Yay!

The quirks. The stammers. Little deceipts. Little affections. Between brothers, one letting the other walk away with the loot. Between lovers. One pretending to stammer so that the other will love her.

The little laughs. Singing that song . Banter between the lovers, can ghosts have kids?

Those snatches of haunting music. Jazz was it now? Now silence and then Dhan te nan....pattering feet, heavy breathing. Dreams...

Quentin Tarantino style. From the back. Through alleys. Dark, Murky. Wet. Back and forth. Back and forth. Love and hate. Hate and love.

I give full marks. Only if the ending had been morose. But no, really, really pure cinematic brilliance.

The best review I think

Sometimes at a fence...

No side is the right side.

It reminded me of The Kite Runner a bit, two little boys - The Pashtun and the Hazra, the German and the Jew - on two sides of a fence. And there's always a fence.

Although, the Kite Runner atleast ended sort of happily.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas - Started early today and completed by dusk - A 'fable' on the Holocaust, bound to be a tear jerker, but more poignant than I imagined it would be primarily owing to Bruno's extreme innocence. Which can be irritating sometimes unless you hear what John Boyne says " I knew I was dealing with an extreme of evil in the subject of the Holocaust. And I was interested in juxtaposing that with an extreme of innocence."

And what exactly was the difference? He wondered to himself. And who decided which people wore the striped pajamas and which people wore the uniforms?

This book, coincidentally is the second Irish author written book (Anne Enright's The Gathering being the other) I've read in the past week, but the two couldn't be further from each other in style.

I think I will need to spend a lifetime trying to decide whether the premise of karma is valid. Do people who do bad, get bad?

Little sins

Mad over Donuts at Breach Candy. Apple and Oreo. Damn Yum!
Bad girl.. no dinner for you.

You may be one too

Blackbird. Powerhouse acting. Such roller coaster emotions. Just when you begin to hate Ray for abusing Una as a child, you realize she loved him too and may have seduced him a little. Then you tell yourself, she was only 12!. When Ray turns into a apologizing pulp of a man, he maybe innocent after all. Since Una loves him and he claims he still does, they will get back together and all nightmares will be put to rest. It was all a big misunderstanding. And then....

Each layer is peeled off one by one. Layer after layer. Some black and some white. You can be good one second and bad the next.

Also, reading Anne Enright's The Gathering. Women and men have such different styles of writing. Where men are straight, witty, graphic, women are melancholic, sarcastic and much too sad. Try reading 'The Gathering', 'The Inheritance of loss' and 'The God of small things' - the similarities will astound. I am not liking the book too much though, too convoluted and the terribe secret is yet to come. Reached almost halfway.

Update on 'The Gathering': Did not like the book much except one thought which stood out. "I wonder, briefly, if Liam would still be alive if he had been born a woman and not a man"

The irony!

I Loaf!

When Meghna saw the book on my table, she squeeked. My heart almost fell out. "The Razor's Edge! Who is reading it?" I can't say I wasn't pleased. Did she like the book? "It has been my bible for many years now, for some time when I looked at anyone pouring over a book in a library, I was reminded of Larry". I hadn't met Larry yet. I was curious.

I just finished 100 pages. It has already begun to feel like my life. (A good book always make you empathize with at least one of its main characters anyway). But I am wondering if the ending will be happy. It scares me a bit.

Leaving with a quote,

"I dare say you're right. The Armours and the Swifts will pack more and better meat, the McCormicks will make more and bettter harvesters, and Henry Ford will turn out more and better cars. And everyone'll get richer and richer."

"And why not?"

"As you say, and why not? Money just doesn't happen to interest me."

Isabel giggled.

"Darling, don't talk like a fool. One can't live without money."

"I have a little. That's what gives me the chance to do what I want."

"Loaf?"

"Yes," he answered smiling.

Why live like everyone else?

Update: Finished the book. Dry wit plenty, intricately fleshed out very likeable characters, a page turner. Sometimes it is hard to believe he was an early twentieth century writer. It had all elements of a classic potboiler.

So much of Paris too - Latin Quarter, Montparnasse, Montmartre, been there, done that.
And just as I was feeling increasingly discontent about the ending, Maugham ends with this:"For all the persons with whom I have been concerned got what they wanted: Elliott social eminence; Isabel an assured position backed by substantial fortune in an active and cultured community; Gray a steady and lucrative job, with an office to go from nine to six everyday; Suzanna Rouvier security; Sophie death; and Larry happiness."

Sigh! If only life were as picture perfect.