The Man who Never was

ഉമ്മാച്ചു | Ummachu by Uroob My rating: 4 of 5 stars Ummachu, written by Uroob, which is the penname of Malayalam author Parutholli Chalappurathu Kuttikrishnan, deals with the life of three children in pre-Independent rural Kerala. Growing up as childhood friends, the children, Maayan, Beeran and the titular Ummachu, go through love, hate, loss, crime, regret, acceptance, joy, remorse, and a final resigned recognition of the life they wrought. All the while time and age stops for no one, and their children grow into adults, coming into their own conflicts; all in the backdrop of the independence movement. Ummachu & Mayan are in love; but circumstances prevent them from being together. Circumstances cause Ummachu to be stuck in a loveless marriage with Beeran who comes from a wealthy family. Feeling betrayed, Mayan leaves the land, to look for peace and to forget Ummachu. This is the main crux of the story, one which drives much of the events which occur afterwards. I felt in t

DMZ, Vol. 1: On the Ground by Brian Wood My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews

View all my reviews An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth by Mahatma Gandhi My rating: 5 of 5 stars An Autobiography: The Story of my Experiments with truth, as penned by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, is something that everyone, Indians in particular, and people in general should read, in order to gain an insight into the life, thoughts and convictions of the one of the most influential and relevant personalities of the 20th Century, perhaps of modern history. In a time of wars, conflict, and colonial oppressions taking place on a global scale, Gandhi was one of few who appealed to the better qualities of humanity and advocated a form of resistance which bore neither violence, hatred nor bloodshed. Gandhi told an entire nation the meaning of nonviolence and peace, but by no means did this make him a pacifist, ergo in the sense of someone who washed their hands of any affairs of the world. Gandhi was an active force for good, and chose to upload his ideals eve

Animal Man by Grant Morrison, Book 1 by Grant Morrison My rating: 4 of 5 stars View all my reviews Animal man by Grant Morrison takes one of DC's lesser known, C maybe borderline B tier characters in terms of importance, and weaves in Morrison's usual multiversal metaphysical narrative, tying into one of the most significant events in DC canonical history.  Bernard 'buddy' Baker was your everyday guy, that is until he became acquainted with extraterrestrial life forms, in the form of an exploding spaceship. This incident had the additional effect of giving him superpowers, specifically, being able to borrow the strengths of animals in his vicinity for about 30 minutes. (Most heroes of the time got their powers from chemicals, aliens and magic, Morrison makes an in canon joke about the nature of several Golden and silver age characters).  Animal man’s greatest weakness, seems to be his own existential crisis. When I went to his wi

Stardust by Neil Gaiman My rating: 4 of 5 stars Stardust, by Neil Gaiman and Charles Viss is a modern fairytale for adults. All those mystic and fantastical elements which made the fairytales of old retain their timeless quality, Gaiman was able to recreate them, and show that there is always room for innovation and creativity even in a genre where one would not hope for anything such. There is everything in this tale which one would ascribe to the classics. A damsel in distress, the dashing prince/ hero, the wicked witch with nefarious schemes, helpful Samaritans and acquaintances you come to meet during an adventure, and a mostly happy ending. And all are sprinkled with just the right amount of magic and faeries. Like in a world of magical realism, no one is in awe of it, magic is just part of the world they inhabit, some have it others don’t. Much like in a Greek play, or well, a fairy tale, the actions of the characters, in addition to meddling by supernatural and elemental ent

View all my reviews What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami My rating: 4 of 5 stars Haruki Murakami, prolific best selling writer, avid fan of vintage LPs, cat lover and fastidious runner. Except for the running part, Murakami Sensei and I seem to share a lot of common traits. Now, if I can only figure out how to write as well as him. In this book, which is part Journal and part Memoir, perhaps the closest we’d get to an Autobiography from the master, Murakami speaks at length about his three decades long strict regimen of long distance running; along with other exercise and lifestyle habits he follows. Having closed his jazz café after publishing his first few novels, Murakami found himself leading an unhealthy lifestyle. He was smoking countless lights a day, and the constant sedentary lifestyle was leaving him with less energy. The solution he found, cut out all smoking, and run for an hour or so everyday. Now this is not like the half hearted