The needless violence of boxing makes it an unattractive game to me. I can understand players feeling passionate about the thing they do but what I doThe needless violence of boxing makes it an unattractive game to me. I can understand players feeling passionate about the thing they do but what I don't understand is the fascination other people might have - I don't understand the audience's desire to see two people trying to hit each other blue, black and sometimes dead. Yet, this novel begins well and the first chapter or two have the right intensity, sharing right amount and types of details; but that intensity is lost somewhere half-way. The incredibly brief description of final match is the anticlimax that seems to reflect this as well....more
Somewhere in in his Faust, Goethe compares humans reasoning and arguing to grasshoppers who make lots of noise and move around a lot only to end up whSomewhere in in his Faust, Goethe compares humans reasoning and arguing to grasshoppers who make lots of noise and move around a lot only to end up where they were in beginning. The astronauts leaving Earth only to orbit it reminded me of that metaphor. Its amazing how unscalable space is - leave alone the nearest planet, we consider reaching moon an achievement. Of course, even reaching moon might have seemed like a lunatic's dream a century ago (the word 'lunatic' originates from a word for moon). So may be in a few decades, humans might reach new planets, or at least richest amongst will - with all our plastic bags and pot bellies. That sounds more like science horror fiction stories like that Ray Bradbury's Martin Chronicles. Agent Smith had a very powerful point when he compared humans to viruses.
Anyway, talking about the book - its amazing but modern. Not much of a story or conventional character development. It has the prose which you will either find beautiful or trying too hard to be stylistic.
Though centered on astronauts who have left the planet, the book is really about Earth, its beauty and importance. There is a beautiful chapter about a cosmological clock in which whole human history proportionate to a mere few seconds - in those few seconds, all our diverse humanity and cultures is contained. It might even win the booker though the fact that it is science-y doesn't bode well.
“The earth, from here, is like heaven. It flows with colour. A burst of hopeful colour. When we’re on that planet we look up and think heaven is elsewhere, but here is what the astronauts and cosmonauts sometimes think: maybe all of us born to it have already died and are in an afterlife. If we must go to an improbable, hard-to-believe-in place when we die, that glassy, distant orb with its beautiful lonely light shows could well be it.”...more
"Look at us, she said. We are all of us in this room still waiting to be transformed. This is why we search for love. We search for it all of our lives,"Look at us, she said. We are all of us in this room still waiting to be transformed. This is why we search for love. We search for it all of our lives, even after we find it.”...more
"A mere princeling like you, when dead, is easily replaced, but never an artist like me.’
The best parts of this book to me were anecdotes about Indian"A mere princeling like you, when dead, is easily replaced, but never an artist like me.’
The best parts of this book to me were anecdotes about Indian singers and musicians - there are scores of them. The story itself might not impress as fiction- which is fair as it is a biographical account. There is a first person narrative in the begining by a character and he often talks or rumours but as the story progresses, the narrative takes a more conventional mode as the story progresses. There are many cameos like those of Gauhar and Akbar Illahabadi. Recommended if you wish to appreciate the rich culture of Indian music by reading stories and myths associated with it....more
A bunch of character portraits from narrator's life that end up drawing narrator's own character. Powerful idea and some Powerful writingA bunch of character portraits from narrator's life that end up drawing narrator's own character. Powerful idea and some Powerful writing...more
![Requiem in Raga Janki [Hardcover] NEELUM SARAN GOUR](https://cdn.statically.io/img/i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1530506072l/40691061._SY75_.jpg)
Loading...
