Karna's Wife by Kavita Kane

When I started this book I had this premonition that this book is not going to surprise me and after finishing this book I feel I was quite right.

The whole narrative doesn't have much to offer other then what we already know about Karna. In fact, all the stories are told so many times that there was no surprise element.

Sadly, the Uruvi retelling the story didn't make much difference, and I must say that the author was a bit weak in presenting the narrative. The whole text was quite repetitive.

Karna was a Greek-god type tragic hero. But we can't change our karma. What is said or done is over and there is no way that we can take it back. Karna was destined to die in battlefield, and that was the end of it.

I think I'm too much on this mythological dose from last few books. Will try to pick a different theme this time.

Asura : Tale of the Vanquished by Anand Neelkantan

I heard a lot about this book but when I read it, I was not really impressed how the whole narrative was presented.

I see that the book is full of negativity, and people bashing. I don't believe that there was a single person in the whole book who can be loved or respected. All the characters mentioned are so full of hatred and negativity that we end up hating all of them and justifying that whatever bad happened to them was well deserved.

It started with a story of Ravana but from the beginning to end it was more like a high cast bashing and the author was hell bent to prove that the northern part of India was one of the worst places to be and it subsequently corrupted the southern part of India.

This book has a bad narrative and all the stories are twisted to prove the author's point only. This is not the Ravana's version of story. It sounds more like a personal hate manual (hate list) against north indians and the vaidik rituals.

If you want to see bad you'll never see good in anything.

The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult

This is an amazing book based on the memoirs of Holocaust.

The story revolves around Sage who is a baker with some bad memories. She has a Holocaust survivor grandmother. In a support group she meets an old man who comes up with a weird request for his own murder.

There is sub plot of grandmother writing the story and you couldn't have asked for more. This sub plot blends so well (I must say keeping in different format really works) that the reader moves in and out of plots effortlessly.

The gist of the plot is about forgiveness. Who can forgive and who can be forgiven?

After finishing the book I took some time to think about this question. And one thing that struck me most was from the book only. The grandmother didn't talk to anybody about her survival in those camps. She didn't want to pass the pain to the next generations and she was not even thinking about revenge or forgiveness.

I think there was always a chance when we can forgive or be forgiven.

I'll go with peace. Easier said than done.