Of someone special, heroic ambition and creativity
Reviewed by Aditi Garg

Someone
by Alice McDermott
Bloomsbury Circus. 
Pages 233 Rs 399

The Inspiring Journey Of a Hero — Learnings From the Life of OP Munjal
by Priya Kumar
Penguin Books India 
Pages 170 Rs 399

Absolute Zero Cool
by Declan Burke
Prolibris Publishing 
Pages 238 Rs 299

To be able to feel the beauty, sadness, joy and fear of a person as they go about their life in a very ordinary setting sensitises you to the enormity of seemingly normal everyday occurrences. Alice McDermott is a master detailer. This is her seventh novel after After This, Child of My Heart, Charming Billy, At Weddings and Wakes, That Night and A Bigamist's Daughter. Charming Billy won the National Book Award in 1998 as has the present book, Someone. Having been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize thrice, nominated for Los Angeles Times Book Prize and received the PEN/ Faulkner Award she sure is good with her words.

Someone touches your heart with its simplicity of narration and characters who live lives like you and me. No larger-than-life heroes or unerring heroines, the book is poignant because of the lack of pompousness. Marie recounts the story of her life since she was seven. It chronicles her ups and downs till the time she is an old woman with grandchildren. The book takes the reader through the journey of what her family life was like, the rebel that she was even when very young, her unorthodox profession, losing her heart, being spurned and then finding love again. The author ably describes the world as Marie sees it through the eyes of a kid and her changing viewpoint as she grows older.

heroes are not born, they are made through dedication, devotion and a drive to excel in what they set their mind to. The Inspiring Journey of a Hero follows the story of one born to modest means, dreamed of the stars and reached them through sheer grit and determination. Author Priya Kumar delves into the inspiring story of first-generation entrepreneur, O.P. Munjal, who singlehandedly changed the way post -Independence India travelled. A best-selling author and motivational speaker, she is the CEO of Priya Kumar's Training Systems. With a bestseller, I Am Another You, and an Eric Hoffer Book Award for Licence to Live in 2012 under her belt, she knows how to put words to best use.

The book starts with a poem by the Hero himself, where he talks about his life. A close encounter with the life that he lives and the principles that define his success, it is sure to inspire not just the entrepreneur but also the altruist in you. Chapter by chapter, the enigma unfolds as the author describes how he has the ability to see the goodness in everything, deliver beyond the promised and never shirk responsibility. By extending the familial embrace to all 3,500 of his employees, all of whom he knows by name, he ensures their well-being. He is among a handful of industrialists who believe that it is lonely at the top and one should take their close ones along. A truly inspiring legend.

real fun begins when rules are bent and define new paradigms and develops conditions where creativity, originality and curiosity prosper. Declan Burke has put forth this interesting novel, Absolute Zero Cool, that deals with the mysterious and captivating world of creator and creation. He has also penned Eightball Boogie and The Big O; edited Down These Green Streets: Irish Crime Writing and is the host of online resource for Irish Crime Writing Crime Always Pays. He tackles the complex subject with deftness, adding hilarity to a dark subject.

The subject of an unfinished novel, Billy Karlsson, has lost his sense of right and wrong in his pursuit to ensure that the novel he is a character in sees the light of day. Forsaken and left for better things, he is ready to stoop to any level, even burn down a hospital to reclaim his status as a character of a real novel. When his author runs into him and barely recognises him, he has already transformed himself by literally growing in stature and adding an eye patch. Karlsson coaxes him to continue with the project, even if he now believes it to be too dark. From being a sociopath, he advises him to turn him into a family man, adding humour on the way. Along the way, he keeps himself aligned to his path by a series of quotes he uses as inspiration. An immensely pleasurable discovery of feeling a wave of emotions for creations lost and conceived, the book is a splendid read.

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