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Souring of the American
Dream
Less government is not
fair. In the absence of effective administration and good governance,
those who take advantage of others have come to dominate the United
States of America
Reviewed by Rajiv M Lochan
Time to Start Thinking:
America and
the Spectre of Decline
By Edward Luce. Little
Brown. Pages 292. Rs 699
THE
American ability to
innovate, craft and lead is in a crisis. The Americans pretend to
elect a government, the government pretends to govern and everyone in
America pretends to be happy that America is at the centre of the
universe even though all around them people are going jobless, middle
class incomes have stagnated and infrastructure is collapsing.
Snapshot
of the great joint family traditions
Reviewed by Aditi Garg
Chennaivaasi
By T.S. Tirumurti. Harper Collins. Pages 268. Rs 299
INDIA
comprises, within its folds, many mini-Indias, each one unique and yet
strikingly similar. There are differences regarding religion, language
and customs but at its very heart, they all speak the same cultural
language, follow similar customs and their Indian identity is their
religion. Even the Indians settled abroad or those who have received
their education on foreign shores cannot escape the pull that India
has on them.
Complex
world, deftly portrayed
Reviewed by Vikrant
Parmar
Let Her Rest Now
By Vijay Nair. Hachette India. Pages 236. Rs 295
Certain
dark alleys lead to a path that is illuminated beyond one’s
expectations, one where memories of the blinding darkness fade away
instantaneously. This is exactly what happens with Neha, the lead
protagonist of Vijay Nair’s murder mystery Let Her Rest Now, who
quits a plush job in search of her mother’s murderer not realising
that her own life would run a course where death would be just inches
away.
Love in times of chaos
Komal Mehta, whose debut
novel Nick of Time has been well received, chats up about the
book and more
Seema Sachdeva
First-time writer Komal
Mehta’s Nick of Time takes you to the world of friendships,
romance and love. The story, which is set in Chandigarh, revolves
around the lives of three childhood friends Alehya, Vicky and Shagun,
whom fate brings together after a long time. Written from the
perspective of all three protagonists, the book sets out to discover
how the three grapple with the issues of love and confusion.
Subtle narrative
Shadowstory
By Jennifer Johnston, Headline Review, £ 7.99
Polly is a young Irish
girl growing up during the Second World War. After her father is
killed in action she spends much of her time at her grandparent’s
home, where she becomes close to her father’s younger brother, Sam.
But when he falls out with the family and leaves Ireland to become a
Communist revolutionary in Cuba, Polly’s loyalties are torn.
Jennifer Johnston’s novella is subtle and elegantly told.
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