Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I started reading "Sacred Games" only after watching its popular Netflix adaptation. And it's a good thing I did, since this 2006 epic thriller by Vikram Chandra is hard to put down despite its 900+ pages. The TV series had either good or bad characters but in the book, protagonist Sartaj Singh is as nuanced and flawed a character as mobster Ganesh Gaitonde. I like what did the show creators did with originally blink-and-you-miss-them parts such as Kukoo, but the novel is packed with a vast array of characters that transform Mumbai city into a living, heaving mass. I will watch upcoming seasons of the Netflix series, but it will be hard for a show to match Chandra's craft and the sheer scale of his magnum opus. Highly recommended.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Often compared unfavourably to the more famous "Gone Girl", this 2009 thriller by Gillian Flynn is the story of Libby Day, the lone survivor of a family massacre in her childhood. "Dark Places" has its moments as a whodunit and is perhaps better plotted than "Sharp Objects", Flynn's first novel. Am yet to watch the movie adaptation starring Charlize Theron.
Advice and Dissent: My Life in Public Service by Y.V. Reddy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Nearly half of "Advice and Dissent" is about the former RBI governor's childhood and his life in the IAS. The rest, about his stints at the central bank, are occasionally abstruse but are salvaged by Reddy's sense of humour and the many vignettes focusing on tensions between the government and the central bank. Also memorable are Reddy's interactions with NTR and Chidambaram.
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My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I started reading "Sacred Games" only after watching its popular Netflix adaptation. And it's a good thing I did, since this 2006 epic thriller by Vikram Chandra is hard to put down despite its 900+ pages. The TV series had either good or bad characters but in the book, protagonist Sartaj Singh is as nuanced and flawed a character as mobster Ganesh Gaitonde. I like what did the show creators did with originally blink-and-you-miss-them parts such as Kukoo, but the novel is packed with a vast array of characters that transform Mumbai city into a living, heaving mass. I will watch upcoming seasons of the Netflix series, but it will be hard for a show to match Chandra's craft and the sheer scale of his magnum opus. Highly recommended.
Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Often compared unfavourably to the more famous "Gone Girl", this 2009 thriller by Gillian Flynn is the story of Libby Day, the lone survivor of a family massacre in her childhood. "Dark Places" has its moments as a whodunit and is perhaps better plotted than "Sharp Objects", Flynn's first novel. Am yet to watch the movie adaptation starring Charlize Theron.
Advice and Dissent: My Life in Public Service by Y.V. Reddy
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Nearly half of "Advice and Dissent" is about the former RBI governor's childhood and his life in the IAS. The rest, about his stints at the central bank, are occasionally abstruse but are salvaged by Reddy's sense of humour and the many vignettes focusing on tensions between the government and the central bank. Also memorable are Reddy's interactions with NTR and Chidambaram.
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