Maneater: Gigi Levangie Grazer (2003) - Positively witty

To be honest, I had not heard of the author (Gigi Levangie Grazer - biography site) before this book. I am a sucker for book sales, and I saw a sale where this book was also there, and I don't know what made me pick this book as opposed to other books, but I don't regret it one bit. Once I had picked up the book, it was hard to put down. It is hard to easily describe the novel, but if I were to summarize the book, it would be in terms of calling it a 'hard to put down, biting witticism filled description of Los Angeles society. The book portrays a chilling portrayal of what a middle-aged (by her standards) lady needs to do in terms of her future, and how all her plans go haywire when she is fooled by somebody even more expert than her.



Clarissa is 28 (actually 31), somebody who has never worked for anything her whole life. She depends on her father and mother, and lives a life of parties, gossip, and the close company of her group of friends (called the Star Chamber - some of them are close friends, and with one of whom she has a relationship that is more enemy like than with friends). Clarissa is very clear on her priorities in life, such as food (good), sex (good), shopping (good), work (bad). She also realizes that since she is actually 31 years old, her biological clock is indicating that she needs to get a move onto finding a man for her (and obviously, it has to be a rich man since she needs to be supported in life as per her expectation). It is a biting satire of the lives of the rich and famous that Clarissa even has though through her future, including when to have children, when she will get divorced. Her relationship with her mother is also shown as pretty interesting, somebody on whom she depends at times of extreme stress, but not otherwise.
So, after crossing through a number of potential husbands and rejecting them (such as Bruce Springsteen, John F. Kennedy Jr. (who is a good potential, but dead), Ted Field, etc), she narrows her choice down to young Aaron Mason, a person rich enough that he can afford to be what he wants (he wants to make a movie about an old subject). Now starts the process of planning for the marriage (even though the groom does not know that he is the target, and that his marriage date has been decided). She finds out that Aaron is not as dumb as he would appear, and is wise to what she is trying, but he plays along and finally they get married.
And this is where the novel takes a twist, with Aaron having far more secrets than Clarissa would like, one of which leads her to living in a much smaller apartment than the swanky house and comfort that she had expected. Clarissa is shocked, but slowly starts to get used to it, and then she gets more shocks from Aaron. The end is different, but the novel starts to meander a bit, and loses the wit and bite soon after the marriage, and slowly starts to become more saccharine sweet. On the whole, it is still enjoyable.

In High Places by Arthur Hailey (1960)

Arthur Hailey (April 5, 1920 – November 24, 2004) was a novelist very popular for some of his books such as Wheels, Airport, Hotel, Overload, etc. He was not that prolific, in the sense that he wrote in total around 10-12 books, but some of his books such as Wheels, Airport, and Hotel were very popular and remained on bestseller lists for quite some time.
Arthur Hailey books present detailed views of specific industries, such as Wheels about the automobile industry, Hotel about the hotel industry combined with the civil rights movement and racial discrimination, and so on. Some critics accuse him of covering up a lack of good literary skills by disguising it through providing a lot of detail.



In High Places was the third book by Arthur Hailey (following Runway Zero-Eight and The Final Diagnosis), and covered an area that is still not covered too well even now. There are numerous books and movies on the politics of the United States and Great Britain, but Canada has never been covered by major books or movies in terms of politics. In High Places was a book that took a look at the politics at the top level in Canada, including the Prime Minister.
The book covers the issues plaguing the Prime Minister of Canada, James McCallum Howden. The Prime Minister is a dedicated person, spending huge amounts of time for his work and not able to spend the required amount of time with his wife, Margaret who understands the situation. What adds to the tension in the book is the situation where there is a huge stand-off with the Soviet Union with the threat of nuclear war seeming almost inevitable. A nuclear war would mean that missile interception and destruction (with a nuclear fallout happening over Canadian territory and poisoning its land mass). There is the pressure of signing a pact with the US called the Act of Union, but that would reduce Canadian sovereignty by giving the US a much greater responsibility of Canada's defense and its armed forces, not a prospect that is easily acceptable.
And of course, there is the inevitable back-stabbing, intrigue, involvement with women at the highest levels, and so on, which make this a hugely interesting book.

Island of the Day Before - Umberto Eco

Books by Umberto Eco have been praised to an extreme degree, and have also evoked a huge amount of criticism. They can be difficult to read at times, and I have known many friends who shied away from his other books once they read any one of them. My opinion differs in the sense that I like his way of writing, and had previously read his 2 other works of fiction (The Name of the Rose, and Foucault's Pendulum). I will be honest, reading Pendulum .. was tough in parts, but once I read the book, I could not help admiring. And of course, 'The Name of the Rose' was simply superb, and my esteem for Umberto Eco went up pretty high after reading both of them. Next was 'The Island of the Day Before'. This is a book that has had many more mixed reviews, with many people outrightly condemning the book as too complicated and a lesser work. I do not share the same views; for me, the book was interesting and worth reading.



The tale is complex, being the tale of a person in a shipwreck, as revealed through letters and memoirs. It is not just the tale of the isolation of a ship-wreck, but the tale of the life of 17th century France, of the society, the politics, and through all this, the life of a young man. The book is the story of Roberto della Griva, born into a minor noble family. The story is devoid of many details, such as how the memoirs of Roberto got into the hands of the modern day editor who is writing the book.
Roberto is a complex personality, he believes that all the problems that he suffers is because he has an evil twin called Ferrante (an easy way to blame all the problems that a person suffers); Ferrante is a way out to ascribe the problems that a person may face. As Roberto is growing up, there is a sudden upheaval in his life, his father dies in a siege, in the Siege of Casale, the fortress guarding the frontier between Italy and France. Roberto makes his way to France where he suffers from one-way love (and that too with one of the great ladies of France); the novel also describes the colorful and complex situation in France of that time, this is the time when there is a transfer of power happening between Cardinal Richelieu and Cardinal Mazarin.
However, he is soon forced into booking his passage on a Dutch ship (the Amaryllis) that is on an expedition to find the problems of longitude, and unfortunately for him, he ends up in a shipwreck, and is washed up on another deserted ship, the Daphne. And this is where the title of the book is relevant, since Roberto believes that the ship sits on the International Date Line, and he can look at the previous day from one side of the ship.
The book may seem boring to some, but for others, it is a perfect example of the writings of Umberto Eco. Worth reading, and for many, worth treasuring.

Mansfield Park by Jane Austen (1812)

By the time Manfield Park was written, Jane Austen had already released 2 of her earlier novels (Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice), and these were enough to make her famous. On the other hand, Mansfield Park was far more controversial. The principal character of Fanny Price has been acknowledged to be complex, a person of a good conscience. At the same time, the novel really does not reveal too much about her, since you don't really get to hear too much from her in the novel. Unlike's Jane Austen's characters from her earlier books, Fanny is far more straight in her thoughts and beliefs, and is not seen to be making any mistake. Jane Austen further seeks to strengthen the character of her heroine by making her childhood poverty be the reason for her strength, a point that is not likely to be something that modern audiences can understand.



Mansfield Park is the name of a house owned by the wealthy Sir Thomas Bertram. He is married to Fanny's aunt (Fanny's mother married a poor solider, and hence their life has always been distant from the rich world of Sir Thomas). However, Fanny has been sent to her aunt's house to take care of her aunt, but because of her poverty, 3 of her cousins, Tom, Maria and Julia, ignore her and do not consider her to be of the same level. It is only the second son, Edmund, who treats Fanny kindly; as a result, Fanny has always looked at Edmund with devotion, which turns to love as she grows (the novel depicts her in a majority of the story to be at age 18-19).
Sir Thomas is strict, and this seems to have a bearing on the behaviour of his 3 children, Tom, Maria and Julia, who all have their own weaknesses, whether that be Tom's weakness for gambling, or the vain and arrogant nature possessed by Maria or Julia. Soon, Sir Thomas leaves for 2 years to tend to his estates in Antigua, and then the entire drama starts soon after, with the arrival of Henry Crawford and his sister Mary. Henry charms both Maria and Julia (specially Maria), and to Fanny's distress, Mary and Edmund start getting closer (although Edmund is not sure about Mary's true nature). However, in the midst of rehearsing for a play, Sir Thomas returns, and is not happy to see the ongoing rehearsal, effectively ending all thoughts of having a play. Henry and Mary leave for some time.
Henry, after returning, wants to amuse himself by charming Fanny, but finds himself falling in love with her instead. When he proposes marriage, and for a poor girl such as Fanny, this is a very good proposal, she already knows about his affairs with her cousins, and she declines. The entire family gets shocked, and she leaves Mansfield Park for some time. Soon after, there is another scandal, where Maria (who had married the rich but boring Mr. Rushworth) has an affair with Henry in London, leading to a divorce from her husband. At around the same time, Tom also falls ill, and Fanny heads back to Mansfield Park to take care of Tom. Edmund also realizes that Mary's true nature is not acceptable to him, and he actually loves Fanny. Eventually, Edmund marries Fanny.

Doctors - by Erich Sehgal

Doctors was published by Erich Segal in 1988, and soon jumped onto the # 1 bestseller on the New York Times list. Erich Segal has been known for extensive research for his novels, and the same was true for this one. There was a lot of research done into the life of doctors, starting from the time that they enter medical school and covering their experiences, the type of training they go through, as well as the problems and challenges they face. Somebody reading this novel would get a good idea of what the life of medical students is like, and carry onto the emotions of adult doctors.
The book covers the life of some of the characters who are part of the 1962 Harvard Medical School batch, with a special emphasis on 2 of these.



The 2 main characters who are the focus of this book, include Barney Livingston and Laura Castellano. These are characters who have grown up as neighbors since they were children, have been very close, very good friends, attended medical school together, and start seeing the harsh elements of life. As medical students and doctors, they come to face an extremely tough education demanding huge amounts of study, face patients who have all kinds of illnesses, many of them tragic. They learn that apparently the medical profession demands that its practitioners should not get personally involved with the problems of their patients, because otherwise they will themselves start to get weak and affected.
The book also takes the lives of other students along with them, such as their brilliant but black colleague Bennett Landsmann, who faces the then huge issue of racism, and ultimately almost falls victim to it. They come face to face shocking problems in the medical fraternity such as misdiagnosis, colleagues who are not competent or indulge in conduct that offends them. The book traces their lives to the point where they have each had their relationships, but ultimately realize that eventually they are made for each other. The book is gripping, and is certainly worth reading.

Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco (1988)

This is a brilliant book, once you understand it. I must confess, I found it heavy reading, but then I read it again, and then again, and slowly realized what a brilliant book it is. Foucault's Pendulum is a book that delves into conspiracy theories, but the concept in the book is more about detailing how weird conspiracy theories can be, how they can drive people totally delusional, and so on. As a side note, the book is nothing like the much more popular 'The Da Vinci Code' by Dan Brown (that dealt with real life conspiracy theories while "Foucault' Pendulum" is more about how conspiracy theories are bunkum, but have enough adherents to provoke strange reactions in people, especially in people who have bought into such theories. Foucault's Pendulum by itself does not promote a conspiracy theory, but integrates many prevalent theories related to the Knight Templars, Freemasons, The Elders of Zion, The Cabalists, The Jesuits, The Bavarian Illuminati, and many others, and adds one more fictional cult of its own - a fictional secret society called the Tres (Templi Resurgentes Equites Synarchici, Latin for the nonsensical "Synarchic Knights of Templar Rebirth").



The name of the book is fascinating in itself, talking about the famous experiment by the French physicist Léon Foucault, in the year 1851, in the Meridian Room of the Paris Observatory. This experiment involved hanging a tall pendulum free to oscillate in any vertical plane; over a period of time, the paths taken by the pendulum will demonstrate the rotation of the earth (Wikipedia); this device forms an integral part of 'The Plan' described in the book.
The book is itself about these 3 characters, Belbo, Diotallevi and Casaubon (the narrator, describing the events in flashback), who get interested in conspiracy theories, the occult and decide to prepare their own theory called 'The Plan'. Their personal histories are described in detail, including their earlier review of a book on the 'Knights Templar' which describes how the holy warriors did not totally die out when they were suppressed by the French Emperor and the Pope, but instead the remnants of the order went underground, established cells throughout the world in order to eventually take over the world and avenge their destruction. Their are other experiences of interaction with occult ideas and other conspiracy theories.
Eventually, the 3 develop their own conspiracy theory that includes many elements, and weaves together an intricate web, taking the help of the personal computer of Belbo (called 'Abulafia'). Eventually, they start attracting the attention of a secret brotherhood that imagines itself to be secret society described in this plan, and which wants to capture these 3 authors for learning more about what they know, and capture Belbo in order to force him to reveal more. This eventually leads to his death at the hands of the gang when he is unable to provide them more information.
Casaubon escapes, and is left thinking about what they have created, and when he will be eventually captured by this society. He is clear that he will not let them believe that 'The Plan' is real.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie (1926)

The concept of a narrator of a detective story has been prevalent for a long time. The most famous probably being the character of Dr. Watson from Sherlock Holmes who was the perfect foil to Sherlock Holmes. There are some expectations from the narrator of a good detective novel - the narrator can bring their own quirks to the story, but they are expected to layout the story in the way that it actually happened. You don't really expect the narrator to have a significant presence in the story; this was the concept that was used before the advent of this novel.
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd turned this whole concept upside down. Here was a narrator who was going along normally like most narrators, and then at the end, there is a huge element of surprise. Hercule Poirot points out that the murder was committed by the character of the narrator, and the narrator admits this as the last element of the story before committing surprise.



This twist in the novel was very controversial. After all, the concept of a good detective novel was that you provide the same clues to your reader as available to the detective, and if you hide a major element in the story (such as the narrator having done the killing), then it would almost seem like a break to that concept. Fortunately for this novel and Agatha Christie, except for some critics and reviewers, everybody else accepted this twist easily enough. In fact, many consider this to be among her best works.
The story is about the double murder in the small town of King's Abbott in England. The murder of Mrs. Ferrars happens first, and then the murder of Roger Ackroyd clears the lingering doubt about Mrs. Ferrars death was a murder. There are a variety of suspects with their different motives, with suspicion falling strongly on Ralph, the stepson of Roger Ackroyd backed by many pieces of evidence. And then Poirot steps in, having newly arrived there. What does Poirot do to absolve Ralph of the crime ? As usual, Agatha Christie has spun a great tale.