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A review by ro_o
Fire On The Mountain by Anita Desai
5.0
Length~ A Novella
Perfect for~ A rainy day with drink of choice
Your mood to match~ Sombre
Rating~ 5 vanilla frosted cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles
Why this book caught my eye~
The desire to break free and clear your life of all the clutter, the screechy irritations of the modern age in which we continually find ourselves inexplicably connected with the rest of the world via the internet of things, awaken forbidden wishes within us-more often than we would like- to run away from it all.
Nanda Kaul does just that, and when I read the back of the book, that's what attracted me. The perfect retirement plan from being a mother, a wife and the rest of the duties the society expects, or at least excepted from a woman back in the day, a few years after India's independence. In that attraction, the book did not disappoint. Nanda Kaul was inscrutably content, that is, till her great- grandchild arrived.
The people you'll read about~
As you would have guessed, Nanda Kaul is not your average great-grandmommy- all love and baked gingerbread cookies, no.
She doesn't want to be disturbed. But then her wary aloofness and nonchalance and want of solitude has apparently skipped two generations. As her great-grandchild Raka displays even stronger signs of wanting to be left alone, Nanda Kaul starts to become uncharacteristically clingy. She wants to pull the quiet moonchild out of her shell. She starts down the path of experimental storytelling, making up tall claims about her childhood and the home she knew as a young girl.
Raka is connected to nature in a way most of us fail to achieve. She is restless to get her hands dirty exploring the mountains and wild paths of Kasauli. Raka is not drawn to her namesake moon, as much she is drawn to the chaos and destruction of brilliant fires that the forests are prone to.
The story of Ila Das made me break down and cry and it climaxed towards the very end of the novel in a way that would make a readers' heart twist and head pound. No, I am still in half denial. The still quiet of the novel, weighed down with memories, stories, feelings and rare speech, is broken by the sudden vicious thorn plunged in its amidst.
Why this novel shines out~
This novel is different from most others in a way that it is fast paced not in actions, but in the speedy transitions of human thoughts. The descriptions of the cantonment established in the times of British Raj are vivid and run like a movie. Anita Desai grounds the demented and tortured strands of life in a way that is refreshingly beautiful.
Perfect for~ A rainy day with drink of choice
Your mood to match~ Sombre
Rating~ 5 vanilla frosted cupcakes with rainbow sprinkles
Why this book caught my eye~
The desire to break free and clear your life of all the clutter, the screechy irritations of the modern age in which we continually find ourselves inexplicably connected with the rest of the world via the internet of things, awaken forbidden wishes within us-more often than we would like- to run away from it all.
Nanda Kaul does just that, and when I read the back of the book, that's what attracted me. The perfect retirement plan from being a mother, a wife and the rest of the duties the society expects, or at least excepted from a woman back in the day, a few years after India's independence. In that attraction, the book did not disappoint. Nanda Kaul was inscrutably content, that is, till her great- grandchild arrived.
The people you'll read about~
As you would have guessed, Nanda Kaul is not your average great-grandmommy- all love and baked gingerbread cookies, no.
She doesn't want to be disturbed. But then her wary aloofness and nonchalance and want of solitude has apparently skipped two generations. As her great-grandchild Raka displays even stronger signs of wanting to be left alone, Nanda Kaul starts to become uncharacteristically clingy. She wants to pull the quiet moonchild out of her shell. She starts down the path of experimental storytelling, making up tall claims about her childhood and the home she knew as a young girl.
Raka is connected to nature in a way most of us fail to achieve. She is restless to get her hands dirty exploring the mountains and wild paths of Kasauli. Raka is not drawn to her namesake moon, as much she is drawn to the chaos and destruction of brilliant fires that the forests are prone to.
The story of Ila Das made me break down and cry and it climaxed towards the very end of the novel in a way that would make a readers' heart twist and head pound. No, I am still in half denial. The still quiet of the novel, weighed down with memories, stories, feelings and rare speech, is broken by the sudden vicious thorn plunged in its amidst.
Why this novel shines out~
This novel is different from most others in a way that it is fast paced not in actions, but in the speedy transitions of human thoughts. The descriptions of the cantonment established in the times of British Raj are vivid and run like a movie. Anita Desai grounds the demented and tortured strands of life in a way that is refreshingly beautiful.