More Book Reviews

...And why have I been writing all these book reviews instead of spewing out something original? Well, let's just say I am in one of the spongy soaking-in phases, and I have gotten addicted to reading lately. That said, the reviews and observations are original, at least. ;-)


To Kill a Mockingbird : Harper Lee

I had read this book years back and didn't remember much. I picked it up again, and enjoyed it completely.

The story vividly captures a child's view of life in the 1930's in Alabama. Jean Louise narrates her life around the time she was eight and describes the struggle of a black man in the then unjust society filled with racial prejudice. It's a tale about morality, rationality, social norms, justice, parenting and growing up. Reading the book in the current context was especially interesting when I realized that the story was about racism during the Great Depression, and I was reading it in a context when America is going through the next depression, but with a black man for a president. I felt happy for the progress that this country has made down the years. It was like one of those things that make you feel there are at least some things moving along a progressive trajectory.

I also observed a great deal about wise parenting. There was much to learn in that regard. Overall, a very good book and a touching narration of a sad but realistic story.


Siddhartha : Hermann Hesse

I started off having a very lukewarm response to this book when I began reading it. The style is not particularly catchy or flowery, and I thought the author was getting repetitive in the use of some words, every now and then (Of course, the book was originally written in German and translated to English). However I think the book is more about concept than literature. The book is about the spiritual struggle of a Brahmin youth in India. What did I like about the work? More than one concept- for one, I resonate completely with the idea of not being able to gain knowledge and spiritual enlightenment through didactic means. I do hold reverence to the idea of a Guru, but somehow, I have never been able to convince myself that I will know the universal truths by following a certain path or learning a certain doctrine. I believe that one has to find it themselves, and there's not a single path for this; to each his own.

I also liked the idea that it is, in a lot of circumstances, necessary for one to go through different experiences in life. Often, one has to go through material life and familial bonds, pleasure and pain, virtue and sin, because there is no other way to grow wiser than through one's own experiences.

Siddhartha believes in an all-embracing love as the only source of real peace and happiness. I found his argument that if the mountains, the trees, and the river around us are Maya (illusion), then so are we, quite interesting. And he claims that that's all the more reason to resonate with everything around.

The one thing I hadn't thought about was the idea that, when one seeks, one is too passionately chasing a goal, and too lost to observe many a valuable truth that might pass right before their eyes. The message there is to observe and soak in, rather than actively seek, which to me, is a new and interesting philosophy.