One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Ivan Denisovich Shukhov is in a Soviet labor camp as a prisoner, wrongly accused of espionage. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich follows a harsh winter day in his life; a day out of 10 years that he is serving. The novel is nothing but a schedule in the day of a soviet prisoner through the eyes of Ivan. Despite, the bleakness and harsh conditions, Ivan manages to keep his spirits up by resourcefulness and finding meaning.
He is able to smuggle a piece of bread, then successfully shares a moment of warmth with his fellow inmates. These are the victories that Ivan uses to mark his time.
One can say that the story captures not just the cruelty of the gulag system, but also the resilience of the human spirit in the face of relentless oppression. But it begs the question: if not resilience, then what?
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The Circle of Reason by Amitav Ghosh
Nobody can weave a poetic tale out of such diverse elements like carbolic acid, straight lines, and bird-watching, but Amitav Ghosh. In The Circle of Reason, his debut novel, Amitav Ghosh weaves symbols like carbolic acid, straight lines, and bird-watching to explore the very bonds of human life. Carbolic acid, while signifying scientific hygiene; straight lines reflect an idea of rationality.
Ghosh studies the randomness and symbiotic essence of the Indian Life which is married to a chaotic manner of living through and through. He puts together a tale, outlandish but still identifiable, because of the characters that portray the qualities.
The Author nudges us to think about what can go wrong when we try to force order without really considering how complex and nuanced people and societies actually are.
Ghosh can do that very few others can. Make love with words.
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Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil
The very first thing that caught my eyes, and my breath, was the single sentence prologue. It ran into pages. While this prepared me for the hypnotic journey, I wasn’t prepared for the sheer depth of being unsettled by the hazy underbelly narrative of Bombay.
It was the Bombay that I thought I knew. After all, not only did I recognise the names of the streets, I had been along those lanes and by-lanes many times. But, the Bombay that Thayil brings to life is gritty and is layered with opium, addicts and spirituality. Narcopolic is a lyrical journey about atmosphere and coexistence of beauty and decomposition, joy and pain. The transformation of Bombay over decades and shift in the manner of consumption of drugs is interlaced with violence and disintegration.
It can be said that Narcopolis is about escape through hallucinations in a city that never sleeps. It can also be said that it’s a journey of a lifetime of any human in the wider world.
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Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
“I am Heathcliff.”
I doubt that there ever has been a shorter line that has packed a tighter punch in the gut.
Wuthering Heights is a dark, passionate tale of love and revenge, and the destructive power of obsession. The story revolves around the intense bond between Heathcliff, an orphan brought to Wuthering Heights, and Catherine Earnshaw, the daughter of the house.
Though Catherine loves Heathcliff deeply, she marries Edgar Linton, a more pragmatic choice, breaking Heathcliff’s heart. Heathcliif’s heart is not merely broken, it is un-made. He becomes absolutely consumed with vengeance that spans decades and generations.
Brontë doesn’t romanticise love; she releases it like mad feral dogs. Her love is beautiful, violent, and ultimately annihilating. Their love refuses to conform to social rules or moral expectations. It’s wild, jealous and defiant.
