by Prabhakar Korada ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2017
A compassionate tone drives this tender but sometimes shakily written love story.
A long novel by Indian psychiatrist Korada (2012 is Not the End, 2012, etc.), based on his own experiences.
This epic work, in the vein of Vikram Seth’s 1993 novel A Suitable Boy, shares that book’s theme of striving to find an appropriate spouse. It opens in 2006 with Dr. Surya Rao preparing for the opening of SURYA Hospitals, which offer affordable, holistic psychiatric treatment. He’s a professional success but also carries a personal sadness with him. When Lakshmi Beliappa turns up to the opening ceremony with an unfinished painting by her grown daughter, Sindhuri, Surya is plunged into his own memories. He met Sindhuri, a budding fashion designer, eight years before when she accidentally kicked him in the face in a swimming pool. They became close friends through their shared interests in swimming, karate, and meditation, but Surya resisted his romantic feelings, reasoning that he was too old for her: “my love for her…was truly non-possessive, truly platonic,” he told himself. Instead, he encouraged her to accept one of her parents’ chosen suitors, but none were satisfactory, and one even assaulted her. After Sindhuri’s father’s sudden death, Surya finally changed his tune and proposed to her. Their marriage of true equals was ultimately cut short, but Surya’s philosophical approach to life and death allowed him to make it through: “I am with you through this, Sindhuri….It hurts me as much as it hurts you,” he says. This tragic romance plotline distinguishes the novel, which, despite its excessive length, gallops along fairly well. Religious concepts, such as karma and ahimsa, are unobtrusively discussed along the way, and moments from Indian history and Surya’s activist past are introduced through further flashbacks. There are occasional flashes of poetic language, such as “the sun…appeared like a ball of saffron in the distant horizon.” However, there are persistent problems with misused or missing prepositions and articles (as in “the art to defend ourselves,” “I was at loss for words,” and “She screamed on top of her voice”).
A compassionate tone drives this tender but sometimes shakily written love story.Pub Date: June 21, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5482-3776-9
Page Count: 750
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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