Books

Well, as I mentioned while reviewing If it’s not forever, It’s not Love that I am not a major fan of Indian fiction, especially the romance genre. But, when I was browsing through the catalog of Just Books online, I came across this book and picked it up based on the hunch that its cover illustration is interesting. 

Needless to say, I found nothing in the book which could justify the title!! It is a typical story of a South Indian Tam Brahm, on the verge of being over-aged for marriage, breaks through her boring life in Chennai and moves to Mumbai for a corporate experience and new life. 

Sometimes I think Jimmy is totally detached from our work and doing timepass. I like this new word – timepass, like eating peanuts on the train, chumma. Amma will be shocked to know that chumma does not mean timepass in Mumbai but kissing, as I discovered a few days ago, much to my embarrassment and Jimmy’s amusement. – From the Book 

The Plot

Damyanthi is 26 and is despair of her parents. She refuses to marry any of the guys brought forward by her well-meaning relatives and for good reason, to be fair to her. She wants a man who does not have oil slick hair and dreams of a life far away from Chennai where she could do all the forbidden things. She wants to live her life on her own terms and not dictated by the rules of the society.

And, finally, her dreams come true when she is recruited by First Global and shifts to Mumbai in face of much reluctance. There she comes across Jimmy (her colleague and best friend), Sonya (her hot flatmate), CG and finally, Rahul. She meets Rahul on her training program in Goa. He is everything she had ever wanted in her man. But, was he THE one? 

My Verdict
It is one of the lighter reads which you can carry for a train journey. It will leave you with a happy smile though I have to say it will do you good to skip a few pages, here and there. The story breezes through and it is more or less like talking to one of our friends or neighbors and hearing their story. The regular Indian story. Try it out if you are a fan of Indian authors Book Club.

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Books 2014 Vol. 5 – “It Started with a Friend Request” by Sudeep Nagarkar
Books 2014 Vol. 4 – “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith aka J.K.Rowling
Books 2014 Vol. 3 – On the List : “The Body Book” by Cameron Diaz

After a long time, it was a decent read. I have been a subscriber to just books for almost a year now and have hardly made use of it. But, then, I got bored and was sifting through their catalog when I found this book. The novel has been pretty successful and has been adapted in movie, plays and songs.

The story is about Jean-Baptiste Grenouille right from his day of birth to how he dies. Since he was a kid, he brings misfortune to almost everyone he comes in contact with. His mother dies of the crime of abandoning him right after his birth, the wet nurses who feed him are driven to give him away because he used to drink a lot more milk than the other babies, the tanner and the perfumer he used to work for.

These misfortunes can be a co-incidence but the way they have been tied up with Grenouille leaves a very chilling feeling for the reader. Grenouille is a survivor and he has never known any feeling except hate. Love or passion is something he comes to know at a very later stage in life. In the early years, everyone who used to come in contact with him would be vary of him without knowing the exact reason.

Grenouille has a very keen sense of smell and he used to use this sensory organ of his to do every work, even to find his way in the dark. He used to store all the scents in his memory and never forgot one. Once he helped find money for his landlady, the one who ran the orphanage, when she forgot where she kept it, just though his olfactory senses. This was enough to make the lady turn him out of her house and she sold him to a tanner. And, his life progresses on.

While working for the tanner, Grenouille has a taste of freedom one day when he wanders into Paris. He started visiting and exploring Paris thereafter to find the new smells. He was used to create a library of the smells and to concoct and create new smells.

On one such exploration, he comes across a very fine and fresh scent of a virgin girl. He follows the scent keenly and once he reaches to the source, without knowing what his actions would yield, he kills the girl and strips her and starts devouring her scent till it fades away from her body. That was the moment when he actually feels passion. And, that was the moment when he decides he would want to create the scent of that girl which was unlike anything he had come across.

Once when Grenouille was on his last round of delivery, he comes to the once most famous perfumer of Paris, Giuseppe Baldini, from whom he learns the secrets of perfume making. And, then, goes on to Grasse to learn more about it. On the way, he takes a seven year detour to remain away from the human world. Once he reaches Grasse, he is enthralled by the scent of a girl named Laure and he knows that the essence of his greatest perfume should be that of this girl’s. 

Grenouille is a man who was born without odor and was treated as a cast away even though no one around him including him realized the exact reason why. Whenever he came in contact with anyone, they were repelled by him. May be the lack of any kind of odor was the reason. Thus, it is the journey to find his identity and acceptance. When he succeeds, the tragedy or the irony is that he realizes no one will ever love him like a normal human. 

Absolute Must!! I loved every part of the book. Yes it can be a stretched at times for the lack of thrill, if that is what you are seeking. But, these moments are crucial because they explain what is Grenouille going through and why is he the way he is, a cunning cold-blooded individual. Yes for all who love intense reads!

Related Posts:
Books 2014 Vol. 5 – “It Started with a Friend Request” by Sudeep Nagarkar
Books 2014 Vol. 4 – “The Cuckoo’s Calling” by Robert Galbraith aka J.K.Rowling
Books 2014 Vol. 3 – On the List : “The Body Book” by Cameron Diaz

Source

Well, P likes a lot of Indian authors! And, for good reason, sometimes. He prefers to read something totally non-brainy and fun and something which have a close resemblance to real life and a book which gets finished in a jiffy! I put all the desi college love stories by the budding authors into that category.

I generally tend to ignore such books coz they are too tame for me and they do not give me the adrenalin rush which I crave after a book is over. Thriller is my genre and romance is his! Anyways, let me come back to this book. I read the book coz I was getting bored and I did not get a good book for myself since quite long and also thi book is good.

Aleesha moves to Bombay from Kolkatta right when the novel starts and she lands up living with Tamannah, daughter of a family friend, until they are forced to shift on a short notice by the landlord. Aleesha meets Akash in a night club on one of the nights she goes out with Tamannah. And, they end up exchanging their BBM pins and start talking. 

It is a typical love story of Aleesha, a bong beauty cum brains, and Akash, a poor and hard-working guy who lost his father too early and is responsible for his mother and sister, who are aptly supported by their respective friends, Kritika and Aditya. And, there is another track of Tamannah’s obsessive love with her colleague, Deep.

The writing is simple and story moves quickly without dragging at any place. The story resonates very closely with the couples we see in real life. The intent of the author is glorify the protagonists love. Indeed every love story is special but I failed to connect with it. Yes, I enjoyed reading it but it never gripped me that I was desperate to find out what happened. But then, I think I was not the right audience for this book.

The book is simple and good for a train journey or a bus ride. Its a well-written book. But, if you are looking for a thought provoking or a nail-biting page turner, this one did not turn out one for me. But, please remember, I love thrillers instead. I would recommend it to people who like love stories and enjoy romance at its best.