The Case of the Missing Servant :: Tarquin Hall

Title: The Case of the Missing Servant

Author: Tarquin Hall

Read: NYC

Format: Trade paperback

Vish Puri is a rotund Punjabi private detective with an overblown sense of his own ability and an incessant hankering for fried treats. In this first installment of his adventures, he has to solve the mystery of his own attempted murder, find a missing servant (of course), and investigate the character of a wealthy client's future son-in-law. With the aid of his mother, a team of crack assistants, and, indeed, his own ability he manages to get to the bottom of everything. Though it takes a minute to get used to, the telling is charming and fun to watch unfold.

I obviously enjoyed Hall's series debut even though it wasn't particularly innovative insofar as the mysteries are concerned. But it was light and Puri is truly a lovable new character (even if he is, apparently, Poirot-ish). What I find interesting in my own reaction is that even though a white, British man writes this Indian tale (set in Delhi), it doesn't bother me. Not in the way McCall Smith's Ladies Detective Agency series troubled me. Maybe because the voice that Hall is inhabiting is a man and therefore the difference is smaller and easier to overlook. Or maybe it's because Hall doesn't exoticize his protagonists culture in the same way that McCall Smith does. Somehow, I feel like it's more respectful. I could totally be projecting that, th0ugh.

Anyway, I really enjoyed The Case of the Missing Servant for what it is: a light, charming, fun read. And while I didn't run out to buy the second installment (now still in hard cover), I expect it's just a matter of time.

Fun, colorful, charming.

4 out of 5 stars

Wuthering Heights :: Emily Bronte

Title: Wuthering Heights [White Whale 2010, #2]

Author: Emily Bronte

Read: NYC

Format: Trade paperback

Let's not beat around the bush: I really, really didn't like Wuthering Heights.

In a nutshell: Heathcliff and Catherine love each other, but she marries someone else (isn't that always the way). After she marries and eventually dies, he gets all gloomy and haunted and vengeful and mean. They live on a landscape that matches Heathcliff's 'tude. He makes life miserable for everyone in two households. At the end, he dies and things start looking up.

Thoughts:

- I hate when character's accents are written phonetically.

- Heathcliff is overbearing, scary, and completely unsympathetic.

- Catherine, too, is unlikeable. Also, she is annoying.

- Bronte doesn't convincingly develop their 'love' or any kind of passion; as a motivation for decades of revenge, it falls flat.

- The narrative requires that the moor be a very insular world. But, the fact that everyone just accepts it as their whole world out of some under-developed sense of obligation is weak and convenient. Heathcliff was able to leave. If he's such an ass to everyone, why do they stick around?

- Rocky moors, unkempt terrain, cold, damp. It's gothic, I get it.

Even though I didn't like it, I'm glad I read Wuthering Heights - even if only to cross it off my list. Also, there are certain books that are referenced so frequently that it just makes sense to go through them. Even if they are not your thing.

Maybe if I read it when I was 12 I would have liked it more:

2 out of 5 stars

The White Tiger :: Aravind Adiga

Title: The White Tiger [book club selection, VM]

Author: Aravind Adiga

Read: NYC

Format: Kindle

White Tiger is a gripping, darkly-comic view into modern India told - with gusto - by Balram Halwai, our entrepeneurial, car-service-owning narrator. Ostensibly, the story is about Balram's rise as a businessman, but through his tale we are exposed to the grave disparity among Indians even today. Some of the dualities explored include: Hindu vs Muslim cultures; abject poverty vs burgeoning global power; the urban vs the rural; individual vs familial responsibilities; obedience vs corruption; and western assimilation vs national loyalty.

Clearly, White Tiger is dense with meaning, but it falls shy of actually indicting any one villain for these problems, which is refreshing. Instead, it paints the perhaps heavy-handed portrait of a changing nation.

Told as a missive from the charming, if mentally-unbalanced, Balram to the Prime Minister of China, the novel is at times as funny as it is wrenching. The epistolary structure (if you can call it that, at this length) serves as a great mechanism for Adiga to pull out of some of the more heartbreaking/shocking assessments of India by injecting Balram's humorous voice. Adiga also then returns the reader to the absurd format of an earnest letter from a ridiculous man to a world leader.

Anyway, I liked The White Tiger. I liked the narrator (sociopath or not). I was intrigued by the portrait of India. But, it did leave me (and my fellow book-clubbers) wondering about how exaggerated the account is. But maybe that's part of the point? That is, this depravity (or some degree of it anyway) exists and nobody really knows (or cares to know) exactly how bad it might be.

Provoking and funny. An unusual combination worth checking out.

4 out of 5 stars

Lark & Termite :: Jayne Anne Phillips

Title: Lark & Termite

Author: Jayne Anne Phillips

Read: NYC

Format: Trade paperback

Lark & Termite is a multigenerational epic-y tale of the mentally and physically handicapped boy called Termite and his older sister Lark. To understand their lives, we have to first understand their troubled mother - the sister of the aunt with whom they live - and the father that died in the Korean War. While their family is filled with loss, heartache, drama, etc, it's also not wanting for love. The family unit that the youngsters' aunt creates for them is both warm and loving.

Sometimes contrived, but always touching, I do recommend Lark & Termite for it's ability to keep the reader engaged - captivated even - as it unwinds. Phillips' writing, too, is noteworthy. The perspective and time jumps around and even though the character perspective shifts, the changes are never jarring. Phillips maintains consistency in sentences that are always sparse and modern, but never unfeeling. All together it has an almost-musical quality to it; at times it's even beautiful.

Put it on your list.

4 out of 5 stars

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass :: Lewis Carroll

Title: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass

Author: Lewis Carroll

Read: NYC; JFK > SFO; Palo Alto, CA

Format: mass market paperback

I don't really get this book. But, I'm guessing it's because I'm (a) old, (b) not old enough to care that much about the subtext, (c) expected it to be really great.

Of course I'd seen the cartoon and I'm aware of most of the main characters. I just thought that there would be more plot. Instead, Alice just kind of walks around from one weird symbolic interaction to another. The writing is descriptive and imaginative, but not mind-blowing. In fairness though, over the years Carroll's tableaus have been colorfully imagined so many times - by artists ranging from Disney to Tom Petty - that despite being the inspiration it would appear to fall short, creatively.

I think most books are best enjoyed in specific windows, be they age, date, or circumstance-based. I missed my window with Alice.

It was fine: imaginative, but with no surprises (neither in plot or writing):

3 out of 5 stars