Book Review : Eragon

Eragon

The inside cover of Eragon informs us that it's author, Christopher Paolini, was 15 years old when he wrote the book. In a way this presents a peculiar problem. It makes it a touch unfair to hold him to the same standards as CS Lewis or Tolkien. Still, a published book is a published book and it needs to be judged on its own merit.

Eragon doesn't break any new ground as far as fantasy literature is concerned. There is a strong sense of deja vu about the whole thing. If you've read enough of the Fanatasy Classics and played enough Role-playing games, you basically know what you're in for. The characters are a touch caricatured and the writing varies from being very gripping to being rather hackneyed.

It traces the story of a farm boy called Eragon who stumbles upon what happens to be a dragon-egg. When the egg hatches, he becomes one of the powerful, mythical dragon-riders and starts off on a journey that involves a head-on collission with the all-powerful King Galbatorix, aided by an old Magician and a young man of questionable parentage. He also falls in love with a powerful elf-princess and allies himself with a mysterious witch.

The problem is, it all sounds rather familiar.

Paolini may or may not go on to become a remarkable writer. I am inclined to think not, but far better reviewers than me have been proven wrong. For now, it's best to treat Eragon as a fun way to spend a few hours. Expect no more and you will be pleasantly surprised. Expect a debut on the lines of Ray Feist's Magician and you'll be sadly disappointed.

Buy it here

Book Review : The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book


Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle Book is acknowledged as a masterpiece of children’s literature. We should also now recognize that our generation will probably be the last to have actually read it. It will be too difficult to read for future generations of children brought up on computer games and Cartoon Network, and adults will dismiss it because it features talking animals.

That would be a mistake. Kipling’s story of the lost “man-cub” (Mowgli) who is raised by a Wolf-pack, taught by a Bear and a panther and his final return to his own kind has a very adult theme to it. Of belonging to a community and then realizing you don’t. From his acceptance on Council Rock as a member of the Pack – an acceptance bought on the word of the aging Baloo and a kill made by Bagheera – to his triumphant return to the Council Rock as the renegade returned, with Sher Khan’s hide on his back, and then back to his village, Mowgli never fits in. He’s accepted at best, but he’s different. It’s the individuals – Akela the Great Grey Wolf, deposed as leader of the pack, Baloo the old bear, irrelevant to all but Mowgli, Bagheera, the panther who was raised in captivity, and Messua his presumptive mother – who are true to him. As communities, both the pack and the village fail him.

But the parable is strictly secondary. What stands out is the beauty of the story itself. Kipling’s style here is refreshingly lucid - one can almost imagine an old story-teller gathering the children of the regiment around him and telling them the fantastic story of the boy who got lost and was raised by a jungle of talking beasts. Telling them of the heroism of Akela, the villainy of Shere Khan, the cunning of his lackey, Tabaqui the wolf, the menace of Kaa the Python and the horror of the Red Dog, the Dhol. And for a moment it’s easy to forget that Kipling was a colonial Brit. For ‘The Jungle Book’ is as Indian a piece of work as any.

Buy it here

Book Review : Catch-22

Catch - 22

Definitely recommend for all those of you who like their humour (even if not their coffee) black. It’s a masterpiece of modern satire, where the island of Pianosa becomes a microism of the society itself and the War a parallel to the struggle of daily existence.

The beauty of Catch-22 lies in its characters. Yossarian, the protagonist, the lead bombardier who never hits anything but manages to evade enemy fire ; Nately the principled, aristocratic young pilot who is devoted to an Italian prostitute ; Orr, Yossarian’s roommate, an intensely frustrating, intensely brilliant kid ; the petty Colonel Cathcart who sends him men to die so that he can be promoted ; Milo Minderbinder, the ultimate capitalist who bombs his own squadron to turn a profit ; Doc Daneeka the selfish doctor who never lifts a finger to help anyone but himself ; Hungry Joe the fashion photographer turned pilot ; McDuff the underage kid who joins the Air Force to see what war is all about ; R Shipman the chaplain, well-meaning but timid and of course, Major Major Major Major the reculsive squadron commander.

These and more pursue their own agenda faithfully to its logical fruition. Yossarian refuses to take part in the war, Nately dies just when he finally wins the prostitute’s love, Orr crashes his way to a successful desertion, Cathcart, of course, continues sending men to die but doesn’t get promoted, Milo becomes fabulously rich at the country’s expense, Daneeka is declared dead when clearly alive, Hungry Joe dies in combat, McDuff kills himself, Shipman is accused of being Washington Irving and 4M well, the poor nondescript just disappears.

It’s a story that would be very sad if it wasn’t so damn funny and would be funny if it wasn’t so damn sad. In Heller’s illustration of the futility of war lies the greater question of the relevance and futility of our daily struggle, at our jobs, our lives, our relationships.

Is it worth it?

There’s the Catch. It’s Catch-22. As Doc Daneeka so succinctly puts it, “Of course you’re crazy. You’ve got to be crazy to be fighting this war. And if you’re crazy I can send you home. But I can’t send you home unless you ask to be sent home. And if you ask to be sent home you can’t be crazy. So I can’t send you home. You see?”

Yes, we see.

Buy it here

Seasonal Offerings

Now I imagine that there are a number of questions hovering about in the minds of the unfortunate souls who find themselves reading this page. Some of them being:

1. Why start this blog when there was an existing one that did the job perfectly well.

2. Who the hell gave the author the right to review works of other people when he's never done anything worthwhile himself.

3. How often can we expect updates here.

The answers are ridiculously simple, really.

1. Enhanced Clarity.

2. No one. But then that can be said of all literary, theatrical and musical criticism anyway.

3. As and when a book is read, a CD heard, a restaurant visited or in the rarest of rare cases, a movie seen.

And that's it for now.