoking!! Quit drinking!! Quit smoking and do what? ever thought about that! I know there are a lot of exclamations in this piece but I can assure you i am not trying to copy the style of someone I know – yet it is true, it is the state of my mind, right now. I have to quit fat! Ever heard of that – not lose fat, quit it. I had to quit my job because of the fat in my body which refused to allow my pancreas to work.  Here is something for all the people who think they are over weight. QUIT PROCRASINATING. Remember Life doesnt.