Review: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Author R.J. Palacio

Title: Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio

Published: 2012 by The Bodley Head (Random House group)

Pages: 313

Find it at: Amazon

My Rating: 5/5! <3

Goodreads Blurb!

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.

My Thoughts!

The use of words here might seem lame, but Wonder is a wonderful story. August (Auggie) Pullman is a ten year old kid with a facial deformity (craniofacial abnormalities). That shouldn't be something to define him by, but it's also something that cannot be ignored, not at first anyway. It's hard for him to deal with it and within the carefully presented story in Wonder, we live through a year in Auggie's life as he makes a major transition - going to school for the first time in fifth grade, after having been home-schooled for years. It's not a sad story, but it's a lot about dealing with problems. It's about friendship, love and kindness and all the human things that take time to develop, but develop they do. He's most certainly not disabled, so his parents choose to send him to a regular school. It's hard for August to initially find himself the center of attention for so many people at once. He's used to being stared at, or perhaps the quick saw-you-but-ohmygod-I'll-look-away kind of awkward look, but definitely not coming across a huge group of middle schoolers who could be mean, awkward or totally kind. 

Pic credit: Mr. Solarz

Wonder is August's story, but it's also about his family. His mom, dad and fourteen year old sister, Olivia, all of whom love him to bits. You'd think having an unusual face would be hard, and it sure is, but the book also explores how people around August deal with it. It's quite heart-warming to see how much his family loves him, and how the problem makes some of their habits different from other families. One of the best things about this story is that it is full of optimism. Auggie's family, his teachers and the friends he eventually makes, all learn to love him and make him feel confident of his abilities. He's a normal kid with a classic reverence for Star Wars and love for his dog, Daisy. He's smart, intelligent, sometimes witty and honestly sincere. And let's face it: very, very brave.

The book explores not just August's life, but also those of other characters, which is again, one of the coolest things about this book. It's been written and presented just so well. You wouldn't really get to judge anyone, because just when you are about to form your opinions of a character, bam! You'd get their side of the story. When Olivia (Via) does something you'd be inclined to say is wrong, she'd put in her story, and then you'd think even more broadly and look at Auggie as a normal dude. I think the writing style does something to the book's overall feel. It doesn't ask you to pity a boy with a haphazard face, even when it talks about his problems, because it shows how people do try to deal with it, how they themselves learn a lot and how it is possible to get over anything with love and kindness. It is very much capable of instilling in hope. Like Auggie's mom says, "there are always going to be jerks in the world. But I really believe that there are more good people on this earth than bad people, and the good people watch out for each other and take care of each other."

I loved all the characters, with the slight exception of Julian, the mean kid who bullied Auggie, but now since in the latest version of the book, the author has included a chapter on Julian, I'm looking forward to reading it! Perhaps that would explain things from his point of view, just like it was done with others. I loved the girl called Summer too. We so need more kids like her! And like Jack. Apart from the emotion-invoking writing and complete, lovable characters, Wonder is also a great example of a really good book. Maybe now that my work involves looking at these sort of things and that's why I'm observing it, but it has many elements that a budding writer could make use of. But coming back to the story, another thing that struck me were the dialogues - it was like each character spoke on its own, in their unique voice. Those are capable of making a reader laugh, smile, giggle, feel anxious, whatever, on their own accord. The ending is brilliant! I couldn't have been more satisfied, although I didn't want the book to end either. Oh, Mr. Tushman (yep, that's his name!), I liked you in the beginning and all through, but you took all the love with the ending! :')

I can see many re-readings in the line! Wonder is recommended to everyone. 

Some quotable quotes from the book:

“If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.” 

“Do people look the same when they go to heaven, mommy?"

"I don't know. I don't think so."

"Then how do people recognize each other?"

"I don't know, sweetie. They just feel it. You don't need your eyes to love, right? That's how it is in heaven. It's just love, and no one forgets who they love.”

“The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they’ve died. They’re like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of you. That’s why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone.”

“Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.”

Review: George and the Unbreakable Code

Stephen and his daughter,
Lucy Hawking

Title: George and the Unbreakable Code

Authors: Lucy and Stephen Hawking

Published: 2014 by Doubleday

Pages: 315

Find it at: Amazon

My Rating: 3.5/5

Goodreads Blurb!

George and his best friend Annie haven't had any space adventures for a while and they're missing the excitement. But not for long . . .

Seriously strange things start happening. Banks are handing out free money; supermarkets can't charge for their produce so people are getting free food; and aircraft are refusing to fly. It looks like the world's biggest and best computers have all been hacked.

George and Annie will travel further into space than ever before in order to find out who is behind it.

My Thoughts!

Eleven year old George is sure that he loves machines more than people. Except perhaps his family, however annoying they might be, and best friend Annie. In this fourth book on space adventures, George and Annie are facing a world that has suddenly gone berserk! Banks are showering money on people, supermarkets aren’t charging for food, airlines are giving free air tickets and people are swarming in groups, looting whatever of value has remained. In such dire circumstances, Annie’s scientist dad has been called by the national authority to look into the matter and it is up to George and Annie to find out who’s behind this crazy, humungous hacking scheme. Their theory and ideas lead them into another trip(s) to space using their dad’s supercomputer, Cosmos. But wait, if all the computers in the world are malfunctioning, how could Cosmos have been spared? It’s suddenly dangerous to trust even their beloved computer.

George and the Unbreakable Code is about science. Kids who love science and readers who’d love to read about make-believe, but informative, adventures around science. The illustrations add fun and interest to the text, totally supporting the story. One of the unique things about this book would be the pages of factual information on different science topics, inserted in between the story at relevant pages. If in the story, a robot android is introduced, you’d find a few pages of factual data of interested related to androids. You’d also find computers, algorithms, Jupiter and Saturn and their moons, our Earth’s moon, stars, Boltzmann brains and 3D printing. Although initially I thought it’d perhaps be breaking the flow of the story, but I guess it did the opposite. Not only was it informative, but also presented in an easy to understand language, which, for a young reader, might help develop a keen interest in science.

I mean, it speaks of topics we hear about, but hardly bother to know in detail. Knowledge is important. It is capable of making one develop an interest in something, and even though my field of education and work is far from science, it was a pleasure to read it. You might skip the details about computers and algorithms, but I’d highly recommend reading the last chapter titled ‘life in the universe’ by Stephen. It talks about how life, and we, were actually formed. ^_^

Apart from being interesting, the book is fun to read. I especially loved the dialogues between George and Annie, with Annie being the one I totally love. She’s smart, brave, proud of her high IQ and yet, incredibly sweet. These kids are not scared of mad scientists, for they have enough interest in science and computers to know what they might be up to, and in the process, crack what would be otherwise, unbreakable codes. The story for me seemed to fall flat in between, but the second half of the book and facts in between make up for it. The writing style is simple, yet fun, even quirky to some extent. 

If you’re interested in science and want to read a kids’ story by Stephen Hawking (like I did), it’d be worth a read. If you know a kid who’d be interested in space adventures and is curious about the universe, this book (and the series) is recommended. It’s fun and interesting! You could skip it if these topics don’t interest you, because it’s totally around science. And yep, friendship. :)

Thank you Random House publishers for this book!

Recent Book Grabs # 6: The mixed loot!

Hiya fellow book-lovers! <3

It's been a while since I mentioned the recent book-hoard. Wait. A while? It's been half a year since I last posted! On the personal front, I've been keeping busy with my new, and first job. It's been interesting so far - being with books all day has to be! - but leaves little time to get down to blogging. The books mentioned in this post have either been received for review, purchased, received as gifts or borrowed from friends. I'm sure they're all as exciting and beautiful as they look and I'll be picking them off the shelf one by one pretty soon!

The pile of beauties <3

Clicking on the book's title will lead you to its Goodreads page. 

#1. Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury: A book that had been on my to-read list for a long time. Got this in the latest lot when I suffered from the book-buying frenzy.

#2. Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh: One of those titles we come to know of in school, among the list of popular books and their authors. I haven't yet read any of Khushwant Singh's books, being wary of the supposed 'bold' style of writing. This book that documents a story set within the India-Pakistan partition of 1947, something close to the hearts of many families in the two countries, including mine, seemed like the perfect book to start with this author.

#3. Selected Stories by Anton Chekov: The witness to my crazy forgetfulness when it comes to books, Chekov poked me once while I was browsing the shelf and I realized that my best friend had lent it to me some time ago! Eeeps!

#4. Wonder by R.J. Palacio: One of those 'I-know-it's-good-because-it's-been-popular-in-the-bok-blogging-community' books, Wonder was also a product of the latest book-buying frenzy.

#5. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte: Having heard my mother say, 'this is my favourite book' for the hundredth time, I finally decided to get a copy for myself. It came with the month old classic-buying-book frenzy.

#6. Macbeth by William Shakespeare: I've never really read any of Shakespeare's plays either, so I figured Macbeth would be a good start. I've also been meaning to read it ever since I realized that one of the witches' songs was included in the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban movie!

#7. The Metamorphosis and Other Stories by Franz Kafka: The book found it's way to my dad and he gave it to me. I'm quite looking forward to reading this, considering the popularity of both, the short story called The Metamorphosis and the author. 

#8. Matilda by Roald Dahl: Having been on my TBR since the time I had watched the movie years ago and time and again been swayed by the cuteness of the cover, I finally lost the reserve when I saw it in a random, new and brilliant bookstore I came across recently. Enjoyed reading this one! 

#9. The Silkworm by Robert Galbraith: Once I read, and loved The Cuckoo's Calling, I 'had' to read the next book, didn't I? How can you ignore a book by JK Rowling??? I'm reading it presently and it's just a remarkable experience! :') 

#10. George and the Unbreakable Code by Lucy and Stephen Hawking: I hadn't heard of a children's story by Stephen Hawking. This seemed pretty interesting and is illustrated with sketches! Received for review, will be the next book I read.

#11. Invisible by James Patterson and David Ellis: Having read James Patterson's books, I'm somewhat naturally inclined to pick up his mysteries, especially those that sound just.so.intriguing! Read the blurb of this one and you'll know what I mean!

Despite having so much to do, to read and explore, I'm still around 11 books behind schedule in my year's reading goal. Not that it matters as much, considering how I do enjoy the most of what I'm reading, but still! I hadn't finished the goal last year and this time, I just have to. Have you read any of these books? Thoughts? What did you get lately?

PS- The Delhi Book Fair's on, and I've had mental debates whether or not to visit. I know it sounds silly, because I've never before missed any book fair if you don't count the last time because I had bumped my leg into a flowerpot and couldn't walk for a week. Strange things happen, yes, but this time it's just emotional. I think I'm getting to that stage where I can somewhat overlook it because I really am busy. There's work even over the weekends and I don't just feel that enthusiastic about it. The thought was a sad one when I realized, but I suppose it's okay. What do you think?   

Review: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith

Title: The Cuckoo's Calling (Cormoran Strike # 1)
Author: Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling)
Published: April, 2013 by Sphere (Hachette)
Pages: 449
Find it at: Amazon
My Rating: 5/5!

*Declaration* I read this book mostly because it is written by J.K. Rowling. In fact, before it wasn't revealed that she is the true author of this book, I hadn't come across it, or knew of its existence. As a JKR fan, it was impossible to read the book without stopping in between and thinking, 'ohmygod. JK is brilliant!' So yeah, probably the review is biased, so if you think that's not the way you'd want to read, don't.

Blurb from Goodreads

A brilliant debut mystery in a classic vein: Detective Cormoran Strike investigates a supermodel's suicide.

After losing his leg to a land mine in Afghanistan, Cormoran Strike is barely scraping by as a private investigator. Strike is down to one client, and creditors are calling. He has also just broken up with his longtime girlfriend and is living in his office.

Then John Bristow walks through his door with an amazing story: His sister, the legendary supermodel Lula Landry, known to her friends as the Cuckoo, famously fell to her death a few months earlier. The police ruled it a suicide, but John refuses to believe that. The case plunges Strike into the world of multimillionaire beauties, rock-star boyfriends, and desperate designers, and it introduces him to every variety of pleasure, enticement, seduction, and delusion known to man.

You may think you know detectives, but you've never met one quite like Strike. You may think you know about the wealthy and famous, but you've never seen them under an investigation like this.

Introducing Cormoran Strike, this is the acclaimed first crime novel by J.K. Rowling, writing under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Pic credit: Google

My Thoughts!

The Cuckoo's Calling introduces us to a new detective in the fictional world of crime and mystery. When I started reading the book, I'd expected Cormoran Strike to be like Jack Reacher maybe, being ex-military, but I was delighted to see that Strike's characterization was totally unexpected and I loved every bit of it! Strike's a private detective now, recently breaking up with his girlfriend, barely able to make a living. However, this information about a hero-protagonist doesn't make you feel bad. It's rather the opposite! You'd find yourself cheering for him whenever he gets a small success, and although I'm not entirely in love with this character, I do accept him as one of those whose stories have a magnetic quality to them. You just want to know what he's going to be doing. His own past and story is just as intriguing and every revelation makes you connect better with him. 

The mystery surrounding the supermodel's death is investigated by Strike with the help of his temporary assistant, Robin. It's never a pretty picture, but it most certainly wasn't as gruesome as I thought it'd be, going by the blurb. Perhaps it's because all the stinky details have been spread out evenly throughout the book. True, we see less of the kind of swinging action we're used to; I felt it's more Sherlock-style. Unraveling the mystery by going into psychological depths of people associated with Lula Landry, the model who fell to her death from her second floor flat. Strike digs into Lula's past and comes across a whole array of people making their living with the world of glamour. 

As I mentioned above, I found it more on the psychological side, where we receive bits and pieces of information, sometimes painfully slowly, but we're hooked on to the book nevertheless. Every suspect seems equally plausible, yet we have no idea how anyone could have managed to pull off the crime. The book did seem to get stretched in between, but it picks up pace in the second half. I know a couple of people who read mystery books backwards: they start reading from the beginning, and when they know what the crime was, they read the back pages to know who the criminal is, and then read the book, figuring out how the criminal managed the crime. I'm on the opposite side, though. Even if I'm clueless as to who it might be and how the crime was committed, I'd never want to know the solution in advance! I'd like to work through the mystery along with the detective, marveling at the manner in which he makes sense of the unrelated pieces of information. It was the same with Strike. At every revelation and deduction and sense of understanding of human behaviour, all I felt was awe at this brainy character! 

The other characters in the book lead parallel lives, though the focus is majorly on Strike. It was fun reading about those as well, and also intriguing, for it added up to making one feel like anything could be an important piece of information! Since there were quite a few suspects in my mind, with all of them having possible motives and we were steadily receiving information about each of them, I felt the ending could have been more elaborate. Although I very well know it wouldn't have been much use; the actual crime - the who and the how - had been explained quite clearly, but I still was left wondering about the other suspects and their suspicious activities. Apart from the well-knit plot, believable and realistic characters, the writing style was mature. I don't know if 'mature' is the right word. I suppose it could have been easier, but then, that's the style the author had adopted and apart from the fact that one would need regular use of the dictionary (if you really can stop to go through their meanings and not do with the implied ones), it suited the book just as well.

Quite a few to-be-remembered lines from the book:

“Humans often assumed symmetry and equality where none existed.”

“When you are young, and beautiful, you can be very cruel.” 

“How easy it was to capitalize on a person’s own bent for self-destruction; how simple to nudge them into non-being, then to stand back and shrug and agree that it had been the inevitable result of a chaotic, catastrophic life.” 

Recommended for: Mystery lovers, adult readers, JKR fans!  
PS- Super excited to read the next Cormoran Strike novel, The Silkworm! 

Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman

Book Title: The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Author: Neil Gaiman
Published: June 2013, Headline Review
Pages: 248
Find it at: Amazon
My Rating: 4/5!

I was introduced to Neil Gaiman only recently, and it made me feel somewhat stupid, not knowing him already, considering he's been writing since forever. It's alright, though. Better late than never! The first book by him I got to read was The Ocean at the End of the Lane, a fantastical account of a middle-aged man as he remembers a time as a seven year old boy in his old home in Sussex, England. Filled with magic and nightmares as we all would have related to as children, this book is one of the most unique I've ever come across. Reading up on Gaiman revealed that that's his style. I'm now quite looking forward to read his other books!

Goodreads Blurb!

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.


My Thoughts!

As the unnamed middle-aged man visits his childhood home and sits in front of a pond, his memories of a time when he was seven come rushing back. He remembers the house at the end of his lane as one belonging to the Hempstocks, and his eleven year old friend Lettie Hempstock, who used to call the pond her 'ocean'. I'm still not completely sure what the underlying meaning of the whole book was. Is it simply a fantasy tale in essence (considering the ending) or an attempt at celebrating and remembering our childhood? The memories of the man as a seven year old revolve around the suicide of a tenant they had, at the end of the lane. This suicide opens up a series of events that seem to come straight out of the nightmares of a child. Is all that real?

The parents of the boy bring in Ursula Monkton, the new nanny for the children, and the boy takes an immediate dislike to her. He fears she is the result of his mistake at the magical farm when he was with Lettie. She had asked him not to let go of her hand, but he had, and what ensues in the form of the "flea" that Ursula Monkton is, is all his fault. Or so he seems to believe. He tries escaping the monster in his home, one who is manipulating his father and making his home a living hell. He seeks Lettie Hempstock's help. She's eleven, but she is very much capable of making the horrors go away.

The story is captivating, although at some parts I felt it went on and on about the same thing. Even then, it's unpredictable and you wouldn't know where its heading, what with the absolute uncertainty as to what is real and what isn't. For me, it was something befuddling. And something that seemed like a combination of many imaginative nights I had as a child. There's no telling for children as to how they see the world around them, how one incident can trigger off a series of nightmares, not necessarily related, making one feel like they're living in a monster-infested world. There have been some moments, some things one does or feels sometimes, that have been included in the book. This seven year old feels like what we all might have felt sometime in our lives.

There was one paragraph that I was surprised to read. I'm not the only one who gets into these kind of moments! *yess!* Here it goes:
'I wondered, as I wondered so often when I was that age, who I was, and what exactly was looking at the face in the mirror. If the face I was looking at wasn't me, and I knew it wasn't, because I would still be me whatever happened to my face, then what was me? And what was watching?'

The author's writing style is also simple, and the book is a quick read. The main character is the boy (the middle-aged man who starts the story), with other characters of prominence being Lettie Hempstock and her mother and grandmother, Ursula Monkton - the flea - and the narrator's father. Even though most characters did not have a brief sketch about them, they're very easy to sketch out using their actions and behavior. The ending was satisfying, if not somewhat delightful for a person who loves the idea of a fantasy world running parallel to the one we live in. For all its genuineness, I'd recommend the book to lovers of fantasy, imagination, young adult fiction. The Ocean at the End of the Lane is considered a fairy tale for adults, probably because of a few mature scenes or more so because of the content of the book, which adults will very well relate to, reminiscing their childhood.

Some marked quotes from the book:

'Adults follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way, hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between fences.'

'Growing up, I took so many cues from books. They taught me most of what I knew about what people did, about how to behave. They were my teachers and my advisers.'       

'Lettie shrugged. "Nobody looks like what they really are on the inside. You don't. I don't. People are much more complicated than that. It's true of everybody."'

'I do not miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as greater things crumbled.'

'I said, "Will she be the same?" The old woman guffawed, as if I had said the funniest thing in the universe. "Nothing's ever the same," she said. "Be it a second later or a hundred years. It's always churning and roiling. And people change as much as oceans."'