Sravika's Books - Reviews and Other Trivia

Of Mice and Men By John Steinbeck (1994) Genres : Classics, Philosophy, Fiction Rating : 5/5 Absolutely loved that the author had created character masterpieces in such short page count!! The future is unforeseeable and some of the best laid plans fail to turn out. Sometimes those who are the most vulnerable amongst us also turn out to be the most misunderstood and wronged against. Lennie (big man, mentally unsound) and George (small, smart man) move between different jobs and look out for each other. Well, its George saving and rescuing the blubbering and blundering Lennie most of the time. But this time, Lennie does something that even George cannot swing. How do the duo escape a fate that threatens their togetherness and friendship? How does it shatter their plan of owning their own place and living off by their ownselves? The immense pity I felt towards Lennie - a big, strong man capable of great physical labor but mentally challenged/incapable - soon coagulated ...

She's Come Undone by Wally Lamb  (499 pages) (1992)  Genres : Mental illness, Contemporary, Fiction  Rating 4/5  Wally Lamb is one of my all time favorites. I absolutely loved his second book 'I know This Much Is True' about twin brothers, one of whom is schizophrenic - It is invariably my all time favorite book in this genre. 'She's  Come Undone' is his first novel and I thought it showed some amateurish handling of the subject matter. I am not saying I haven't enjoyed it or it is bad but while the title suggested a person - a woman/girl most likely - succumbing to the hold of a mental illness, the story is not exactly that.  Dolores Price is well crafted and moulded - Lamb has breathed life and soul into her character. This is the story of how mishaps,abuse and loss drives a young impressionable girl into the clutches of despair/depression and how she navigates back to a sure footed normal life. She becomes a slave to her culinary urges and gr...

The Fisherman (2016) By John Langan  290 pages (Kindle Digital Edition) Genre : Horror, Fiction, Magic Rating : 3/5  The content of this book is quite a surprise to me. I knew this is horror and naturally based on the title, expected monsters and threatening sea creatures to inhabit this scary world - but to tie it all with undercurrents of sorcery and black magic felt surreal. I would say I was hooked - like a fish - to the plot till about 50 percent. The history of the fisherman was having quite a spell on me when it all starts falling apart.I skimmed through the rest of the book just catching the flow of the narrative from disconnected scenes.  The author's descriptions of fight sequences and landscapes fail to evoke the right imagery. They feel flat and designed towards being scary while not really being so.   I think the author could have improvised on the character of the Fisherman - he is a centuries old black magician that succeeds in bringin...

Disturbing the Peace (1975) by Richard Yates  292 pages(Kindle Digital Edition) Genres : Fiction, Mental illness, Contemporary  Rating : 4/5  I have always thirsted to read a book like this one! I read it real slow and lived through every page. The author kind of hints at what is going to come before it does .. and yet I wasn't ready to face it with a stoic calmness. The main character and his quick downward spiral into madness .. his unquenchable drinking problem and subsequent lock down in a mental asylum are very tangible and well portrayed.  A salesman John Wilder from New York with a stable marriage and a son goes berserk in the mind. He has a drinking problem and is easily irritated. He stays for a brief period in a psychiatric ward. He visits a shrink who prescribes him strong medicines and warns him repeatedly to lay off his drinking. He also attends a few AA(American Alcoholics) meetings to help him off the addiction - but uses them as a fro...

I'll be gone in the dark  By Michelle McNamara  Rating 3/5  Genres: crime, non fiction,true story  Only a part of the book is written by Michelle - which has cohernce and a logical layout. The rest of the book is compiled by her associates after her sudden death, using the humongous amount of material she gathered - it feels patched as they try to drill through her notes and use them to deduce what she might have if she was not stopped mid track. I did not read this book to completion and my following review applies to the part of the book written by Michelle herself.  It is very gripping and intriguing. The author has been able to balance both gorical nature of the cases and the human side of the victims masterfully. She has given a monstrous face to the ski masked killer /rapist while also uncovering and giving a human side to his victims making us sympathise for them and defend their cause against the man. She takes us on an interesting ride ...

Gone Girl [2012] by Gillian Flynn  470 Pages {Kindle Digital Edition} Genre: Psychological Fiction, suspense, murder, thriller, best seller Rating 5/5 ✌👀👀👩   Someone in the need of a good mystery thriller to curl feet on bed and sink into? This would be a perfect fit! The mindboggling plot unravels fast and steady releasing more shattering and shaky pieces to put the puzzle together.  I have never come to hate or fear a fictional character so much .. that's how good the character of Amy is developed. If there is a gauge to warn us of such disturbed/destructive people as Amy in our vicinity/life .. it would be so much better! Flynn has managed to create Nick and Amy so good they become personal - take Nick's side or Amy's side but not both. Husband and wife play at a zero sum game .. Amy framing and proving him to be her murderer while Nick trying and struggling hard to prove otherwise. It is fun until it is not. An innocent man could have lost his life for the vic...

The Midnight Library (2020) By Matt Haig  258 pages (Kindle Digital Edition) Rating : 4.75/5  Genres : alternative reality, fiction, philosophy  A rigmarole and long unwinding ride but it is strangely satisfying. Deeply philosophical and the reader emerges out of this book feeling replenished and cathartic. Matt Haig tries to redefine what it means to be successful and happy. He explains what makes for a fulfilling life and how to not be deluged by regrets.  Most of us beat ourselves up with all the missed opportunities, all the ways things could have been different if a choice in the past was made  differently, all the things that were left undone/unsaid and desires left unexplored. One with such strong proclivity is the main character of this story .. Nora Seed. She has a huge list of regrets and missed opportunities in her life. She struggles with depression and unable to cope with life where everything seems to go against her - her parents d...

Solaris (1961) By Stanislaw Lem  Genres : scifi, horror, suspense, classics  207 pages (Kindle Digital Edition) Rating 4/5 😀 . I have enjoyed this book the way I had enjoyed very few books. This has some of the most horrific and memorable scenes I have ever read. Paging through it is an immersive experience  .. where the cause of mystery is revealed to the reader and the main character at the start but it nevertheless doesn't stop being suspenseful. I picked it from the list of best scifi novels of all time. And it definitely makes for some super cool, horror and romantic science fiction ever written! 🤗 Kelvin arrives on planet Solaris as a psychologist researcher and docks himself to the space station. The surface of the planet is covered with ocean and there is no other visible life on the planet. Since the planet has been discovered, there has been much speculation and theoretical expostulation about the nature of the ocean .. eventually they realize it t...

The House of Seven Gables (1851)  by Nathaniel Hawthorne 271 pages (Kindle Digital Edition) Rating 5/5 🥰🥰🥰 I wish I never get to see or stay in one of the houses that resemble this house of seven gables. Fabled in a mysterious dark past, damp, mottled and decaying, it would not just send a resident into the state of depression but also steal their wits and sanity. The plot starts with introducing us to the long term sole resident of the house and ends with her deserting the house with a throng of relatives making way for progressive change and improvement.  I liked the pacing and the placement of the different elements in the plot. All the characters - no matter how small and trivial - are well defined and their involvement makes the story whole and complete. There is a picturesque nature to the narrative .. felt like watching a movie in 3D. The character that I most loved is that of the old,senile and tender gentleman Clifford who as it turns out is the main ch...

 Parasite (2013) By Mira Grant  Genres : science fiction, horror, thriller  410 pages (Kindle Digital Edition) Rating 4/5 🤪🤪 I am making this note having finished half of the book. The twist that is thrown at me 50 percent into the book has left me completely speechless. I shuddered and stared off into space with unblinking eyes trying to make sense of the implications of what is just disclosed. I have been under the assumption that this is a very predictably overrated book since I started reading.  I have only been paying it little attention and drifting off occasionally into random musings on other things. But I am knocked out of my stupor by what I have just read!! Upon finishing the book :  I have read some good reviews about the book but also some very strongly negative reviews on goodreads. I quizzed myself if I should actually pick this up based on the poor reviews and ratings. But to be honest, having just finished, I would say I enjoy...

Pachinko (2017) By Min Jin Lee  Genres : historical fiction, japan, Korea, ww2  Rating 5/5 😍😍😍 This book is a National Book Award finalist.  I am going all gaga over this book and gushing over it like I haven't done in a while. I just loved it. Reading this is like flipping pages in a photo album. Happiness,sadness,surprise,jolts of shock all come and go .. while life is happening outside and independent of them. 😏 I think the essence/soul of this story is a thriving love between Hansu and Sunja that supercedes the passage of time, distance,status, power and doesn't bother about wrinkled faces, sun blotches hands, shrinking body frames etc.  I took my sweet time reading this wonderful concotion .. savoring every well formed sentence and making notes all over the text. Its a very engaging book and although there is no oppressive/fretful ambience like in 'A Thousand Splendid Suns' ,the suspense is riveting nevertheless. I wanted nothing but good things to happ...