After a long time, I am back and want to write about the books that I read in the last few months. The first one is "Animal Farm" by Geroge Orwell. It is a short story, which is basically a political satire. The story is setup on an Animal Farm taken care by Mr. Jones. The animals are not happy being ruled by human beings. So they plan to throw human beings out of the farm and gain independence. They successfully drive away Mr. Jones and his family. Now the challenge is to take care of themselves and the farm and earn a living. The pigs turn out to be the intelligent ones and hence start guiding all the other animals. They slowly become powerful and start ruling the farm. So the animal farm throws away one dictator only to find themselves in the hands of another. This is an interesting read which shows how power can change attitude of people, often which is what happens in the political world.
The second one is "Disgrace" written by J M Coetzee. It won the Booker Prize in 1999. I had mixed feelings about this book throughout the time I was reading it. I didn't feel good about the story but at the same time couldn't stop reading it. It was a strange feeling. The book is about a divorced, professor of literature in South Africa. He didn't enjoy teaching as much, instead was more involved in researching about Byron. He gets into an affair with one of his students. The University finds out about it and he is forced to quit his job. Disgraced to live in the same city any longer, he visits his daughter who lives all by herself on a huge farm in the countryside. The author describes the relationship between the father and daughter, how the daughter wants to be independent and is passionate about living on that farm far away from everyone. The story takes a turn when they are attacked & assaulted on the farm and the daughter is raped. The remaining story is about how they deal with this tragedy and continue with their disgraced lives. The book has nicely described the relationship between the father and daughter and the emotional turmoil they go through but at the end, I was left with sad feelings.
"Interpreter of Maladies" written by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a collection of short stories. It won the Pulitzer prize in 2000. Most of the stories are about Indian families living outside India. I found all the stories very touching and I could relate to most of them. It discusses issues in families, how parents try to pass on their culture to the next generation, sensitive issues related to love and affection. Some of the stories were quite thought-provoking. On the whole it was fun reading at least 6 out of the 9 stories in it.
The second one is "Disgrace" written by J M Coetzee. It won the Booker Prize in 1999. I had mixed feelings about this book throughout the time I was reading it. I didn't feel good about the story but at the same time couldn't stop reading it. It was a strange feeling. The book is about a divorced, professor of literature in South Africa. He didn't enjoy teaching as much, instead was more involved in researching about Byron. He gets into an affair with one of his students. The University finds out about it and he is forced to quit his job. Disgraced to live in the same city any longer, he visits his daughter who lives all by herself on a huge farm in the countryside. The author describes the relationship between the father and daughter, how the daughter wants to be independent and is passionate about living on that farm far away from everyone. The story takes a turn when they are attacked & assaulted on the farm and the daughter is raped. The remaining story is about how they deal with this tragedy and continue with their disgraced lives. The book has nicely described the relationship between the father and daughter and the emotional turmoil they go through but at the end, I was left with sad feelings.
"Interpreter of Maladies" written by Jhumpa Lahiri, is a collection of short stories. It won the Pulitzer prize in 2000. Most of the stories are about Indian families living outside India. I found all the stories very touching and I could relate to most of them. It discusses issues in families, how parents try to pass on their culture to the next generation, sensitive issues related to love and affection. Some of the stories were quite thought-provoking. On the whole it was fun reading at least 6 out of the 9 stories in it.
