Alamelu Janaki

  Days at the Morisaki Bookshop – Satoshi Yasgisawa A warm, fast paced single sitting type of read, an absolute game for beginners! And Yes, the book gives you a bear hug- familiar and comforting!       Takako, a young girl who is often at odds in explaining herself suffers a heart break and later rediscovers her purpose by staying at her uncle Satoru’s rundown Morisaki bookshop. To stay among thousands of books is indeed a delight, as Takako explores the place and the bookshop her passion for life is rekindled.      The cozy novel is divided into two parts. The first part is about Takako’s self-discovery at the bookshop and the second part deals with her aunt Momoko’s return and how her presence and perspective of life alter Takako’s presumptions. Yet another fascinating thread is that of Wada – a customer at the shop who later becomes the love interest of Takako.        This book was lighter and warmer since my last ...

    The 2024 Butter   written by a Japanese writer Asako Yuzuki, translated into English by Polly Barton, is a crime narrative revealing how the society determines “what women can desire for?”      The Book, l ike the actual Butter, on consumption - slowly melts filling the whole of the self. It is unputdownable and offers an individually distinct experience to its readers.        Based on the real-life Japanese incident concerning “Konkatsu Killer,” the book delves into the psychological triggers and emotional rationale behind the convicted killer of three elderly men and the determined journalist aiming for an exclusive interview from the convict.      The case has spurred lot of curiosity from the  people in Japan, because Kaji, the convict is not beautiful but obese, there is no evident attractive quality about her. This makes people wonder what did the men/victims actually see in her as they mysteriously ...

   “April is the cruelest month” T.S. Eliot said, I can’t agree more.          It has been a decade since your demise. And life refused to be the same way since then.         Mother is absolutely the dominant force in all our lives, the strongest connection ever. Because they gave us life and laid the foundation of life and knowledge. I have always thought, you unknowingly raised us to be independent and self-assured. I often feel things would have been much different if you were around.       I had   questions like “why it had to be you?” “what next happens to you?” “where did we fail you?” “we abandoned you or you chose it?.” over the years, I understood that’s the course of life. What has to happen will happen and over time, we get used to the pain and navigate the absence in each different ways.       People say my daughter looks more like ...

                                       TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE  by Mitch Albom.                 I have been someone who is haunted by the thoughts of death, the aftermath, the situation of our loved ones, the fear of not knowing what happens next, the purpose of our existence, the things that might possibly go unsaid and lot more. This complicated streak of thoughts and inability to understand the reason behind it has always put me in despair. This book somehow erased the anxiety that surrounds such thoughts. It offered me solidarity, support and comfort around such abandoned areas.  The book concerns an aging, dying professor and his beloved student discussing life, love, death. Questions like 1.                                  ...

  Nobel winning South Korean writer Han Kang’s The Vegetarian (International Booker prize, 2016) rationalizes the inscrutable nature of the black hole kind of thing in every individual, iterating the idea that each one has their own bag of shit to deal with. The book addresses the question of ‘what it takes to be a human?’   and the fragility of the components with which humans are made of.   A woman wants to become a plant, shedding all the human attributes that surround her. Developing from the 1997 short story, ‘The Fruit of My Woman’ this novel is written in three parts narrated by her husband, sister and brother-in-law whose lives are irrevocably altered since the protagonist’ decision to relinquish meat. In the first part of the book, Yeong-hye appears as a normal, insignificant woman marrying a cold and indifferent person; everything about their life follows a monotonous rhythm until she being disturbed by a series of dreams that propel her to become a vegetari...

                    How do you punish or reclaim someone in a wronged relationship?  “A devastated woman’s grief-stricken sigh had the potential to burn down a house.”                                                                                                    (The Poison of love) Love the most debated, celebrated notion has incredible power to replenish, destroy an individual's life, irrevocably. The plot concerns the love of Tulsi, an IIT...