Dear Life

    Author                         Alice Munro

    Country                       Canada

    Genre                           Fiction (Short Stories)

    Publication Date         212   

    Pages                            319







While I love fiction, I have never been particularly fond of short stories. And interestingly, I haven't been able to articulate the reason for this very well even to myself, until recently. And the reason is as simple and basic as the fact that short stories tend to leave me as a bystander. They don't welcome me fully into the centre of the story. This is something that a gripping book easily does and something that I derive my energy and passion for books from!

Hence, despite my reservations as stated above, I voluntarily picked up this book by Alice Munro. Alice Munro is a very well known and award winning author (incidentally, this book has won the Man Booker International Prize)  and since she writes only short stories, I didn't think I had too much of a choice than finding myself in the company of my not very best friends (in the form of short stories).

Unfortunately, as I moved from one story to the other, my experience with Alice Munro and her work hasn't changed my opinion on short stories; but rather only reinforced it.

Having said that, the stories are surely well written and the beauty of story telling lies in the fact that the plot evolves slowly; it almost unfolds with great dexterity. I consider this to be one of Alice's landmarks; not stating the facts at the start of the story; but allowing it to evolve as one traverses through the story. However, there is not too much punch in the stories and there isn't enough novelty in one story from the other. Most stories, while they are emotional and well written, end up being quite similar in their build up and final ending. Being biased as I am towards award winning  books, I tried hard to keep myself entertained from one story to the other, but failed terribly.

Hence, in summary, while to someone who enjoys short stories, this would have been an interesting piece of work, for me, it was nothing out of the ordinary and infact I was left questioning the basic premise due to which I picked up the book - that Alice Munro is supposedly the best story teller of her time.

Yes, that might be harsh but as a consumer and an avid one at that, that's my opinion!





 

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

     Author                           Milan Kundera

     Country                         France

     Genre                             Philosophical Fiction

     Publication Date           1984

     Pages                              305

    




This is quite a different book from what I have read mostly. And a little bit uncomfortable at that. A free flowing, well connected fiction is what typically appeals to me but Milan Kundera's work is surreal, philosophical and pretty disconnected to say the least. Having said that, it is quite intriguing and that is what has stayed with me.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being is the story of Tomas, his wife Teraza, his mistress Sabina and their beloved dog Karenin. As the name explains beautifully, Tomas believes in a life that is light, unattached and unbound. His mind differentiates exquisitely between body and soul and what is infidelity to Tereza is just a way of life and a way of being to him. The enchanting Tereza who strives for something higher in life believes in love and the beauty of chance encounters. As the book evolves, she matures from being hurt and disappointed at his infidelities to accepting it while striving to create a life with him. Tomas, while he enjoys himself with Sabina, truly and deeply only loves Tereza; beyond all physical love.

Some of the quotes which reflect the true flavour of the book are:

"She took things too seriously, turning everything into a tragedy, and failed to grasp the lightness and amusing insignificance of physical love."

"Hadn't he told her time and again that love and sexuality had nothing in common?"

"Her soul had lost its onlookers curiosity, it's malice and pride; it had retreated deep into the body again, to the farthest gut, waiting desperately for someone to call it out"

"Any schoolboy can do experiments in the physics laboratory to test various scientific hypothesis. But man, because he has only one life to live, cannot conduct experiments to test whether to follow his passion (compassion) or not."

Personally, to me this is a book more about philosophical reflections than about anything else. It's different characters and their varying paradigms forces one to suspend moral judgements (something we are all given to) and learn to accept things as they are...in their pure and light form; without taking them too seriously - "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"