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You can breeze through a single volume or two of ‘Heartstopper’ by Alice Oseman in a day. There are four volumes in this graphic novel series that is cute and heartwarming but also discusses some important issues like bullying, abuse, and homophobia. I’m recommending it this week since it might be just the right kind of book to get into during Dashain. It doesn’t require a lot of commitment or time but the story will enthrall you and you won’t be able to get it out of your head. The central characters of Heartstopper, Nick and Charlie, first appeared in Oseman’s debut YA novel, ‘Solitaire’. Charlie is the younger brother of the narrator, Tori, and Nick is his doting boyfriend. Though they were side characters in the book, Oseman apparently was very interested in telling their stories. And that’s how the idea for the graphic novel came about. Heartstopper began as a web comic and much of it is largely available online too. People have been drawn to the series because of its great LGBTIQA+ representation, the romance and the art as well. The art, however, is considerably better from the second book onwards. In Heartstopper (Volume One) we are introduced to Nick Nelson and Charlie Spring. We see them meet at a British all-boys grammar school and fall in love in what is a beautiful coming of age novel. Charlie is an overthinker and high-strung. Nick is cheerful and soft-hearted. The two make a great pair as they balance each other out. Friendship between them is instantaneous and it’s wonderful to watch them discover each other and themselves in the process. I picked up this volume because I wanted to watch the Netflix show. All the BookTubers I follow have been raving about both the books and the show for so long now. And for good reason. Heartstopper deals with same-sex relationships in teenagers with a lot of sensitivity and positivity. It also talks about mental health issues in a way that doesn’t invalidate the experience of those suffering from anxiety or depression. Oseman focuses on the importance of seeking support and that makes the story an uplifting read. I have to admit that Heartstopper might seem a little childish for those who are well in their thirties like me. But it’s an essential representation of queer relationships. I wish I had books like these while growing up. I’m so jealous of youngsters today who have such good stories to help them make sense of the world and what they might not necessarily understand. Three and half stars Fiction/Graphic novel Heartstopper Alice Oseman Published: 2018 Publisher: Hodder Children’s Books Pages: 263, Paperback https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/40495957-heartstopper

Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni is one of my absolute favorite authors. I’ve read many of her books like ‘The Mistress of Spices’, ‘Sister of my Heart’, ‘Palace of Illusions’, ‘Oleander Girl’ and ‘One Amazing Thing’ among others. I’ve loved them all. I would be hard-pressed to pick a favorite. Her short story collection, ‘Arranged Marriage’, is easily one of the best books I’ve read till date. Her works are set in India and the United States and are mostly stories of South Asian immigrants. She writes across genres—realistic fiction, historical fiction, magical realism, and fantasy. And she does it all with equal flair. Her latest book, ‘The Last Queen’ is a well-researched retelling of Punjab’s history before the British invasion as well as the story of Rani Jindan Kaur, the youngest wife of the first maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh. Historically speaking, Rani Jindan Kaur is lesser known than say Rani Laxmi Bai or Padmavati. But, during her time, she was famous for her beauty, strength and courage. She became the Queen Regent when her son was crowned at the age of five, following the assassinations of three successors before him. She was replaced after Punjab lost the Anglo-Sikh war but her power and influence continued and, infuriated by it, the British imprisoned and exiled her. The Last Queen is part true, part not, and Divakaruni does a wonderful job of telling a gripping story where the lines between fact and fiction are blurred. The story opens at the death bed of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Jindan is watching him from the foot of the bed. The story then goes back in time to tell us how she got there. It was never Jindan’s ambition to become rich and powerful but she got there by following her heart. She fell in love with a man who turned out to be the king of Punjab. The novel is split into four sections: Girl, Bride, Queen, and Rebel. We see Jindan’s grow and transition from a meek daughter of a dog-trainer to a king’s wife and then ultimately a much-feared and loved queen. The novel picks up pace really fast, falters a little in the middle, and then wraps up nice and neat in the end. I love Divakaruni’s writing style. It’s simple but smooth. There are lines I could read over and over again. Her character and setting descriptions help you clearly conjure the scenes in your head. Not all authors are able to get the story, setting and characters right but Divakaruni manages this feat with ease. The result is a poignant story of love and leadership that will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page. Four stars Fiction The Last Queen Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni Published: 2021 Publisher: Harper Collins Pages: 354, Paperback

Animals across the world have been infected by a virus that has made them poisonous. The government has ordered the culling of livestock, emptied the zoos, and made umbrellas compulsory to prevent diseased bird droppings from falling on people. There’s a rise in cannibalism. The poor, low-caste, and immigrants start disappearing. World leaders legalize cannibalism and industries that breed people as animals for meat crop up as a result. The vocal cords of these humans are cut as ‘meat doesn’t talk’. It’s also illegal to call them humans so they are referred to as heads. Their meat is called ‘special meat’. At the Krieg Processing Plant, a place that readies heads for consumption, livestock (humans in this case) is sawed open, and separated into different bunches, like eyes, tongues, entrails etc. The meat is cut into small pieces till it bears no resemblance to a human being—just like we have seen being done to chicken, goats, and other animals. The skin is made into leather. Marcos Tejo, who works at Krieg, has a lot of problems in life. His son died. His wife left him, and his dad’s dementia is worsening. Then a colleague sends him a head as a specimen. It’s against the law to keep a head at home. There are routine checks to ensure they aren’t being used as maids or even ‘sex-slaves’. But Marcos starts training her to be ‘more human’ as he develops feelings for her. He names her Jasmine as she smells like it. This sudden connection with a reared-for-meat human being forces him to confront the way he has been living till now. Then Jasmine gets pregnant and Marcos has to find ways to keep this hidden as it could send them both to the municipal slaughterhouse. It takes a lot for me to be truly horrified by a story. ‘Tender is the Flesh’ by Agustina Bazterrica made me shudder from the first page. I still wince when I think about it. I thought I would breeze through it because it was just a little over 200 pages long. But it took me such a long time to read. I could only read 10 to 15 pages at the most. Even that felt too much, and I usually read 50 to 100 pages in one sitting. Tender is the Flesh, Bazterrica’s second novel, is a disturbing take on what we would do in a world without meat. It also feels like a critique on how capitalism makes us forget our morals, and how humans are capable of the most horrifying deeds, if they think the outcome will be their favor. Three and a half stars Fiction Tender is the Flesh Agustina Bazterrica Translated from the Spanish by Sarah Moses Published: 2020 Publisher: Scribner Pages: 224, Paperback

My best friend just had a baby and the mother in me has come alive. I have been reading children’s books so that I can tell him stories. Besides rereading my childhood books, I also pick up new ones at the bookstore. Some of them are so short and engaging that I read them sitting on the store steps or that one extremely comfy wicker chair. I consider the other slightly longer ones as investments. Baby K will appreciate them. One of the many children’s books I read recently was ‘Coraline’ by Neil Gaiman. It’s a horror book. I won’t be reading this one out loud to Baby K anytime soon but it was such a fun read. I loved it. I had heard good things about it for so long. It definitely lived up to the hype. The illustrations by Chris Riddell for the 20th anniversary edition make the story come alive. A girl named Coraline discovers a locked door that leads to another world, where there is the other-father and the other-mother. They look like her parents, except with black button eyes, but they treat her the way Coraline has always wished her parents did. The other-mother, unlike her real mother, cooks actual meals. The other-father is willing to play with her. Her real father shoos her away from his study. Coraline is promised everything she could ever want, if she returns to stay in this world. But her real parents go missing and Coraline suspects the other-mother is behind it. She goes to live in the other world, to find and rescue her parents. As she investigates, she discovers dark secrets. She realizes that she could also be trapped in this world with no way out. Coraline is a determined young girl and she won’t let fears stop her from finding her way back home. Gaiman has created a fascinating world. There is a cat that talks and ghosts that seem like real people. The story chills and enthralls. But it’s far more than just a horror story. It’s a story about the importance of family and not giving up, even when the odds are stacked against you. The message Gaiman wanted to give was perhaps that courage doesn’t mean being fearless. It’s doing the right thing despite being shit scared. Coraline is a bold and brave girl. She has her whims and fancies but is driven by the need to do what’s right. She creeps into your heart from the first page, with her cute and adult-like behavior, and finds a permanent place there. Three and half stars https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17061.Coraline Fiction Coraline Neil Gaiman Illustrated by Chris Riddell Published: 2002 Publisher: Bloomsbury Pages 180, Paperback

My husband and I rarely ever like the same book. We have completely different reading choices. Usually, I recommend a book to him, tell him he must read this book I just read, that I gave it a solid five stars, and he will roll his eyes at me. ‘A Man Called Ove’ by Fredrick Backman, which is one of my most favorite books, put him to sleep. He calls it the most boring book ever. (It’s a wonder I’m still married to him.) But we both absolutely adored ‘The Silent Patient’ by Alex Michaelides. It was probably the one book that we both agreed was better than most thrillers we had read. We also didn’t see the end coming. We wanted to read more by the author and were thrilled to come across ‘The Maidens’.  The Silent Patient is about a London-based psychotherapist who becomes obsessed with a painter who hasn’t spoken a word after she is convicted of murdering her husband. The Maidens also involves a London-based psychotherapist and the all-too-pervasive culture of silencing women. Mariana Andros is a 36-year-old, grieving widow. A little over a year ago, her husband, Sebastian, died on a beach in Naxos, Greece while on holiday. Mariana still lives in the yellow house she shared with her husband on Primrose Hill in Northwest London. She can’t get past the fact that she convinced Sebastian to go on a holiday and holds herself responsible for his death. Then she gets a call from her niece, Zoe, who studies in Cambridge. Zoe says her friend Tara is missing. Mariana fears this will be hard on Zoe as Tara is one of the few friends she has and so she leaves for Cambridge. There she discovers a secret society called ‘The Maidens’ who cluster around a brilliant Greek Tragedy professor named Edward Fosca. He is handsome and charming. But Mariana suspects there is something off with him and she starts to poke around. More women end up dead. They are killed in a grisly, ritualistic fashion and Mariana becomes convinced Fosca is somehow behind them, despite having airtight alibis. Cambridge also brings back a lot of memories as this is where Mariana and Sebastian met so there’s a lot of personal demons to battle as well. Michaelides is a great visual storyteller. The detailed descriptions of settings, with historical buildings, create an ominous atmosphere and set the right mood. But The Maidens wasn’t as good as The Silent Patient. The story feels unnecessarily dragged out at times. The Maidens isn’t as psychologically thrilling or taut as The Silent Patient either. That’s not to say it’s a bad book. It’s still a fun read—just don’t have sky-high expectations. Three and half stars Fiction The Maidens Alex Michaelides Published: 2020 Publisher: Pages: Paperback

One of my absolute favorite books is ‘Revenge’ by Yoko Ogawa. It’s a collection of interrelated horror short stories. They weren’t downright gory but Ogawa weaves horror into everyday stories like it’s the most natural thing and that still gives me the creeps. Ogawa has written more than 20 works of fiction and non-fiction and won every major literary award in Japan. I had been looking for her other works when I stumbled on ‘The Housekeeper and the Professor’. I bought it without even reading the blurb. The book was first published in 2003 and was translated into English in 2009. It was also made into a film in 2006. A story about a mathematics professor whose memory only lasts 80 minutes, The Housekeeper and the Professor is a beautiful meditation on life, the importance of relationships, and the lasting impact humans have on each other’s lives. A head injury in a car accident leaves a brilliant professor of number theory with short-term memory loss. Numbers are his only way of staying connected with the outside world and fostering connections with people and remembering them. He writes and pins little notes on his suit to help him recall things. The professor has no family except a widowed sister-in-law. She lives in the main house and he in a little cottage behind it. The story is narrated by the housekeeper hired to look after the professor, and offers fascinating insight into the mind of a genius while busting the myth that you have to be one to understand and love math. The housekeeper and her son—whom the professor names Root because ‘the top of his head is flat like the square root sign’—enjoy discovering equations and solving problems the professor comes up with. In the process, the three develop an unshakable bond. Math takes centerstage in this novel. You might find yourself recalling things you studied in school or college. And it suddenly becomes interesting as the professor makes math principles relevant in day-to-day life. Nothing dramatic happens in the book. It’s slow and there isn’t much of a plot. But Ogawa builds up tension by dropping little hints of the professor’s life before the accident. It’s a short book but not one you can breeze through: there is a lot to take in. The Housekeeper and the Professor is a moving story of found family that has you in tears, both of joy and grief. Three and half stars Fiction The Housekeeper and the Professor Yoko Ogawa Translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder Published: 2009 (English translation) Publisher: Vintage Pages: 180, Paperback

This is the kind of love story I want to read. ‘The Heart Principle’ by Helen Hoang was so-so good. I can’t stress that enough. It was believable. It wasn’t over-the-top. I don’t particularly enjoy love stories but if they were all like this one, I would devour them and become a sucker for romance novels. ‘The Heart Principle’ is the final book in the three-book series by Hoang, the first two being ‘The Kiss Quotient’ and ‘The Bride Test’. You don’t have to read the books in chronological order. The stories aren’t connected. I haven’t read them but I have heard that they too are good. But those who have gone through all three keep saying that ‘The Heart Principle’ is the best. Anna Sun is a violinist who shoots to fame when a YouTube video of her performing on stage goes viral. But she has since been replaced by a 12-year-old prodigy and is struggling to make music. Nothing she comes up with seems to be good enough. Then her boyfriend, Julian, suggests they open up their relationship. He wants to be sure she is the person he is meant to be with. When Julian says he knows Anna won’t date anyone, she becomes determined to prove him wrong. Enter Quan, who has just recovered from an illness and is looking to get back on the dating scene. The two connect through a dating app and hit it off right from the start. But Anna’s family doesn’t approve of Quan. She has also not broken up with Julian, who her mother and sister absolutely adore. Anna isn’t the type who can assert herself, say no when she wants to. It doesn’t help that she has recently been diagnosed as autistic but her sister thinks it’s just an excuse for her ‘poor’ behavior. Hoang writes with a lot of empathy for her characters. You find yourself mentally defending even difficult characters like Pricilla, Anna’s elder sister, who tries to dictate how other people act and live and generally comes off as annoying. You see she’s driven by her desire for what she assumes is good for her family. Her intentions are right, even though that may not be obvious. There’s a lot to unpack in The Heart Principle. The book deals with trauma, grief, family pressure, and the need to conform among other things. It’s a really wholesome love story.

Fiction

The Heart Principle

Helen Hoang

Published: 2021

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 339, Paperback

‘My Brilliant Friend’ is the first book in Elena Ferrante’s four-volume series spanning almost 60 years. The first part is set in the 1950s in a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Naples. It follows two girls, Lila and Elena, through their school years and adolescence. The girls meet when they are each 10-year-old and develop a complex and conflicted friendship.

What I liked about My Brilliant Friend is that it’s an unsentimental portrait of friendship—with rivalry, jealousy, and the need to put oneself first. It chronicles the lives of young girls as they struggle to understand the world they live in and thus themselves. My Brilliant Friend, however, isn’t just a story of friendship. 

Ferrante also tells the story of a neighborhood and a city as it transforms over the years and how the events that occur shape the girl’s thought processes and lives. It’s a story about a community and how the lives of people are often interlinked. You could say it’s a coming-of-age novel of not just two girls but of a place as a whole. 

Themes like sexual jealousy, shame, rivalry are generally underexplored in fiction. My Brilliant Friend does a wonderful job of bringing these to the forefront and talking about things that we would rather not confront. It also feels like great character studies of different personalities. 

My only complaint with the narrative is that it’s a bit slow and events tend to drag on sometimes. If you can put up with that, and you definitely should, My Brilliant Friend, with its exploration of complicated issues like love, abandonment, the impact of violence can be just the contemplative read we all need in the extremely volatile time we are living in today.  

About the author

Elena Ferrante is a pseudonymous Italian novelist. She apparently refuses face to face interviews and has only given a few written ones. She makes no public appearances and once told her editor that she would not be promoting her books because, “she believed that books, once they are written, have no need of their authors. If they have something to say, they will sooner or later find readers; if not, they won’t.” 

Her works, originally published in Italian, have been translated into many languages. The four volumes known as the ‘Neapolitan quartet’ (‘My Brilliant Friend’, ‘The Story of a New Name’, ‘Those Who Leave’ and ‘Those Who Stay,’ and ‘The Story of the Lost Child’) were published by Europa Editions in English between 2012 and 2015. My Brilliant Friend, the HBO series directed by Saverio Costanzo, premiered in 2018. Time magazine in 2016 named Ferrante as one of the 100 most influential people.

Three stars

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35036409-my-brilliant-friend 

Fiction

My Brilliant Friend

Elena Ferrante

Published: Europa Editions

Publisher: 2012

Pages: 331, Paperback