Given that I love the Harry Potter series and read them every year, I should have been one of the first customers of her latest book. But I am generally not that eager to buy new books here. They are released in hard back and really expensive!
Anyway, I was looking forward to the book, eager to know what JK Rowling had to say to adults. And finally, courtesy Manghani, I got the soft copy.
The book is gripping. Yet again, I am impressed with Rowling's skill as a storyteller. She took very very mundane everyday subjects and wove a story around them. Observing how she interweaves all parts of the story (there are too many central characters) and how she yanks the rug from all of them with one incident, is like seeing a master at work. Having said that, I dont think I liked the book. The story is very ordinary. Morever, it is too black for me. Yes, I know that people in general are uncaring and selfish but I dont really want to read about it in a book. And, she has successfully brought out the worst in people. And it is even more disturbing when you see that this 'worstness' is very possible and not something you can brush off as 'only in books'. Unfortunately, it is very much 'real life'.
When I think back to Harry Potter, I no longer wonder how Rowling could dredge up so much blackness - or how much bleakness exists in her soul. It is a personal observation that the poorer you think of reality, the greater is your escape in your alternate world. I know that whenever I am depressed or upset, I start reading books back to back, barely managing to get my everyday tasks done (even cooking and eating). So, I would like to conclude that one of the reasons for the ulitmate fantasy of Harry Potter is because Casual Vacancy was lying somewhere in Rowling's phyche. And she says that this is a book she had to write - which I would think is a kind of purging activity. Well this is just conjecture, but whatever it is, I do not want to read black comedy. I always fail to see the comedy in it and keep struggling with the blackness. Case in point is Jane Bhi Do Yaaron. Everybody says that it is a very funny movie. I did like the Mahabharata scene but I did not find it funny that two innocent people were killed.
But then, that is my point of view. Some people do like to read about things they term 'hard reality'. But do not start this book expecting blissful escape.
Anyway, I was looking forward to the book, eager to know what JK Rowling had to say to adults. And finally, courtesy Manghani, I got the soft copy.
The book is gripping. Yet again, I am impressed with Rowling's skill as a storyteller. She took very very mundane everyday subjects and wove a story around them. Observing how she interweaves all parts of the story (there are too many central characters) and how she yanks the rug from all of them with one incident, is like seeing a master at work. Having said that, I dont think I liked the book. The story is very ordinary. Morever, it is too black for me. Yes, I know that people in general are uncaring and selfish but I dont really want to read about it in a book. And, she has successfully brought out the worst in people. And it is even more disturbing when you see that this 'worstness' is very possible and not something you can brush off as 'only in books'. Unfortunately, it is very much 'real life'.
When I think back to Harry Potter, I no longer wonder how Rowling could dredge up so much blackness - or how much bleakness exists in her soul. It is a personal observation that the poorer you think of reality, the greater is your escape in your alternate world. I know that whenever I am depressed or upset, I start reading books back to back, barely managing to get my everyday tasks done (even cooking and eating). So, I would like to conclude that one of the reasons for the ulitmate fantasy of Harry Potter is because Casual Vacancy was lying somewhere in Rowling's phyche. And she says that this is a book she had to write - which I would think is a kind of purging activity. Well this is just conjecture, but whatever it is, I do not want to read black comedy. I always fail to see the comedy in it and keep struggling with the blackness. Case in point is Jane Bhi Do Yaaron. Everybody says that it is a very funny movie. I did like the Mahabharata scene but I did not find it funny that two innocent people were killed.
But then, that is my point of view. Some people do like to read about things they term 'hard reality'. But do not start this book expecting blissful escape.
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