Literary Mystique

"Beautiful things are either dangerous or supernatural, at times both, or a deception. Like feelings.." Review :  Before going to the book, I would like to admire the cover, which, despite being very pretty has a slight hint of gloom to it. Since it's a short book of sixty two pages, I would not ruin the interest of readers providing a synopsis. In short, this beautiful story is about how Death felt the essence of love when he came across a girl on Earth. What I loved : • The concept. Generally writers conceive death to be cold and incapable of love. This story is an exception to that.  • Personification of Death. Sakshi Deora has beautifully brought out how it feels to be like Death. • The letter written by Death at the end is very heart touching.  • The unexpected ending. What I slightly disliked : • I felt as if the book ended to quickly for me to connect with the characters. This could have been turned into a novella by providing more insight into the life of the girl...

"But it takes courage to complete the explanation, to say that something  instinctive, doubtless inscribed in the genetic heritage of the species, compels the  great masses of humanity to condone that which promises desolation and  carnage.." Review :   A powerful novella set in a fictional world where a variety of characters collide  : a mixture of characters from just released prisoners, to circus performers,  writers and a string quartet all living under the rule of an authoritarian  government and their military heavies, seeking the strange counterbalance of  hope in a viola player, whose stunning music just might save them all, if only  for a moment.    The leader of the Frondists in the novella is typically buffoonish and  interchangeable with his henchmen, willing to use racism to mobilise the masses.  It’s quite an indictment on the behaviour of people in crowds and the need to  chant insulting slogans.  ...

"Perhaps we only ever have one true chance at anything and the rest, if offered, is always second best.." Review : Loss is integral to life – from birth, we lose the safety of the womb. Often we lose our position in a family to another sibling. Change is all encompassing. We lose the three-legged races of childhood and later career-driven and consumerist ‘races’ imposed by a success-driven world. When we age, we lose our looks and our health. Ultimately, we die. Always, we are at the mercy of progress, risk and accidents; often we are victims of war. Set in 1920, against the background of Poland’s tragic and tumultuous relationship with Russia, through war, revolution and invasion, until 1954 in the Snowy Mountains of Australia, The Tulip Tree revolves around two brothers - Henryk and Adam and their families faced with the struggle for existence. Brothers Henryk and Adam Radecki’s relationship is fraught with love and jealously. Henryk, unhappily married to Lucia, is a clever...

“None of us live without consequence. Our personal preferences are not truly  personal. One person’s needs will deny another’s. Our privileges can harm  ourselves and others.”  Review :   An apocalyptic future tests the bonds of love between sisters.    In this future world, climate change and other disasters have brought people  together from different countries into eco-cities that levitate above their regions.    Sixteen-year-old Kasey Mizuhara disassociates herself from people,  moving through the world like an alien or ghost, observing her human  companions. She prefers the cool comfort of logic, and the only one she loves  and looks to for direction is Celia, her older sister.    Celia Mizuhara, on the other hand, loves too much, continually pushing  boundaries and breaking rules. Yet the sisters admire each other for their  complementary strengths. As the world crumbles around them due to human- made ...

"Most people don't trust people in power, whether it's the government or a big  corporation.."  Review :  Utopia PR, written by Adam Bender, is a political satire set in a  dystopian Washington, DC, that offers a brisk and entertaining sendup of  politics and the media, two machines driven by capitalism and ambition.    Public-relations extraordinaire Blake Hamner (the n is silent) put off his  honeymoon for his big break: joining a major political campaign for president.  Now, the “Hammer” struggles to make time for his marriage as Crisis  Communications Manager for Our Leader, who since taking power has  become increasingly mad and totalitarian.  The Hammer starts to reconsider his career choices when one of Our  Leader’s savage steel hounds attacks the Comms team at a press conference.  When a revolutionary levels grave allegations against Our Leader—and  implicates Blake for the cover-up—the PR rep who though...