Ode to Kirihito - Osamu Tezuka is one of my favourite graphic novelists. I found his Buddha series incredible, and his Apollo’s Song heartbreakingly beautiful. JD gifted me ‘An Ode to Kirihito a few months ago, but i simply didn’t have the time to start it. A few weekends ago, I took it to Lonavala and finished it at one go. The book, like all his books, is unputdownable (if such a word exists!).
As always, Tezuka looks at the dilema arises when there is a conflict between what you desire and what you believe to be ‘right’. He has explored this in Buddha, Apollo’s song and in in this. He blends Christian motifs and philosophy with very Eastern concepts of honour, family, obidience, and desire for status quo.
Ode to Kirihito is about a young ambitious doctor Osanai Kirihito, who is ordered to a remote village, where there is an outbreak of people turning into dog like creatures. His boss believes that this is a result of virus, he believes that there is something else, possibly a different scientific explanation. Kirihito himself contacts the illness. His medical prowess prevents him from degenerating as much as the rest - he is still in control of his mental faculties. However, what happens is that he becomes a shunned, reviled freak. Ode to Kirihito is about the dog/man’s journey to regain his own humanity and stand up for right to his dignity.
Tezuka weaves in the strands of love and lust, sacrifice and avarice, falling from grace & redemption, dignity and vileness - in an engrossing and involving manner. there were parts where the sheer humanity and the compassion of the author made my eyes moist. If you are a fan of the medium, this is definitely a book to check out.
Sphere: Related Content
After a long time, I picked up a book by an Indian author and managed to finish it. And enjoy it. And, not tear out my hair in frustration at the pace of the story or the meta level philosophical inputs that keep creeping into story lines.
Smita Jain’s debut novel is a good fun romp through the murky pool that is the Television Soap industry. Krishnaa - real name Priya - is a soap writer with a writer’s block . When you have to churn out 4 episodes a week - and everyone and his kitchen sink are doing pretty much the same — there is a definite possibility that a writer’s block will set in. So she sets about turning her neighbour’s telescope into the homes of other neighbour’s and ends up with a mystery that could end up getting her killed.
Fun, contemporary, desi and without any metaphysical angst or mumbo jumbo — Krishnaa’s Konfessions is a fun read… do try and pick it up…
I am hoping to see more from this author….
Sphere: Related Content
…..Not so much a concise book, as a slightly largish magazine feature. It has the wry observation, and the witty descriptions that is Bill Bryson's trademark .. but it isn't an involving read. And much like nicely written features for In flight magazines - there isn't too much to object to, at the same time there isn't too much that you retain.
I don't know too much more about Shakespeare now, than I knew earlier. But, what little there is , is told nicely. It is more a nice brisk travelogue through the lives & times of William Shakespeare than a biography.
I much preferred A Short History of Almost Everything or a I'm a Stranger Here Myself . It isn't that I didn't like the book — it is just that i have no memories of anything that I read :)
Technorati Tags: Bill Bryson, A Short History of Almost Everything, I'm a Stranger Here Myself
Sphere: Related Content
