The Diary of a Young Girl [5/5]
by Anne Frank
It’s a record of Anger, Suffering, Levity, Romance, Support, and above all Hope — which ends with a betrayal (albeit there’s no mention of it in the Diary). Anne, a Charming, Intelligent, Articulate, Emotional, Self Critical (in the later part of the Diary) girl makes you privy to the raw emotions, rants, stories. Her longing for someone to confide in. How abandoned she was feeling in the Annexe. It’s vivid description of life in Annexe from a fourteen-year-old’s point of view.
Exhalation [5/5]
by Ted Chiang
The book is well written and transcend through multiple viewpoint of technology from psychology, ethical-dilemmas, spaceships, anthropomorphosis, romance. The story notes section at the end is a peek into the inspirations for all the stories and I feel lucky that I didn’t skip it.
Amazing read.
Mahagatha: 100 Tales from the Puranas [3.5/5]
by Satyarth Nayak
Some Stories are good, and after a time it becomes difficult to keep track of all the characters but author has done a good job of reminding the characters in brief if they appear after a long stretch. All the stories revolves around boons and curses. If you are a fan of hindu mythology especially the Shiva, you will enjoy this book.
The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories [4/5]
by Ken Liu
– Simulacrum
How being able to create artificial clones of your loved ones strained a father daughter relationship. A commentary on reality and virtual reality and how sticking to one flaw in a person and reducing their whole being to that weakest moment is not a fair act.
The Metamorphosis [4/5]
by Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka’s writing style is so fluid.
An ending that doesn’t feel right but was needed or possibly was only plausible one based on how the first and second lesson were written. Suffering of Gregor could have been more exaggerated but not for good. Sister character is an interesting one. Mother and Father seems a bit shallow at first but when you think about the subtle roles they play in the scenes you understand the depth they derive from the play and from franz’s own life.
The ending scene where the maid informs the family about the how she has taken care of the thing. The had lost the bother/son in the chapter one itself but it took them some time to believe that the metamorphosized Gregor is not their him.
The love that Greg had for his family especially sister. That he wanted to send her to conservatory for violin classes. Remembering his family in love during his last breath as he entered the room last time from the violin and tenant incident.
Why did he not though of leaving? Because he was smart enough to know that he was a burden on them? Was he optimistic on transforming back to Greg?