quick thoughts on three recent reads

because, regardless of extenuating circumstances, it is far too early in the year to give up on what little resolution I had.

After the Storm by Sangeeta Bharava

A coming-of-age story set during the time of the Indian independence movement (1947 bookends the bulk of the action, which takes place in 1941). The upheaval of the period is seamlessly integrated into the story and into the lives of the novel's four main characters:  an Indian princess who's left home to attend a formerly all-English boarding school; her bi-racial best friend, who was raised by a hardworking single mother because her parents' families so disapproved of their match that they would not reconcile even after her father's death; a Sikh college student turned revolutionary; and a young Englishman who will forever be tainted by his father's participation in the Jalianwala bagh massacre. 

The Peculiars by Maureen Doyle McQuerry

This is one of the books I received for Christmas. It was on my wishlist presumably because I'd seen some pre-launch information for this paranormal steampunk novel and wanted to make sure to check it out once it was published.
I have to admit that I didn't like The Peculiars as much as I thought that I would. The protagonist, Lena, is generally sympathetic, but when she's frustrating, she's extremely frustrating.
Things I did like about the novel: the world, secondary characters like Jimson and Mr. Beasley (and Mrs. Mumbles), and the fact that romance while part of the story takes a back seat to the rest of the story.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

My favorite Stiefvater novel by far. I've read between one and two-thirds of the Wolves of Mercy Falls Trilogy and by that I mean that I listened to the audio version of Shiver and I may have given up in the face of Linger's angst before I finished it. Quite recently I read The Raven Boys, which was a bit too supernatural for me.
The Scorpio Races was inspired by Celtic legends of water horses. Stiefvater's fictional Thisby island and its inhabitants are so realistic that a reader can almost forget that what she's writing about isn't real.

quick comments on recent reads

The False Friend by Myla Goldberg

Lured by The False Friend's synopsis, I expected the novel to be something that it's not. It is short, spare, and well-written. The novel deals with childhood bullying, the unreliable nature of memory, and how difficult it is to know those closest to us. Its revelations are myriad, but they come from unexpected quarters. I have to admit that I found The False Friend unsatisfying. I found the protagonist increasingly unsympathetic and the ending unsatisfying (even though I understand why Goldberg ended the novel the way that she did).

Feed by M.T. Anderson

Set in a dystopian future where the internet is hardwired to everyone's brain. Anderson incorporates interruptions by targeted advertizing into the narrative to help readers understand the experience of being plugged into the feed. If I had been reading Feed, I would have skipped over those sections, limiting the annoyance factor, but I listened to the audio version, which forced me to fully experience these tics in the narrative. Feed is a cautionary tale, much darker than a lot of the books that have been pushed out during this craze for dystopian (young adult) fiction.

Miss New India by Bharati Mukherjee

A bildungsroman that explores the theme of "the New India" (a descriptor I find a bit perplexing). Anjali (Angie) Bose runs away from home and an arranged marriage assisted by an expatriate American teacher who believes in her potential for a better life than small town Gauripur can offer her. Angie travels to Bangalore where she muddles along, though a series of increasingly unbelievable amount of plot twists, almost in spite of herself. The highlight of Miss New India is its cast of secondary characters.

Moonstone and Moon Rise by Marilee Brothers

I only read the first two installments of Marilee Brothers' Unbidden Magic series even though I had a review set of all four titles (Moonstone, Moon Rise, Moon Spun, and Shadow Moon). I found Moonstone to be a somewhat standard teen paranormal romance: nothing to write home about, but interesting enough to continue with the series considering the fact that I already had the next book at hand. Moon Rise, however, opens with a serious series fiction infraction: the love interest from book one (who, I might add, was a more interesting character than the protagonist herself) is inexplicably missing in action allowing both author and protagonist to cultivate a new love interest more in line with the second installment's storyline. I hate when authors do this: throwing out all the work they did getting their readers invested in a relationship. I finished Moon Rise--which, I should add in Brothers' defense, does end with a teeny bit of explanation about the absence of Moonstone's love interest--but I had no desire to continue on with the series.

Perfume: The Story of Murderer by Patrick Sueskind
translated from the German by John E. Woods

I've been meaning to read Perfume for ages. It was first published in 1985 and I've had a copy on my bookshelf for at least four years. An olfactory-genius serial killer in 18th century France. The pacing is slow (sometimes excruciatingly so), but the language (particularly Suskind's ability to put smells into words) is wonderful.  What I found most interesting  were the descriptions of craft of perfumerie: the process for making absolutes and the like.

disclosure: I received a review copy of Moonstone and Moon Rise from Bell Bridge Books via NetGalley.

Marrying Anita by Anita Jain

Marrying Anita: A Quest for Love in the New India by Anita Jain

A few months ago, I mentioned receiving Marrying Anita as a gift for my birthday (see post). Marrying Anita is a memoir in which the author recounts what happened when she, a 32-year-old Indian-American, grew tired of the New York dating scene decided to return to move to New Delhi to find a husband. Just to be clear, the book is not about arranged marriage despite the phrase-dropping in the synopsis and press coverage. Arranged marriage is discussed because it is an integral part of Indian culture, but the author's personal experience with arranged marriage is limited to her father managing profiles on online marriage sites for her.

I'd heard Jain interviewed on NPR when the book first came out, which is how Marrying Anita ended up on my wishlist. I have to admit that while I was intrigued by the premise, I was a bit reticent about reading it because of the baggage I carry from my first-hand experience¹ with India's marriage culture. I did read Marrying Anita though and I'm none worse for the wear.

Marrying Anita really wasn't what I expected. A full explanation would require including some spoilers and I don't like to do that. I'll stick with the things that I can mention without ruining things for future readers of the memoir. I was surprised at how open Jain is about her liaisons (and drinking and drug use). I imagine her parents being horrified and their more conservative friends and relatives (who no doubt read the book as soon as it was released) significantly more so. Jain makes much of this New India, but what's deemed acceptable among the nation's young urbanites is not necessarily indicative of culture-wide acquiescence.

I had a hard time relating to the author-narrator. I found Jain's need to pepper her narrative with SAT words (plangency² appears in the second paragraph of her prologue) a bit irritating, but I was able to ignore that as I became accustomed to her writing style. More significantly, her actions and the harshness with which she describes individuals was off-putting. It seemed like every time I warmed up to Jain, she went ahead and did or said something that made me dislike her again. I do wonder though how the book's publication has affected her life and her love life.

Marrying Anita's synopsis mentions "disarming candor" and "refreshingly honest". The author is honest and candid, often disarmingly so, but unfortunately I didn't find Marrying Anita refreshing.

1. as an inappropriate potential bride
2. plangency - n. resonance (possibly deep resonance or mournful resonance)