pen.books.and.scalpel

" IF  SOMEONE ASKS YOU HOW YOU ARE, YOU ARE MEANT TO SAY FINE. YOU ARE NOT MEANT TO SAY THAT YOU CRIED YOURSELF TO SLEEP LAST NIGHT BECAUSE YOU HADN'T SPOKEN TO ANOTHER PERSON FOR TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS. FINE IS WHAT YOU SAY. " I heard mixed reviews about this one. But fortunately this book worked for me. I managed to finish this 400 pages read in a day. Eleanor Oliphant is 30, working but lonely. She is a victim of trauma and loss during her childhood. Hence she suffers from survivor’s guilt and is withdrawn. She is funny, frank, judgemental but also she is neither outgoing nor understands sarcasm. She finds a friend in her colleague, Raymond who cares for her and helps her get medical attention and gets her out of her mental state. PROS : it was a very light read, though a long one. The friendship between Raymond and Eleanor was refreshing. A non dramatic young adult novel focusing on mental health. CONS : few subplots felt unnecessary. Though I could relate to Eleanor at

“ EXPENSIVE RESTAURANTS HAVE BIGGER GAPS BETWEEN THE TABLES. FIRST CLASS ON AEROPLANES HAVE NO MIDDLE SEATS. EXCLUSIVE HOTELS HAVE SEPARATE ENTRANCES FOR GUESTS STAYING IN SUITES. THE MOST EXPENSIVE THING YOU CAN BUY IN HE MOST DENSELY POPULATED PLACES ON THE PLANET IS DISTANCE. ” Anxious people is a such a unique and wonderful book about people and life put in the most simplest way possible. This gave me 'Eleanor Oliphant' vibes all over and I totally loved it. When I thought of reading this one, I expected it to be good because I saw all the bookstagrammers go gaga over it but I genuinely thought it’s going to be one of those hyped up books which do not end up working out for me. But never did I know that it’s going to be so unputdownable. The plot is simple - an attempt of bank robbery lands up being an hostage situation and 8 hostages are locked up in the apartment with the robber followed by police interrogation. But only, the essence of the story is not that simple. There

" WE SUBSTITUTED GOOD GRAMMAR FOR INTELLECT; WE SWITCHED HABITS TO SIMULATE MATURITY; WE REARRANGED LIES AND CALLED IT TRUTH, SEEING IN THE NEW PATTERN OF AN OLD IDEA THE REVELATION AND THE WORLD. " I have been waiting to review this book ever since I finished reading it. This was my first ever Toni Morrison’s and I was blown away by her style of writing. This is about a young black girl, Pecola Breedlove who is considered ugly by her family, classmates and neighbours. She is abused both physically and emotionally because of her colour. She is tormented so much so that she starts thinking if her eyes turn blue just like few others, people will start liking her. And ever since, she yearns and prays for the bluest eyes of all so that she will be accepted and loved by her family and others. PROS : This is an extremely heart breaking novel which is emotional and dark. A very quick read but manages to convey everything in those few pages. Brings out the innocence and vulnerability

" YOU ONCE TOLD ME THAT THE HUMAN EYE IS GOD'S LONELIEST CREATION. HOW SO MUCH OF THE WORLD PASSES THROUGH THE PUPIL AND STILL IT HOLDS NOTHING. THE EYE, ALONE IN THE SOCKET, DOESN'T EVEN KNOW THERE'S ANOTHER ONE, JUST LIKE IT, AN INCH AWAY, JUST AS HUNGRY, AS EMPTY. "  I found this book on Instagram during my search for a book that will take me out of my reading slump. And yes, am happy that I chose this one. This book is about a young Viatnamese immigrant in the US, Little Dog who is looking back at his childhood and writes them as a series of letters to his mother. He writes about the impact of the Vietnamese war on his childhood, the struggle of immigration, his love-hate relationship with his mother, his grandparents, his sexuality, the racial discrimination that he faced, the PTSD that he and his mother suffered and much more. PROS : It was definitely a good read for me. The writing style was different (in a good way) and I loved the parts where he tried exp

" IF YOU TRY TO PLEASE EVERYONE, YOU WILL PLEASE NO ONE. ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO LEAD YOUR LIFE FOR OTHER'S HAPPINESS. " Looking back at my page, I realised that I have not reviewed any Indian author books yet. I have read a lot of them when I started reading, but I do not remember many books to write a review now- I need to reread them again. So I decided to read new ones instead and review them. So to start with the same, I will review the book “wise and otherwise - a salute to life” by Sudha Murthy mam. She doesn’t need any introduction to my Indian friends here. But for my non Indian friends and bookstagrammers, she is one of the highly respected persons in India. She is a professor, a philanthropist, writer and chairperson of the Infosys foundation. About the book- this is a nonfiction which has a collection of 51 short stories based on the events that happened in her everyday life. PROS : the writing is simple but good. Her stories are inspiring and thought provoking. I f

" DEATH EXISTS, NOT AS THE OPPOSITE BUT AS A PART OF LIFE. " This book is so much relevant to the current situation where many people are dealing with mental breakdown and their consequences. This is about Toru Watnabe’s student life who lives in Tokyo. He faces a string of losses starting from his young age, from his best friend Kizuki to the love of his life, Naoko- who end their lives due to mental illness. He also loses contact with his close ones in his life due to various reasons. PROS:  Simple language. Way of story telling is beautiful. Young adult novel dealing with psychiatric illness. The ending is confusing yet very intriguing. CONS:  A very long read (but it is worth it). There is a lot of casual sex content- not really a fan of it. MY REVIEW: 4/5 #penbooksandscalpel

" I DID NOT KNOW I WAS MUTE UNTIL YEARS LATER, WHEN I OPENED MY MOUTH TO ASK FOR WHAT I WANTED AND REALISED NO ONE COULD HEAR ME. " A book that I devoured in recent times. It reminded me of stories I heard from my mother about the lives of women she knew. Deya, an 18 year old Palestinian Muslim, brought up in the US. She lives with her 3 sisters and her grandparents. She was told her parents died in a car accident when she was a child. Deya is forced to meet her suitors by her grandmother, Fareeda. She recollects the memory of her mother, Isra who always seemed lonely and unhappy. So she decides that her mother did not have a happy married life and doesn’t want herself to get married in a haste. She protests her grandparents against her marriage and wants to pursue higher education. Deya later finds the letters written by Isra which she had never posted and gets to understand her and uncovers what had really happened to her parents. PROS:  A deeply engaging novel on oppressio

" NO PERSON IS YOUR FRIEND WHO DEMANDS YOUR SILENCE, OR DENIES YOUR RIGHT TO GROW. " " THE MOST COMMON WAY PEOPLE GIVE UP THEIR POWER IS BY THINKING THEY DON'T HAVE ANY. " I would recommend this book strongly to everyone irrespective of age, gender, race and nationality. It is such a wonderful book with some strong female characters.  Its as lovely as its cover page.  The book is about Celie, a young African-American girl who is constantly abused physically and emotionally. She is forced into an early marriage with her sister’s admirer and becomes the mother of his 3 children.  Nettie, her sister joins the missionary after abandoning her home.  Celie meets Shug Avery, her husband’s ex-girlfriend during the early years of her unhappy marriage and falls for her.  PROS: the characters are strong and powerful.  The story telling and the exchange of letters between Nettie and Celie is beautiful.  If you are searching for a book on racism and LGBTQ, then this is the

" A MAN'S HEART IS A WRETCHED, WRETCHED THING. IT ISN'T LIKE A MOTHER'S WOMB. IT WONT BLEED. IT WONT STRETCH TO MAKE ROOM FOR YOU. "   " ONE COULD NOT COUNT THE MOONS THAT SHIMMER ON HER ROOFS. OR THE THOUSAND SPLENDID SUNS THAT HIDE BEHIND HER WALLS. "    A thousand splendid suns by Khaled Hosseini - a book that is very close to my heart and an author whom I will forever adore. The book is based on the lives of two women - Mariam and Laila in Afghanistan under the control of the Talibans. Their lives are interwoven, sorrowful and tragic. They do not share a strong bond due to their circumstances, but decide to stand up for one another when it is required. It is infuriating to see the kind of oppression and injustice committed to them without any sense of guilt. An extremely heart breaking novel that will put our emotional stamina to test. Mariam exactly portrays the lives of all those miserable women who are not allowed to live life on th

" IN DREAMS YOU DON'T NEED TO MAKE ANY DISTINCTIONS BETWEEN THINGS. NOT AT ALL. BOUNDARIES DON'T EXIST. SO IN DREAMS THERE ARE HARDLY EVER COLLISIONS. EVEN IF THERE ARE, THEY DON'T HURT. REALITY IS DIFFERENT. REALITY BITES. " This book is narrated by K, a school teacher about his friend Sumire and her dreams of becoming a writer. While k is romatically attracted towards Sumire, she is in love with Miu - a well established businesswoman she meets who is much older than her. And one day Sumire just disappears without a word and Miu and k are out in search of her which unravels other secrets of thier lives. By now, I think I have figured out how Murakami's stories go around. Most of his works revolve around  music, cats that are somehow not normal, the magical realism, the loneliness and desperate need for return of love, the sorrow of losing the loved ones, some explicit sexual encounters which sometimes feel wrong. This book also involves all these but still is

" WOMEN GET ON WITH IT. FOR US IT WAS A SHADOW WAR. THERE WERE NO PARADES FOR US WHEN IT WAS OVER, NO MEDALS OR MENTIONS IN HISTORY BOOKS. WE DID WHAT WE HAD TO DURING THE WAR, AND WHEN IT WAS OVER, WE PICKED UP THE PIECES AND STARTED OUR LIVES OVER. " " IN LOVE WE FIND OUT WHAT WE WANT TO BE;    IN WAR, WE FIND OUT WHO WE ARE. "  Why is that whenever war heroes are mentioned, our minds conveniently ONLY imagine men in uniforms fighting and bombing each other?? ( I have stressed the “only” here because soldiers who lost their lives fighting in the battlefield are undoubtedly heroes already. Am just trying to make a point about the women in war here). Why is it that women who had worked in the forefront silently not strike us as war heroes?? What about the women who were rebels and put on a brave face against the enemies? What about those women saving the lives of others while putting their own at stake? What about those women who endured the Germans sharing their ho

" AND ONCE THE STORM IS OVER YOU WONT REMEMBER HOW YOU MADE IT THROUGH, HOW YOU MANAGED TO SURVIVE. YOU WON'T EVEN BE SURE, IN FACT, WHETHER THE STORM IS REALLY OVER. BUT ONE THING IS CERTAIN. WHEN YOU COME OUT OF THE STORM YOU WON'T BE THE SAME PERSON WHO WALKED IN. THAT'S WHAT THIS STORM IS ALL ABOUT. " Who is that favorite author of yours who has never disappointed you.? For me it is Haruki Murakami and this time i decided to read Kafka on the shore even though it’s not my favorite genre. But to my absolute surprise, I loved this book like no other❤️. Kafka Tamara runs away from his home when he turns fifteen and hopes to find his mother and sister who had abandoned him when he was a child. He finds a home in a lone library where he meets Oshino and Saeki. And then, there is this parallel universe where an old man named Nakata who can speak to cats exists and is set to finish the duties assigned to him. There is a whole lot of magical realism happening in this