The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1)

Rahel returns to her childhood home on a rainy summer's day after twenty-three years' absence. The reason that she is coming back is to see her twin brother, Estha. The only members of her family living in the house now are Baby Kochamma, Rahel's grandaunt, and Estha. Rahel recalls how very close she and her twin were, like one spirit. The twins are now thirty-one, the age that their mother was when she died. On entering the house, Rahel sees the bright blue Plymouth parked outside. Thoughts, memories and recollections come to her, with tastes, visions and smells

Ok ... this is a book that I found really difficult to read !!! I searched and searched the net and found a huge number of people who just loved this book ... It seems to be the norm recently that alot of the huge best seller books like 'The Time Travellers Wife' ,'Wuthering Heights' and this one I just did not get all the hype !!

I found this book difficult in many ways firstly I found it confusing with the characters names ... Most of the characters had a couple of names they where called by and this kept swapping throughout the book ... I had to keep referring to the back of the book to see who was who ... I found throughout the book it jumped from one story to another, and to boot I found the terminology was quite difficult to understand ...

And have to admit that I really skimmed through the last few chapters because I really wanted it over and done with ...

On a more positive note I have to say the detail in the book is wonderful and very descriptive.

If this book was not one on my reading challenge I think I would have given up a few weeks ago as it took me 3 weeks to read it ...

If you are doing this book and wish to have a more detailed account or study questions etc here's a great link

I rate this book 1*

Life of Pi by Yann Martel (4)

What is there to say about a novel in which a young boy shares a lifeboat with a fully grown Bengal tiger named Richard Parker? If the book is Yann Martel’s Life of Pi, there’s quite a lot to be said. The story it tells is so profound and moving that the more enlightened readers will get behind its many oddities to the message at its core.
The book is, of course, the story of Pi (short for Piscine), an Indian teenager whose father runs a zoo. Much of the book’s first section is a detailed description of the minutiae of zoo-keeping, including several lessons about the connection between man and animal that come into play later in the novel.
Eventually, the family – which, in addition to Pi and his father, includes a mother and brother -- decides to move to Canada, taking much of its menagerie with it. Along the way, the ship sinks, stranding Pi on a lifeboat with the aforementioned Richard Parker, along with a few other zoo animals (who, it should come as no surprise, quickly disappear as their voyage progresses). As Pi desperately searches for a place to call home, he and his feline companion form an uneasy truce, and embark on a series of unforgettable adventures that include, among other things, a blind Frenchman and a man-eating island covered in meerkats. There’s also passage upon passage explaining how Pi and his friend manage to combat the twin demons of thirst and hunger without turning on each other.

Opening sentence : This Book was born as I was hungry.

I really don't know what I was expecting with this book and I have had it on my book shelf now for abit but started to read it for one of the book challenges I am in. And I am so glad that I did. It is a great wee read ...

I liked it that much that I actually took some notes along the way ... It is written beautifully and you cannot help but get drawn in ...

Pi is a really likable character and at the beginning of the book goes in search for religion ... Where he stumbles across Hindi, Islam and Christian belief's ... He takes abit from each religion and during his journey on the sea's relies heavily on God .... There is a funny bit in the story where his older brother says ... he might try to become a Jew too. "At the rate you're going, if you go to temple on Thursday, mosque on Friday, synagogue on Saturday and church on Sunday, you only need to convert to three more religions to be on holiday for the rest of your life."

I loved all the stories about the animals and actually learnt quite abit ... I thought when I read the back cover that it was going to be abit boring and long (I admit that I thought it was going to be like the Man and Sea - which I watched with my father years ago the whole 3 hours worth ... because I actually thought it would get better which it didn't) But thankfully this book is nothing like that ... I was really enjoying the stories.

The book's final pages include a revelation that brings the rest of Pi's fantastic story into question ...... At the heart of the book is man's relationship to animals and his relationship to God.

I was really surprised at how much I really liked this book ...

I rate this book 4****