Day 34 : Cape Fear - A Book Review

At least once a year I go to this place in Mumbai where they have sale on used books. They are so cheap you can buy at least a dozen for the same amount that you pay for a McChicken. This is a very very dangerous place for me. Mainly because every time I go there I end up dragging a huge haul of books, which only ends up adding onto my unread pile. I am slowly catching up to them, but damn am I outnumbered here.

This book is one of those book. I mostly picked it up by virtue of name recognition. I'd loved the Scorsese movie. It was a remake of an older movie. It had brilliant performances from both Robert de Niro and Juilette Lewis. And had one of the best last shot of any movie ever. That was pretty much the only reason I picked up this book really. I am very glad that I did.

This book is really a very simple single-minded book about revenge and good guy v/s bad guy. There is a good/pure-white character and there is a bad/pure-dark character. Both of these cannot be more different from each other. And both these character now suddenly find themselves in a in a conflict that would only end with one of them being utterly destroyed.

Characters 

Max Cady - The Pure-Dark - A cold-hearted criminal filled with one hunger only. Only pure rage and thirst for revenge.

Sam Bowden - The Pure-White - A law abiding citizen who many years ago, got Cady imprisoned for rape of a teenage girl.

Carol - Sam's wife

Nancy, Jaime, Bucky - Sam's kids

Plot Summary

Well this going to be the easiest summary of any plot I've ever written. Heck, the introduction above nearly gives most of the details. The gist of it is. Cady spends his thirteen years in jail dreaming up of ways to bring terror into his arch nemesis' life. Sam Bowden leads a life of the straight arrow and tries to deal with this guy legally but law is not especially good at handling someone who has no concept of what really is. Cady is somebody who is so vicious and single-mindedly evil that there is no fear or doubt in him. And with the sheer physical size of him makes it all the more scary.

And that is where I really begin to like the book. The way the author builds the tension in the book. You see, there are hardly a dozen scenes in the book where you are actually in Cady's presence. It is always somebody else' account of his violence. That along with his own pure savagery, every moment that he does come into your pages, you sort get goosebumps yourself. I liked that feeling. It is something that very few writers accomplish in doing. This guy who I'd never heard of made that possible. I have immense respect for that.

And now for the part that I wish could've been better. As much as I liked the simple binary good & bad equation of the book. There are parts where the writer tries to explain why Cady is the way he is. He uses the Bowden for that. Which was pretty seemed very out of place for me. You don't try to rationalize why some violent serial criminal and rapist would try to rape and kill the women of your household. Also, the last few pages. I know I shouldn't be comparing the movie with the book here. But I must say in this one instance I am going to give the upper hand to the movie. The climax was awesome, in the movie. And it sucked, in the book. Period.

Just for Max Cady? An excellent read though.

Day 33 : Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - A Book Review

I have written about my love for Harry Potter here before. So obviously it was apparent I was going to pre-order the new Potter book the moment I got the chance to. And obviously I was not going to be able to put it down until I’d read the whole thing through.

And that’s exactly what I did. Twice.

Harry Potter and The Cursed Child is quite a remarkable book. For most readers it would seem like a fan fiction written by a fan for fans. There aren’t many parts in it that you’d read, and recognize it to be out of Rowling’s books. This is pretty much a different flavour of the Wizarding World than we are accustomed to. The difference is not only because this book is in the format of a script for a play. You will see a stage setting description and positions of the characters. Some of it sure will feel pretty jarring at times. But it is quite toned down, nothing that should scare readers away. This is not the full-of-hearts Harry Potter that you and I grew up with. This is a mature adult book with adult issues. Much like the problems you and I have right now. 

We have all grown up and apparently so have The Trio.

Tread cautiously now Muggles, spoilers ahead.

Known Characters

Hermione Granger-Weasley is now the Minister of Magic. Very dutiful and strict and uber feminist. Loves to throw her weight around, and still loves Ron to bits even when he is being an idiot.

Ron Weasley now runs the Weasley Wizard’s Wheezes. Is still just as loyal and funny. Though has started to put on a slight belly is still everyone’s favourite uncle.

Harry Potter is now the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Is still just as popular as ever. And is still just as confounded by his celebrity.

Ginny Potter is now as ever my favourite Potter character. And now more than ever really has more of a part to play. Lovely to bits, just lovely.

Professor Minerva McGonagall is now the Headmistress of Hogwarts and oh how I’ve missed her cold-yet-mushy heart.

Draco Malfoy is, well still a Malfoy and everything that goes with it.

New Characters

Harry & Ginny’s children –

James Potter II

Albus Severus Potter

Lilly Luna Potter

Ron & Hermoine’s children –

Rose Granger-Weasley

Hugo Granger-Weasley

Draco & Astoria’s son –

Scorpious Malfoy

Amos Diggory, Cedric Diggory’s father 

Delphi Diggory, Amos’s niece and caregiver

Plot Summary 

The book follows a popular fan theory that Voldemort and his Death Eater’s are not yet given up on their bad ways. People who believe there was an heir somewhere who would come and bring back pure and superior magic into the world. But it has been so long since Harry’s scar has hurt, our friends have actually begun to forget all of it. All was well.

It was Albus’ and Rose’ first year at Hogwarts. They both were just as excited about it and just as nervous on their first ride aboard the Hogwarts Train. Rose was sure this was a deciding moment in their lives. Their parents first met during this ride and they become friends for life and went to on to do big things themselves. This was not a decision to be made lightly. Rose, needless to say, was much like her mother. Albus, meets Scorpious they had a bunch of sweets together. Spoke for a bit and decided they’d be best friends right then and there. Much like Ron and Harry did.

--

This is where I will leave you. There is much more to the plot. Much more.. But this is one book I would want you to read for yourself. 

There are parts that will take you back to that time you read about Snape’s love the first time. 

There are parts that will take you back to a time when you visited Godric Hollow for the first time.

There are parts that will take you back to the time you saw James and Lilly for the first time. And that heartbreaking green light for the first time. 

There are times you might just weep a little. 

There are times when you would laugh out loud with Ron or Scorpious and any nervous joke about Mouldy Voldy. 

Those are the parts that you will read this book again and again and again for. This is a book for you. For the fans. For the Potterheads. For the millions of millennials who have grown up into adults themselves. But still carry a bit of magical world in their hearts.

It is for you I will say now. There is real magic for those who seek it. Always.

Day 32 : Political Absurdity

India, for anybody who is looking from outside right now, is a place which is equal parts inspiring and bad shit craycray. There are a bunch of things that the country is doing great right now. And there are also a bunch of others where we seem to be getting terrible-er at each passing moment.

I am very active in social media (who isn't) from way back when we were all chilling it up in Myspace. I'd carried over a lot of those friends to Facebook and Twitter and Instagram. Many of them I have known only within the confines of some sorta screen. I have seen their graduation speeches, liked their wedding pictures, and congratulated them on their first-borns. I have people in there from countries that I didn't even realize had working internet, one of my first friends was a Kyrgyz grad student who used to say her town did not have working electricity half the day.

But now, as much as I like social media. The world being in the state that it is. The internet is the most scary place you can be in right now. Twitter and Facebook bring the news to you at such a pace that half the time you do not have time enough to think over what any of it means. And the ones supplying you with the headlines have even less time to make any sense of it. They have to publish the flashiest news the fastest to keep the clicks coming. In their haste, missing out on the basic filter of weeding out the bullshit. The actual job they were being paid to do.

When I was a kid, my father used to badger on about how we should read the newspaper daily. Be informed of what is going in the world around you. He put that sort of knowledge in high regards. If you were well read, you probably have already made a good impression with him without even having to say a single word. I barely read anything related to current affairs back then. But now there is no escaping them. Every other post on your newsfeed is related to some random guy's rant over some random politicians' some random policy or comments on something. All of a sudden everyone is a Poli-Sci genius and knows everything about everything.

I am in a bunch of fandom groups and read-a-thon online and off late there are rarely any posts in any of them that has anything related to the themes they are supposed to be about. Almost all of them are against/pro some sort of political agenda. Especially the ones that have even a handful of Americans in them. God, seriously. What the hell is really happening over there. How are they even considering a guy like that to lead their country. Wait a min. We have a PM who was allegedly involved in a communal riot. And another group of politicians who have ruled and looted the country for ages. Then we have this other politician from a divisive party who demands his followers intentionally insult the deities of the other religion to incite violence. Just as an excuse to kill people. Umm. Well atleast it is sure now that this sort of absurdity is not limited to any specific country. Stupidity is spread around quite evenly.

When I look at my real world people. The ones that I know and actually speak with on a daily basis. I don't see this sort of anger or frustration or fear or hatred. We are all just a bunch of normal people with normal people problems. We all realize that we do not really have any control over who becomes the president or prime minister. We all realize that we do not really control who gets to eat what kind of meat, or follow which kind of religion, or fall in love with which gender of people. We realize that all those things are something that is to be considered at an individual level. At a family & friends level.

People have to figure out things on their own. And if you are not directly effected by the outcome of something. You shouldn't give a hoot what happens.

You see, there is a news going around in social media of people being assaulted because they were caught consuming cow meat. Now, before you go on a rant about how it is against religion. Let me point out that, people have been eating cows and pigs and rabbits and frogs and even animal poop, for quite some time. And I don't care one bit about any of them. I love chicken, I love lamb, I love fish. I have never eaten beef just because I am pretty sure if I ever did my Ma wouldn't allow me inside our home. Now why she wouldn't want us to eat cow meat, might be a religious thing. But the reason I do not have it is because I care about things that my family cares about. As simple as that. Your most opinions do not really get shaped from that one post in social media. Eventhough those are the ones that make the most noise and with the most shock factor.

If you suddenly seem to feel frustrated, angry or scared to live in your own country. Just try getting off the internet for a bit. Just get a sense of the people around you and in your community. There is a good chance that you wouldn't find just as many intolerant rants and abhorrent incidents of people randomly assaulting each other. Sure there are bad eggs in the lot. But they are too few of them when compare them with the actual normal people who really are just like you.

They might go with a different sounding name than yours, or pray to the invisible man in the sky in a different way, or even eat or love differently than you do. But you wouldn't see a lot many people being openly disgusted by them or even spewing hate at those different than you. Most often you wouldn't see any of them recognized being any different than you unless they themselves say they are. People are just people. Lame, stupid, naive chunks of meat who by some freak of nature can form intelligible words. Which they somehow ended up using to put each other down by a few tweets.

Is there any actual need to be this hateful. Is there any goal that anyone hopes to achieve by sharing a one hate speech by any politician for all your followers and friends to see. By doing that you are only really adding to the noise. There is already enough of that going around. I am not saying you are not entitled to have an opinion. But if you happen to have any opinion which are the kind that you wouldn't want to discuss among the real world people and have them run away scared from you. You probably should not post them all over the internet either. Just add this one rule into your social media consumption. Maybe that would reduce the frequency of vileness in your posts. The world be thankful to you for that.

The world is not really a scary place. It is us who end up painting it that way. Your world doesn't really revolve around who sits in the high chair in a fancy conference room somewhere. Your world is really built of the people in them. So I guess what I am asking of you here is, don't scare them crapless by your angry rants in social media. Instead try talking to them maybe. Real talk, not sarcastic social-media-comment-speak. Maybe you will find that you don't really have to murder them after all.