1001 Books to Read Before You Die - The Stranger - Albert Camus

I don't know how to start writing about this book. I can't pretend that I understood everything that the author wanted to point out through this book and more specifically, through the character of Mersault. But whatever I understood, I enjoyed.

The main character is Mersault (an emotional zombie) who displays behaviour which is not "normal". He is a "stranger" to social norms and it is this inability to behave in a conventional manner that gets him into trouble. Throughout the novel, he commits only one crime - murdering a man as an act of self-defence. However, his real crime ends up being his non-conformity to social norms. During his trial, the circumstances of the murder is not discussed. Instead, emphasis is laid on his character. Why didn't he cry on his mother's funeral? Why did he go out and watch a comedy movie the day after his mother's death? Why did he associate with a man who is believed to be a pimp by the society? Why was he so emotionally detached?
He must be a sociopath who is unfit for living in the society.
The verdict? Capital punishment.
His crime? Not playing by the rules of the society.

This novel explores the meaninglessness of life and the issues at the centre of existentialism (a popular theme with French authors of that time). It explores the fact that life has no true meaning or purpose - it is what you make of it. In fact, there is a lot to learn from Mersault's refusal to conform to the society's rules. His revelation at the end of the novel is perhaps one of my favourite parts of the book.
“For the first time in a long time I thought about Maman. I felt as if I understood why at the end of her life she had taken a 'fiancé,' why she had played at beginning again. Even there, in that home where lives were fading out, evening was a kind of wistful respite. So close to death, Maman must have felt free then and ready to live it all again. Nobody, nobody had the right to cry over her. And I felt ready to live it all again too. As if the blind rage had washed me clean, rid me of hope; for the first time, in that night alive with signs and stars, I opened myself to the gentle indifference of the world. Finding it so much like myself — so like a brother, really — I felt I had been happy and that I was happy again. For everything to be consummated, for me to feel less alone, I had only to wish that there be a large crowd of spectators the day of my execution and that they greet me with cries of hate.”

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

"Survival is insufficient"
What do you do when the world as you know it comes to an end?
Emily St. John Mandel's book, Station Eleven, explores this question. The book opens up with the play of King Lear, in the middle of which, the actor, Arthur Leander collapses on stage in the middle of his performance. In this scene, we are introduced to the characters who are then the focus of the novel. The story follows a traveling theatre troupe who are trying to survive in the aftermath of an epidemic that wiped out most of the population. But, to reduce Station Eleven to a mere post-apocalyptic story would be unfair. It is much more than that - it is a story of loss and survival and the uncertainties that come with starting over.

Now, while I liked and appreciated the uniqueness of the plot, it failed to deliver on certain areas.
The main issue that I had with this book was that the pacing was very slow. It was pretty uneventful for a post-apocalyptic fiction. And initially, the jump between time periods and characters got a little confusing. It had all these elements within that could have made it into a truly unique book on survival. But, it got boring. It introduced a lot of post-apocalyptic problems that weren't well explained and a lot of it seemed highly unlikely. Some of the characters in this book were just not necessary. And normally, that wouldn't be a problem. Except, in this book those characters are given their own chapters following their perspectives. And I did not want to read their backstory because I just couldn't bring myself to care enough. And that is problematic because when you're reading a novel about survival, you're expecting it to be intense and thrilling. Station Eleven was neither. Parts of it got intense but then the chapter ended and the next chapter shifted to a different person's perspective following their backstory. This sort of writing style can be very ineffective to the story because it effectively kills the suspense that it builds up.

I think that there's probably something wrong with me because everyone and their grandfather/grandmother loved this book while, I thought it was in the transition line between "okay" and "good". So, I feel strangely inadequate. Almost like I'm missing out on something that everyone else seemed to have picked up on. If anyone's reading this or stumbles upon this post by mistake (highly likely, right?), please let me know what you thought of this book? This was one of those books that I wish I read with someone else because I just had way too many unanswered questions by the end of it.

We Were Liars - E. Lockhart

Summary -
The Sinclairs seemingly lead a perfect life. However, everything is not as perfect as it seems.
(How's that for a clichéd dramatic starting line?)
Every year, Cadence, Gat, Johnny and Mirren wait for the summers when the entire Sinclair family get together in their private island.
However, one summer, due to certain turn of events, their lives will change forever.

Now, I almost skipped out on writing an entry for this book because I didn't want to write paragraphs about how much I hated it.
I'm in the minority here because everyone I know loved the book. And that brings me to my main frustration - What was so likeable? Am I missing out on something?
I can list out everything that I felt was wrong with the book which includes but is not limited to -

• The writing style.

Please don't divide

Your writing into fragments

It's unnecessary.

And bothersome.

And,

If I might add,

Pretentious.

• The characters were flat and uninteresting. And don't even get me started on their pettiness and stupidity. Their "plan" was so stupid and everyone just went along with it without making adjustments that any sensible person would make.
• The "twist". I'm not going to spoil it just in case someone accidentally stumbles upon this post  and has not read the book. But, let me just say, that I saw it coming. It was very obvious from the direction in which the author was going with this book.
• The racism that was brought up just for the heck of it and then abandoned just like that. What was the point? I feel like it was just conveniently fitted into the book without any reason.

So, yes. I didn't like the book at all. It was just boring and I couldn't have cared less if Cadence(the protagonist/unreliable narrator) died at the end of it.

1001 Books to read before you die - Vanishing Point - David Markson

1001 Books to Read Before You Die - The List (Click here)

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to read at least 25 books from the above list this year. Which basically means that I have to live for approximately 40 more years to read all the books. Now, the list I linked contains some books that I've already read so you can deduct those books from the 1,001 and it includes books from earlier lists which have been removed in later editions which, again brings up the number of books to approximately 1001. I'm aware that I might die before I get to them all but, let's be optimistic for the sake of this post.

"Every so often, a painter has to destroy painting. Cezanne did it. Picasso did it with cubism. Then Pollock did it. He busted our idea of a picture all to hell"
The book starts with this epigraph - a quote by Willem de Kooning. Now, this quote is very significant to the book as that is precisely what the author does with this book. He busts our idea of a fiction all to hell. I started with this book without reading the synopsis and, as a result, I was thoroughly confused at first, mistaking the book for a non-fiction. It starts off with what seems like completely random facts about artists - from their birthplace, death, acquaintances with other artists, feud with other artists and how their work was originally received by critics. However, the narrator refers to himself as "Author" and in between the random facts, we get glimpses into what the "Author" is doing. The writing was so absurd and experimental that I was close to giving up on it after a point. But, I pushed myself till the end. And I guess in a way I appreciate it for how unique it was. You have to read it till the end to understand exactly what is happening. While it was a little too experimental for me, I can understand why it made the list. It just wasn't engaging enough for me to appreciate it.

My favourite part of the book was the random facts about artists - mainly the ironical bad review of their work.
"A mass of soapsuds and whitewash, said a critic of a Turner painting of a storm at sea.
 I wonder what they think the sea's like, said Turner."

"Bach spent the last twenty-seven years of his life as cantor at the Thomasschule in Leipzig.
As the best musicians are not available, we must accept a man of moderate ability - had said a member of the Leipzig Municipal Council in hiring him."

Overall, it was just one of those books that you appreciate for its intellectual quality but, at the same time, you feel like something essential was missing. I would recommend it to people who love experimental writing.

And the Mountains Echoed - Khaled Hosseini

This was the first book that I've read that was written by Khaled Hosseini. And after I started reading it, two of my friends told me that this was his weakest work. All I have to say is, if this was his weakest, then I can't imagine the amount of brilliance that I'm yet to read. I had mixed feelings about the plot but, the writing was beautiful and the depth of the characters and the complexity of emotions portrayed in the book blew me away.

The book consists of chapters titled on the basis of the season and the year the incidents were based in. Each chapter follows the perspective of a different character and are interconnected. Now, this format was a little confusing to me at first because I did not read the synopsis. And because of that, I was a little irritated when the story shifted from Abdullah and Pari to Parwana in the second chapter. In fact, throughout the book, I was more invested in certain characters than others. And the constant jump from one character to the other while leaving some of the stories open-ended irritated me a bit.

As for the plot, it starts out with Pari and Abdullah - siblings who love each other more than anything else. They accompany their father from their village, Shadbagh to Kabul where he goes to find work and an incident occurs that changes their lives forever. Then we are introduced to some other characters - most of them living with the consequences of their actions or a heavy guilt weighing down their conscience. And through these characters, we feel the guilt, remorse and moments of joy that surround our lives. While some make sacrifices for the sake of their loved ones, others can't see beyond themselves. Pitiably human.

There are no perfect characters in this book. No one's a clear cut hero, everyone is undeniably flawed. For example, there is a side character in the book who donates a lot but, he makes sure that there's an audience and that people know of his good deeds. This character also cheats on his wife regularly. But, he ends up helping out an orphaned girl with severe facial deformities caused by an act of rage by her uncle. It is not clear to us whether his intentions were noble, but he helps her out all the same. Now, isn't that how we are as humans? Even the most charitable deeds have complex and sometimes, not entirely heartfelt incentives guiding them. But, it is still making an impact for the better. How do we judge a person under such circumstances?  As the author points out, "Human behaviour is messy and unpredictable and unconcerned with convenient symmetries"

That's the true beauty of the book. We read a book for a lot of reasons. Read this book to think about life, reality, people we meet, their struggles and most importantly - to understand others. Read this book to rid yourself of judgement because that's the impact this book has on you.