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Showing posts from August, 2017

Book Review: Up in Michigan by Ernest Hemingway

Up in Michigan by Ernest Hemingway is a short story which in it has infatuation as the central theme. Other concurrent themes support this main theme are gender typecast, unequal romance, and social inferiority. The story starts with an introduction of a man and a city to which he comes as a new immigrant. The man is Jim Gilmore, and the city is Horton's Bay in Michigan. Jim takes a blacksmith's shop as a settlement provision and often visits Smiths for meals, especially for dinner and drinks. There aren’t many houses where he lives. So, for company he acquaintances with D.J. Smith and Charley Wyman. Liz Coates works in the kitchen of Smiths and is considered a neat beautiful girl with noticeable neat hair in the views of Mrs. Smith. On the other hand, Jim being a blacksmith is an impressive personality having substantial semblance of manhood. Liz, inside her heart, thinks about him, and anticipates a lot about him. In fact, she becomes a keen observer of him. Iro

Book Review: Vagrants in the Valley by Ruskin Bond

Vagrants in the Valley by Ruskin Bond is a wonderful book dealing with the loneliness of Rusty–Ruskin Bond’s favorite character–and to some extent Rusty is the reflection of Bond’s early life spent in many North Indian cities. The book is a sequel to the book ‘The Room on the Roof’ and is also a part of the Rusty series books. As told in ‘The Room on the Roof’, Rusty runs away from his bitter English guardian and falls in love with Meena, the mother of Kishen. But when she dies in an accident and Kishen got tired of his boring, drunkard father, he runs away to Hardwar to live with an aunt and Rusty follows them. After spending a year in Hardwar, they both feel the fondness for Dehradun and the memories of their friendship and juvenile adventures and vagrancy haunt them so much that one day they become what they were a year ago: vagrants and subsequently they run away from that place. Because of lack of money, they cover most of the journey on foot and in snatches travel w

Book Review: Caravan to Tibet by Deepa Agarwal

Debu and Hayat live in Milam, a small hilly village on the borders of India and Tibet. A year ago they lost their father in a snow blizzard when he was coming back to Milam from Tibet following a trade business. Father’s absence makes their life all the tougher, since they are poor and means of livelihood are infrequent in the hills, and his uncle Trilok troubles them above all. However, Debu believes that his father is alive and he should proceed to find him. But the biggest obstacle is the journey that has to take through the snowy high-mountain passes that lead to Tibet. Moreover, he is just a fourteen-year-old boy and so far no boy of his age has been included in the expedition which is usually carried out by veteran traders and mountaineers. One day Debu sees his father’s amulet in a Tibetan customer’s neck. When he enquires about that amulet the customer says he bought it from the market of Garkot – a famous place in Tibet where his father and other men of the village o

Book Review: The Eyes of the Eagle by Ruskin Bond

Jai comes to his grandparents’ home up in the valley to while away the October holiday. He loves reading books as well as roaming across the jungles in the hills. At his grandparents’ home, his main task is to take the cattle out for grazing. And to accompany him, is a shaggy, bear-like dog, because of his size Jai and others call him Motu. The valley in which they take their cattle for grazing is recently terrorized by two big golden eagles. The eagles keep watch on their prey and when things are set they attack silently. Their preparation seldom leaves a way for any error. Pheasants, foxes, snow-cocks, pine martens, and lambs so far have been their victims. The eagles rule the sky – they are bold and equally fearless. And only a skilled hunter can reduce them to ashes. So one day when he was not so careful, busy gathering strawberries, the eagle taking the advantage of the situation attacks a tiny lamb and flies away it. Jai and Motu realizing the horror and loss run af

Book Review: Talkative Man by R.K. Narayan

Talkative Man by R.K. Narayan is a bit different novella from his regular novels which are mainly about the conflict of human nature. The characters and events leading to the final climax are rather hilarious in this book. The main character of the book is a man who speaks a lot hence people have named him TM – Talkative Man. He lives in Kabeer Street in Malgudi, being an aspiring journalist it’s one of his dearest desires to see his reports being published in the newspapers. He is a regular visitor to the Town Hall Library; he goes there not to read but to see whether any of his stories have been published, but most of the time he is disappointed. One day at the library, he encounters a fair complexion man – the man was not from Malgudi. It was evident from his attire and skin complexion. He says himself Dr. Rann from Timbuctoo, on a UN mission. Like TM, that man also is talkative and says that he has come to Malgudi to complete his book peacefully – which will be a sensatio