Fine Stories Still Matter!

Nutshell by Ian McEwan My rating: 3 of 5 stars A woman with her lover conspires to murder her husband, Nutshell traces the quintessential way of narration from the perspective of her 9-month-old fetus. The work of McEwan has been inspired by Hamlet and follows up the same. Coming to the storyline, there isn't much bout the same. The plot is very basic and plain. However, the way McEwan has implemented the idea is indeed spectacular. The narration part is the one that intrigues the readers the most. 2 minutes into the premise and the first thought which will strike you is "how this entire thing is going to take place". Basically the lady was in her third trimester of gestation period and fetus boy can hear everything going on around him. This builds one more fascinating theory, can a fetus able to listen to stuff, and maybe after the intense labor they forget everything. The spectacular work has been done in portraying all human sentimen...

The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews The Palace of Illusions is the retelling of the epic Mahabharat from the perspective of one of the central characters of the tale, Draupadi. The book recollects the memories of her predestined life portraying a very fresh take on Mahabharat. Crafty Characters, Articulate writing, Organised storyline. The author Chitra Banerjee does an amazing job in dwelling the epic tale in just 360 pages. The impeccable narration of Panchali guides us through the entire tale and forces us to revisit the land of Hastinapur in an absolutely different way. Draupadi is one of the very badass female characters in the story of Mahabharat, however, after reading this book, the readers get an insight into her other side. Which makes us believe that she is a normal human being who craves love and wants to do something in her life. The characters described in this ...